I lately wrote about the unflattening of music, how creativity, craft and fandom can – if accomplished proper – counter the rising commodification of music. Not surprisingly, I targeted on the music aspect of the equation however in doing so I missed the opposite massive flattening problem music faces, not from music however from artists themselves, or reasonably what artists are having to develop into.
Music, or at the very least common music, has at all times been extra than simply concerning the music, it has been the artist too. But if there was beforehand some sort of equilibrium, the steadiness between craft and character has tilted firmly to the latter. It has accomplished so as a result of the social ecosystems during which the music enterprise operates, reward character greater than they do craft. The music enterprise must discover a option to extract itself from this tradition meatgrinder.
A current Rick Beato video critiqued a significant label exec for his concentrate on the social prowess of artists. Social has accomplished greater than the rest to push the steadiness in direction of character. With its concentrate on the private, social has inherently shifted the advertising burden onto the shoulders of the artist. They are those that almost all usually construct model, viewers and streams from their social exercise. Social now accounts for 17% of all leisure time, greater than streaming music (13%) however its comfortable energy is greater than its share-of-time laborious energy. This is as a result of social is commonly our discovery entry level for the whole lot else. For instance, TikTookay is the primary place Gen Z uncover new music.
But music is only one sub-strand of social, which signifies that artists are competing with all different creators for consideration. Which is sophisticated additional by the truth that algorithms nichify the whole lot, making chopping via more durable nonetheless.
Building fan relationships often is the excellent, however finally the algorithm rewards ‘buzzy’ behaviours and artists discover themselves not solely having to repeatedly say one thing, however having to say one thing that cuts via. So, it isn’t even artists’ character that’s being pushed, however an exaggerated, caricature. Artists find yourself, deliberately or in any other case, constructing a persona, a personality. It is due to this double that means (i.e. character AND persona) that I take advantage of the phrase ‘character’ – that, and since it alliterates properly with ‘craft’ 😊
When labels (clearly not all of them, however a lot of them) search for artists which have robust social followings, they see that as a mirrored image of the artist’s recognition and potential. It is, however extra so, it’s a reflection of the artist’s character and the suitability of that character to the social algorithm.
All of this may be a worth price paying, have been it not for the unintended effects:
- Social isn’t really that efficient: Despite all the trouble put into social, its conversion fee isn’t nice. Only a minority of individuals stream music they uncover on social. The music enterprise thinks of social as a funnel however actually it’s extra like panning for gold, with water streaming out of the underside (pun meant) however what’s essential being left behind – the gold nuggets of fandom, identification and neighborhood.
- We can’t see the ‘whys’: Music entrepreneurs can measure the results of virality (the ‘whats’) however not the causes (the ‘whys’). They can’t inform whether or not it was the track or the creator that created the viral second. They can observe correlation however not causality.
- Passive fandom: Viral moments are the results of passive fandom, however artist success relies on deeper, energetic fandom.
- Character will be an impediment: Artist character is essential however it’s only a part of why we just like the music we do. We all like some music by artists we don’t significantly like as individuals. But the extra we depend on the artist’s character as our route into their music, the extra possible we’re to not have interaction with music in any respect if we don’t just like the artist. And with streaming flattening music, there may be progressively much less likelihood of us serendipitously discovering a ‘real’ artist’s music on streaming, sans character.
- Craft will get relegated: With the concentrate on doing and saying stuff that fires up the social algorithm, the craft of music loses floor. Either as a result of artists discover themselves with much less time to make music, or as a result of labels and administration signal the artists who emphasise character over craft, content material over composition.
In many respect, artists and labels can’t be criticized for enjoying to the system. If they don’t, they danger failure. They are caught up in a system that rewards character over craft. So, what’s the resolution? It is far simpler stated than accomplished, however the music business wants social locations the place both music alone lives, or at the very least it has a starring function. Apple tried and failed years in the past with iTunes Ping! but it surely was the improper execution and on the improper time. It was mainly TikTookay 10 years earlier than TikTookay, however not accomplished very nicely.
To succeed, this new place (or locations) must keep away from making the identical errors as right this moment’s social apps. It might want to emphasise music over character. It will should be a spot with out trolling. Which will possible imply gated fan communities, the place dangerous behaviour isn’t tolerated, maybe leveraging the Twitch mannequin of community-led moderation. Ideally, it’ll even be a sluggish web, a spot the place virality, likes and follower counts take second place to neighborhood, tradition and actual dialog.
Sounds ridiculously idealistic proper? Perhaps it’s, however these are the underlying values of human society. Technology has shifted us away from them and AI threatens to push us even additional away. People are compelled into behaviours that make sense to the machine greater than they do to people. Anyone who has seen the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown can have seen an artist that wished it to be all about his music, who didn’t need to must be a star. Things won’t ever be like that once more, and certainly there are various methods during which right this moment’s world is immeasurably higher. But over the intervening a long time the pendulum has swung solely in the other way. Now the time is true for it to settle someplace within the center.