Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry: The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars

148 Pages·2018·2.073 MB·English

by  Kristin Lieb

Reviews of the First Edition of Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry
“Gender, Branding, and The Modern Music Industry is the first text to demonstrate the impact of
branding and packaging on the career trajectories and possibilities for female pop artists. I can’t wait to
bring Kristin Lieb’s industry experience, insider access, lucid analysis and well-chosen examples into my
classes on gender and popular music.”
— Dr. Norma Coates, Associate Professor, Music and Information & Media Studies,
University of Western Ontario
“Those responsible for brand building will gain immensely useful new insights about the development
of high-value, sustainable brands while also learning a cautionary tale about the impact social
stereotypes have on the development of female celebrities in the music industry. This book shows why
Kristin Lieb has emerged as a leading scholar in brand building and the entertainment industry.”
— John A. Davis, Regional Director/Corporate Education, Duke University
“Kristin Lieb utilizes a well-known industry to shed light on the intersection of gender studies,
sociology, mass communication, and marketing… The book comes highly recommended not only as an
introductory text for undergraduate courses, but for anyone interested in the branding of female artists
in the music industry.”
— Contemporary Sociology
“I heartily recommend this lucid, intelligent and excellent study and welcome it as a valuable theoretical
and research model, and as a work that will greatly enhance mine and others’ communication of these
ideas in both the graduate and undergraduate classroom.”
— Dr. Jane Caputi, Professor, Women’s Studies and Communication, Florida Atlantic
University, reviewing for Sex Roles
“Lieb’s book is a must-read for any critical consumer wanting to look under the hood of the Western
corporate music industry. Just be prepared to find plenty of dirty mechanisms that make this machine
run.”
— Dr. Jordan McClain, Associate Professor of Communication, Drexel University, and
Christe Thompson, Drexel University, reviewing for Popular Music and Society
“A lucid and energetic writer, skillful in synthesizing theory with interviews, Lieb delivers an acute
study on the development of female pop stars. The book will resonate with both scholars and students.”
— Dr. Thomas M. Kitts, Professor of English and Speech, St. John’s University, reviewing
for Rock Music Studies
“The use of personal interviews from industry insiders is a particularly interesting approach. While it is
often the case that scholars observe the media industry as outsiders and critique it, for industry insiders
to share similar views is a significant contribution.”
— Dr. Barbara Pickering, Professor of Fine Arts and Media, University of Nebraska at
Omaha, reviewing for Journalism and Mass Communication Educator
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Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry
Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry combines interview data with music industry professionals
with theoretical frameworks from sociology, mass communication, and marketing to explain and explore the
gender differences female artists experience.
This book provides a rare lens on the rigid packaging process that transforms female artists of various
genres into female pop stars. Stars—and the industry power brokers who make their fortunes—have learned
to prioritize sexual attractiveness over talent as they fight a crowded field for movie deals, magazine covers,
and fashion lines, let alone record deals. This focus on the female pop star’s body as her core asset has resigned
many women to being “short term brands,” positioned to earn as much money as possible before burning out
or aging ungracefully. This book, which includes interview data from music industry insiders, explores the
sociological forces that drive women into these tired representations, and the ramifications for the greater
social world.
Kristin J. Lieb is an associate professor of marketing communication at Emerson College, where she also
teaches courses in the school’s Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies minor. She writes about branding in
various industries, and has worked as a freelance writer for Billboard and Rolling Stone, a researcher for
Harvard Business School, and a marketing and business development executive for several music-related
companies.
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Gender, Branding, and the Modern Music Industry
The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars
2nd Edition
Kristin J. Lieb
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Second edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Kristin J. Lieb
The right of Kristin J. Lieb to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the author.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lieb, Kristin, author.
Title: Gender, branding, and the modern music industry : the social construction of female popular music stars / Kristin J. Lieb.
Description: Second edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017039819 (print) | LCCN 2017042436 (ebook) | ISBN 9781315160580 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138064157 (hardback : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781138064164 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Women musicians. | Women in music. | Music trade–Social aspects. | Popular music–Social aspects.
Classification: LCC ML82 (ebook) | LCC ML82 .L54 2018 (print) | DDC 781.64082–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017039819
ISBN: 978-1-138-06415-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-06416-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16058-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Adobe Caslon
by Out of House Publishing
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to girls and women who persist … and ROCK!
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Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Cast of Characters Interviewed for this Book
Chapter 1 Critical Frameworks for Considering Pop Stars
Chapter 2 Female Popular Music Stars as Brands
Chapter 3 The Modern Music Industry
Chapter 4 The Lifecycle for Female Popular Music Stars
Chapter 5 The Lifecycle Model Part II
Chapter 6 The Lifecycle Model Part III
Chapter 7 Theoretical Foundations for the Lifecycle Model
Chapter 8 Intersectionality, Cultural Appropriation, and Gender-Based Harassment and Violence
Index
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Acknowledgments
The acknowledgments offered here supplement those offered in the first edition, as there would be no second
edition without the first. For this edition, I would first like to thank my participants for making the time to
talk with me again—this work simply wouldn’t be possible—or anywhere near as colorful—without you! I
would also like to acknowledge Eileen Glanton Loftus, a dear friend and trusted editor who started editing
me at our college newspaper in 1989 and mercifully reprised her role as I readied the first edition, and now
this second edition, for publication; Erica Schatle, whose reference ingenuity helped me go boldly across
disciplines while remaining reasonably organized, efficient, and sane throughout the research process; Parker
Simon, who has helped me immeasurably in creating compelling visual representations of my work over the
past five years; Mirena Chavdarova for creating the excellent illustrations included in this book; Nicholas
Levesque, for being the best draft-reader, commenter, and “angel in Kiss boots” I could imagine for the final
stretch of this project; Amy Wicks, my amazing graduate assistant for the first edition of the book; Jane
Caputi, Jordan McClain, Jessica Roubadeaux, Tulasi Srinivas, and Bob Thompson—five of my favorite,
brilliant, chronically overextended people—for making time to talk about various parts of this work at various
stages of development; Brandon Fox for being my honorary “li’l bro,” and for getting it done, always; Jay
McMahon for his formatting and design expertise; Brenda Wrigley and Lu Ann Reeb for their ongoing
support in my academic department; and my awesome dad, for being my awesome dad.
I’d also like to thank Samantha Barbaro, my editor/publisher at Routledge, and Erik Zimmerman, her
editorial assistant, for being a pleasure to work with throughout this process. I’d like to thank the project
reviewers, as well, for their insightful and helpful feedback on this second edition: Angela Cooke-Jackson
(California State University), Deli Yang (Trinity College), Paula Hearsum (Brighton College), Jane Stokes
(University of East London), and Helen Reddington (University of East London). Ruth-Anne Hurst of Out
of House Publishing and copy-editor Hester Higton also deserve thanks for working the book through the
production process seamlessly and efficiently.
Several Emerson colleagues—Peter Flynn, Erika Williams, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, Sylvia Spears, and
Miranda Banks—deserve thanks for their generosity in helping me in various, important ways after my first
edition was published; as do the faculty and administrators of Emerson College, who supported my
multidisciplinary work with both encouragement and a faculty advancement fund grant.
I’d also like to thank my undergraduate and graduate students at Emerson College, the ladies of Ladies
Rock Camp Boston, and the girls of Girls Rock Campaign Boston, for making this material thrilling to teach.
Dr. Carol M. Liebler, my dissertation advisor and friend, and Dr. Carla V. Lloyd, the generous professor
who first helped me to explore the ideas that led to my Lifecycle Model, deserve special thanks for being the
earliest champions of this work. Jean Kilbourne also deserves special recognition for creating Killing Us Softly,
the documentary series that rocked my world and changed my academic trajectory.
Last, but not least, many thanks to my all-time favorite female artists, who don’t often get the credit they
deserve for making great music: Annie Holland, Justine Frischmann, and Donna Matthews (Elastica); Carol
Van Dyk (Bettie Serveert); Courtney Love (solo and with Hole); Exene Cervenka (X); Fiona Apple; Jenny
Lewis (Rilo Kiley); Joan Jett (solo and with The Runaways and The Blackhearts); Kim Deal (with The Pixies
and The Breeders); Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth); Liz Phair; Lucinda Williams; Neko Case (solo and with The
New Pornographers); PJ Harvey; and Tanya Donnelly (solo, with Belly, and with Throwing Muses).
And to so many others, for providing the songs and albums that turned into the soundtrack of much of my
life: Adele; Aimee Mann; Alanis Morissette; Alison Mosshart (The Dead Weather and The Kills); Amanda
Palmer; Amy Winehouse; Annie Lennox; Aretha Franklin; Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson (The B-52s);
Babes in Toyland; Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock, Jane Wiedlin, and Kathy Valentine (The
Go-Go’s); Beth Ditto (Gossip); Beyoncé; Bonnie Raitt; Bridget Cross (Unrest and Velocity Girl); Brittany
Howard (Alabama Shakes); Carla Thomas; Carly Simon; Carrie Brownstein, Corrin Tucker, and Janet Weiss
(Sleater-Kinney); Cheryl “Salt” James, DJ Spinderella, and Sandra “Pepa” Denton (Salt-N-Pepa); Chrissie
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Hynde (The Pretenders); Correne Spero, Julie “Hesta Prynn” Potash, and Robyn “Sprout” Goodmark
(Northern State); Cyndi Lauper; Deborah Harry (Blondie); Diana Ross (solo and with The Supremes);
Dionne Warwick; Dominique Durand (Ivy); Dusty Springfield; Etta James; Florence Welch (Florence + The
Machine); Hilken Mancini and Chris Toppin (Fuzzy); Gillian Welch; Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak); Jill Cunniff
and Vivian Trimble (Kostars and Luscious Jackson); Jo Stanli Walston and Cherilyn diMond (The Meat
Purveyors); Jone Stebbins and Lynn Truell (Imperial Teen); Juliana Hatfield (solo and with Blake Babies);
Kathleen Edwards; Kay Hanley (solo and with Letters to Cleo); k.d. lang; Kelly Clarkson; Kelly Willis;
Kristin Hersh (solo and with Throwing Muses); Kori Gardner (Mates of State); Lady Gaga; Lora Logic and
Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex); Lauryn Hill (solo and with The Fugees); Leslie Day, Lori Yorkman, and Tina
Cannellas (The Prissteens); Lily Allen; Linda Ronstadt; Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas,
and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins (TLC); Macy Gray; Madonna; Manda Rin (Bis); Mary Gauthier; Meg White
(The White Stripes); Melissa Etheridge; Norah Jones; Peaches; Regina Spektor; Roberta Flack; Sade; Sheryl
Crow; Shirley Manson (Garbage); Sia; Sinead O’Connor; Stevie Nicks (solo and with Fleetwood Mac);
Susanna Hoffs (with The Bangles and with Matthew Sweet); Tina Turner; Tina Weymouth (Talking
Heads); Toni Braxton; Tracy Bonham; and Whitney Houston.
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List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 The Cultural Diamond
3.1 Fan influences and music discovery mechanisms
3.2 Indie star influences and considerations
3.3 Pop star influences and considerations
4.1 Lifecycle Model for female popular music stars
Tables
2.1 Best-selling female pop stars (historical, includes sales and streams)
2.2 Best-selling female pop stars (current, includes sales and streams)
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