This thesis focuses on the emerging and structuring of the field of popular music in France, from the 1970s to the present day. A case study of eight nonprofit music venues is provided to document it. Using a neo-institutionalist framework and the concept of institutional entrepreneur, we demonstrate how founders and managers of nonprofit music venues have actively taken part in the constitution of this new organizational field. A three-step model is proposed, as well as an overview of social conditions enabling entrepreneurial endeavors. The research underlines a reciprocal influence between nonprofit entrepreneurs and government in shaping the field, and sheds new light on the institutional character of France's "associations".
