Death becomes them: Musicians and psychological reactance

Psychological reactance comes into play when something which audiences are used to enjoying is taken away.  An extreme version of this is death, often said to be a great career move for out-of-fashion artists.

The Charlie Parker 'brand' is nowhere near
as strong as Elvis's.  Picture: Life Magazine

Paul Simon (still very much alive) has a song about this, on his 1983 album Hearts and Bones.  The Late Great Johnny Ace tells the story of how an obscure musician's career is boosted by his sad death.  The song goes on to refer to the shooting of John Lennon, and perfectly describes the whole
phenomenon of longing for something once it has passed.

Well not quite.  When painters die, their work invariably becomes more valuable: simply put, there will be no more pictures.  But in the case of recorded music death is merely the gateway to a whole new posthumous career.

Forbes Magazine has produced an annual report on top earning dead musicians for some years now, and their chart for 2014 is now available online.  Michael Jackson may have passed away in 2009, but this didn't stop him releasing a new album Xscape in May.  Elvis left us 37 years ago but his estate is still taking in the money through his back catalogue, merchandise and through tourism. You can even follow Elvis on Twitter.  Spooky.  Meanwhile the Bob Marley brand continues to be extended with new ranges of Marley foods, lifestyle products and clothing.  Marley died in 1981 but still speaks to us through the miracle of social media.

Each of these musicians is arguably more successful in death than they were in their lifetimes.  Their passing triggered grief among their loyal fans, while the media attention helped to bring their music to the notice of  much wider audiences worldwide.  At the same time the managers responsible for the late musicians were quick to identify the commercial potential in the short term, and to manage the 'brands' in the longer term.

Death is not a universal panacea though.  Most of jazz musicians lived and died in obscurity, and while there have been attempts to revive 'brands' such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, there has been nothing on the scale of what happened to Elvis, Jackson and Marley. US audiences can order their Miles Davis T-shirts and other merchandise: in Europe we just get offered the music.

Death: Please don't try this at home, folks.