ABSTRACT
A certain kind of transaction appears to be at the heart of such support by musicians for causes: they bring their fame to the cause, drawing their fans’ attention to it, and in return the movement offers them the opportunity to endorse the posture of the committed artist and to reach new audiences. The terms and conditions of this transaction will be at the heart of discussion in this article, as they help to identify what is at stake in this partnership between musicians and movements, and understanding them can bring new light on the relationship between art and politics. Despite the fact that there is always a material dimension to these transactions (even if a singer plays for free, organizing a concert or producing a record both costs and raises money), I will mostly focus here on the more complex and consequential aspect of their symbolic component.
