Consumer Perceived Socially Mediated Authenticity of Human Brands

The music industry has undergone drastic structural changes fuelled by recent technology developments providing independent artists with a growing number of opportunities to gain success, bypassing record labels. An important determinant of success is brand authenticity, which has become increasingly relevant in the past years. However, it is a complex construct and is influenced by strategic brand management choices as well as subjective consumer perception. This study aims to address research gaps by assessing consumer perceived socially mediated authenticity of signed/independent artists to explore if consumer perception differs across both types of artists. By doing so, the author aims to contribute insights into the effectiveness of independent artists’ self-promotion on social media in terms of creating an authentic brand that has, according to the author’s knowledge not been addressed as such. The author employed an interpretivist, inductive qualitative research design based on phenomenology implementing grounded theory approaches within the data collection and analysis process to ensure cohesiveness with the philosophical stance taken. Six cases were identified through non-probability sampling with whom the researcher conducted semistructured face-to-face interviews. To ensure that authenticity as a whole is addressed, a previously developed questionnaire guided through the research process. Meaning was derived through thematic analysis and data collected until saturation was reached. Research results indicate a higher consumer perceived socially mediated authenticity of independent artists based on consumer pre-beliefs, levels of engagement, and perceived content characteristics. Results also indicate that some constructs of authenticity as addressed by previous research in the field are subjective to individuals and cannot always be applied to groups or categories of individuals. Other limitations include that the research is non-generalisable. As such, results should be used to guide further research in the field