Recently, one of hip-hop’s major icons, Nipsey Hussle, had recently been murdered outside his co-owned shop last Sunday. His positive impact on the music industry and his activism to help the poor socioeconomic communities in Los Angeles had made him a popular artist among many. However, the news of his death created a wave of people to immediately use his death as a form of advertisement. Many people have milked the use of his music in their YouTube videos or used his name in titles to gain a surge of audiences. In the matter of fact, his active Instagram has just gained an estimated seven hundred thousand followers along with his music gaining more streams. Although we see this with many celebrities after their death, some individuals have used the names of such artist to milk out as much coverage for their benefit and profit out of those margins.
Despite the benefit of using an artist’s death as a form of further exposure, artists that continue to live past their deaths can be beneficial to future generations. I find that many artists today are influenced by other artists who have passed away but continue to live in current society because their work is still used and distributed. For instance, young rap artists XXXTentacion who was murdered is still producing music and artwork under his name. Although much of the work that is being distributed is being profited by his family, his unique form of screaming rap has influenced other artist to borrow from his style.
If we take a break from music and look into films, Stan Lee, the creator of many superheroes including Spiderman, holds an essential role in Marvel films. There is this tradition where he appears in many films as an easter egg for many fanatics. In the most recent Marvel film, Captain Marvel, Stan Lee had made an appearance even after his death. However, the fact that his name was never used as a marketing technique for the film itself, many fans were curious in how the company would be incorporated and maintained the tradition of Lee appearing in the films. Therefore, this continuous act not only interest fanatics in how the film will incorporate Lee into the film but also highlights the importance of tradition with Marvel films.
Although there are benefits to the use of celebrities names after their death, the question remains of where the line is drawn to respect those individuals and when should celebrities stop being used for profit.