Recently, musician Douwe Bob was called an anti-Semite by VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz. In the same eventful week, artists Kneecap and Bob Vylan were criticised by British and American politicians after their statements during a festival. ‘This is of all times,’ says Prof Dr Pauwke Berkers in Trouw. ‘But something has changed: social media.’
Pauwke Berkers is a professor of music sociology at Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication. He sees politicians hijacking art more often to convey their political message, making it an issue once media adopt it. In Trouw, Berkers cites examples from the 1990s, with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and rapper Ice-T. The difference with those days is the amplifying effect of social media, he points out.
"Statements are widely shared on social media these days. They are also amplified by all kinds of algorithms which means that a statement is no longer confined to the festival site, but has a much wider reach. As a result, statements are more quickly used to push a political agenda."
The followed is that artists are threatened or boycotted. And not only politicians, festivals themselves are also concerned about controversial statements by artists, Berkers explains. "Big festivals often need private equity to pay the big artists. As a result, risk management plays a much bigger role now than it did in the past."
- Professor
