This research examines the symbolic positions of Dutch rock band De Staat in the period of August 2016 as assigned by the Dutch written press on the one hand and as wished for by De Staat itself on the other hand. When De Staat was awarded a multi-year subisidy by the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, this provoked a lot of critical reactions in a.o. the Dutch written press. Thus, this research focuses on the gap that can be perceived between the different symbolic positions that are assigned to or longed for by De Staat, in what way this gap becomes visible and what ideas and opinions form the basis of this gap. To determine both symbolic positions in the field of pop music, articles from the Dutch written press were compared to interviews with De Staat’s Rocco Hueting and Arjo Klingens and the grant application. All texts were analyzed by the method of qualitative coding and viewed from a theoretical framework that incorporates sociologists Howard Becker and Pierre Bourdieu and musicologist Gert Keunen. Using their ideas on creating value in art worlds, the relations between different actors in the field of pop music and the various logics that are used to acknowledge value, the process of recognition and symbolic production from the viewpoint of both the Dutch written press and De Staat itself could be interpreted. The results showed a gap between the amount of symbolic capital assigned to the Dutch band, that could be explained due to the different logics that were maintained in the process of assigning value: while De Staat already considered itself to be a maintream band, the Dutch written press looked upon De Staat as an authentic and autonomous rock band, preferring artistic interests over economic concerns at all times.

Onderwerpen: 2000-2020 popmuziek muziekwereld overheidsondersteuning

Auteur: Iris van Korven MA