“Live and learn”: artist celebrification negotiations in professional relationships in the Finnish music industry

Abstract

This study examines the discursive (re)production of music celebrity as artist celebrification. The intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges related to celebrity demonstrate a need for a deeper investigation of celebrity production. Finnish popular music artists are interviewed to understand their perceptions of celebrification in professional relationships with managers, publicists, and A&Rs. Using relational dialectics theory and contrapuntal analysis, the study examines meanings constructed in the interplay of competing celebrification discourses. Artist celebrification emerges as teamwork that involves construction of publicness while excluding negotiations of publicity management in the artist’s personal life. Celebrification as a process of “live and learn” reflects artists’ independent adaptation to the interweaving of the public and private self, and regulation of self-disclosure and privacy boundaries. Celebrification is redefined as intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociocultural negotiations that encompass presentational, representational, and re/presentational practices. The findings may be applied to develop appropriate support systems for artists and other celebrity practitioners.