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Richard Dyer's Star Theroy

Richard Dryer, professor at King's College in London and media theorist, had a rather cynical take on the way consumers see music idols, or stars. His theory states that stars are modelled and constructed by the companies they are signed to, in order to meet a need and appeal to a market. Most of this involves making the stars seem like normal people, so that their audience can empathise with them, but also make the stars seem like extraordinary people (Donating to charities, campaigning for equal rights, etc), so that audiences can admire them. This makes t very easy to create a brand image for the artist. 

It is worth noting that this theory may not apply to all artists, as the Hoosiers have not being signed to a record label for 5 years, and have maintained at least a very similar band image before, during and after being signed, we can assume their image is genuine, or at least not conducted by a record label. Sometimes it is down to the consumer to decide whether they believe Dyer's theory, in interviews with musicians it's usually a lot easier to dismiss his theory because you're seeing them in a casual light. But interviews are almost always prerecorded and carefully edited, so we may not be able to believe what we see, as we never see celebrities off camera. 

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