Authenticity in Music Performance: Evidence from the Singer-Songwriter Community

Experiencing music provides a unique lens to study identity. The alienation resulting from increased technological mediation in both music production and consumption might drive consumption (Potter 2010), hence authenticity may be an appealing positioning strategy for marketers. Singer-songwriters, for example, write and perform their own music with minimal technological interference. This represents a direct connection with the musician that we characterize as more historically authentic (Thornton 1996), however this characterization is not universal. In this paper, I seek to gather insight into the myriad expressions of authenticity within the music consumption environment by detailing a study of performance musicians.