Selling Out: Culture, Commerce and Popular Music

Selling Out: Culture, Commerce and Popular Music by Bethany Klein ’99 traces the evolution of “selling out” debates in popular music culture and asks what might be lost when the boundary between culture and commerce is dismissed as a relic. The relationship between popular music and consumer brands has never been so cozy. Activities that were once considered “selling out” are now considered savvy, or even ordinary, strategies. What forces have encouraged musicians to become willing partners of consumer brands? At what cost? And how do changes in popular music culture reflect broader trends of commercialization? (Bloomsbury, 2020)

Bethany Klein is a professor of media and communication at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on the relationship of popular culture to promotional culture and media policy. She is the author of As Heard on TV: Popular Music in Advertising (Ashgate 2009) and co-author of Understanding Copyright: Intellectual Property in the Digital Age (SAGE 2015).