Practical Idealism: Live Music Associations and the Revitalization of the Music Festival Scene

Abstract

In the seventies live music associations were established across Finland. They challenged the prevailing practices of event production and became major players in the live music business. In City of Seinajoki the associations were stabilised as part of the local music culture and still play a crucial role in transforming promotional practices related to popular music by running one of the biggest rock festivals in Finland since 1979. The article’s theoretical starting point is to take into account how music culture consists of ideas, activities, institutions and material objects in general and how to understand the relationships between the promoters of live music events and their surrounding societies. It clarifies the symbiotic relationship between associations, the political and cultural institutions and what developments helped associations to become transregionally and transnationally influential cultural actors.