ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the importance of positioning and expectation in the musical branding experience. Using the O2 event as a case study, it first explores how Hillsong and its collaborators used music as a ‘register of style’ to position themselves as distinct brands within the global evangelical Christian imagined and imaginary utopian community of the ‘Body of Christ’. The chapter uses interviews conducted with two of the events’ participants to explore the ways in which brand identity framed expectations of participation and experience. It also uses the experiences of two more of the event’s participants to question the ways in which branding afforded or hindered actual participation and experience. The chapter concludes by suggesting that, although Hillsong’s brand meaning is derived from feelings of participation in a local and transnational community, the process of branding may in some cases preclude participation and therefore may be at odds with Hillsong’s utopian brand promise.
