Dyer's Star Theory

Stars and Stardom

To understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, it is important to understand the roles that music stars play. Being a 'star' refers to a semi-mythological set of meanings that are constructed around music performers. These meanings sell the performer to a large and loyal audience.

Some common values of music stardom:

• Youthfulness
• Rebellion
• Sexual Magnetism
• An anti-authoritarian attitude
• Originality
• Creativity/talent
• Aggression/anger
• A disregard for social values related to sex, drugs and polite behaviour
• Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods
• Success against the odds

Dyer

Dyer has written extensively about the role of stars in film, TV and music. He says that irrespective of the medium, stars have key features in common. A star is an image not a person. Being a star is a constructed concept made out of various materials such as advertising and magazines. Stars are viewed as commodities that are produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.

Stars depend on a range of subsidiary media, such as magazines and the internet, in order to construct an image foe themselves that can be marketed to their target audiences. The star image is constructed of a range of meanings which are attractive to target audiences.

The star image is incoherent, meaning it is incomplete and 'open'. Dyer says that this is because it is based upon two key paradoxes. Paradox 1 is that the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer and paradox 2 is that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. This means that a star must be extraordinary and absent to give them the semi-mythological status that being a star requires. However, they must also appear ordinary and present so that the audience and consumers can relate to them more personally.

The star image

The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences that continually strive to 'complete' and 'make sense' of the image. This is achieved through continued consumption of the star through his or her products.

In the music industry, performance seems to promise the completion of the image, but is always ultimately unsatisfying. This means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to continue trying to complete the image.

Finally, the star image  can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant social values. Depending on the artist, this may mean that they are positioned against the mainstream (although only to a certain degree), or within the mainstream, or somewhere in-between.


Justin Bieber:

Justin Bieber's star image has been constructed through his music, music videos, magazines and social media. When the star of Justin Bieber was first created his image was recognisable for his hairstyle and he was marketed to young teenage girls. His hair became a trend. He had values such as youthfulness and creativity which contributed to his stardom. His music reflected his youthful teenage self by singing about girls which is a typical teenage boy trait. He has 40 million followers on Twitter and has a huge fan base who call themselves 'Bieliebers' or are said to have 'Bieber Fever'.

However as the years have past, his good boy star image became too predictable and boring. So his image was redesigned. He changed his iconic hairstyle to attract and maintain popularity as it was unexpected. In addition, he has been reported about negatively in the media. He was caught smoking weed and attacking photographers. This gave Bieber an aspect of rebellion, being aggressive and having a disregard for social values. This enhanced his star image giving him media coverage which lead to more popularity.