NPR.

This is the indicator from planet money and Darym Woods.

And I'm Waylon Wong.

Lisa Loeb is the singer-songwriter behind the 90s billboard hit, Stay.

I have belted this song many times.

Is today going to be one of those days, Whelam?

No, I'm not going to sing on this show.

Well, I only hear what I want, and so I heard you singing in my head.

Lisa is known for her signature look, which is cat eye glasses. Not the cat eye of my grandmother, which is sort of that grandma, pointy, very pointy, pinched look, but it was a little bit more

of kind of a sexy librarian. And I just realized it was a really flattering shape,

and it was one that I really gravitated towards.

Lisa said people would often say to her,

you should have your own line of eyewear.

And she initially resisted this idea.

I think people were seen as dilettantes

when you were just as interested in the t-shirts you were making as the

music that you were making. But as the music industry changed, so did Lisa's thinking. And she

launched her first collection of glasses frames in 2010. I think now people see somebody's lipstick

brand as a creative outlet, just like they might see a song.

These days, celebrity brands are more than creative outlets. They're also big business.

Stars are starting their own companies and marketing products directly to their fans.

So what is fueling this celebrity business bonanza?

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