Professionalisation in the up-and-coming DIY popular music scene in Budapest “Without contacts, no career”

Absztrakt (kivonat)

The DIY (do-it-yourself) music scene has been expanding in Hungary and in Budapest as well in the last few years. These up-and-coming artists have been developing new skills in order to stay up-to-date and build their careers in the popular or underground music industry. However, the changes in their personal lives need further research. This study investigates the connections between professionalisation, work-life balance, and livelihood options among Hungarian musicians. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews, content analysis, and participant observations, this paper aims to discover tendencies in the lives of people who work in the local music industry. The thesis unveils similar patterns to the relevant international and Hungarian scientific literature. Namely, musicians feel the urge to develop more and more skills, and they are willing to invest time and energy into this, whereas they seem to struggle with finding balance between their professional and personal lives. Furthermore, many of them reported a conflict between their artistic freedom and meeting market demands. This topic could serve as the base of further investigation.