In the fields of art and music, professionalization is an important prerequisite for success in an increasingly globalized and competitive market. In Norway, professionalization is a recurrent topic in policy papers, and several cultural policy schemes aim at increased professionalization. Professionalism is also a key concept when referring to musicians and artistic activity. Who are professionals and who are amateurs decides who are inside and who are outside when recognition and grants are to be awarded. At the same time, professionalization also comes with a considerable downside, which is largely undescribed and unrecognized. In this paper, we discuss the term professionalization as both a theoretical as well as a rhetorical (empirical) concept. Based on qualitative data from interviews with predominately concert promoters, we describe and analyse the price of professionalization, in both economic and cultural terms.
Keywords: professionalization, concert promoters, opera, popular music
