Capitalizing on Stigma: Valuation Arbitrage in Norwegian Black Metal

Erik Aadland and Stoyan Sgourev ()
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Erik Aadland: BI Norwegian Business School [Oslo]
Stoyan Sgourev: Audencia Business School

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Abstract: Studies of destigmatization in markets typically feature targeted actors and audiences. This paper changes the analytical perspective by exploring the role of market intermediaries. It highlights the practice of "valuation arbitrage," employed by intermediaries to capitalize on differences between the valuation of a product in stigmatized and non-stigmatized conditions. This practice may reduce the exclusionary power of stigma by facilitating the integration of targeted actors into product or labor markets.We investigate valuation arbitrage in the context of Norwegian black metal: a heavy metal genre that became notorious in the mid-1990s for its involvement in criminal activities. The analysis is abductive in nature, as an exploration of qualitative data allows us to identify a pattern and formulate an expectation that is then tested with quantitative data. An event history analysis of the hazard of a first record release attests to valuation arbitrage by international record labels that signed local bands to build up international demand, reinterpreting the transgressions as a sign of authenticity.

Keywords: Valuation arbitrage; stigma; black metal; authenticity. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05457180v1
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Published in Academy of Management Discoveries, 2025, 11 (4), pp.575-594. ⟨10.5465/amd.2023.0270⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05457180

DOI: 10.5465/amd.2023.0270

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