Industry Plants and Internalized Misogyny with Amanda Silberling

If you’re in the music sphere of the internet, you’ve probably seen the uproar of people yelling about industry plants. What are industry plants and why is everyone talking about them? Where do industry plants and internalized misogyny converge? The conversation began as a response to the pop-punk girl group Tramp Stamps that sent TikTok into a frenzy this April. If you’ve somehow managed to avoid it all, let us give you a brief rundown. 

 

Tramp Stamps are composed of three professional songwriters – Marisa Maino, Caroline Baker (both signed to Dr. Luke’s Prescription Songs) and Paige Blue. They’ve adopted a punk aesthetic and seemingly feminist ethos to appeal to TikTok teens. However, a deeper look at their recent single “I’d Rather Die” includes lyrical undertones of misandry and sexual coercion. Arguably not punk or feminist. The TikTok teens have seen right through the facade and called them out for their performative punk feminism. 

 

Tramp Stamps’s questionable lyrics and their quick rise to TikTok fame have led many to accuse the punk trio of being an industry plant. But are Tramp Stamps really an industry plant? Or is “industry plant” being used to discredit Tramp Stamps as it has been used to discredit other female artists’ credibility throughout history? 

In this week’s episode:

We’re joined by Culture Writer Amanda Silberling to discuss what an industry plant is and how the term has been used throughout music history. We also unpack what is happening with Tramp Stamps and where they band went wrong. Plus, we examine other artists such as Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, and The Runaways to see how they compare under the industry plant label. 

You can find Amanda Silberling on @asilwrites or listen to her podcast Wow If True, about what it’s like to go viral online.

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Want to talk more? Find us: @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million

This is a music commentary podcast based on pre-existing knowledge and facts cited below.

Past episodes of Name 3 Songs that might interest you are: The Most Criticized Women in Pop and The Inescapable Misogyny in Song Writing

Sources for Industry Plants and Internalized Misogyny

Stop Calling Artists ‘Industry Plants’ (Vice, Josh Terry, 2021)

What Is an Industry Plant? (Complex by Grant Rindner, 2020)

How did the ‘industry plant’ take root? (Chicago Reader by Leor Galil, 2019)

How a pop-punk girl group became the most hated band on TikTok (Vox, Rebecca Jennings, 2021)

Queer Punk Band with Ties to Dr. Luke Sparks Backlash on TikTok (Rolling Stone, Claire Shaffer, 2021)

The Curious Case of Clairo (The Ringer by Lindsay Zoladz, 2018)

How Lana Del Rey’s career explains a huge shift in the way we think about pop stars (VOX by Alex Abad-Santos and Constance Grady, 2019)

The Worst Industry Plants (YouTube: Fantano, by Anthony Fantano, 2021)

Tramp Stamps Respond (YouTube: TNDStreams, by Anthony Fantano, 2021)

Inside Prescription Songs, the Company Behind Some of 2020’s Biggest Hits (Billboard, Nolan Feeney, 2021)