Personal branding: artister som varumärken

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis was to study the importance of an artist’s
personal brand from a record company and artist management perspective. We
also aimed to investigate how these companies work to create and maintain
an artist’s personal brand. The study conducted was a case study based on
interviews with staff members of a major record company, Universal Music
AB, and an artist management, United Stage Management Group AB. Our study
has shown that personal brands play a vital part in the success of the
artist both short-term and long. The brands help artist managements to
exploit opportunities in a more beneficiary way for them and the artist as
well as aid record companies to sell more units. These are, put together,
key factors for the use of personal brands. The study has also shown that
in order to build a personal brand into a lasting and important advantage
over competitors it has to be made legible, authentic and credible. Further
on our study has shown that record companies and artist managements do see
artists from a branding perspective in some aspects but, according to our
understanding, not from the most vital viewpoints to be able to benefit from
the idea of an individual as both person and brand.