Musical Personae Today: The Creation of Musical Personae through Social Media

Abstract

Social media have gained a new role in society. With different forms of communication and connection come different ways of presenting yourself and different ways of seeing one another. The personae created through these interactions change as well. The same goes for musicians, audiences and musical personae. Musical personae are created by both audiences and musicians and depend on interpretation and communication, as will be elaborated on in the theoretical framework of this thesis. Interestingly, existing theories on the creation of these musical personae almost completely leave out the role social media play in this creation. Especially today, now that the role of social media has shown its importance and power in creating and shaping social interactions, it is strange to see how it is not included in the definition of musical personae that can be found in existing theories.