Aggrandisement: Helping Micro-Enterprise Owner-Managers Construct Credibility in the Recorded Music Industry

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we are interested in understanding the role of aggrandisement in the construction of identity within a creative industry. Our empirical data is based on interviews and observational data from thirty-six respondents in twenty firms from the music industry. Through our analysis we seek to explain how aggrandisement can be “externally directed” towards others to construct a professional reputation of competence and importance while portraying cultural relevance and expertise. Or, “internally directed” in order to build a positive illusion of oneself as a competent and worthwhile participant in the industry. Ultimately our research contributes to the reasoning behind personal reputation and confidence building in professionals in the music industry.

KEYWORDS:

• Aggrandisement
• micro-sized firms
• popular music industry
• positive self-illusions
• identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Schreiber

Dr. David Schreiberis an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Creative & Entertainment Industries program at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.  His research interests include strategic decision-making practices within music industry micro-enterprises and the role of strategic sexual performance as it is used in creative and cultural industry organizations.  He has co-authored a textbook onManaging Organizations in the Creative Economy: Organizational Behaviour for the Cultural Sector and published on topics related to symbolic capital and its role in decision-making in the entertainment industries. David is a member of the Academy of Management (AOM), European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) the Music and Entertainment Industry Educator’s Association (MEIEA). Prior to his time in academia, David worked as an independent musician and teacher before establishing a career in sales, marketing and business development in the music industry. 

Alison Rieple

Dr Alison Rieple is a Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Westminster in London, UK. Following a degree in music and an early career in the Probation Service, she undertook an MBA and PhD at Cranfield School of Management and commenced her academic career.Alison teaches strategic management, research methods and innovation management on Westminster’s MBA and PhD programmes. Her consultancy work has focused on design and innovation management, leadership and the management of change. Her research interests include the management of design, innovation in the cultural and creative industries such as fashion, design and music, and innovation in agriculture and in developing countries.She is the author of many articles and is co-author of two strategic management textbooks and co-editor of a 2016 book on the role of design in disruptive innovation