Jenelle Yap Zhi Ting

This dissertation investigates how traditional music organisations in East and Southeast Asia balance cultural authenticity and marketing to contemporary audiences under late capitalism.

Using a purposive case study design, it examines three institutions: the National Centre for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (South Korea), the Orkestra Melayu Singapura (Singapore) and the Kunitachi College of Music (Japan). These organisations were selected for their institutional variety that ranges from educational institutions to state agency and community ensemble.

The study presents three primary findings that reframe the relationship between authenticity and marketing. First, state institutional control functions as an “authenticity arbiter”, where governmental frameworks provide stable reference points that paradoxically enable market-driven innovation by defining a secure cultural core.

Second, digital platforms function not only as promotional tools but as “cultural re-legitimation tools”. Platforms like Instagram and YouTube allow organisations to reconstruct the meaning of tradition, transferring contemporary cultural capital—such as the “hip” image that is associated with K-pop — onto ancient musical forms to foster parasocial relationships with younger audiences.

Third, the dissertation introduces the concept of a “segmented authenticity portfolio”, where successful organisations distribute cultural and commercial risks by maintaining multiple simultaneous ensemble units that perform different forms of authenticity for different audience segments. This diversification enables organisations to satisfy diverse stakeholder expectations and secure financial viability without compromising their claims to traditional legitimacy.

Ultimately, the research contributes to arts management scholarship by demonstrating that authenticity under late capitalism is an actively constructed, multidimensional resource. The findings suggest that institutional longevity depends on sophisticated strategic frameworks that integrate state policies, digital meaning-making and portfolio diversification.