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Abstract:
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The music industry is challenged due to the digitalisation and bad economy at several music
venues. In a situation like this, skills are needed. However, the music industry is as many
other creative industries, using substantial amounts of unpaid labour. Is that the best point of
departure for a challenged industry? In this thesis I examine the role of unpaid labour in the
Danish music industry. With a focus on internships and volunteers at the Danish record
companies and at the venues, I have chosen to make an explorative study based on
qualitative interviews conducted with 15 people from various parts of the Danish music
industry. With an inductive approach and a theoretical framework consisting of neo
institutional theory, sensemaking, logics, capitals and the inducement‐contribution balance I
have reached the following findings.
From analysing the interviews it becomes clear that the majority of the Danish music industry
uses unpaid labour in some form and the use is widely accepted. There appears to be a
division of the record companies using limited amounts of unpaid labour, usually interns, and
the venues using substantial amounts of unpaid labour, usually volunteers. This difference
can be explained by several factors such as size of the company, different logics and different
ways of legitimating the use of unpaid labour.
Furthermore I have established that unpaid labour presently is the most important
recruitment tool in the industry, and also an important educational tool. The use of unpaid
labour brings along many positive aspects such as engagement, new ideas and it creates new
possibilities for the industry in form of local venues, concerts with up‐coming bands etc.
However, it also has some negative side effects as the use of unpaid labour may impede
professionalisation of the industry as well as create artificial market conditions.
I find the obtained knowledge useful for the music industry as well as the different
stakeholders such as educational organisations; interest organisations etc. as it can
contribute to a renewed awareness of the matter, in order for the industry to be better
equipped to deal with the current challenges. |
