ABSTRACT
This chapter explores interpretive approaches taken within house museums associated with popular music performers. It focuses on modes of communication, examining how the interpretation of these residences is realised and what impact this has on visitor reception. The presentation of the Hendrix flat taps into the “experience economy” and works with conceptions of authenticity to generate affective visitor responses, engendering a feeling of connection to the heritage of the restored home. The processes of converting a musician's former home into a museum reveal decision making around ideas of cultural worth and heritage value, and are bound up with the allocation of financial support. Government bodies and publicly funded organisations have been instrumental in making heritage claims over musicians' properties and marking them as sites of historical interest, even if not open to the public. The commemoration of musicians' homes connects to a broader set of political issues concerned with representation, cultural visibility, diverse histories, and power structures.
