52 BILLBOARD | AUGUST 10 , 2 019
MARKETING WITH MEANING
QUEER MUSIC FANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LOYAL (AND LUCRATIVE) CUSTOMERS. BUT
TO REACH THEM, LABELS NOW HAVE TO LOOK BEYOND THE DANCEFLOOR
BY MITCHELL KUGA
S
HORTLY AFTER THE 1996
release of Tori Amos’ third
studio album, Boys for Pele,
Atlantic Records approached
DJ Armand Van Helden
about remixing her song
“Professional Widow.” The
request came from Atlantic’s
three-person gay and lesbian marketing
division, which was formed in 1995 with the goal
of promoting Atlantic artists to queer audiences
— the first department of its kind among major
labels. Though the request wasn’t explicitly for a
“gay remix,” it went without saying. “Gay clubs
often premiered music ideas, and that included
remixes,” says Marc Mannino, who was the
division’s coordinator from 1995 to 1998.
Van Helden shed the song’s mournful
harpsichord riff and transformed it into
a four-on-the-floor rave-up — and the
response in nightclubs was immediate. Most
importantly, “Professional Widow (Armand’s
Star Trunk Funkin’ Mix)” generated
grassroots buzz around Amos’ album,
particularly among queer listeners. “People
still get goose bumps [when they hear that
remix] and can recall that moment on the
dancefloor,” says Mannino, now executive
producer at audio production company Swell
Music + Sound. “Those kinds of things have
long-lasting effects on an artist’s career.”
Back in that largely pre-internet time,
marketing to gay and lesbian consumers was
relatively straightforward: reach them at the
places where they shopped and partied. In
the club-centric ’90s, Mannino says remixes
played a big part in that strategy, as did booking
performances by straight artists with gay
appeal (like singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik
and British duo Everything but the Girl) at
venues like Barracuda, a Manhattan gay bar.
Atlantic also convinced bookstores, clothing
shops and Starbucks locations in predominately
gay neighborhoods to sell records by artists like
Jewel and Pet Shop Boys.
Today, though, marketing artists to the
LGBTQ community has evolved into a
cottage industry of boutique agencies, whose
efforts have expanded far beyond nightlife.
Instead, as corporations increasingly pursue
the LGBTQ community’s dollars, and as
social media makes activist causes more
accessible, these agencies describe their work
as largely advocacy-driven: educating clients
about issues and legislation affecting the
LGBTQ community; facilitating partnerships
with organizations and brands that support