| Summary: | Chapter six focuses on the artists’ need to create and control a masculine, ethical Islamic persona to come across as authentically devout. They have to do this in a consumer culture fixated by celebrity culture and the market value of handsome artists. The chapter discusses the sexualisation of artists and the strategies of Awakening and its artists over time deal with this. The growth of interactive social media around 2014 causes a change in marketing and communication between artists and fans. The chapter uses that as a dividing line and describes the strategies before and after giving examples from, among others, Harris J and Sami Yusuf and Maher Zain. The major difference is that with the less regulated communication that followed with social media, Awakening has allowed for more fun and spontaneity in the marketing of its artists. Before 2014, the male artists were very solemn and clearly marketed in a way meant to contrast dominant popular music strategies. This change has appeared in tandem with the confidence that has come with success. The chapter ends with a discussion about possible future female artists signed to Awakening.
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