There once was a time, eons ago, that making it in music could be done organically. One could gain popularity over radio or even word of mouth. Now, radio is dead and people trust the Internet more than real life people. Music is becoming more of a business than an art form, and I am scared.
For an artist to reach commercial success, the most straightforward strategy is hopping onto social media and promoting their work there. It sounds simple enough, but to gaining attention on these platforms means pumping out content on a daily basis. Promoting inevitably takes up more time and energy than actually making the music which takes away from the quality of work. Despite this, many have noticed that creating something that the social media algorithm will like is extremely profitable. This has led to music that is good for exactly thirty seconds or less blowing up to extreme degrees.
These songs aren’t bad though; they play their part in the music world and can be fun. Criticizing people who listen to ‘TikTok’ music isn’t a productive conversation to have–things are popular for a reason. The issue arises when trending music is the only type of music being platformed. Smaller artists tend to stay small while a specific type of music blows up. Music that is attention grabbing will almost always gain a disproportionate amount of attention in comparison to something more subdued. Those who complain about the quality of music declining in our generation fail to recognize that it has more to do with the economic landscape of music changing than a lack of artistry.
There are ways to combat this though, and it all starts on an individual scale. Buying the music of an artist, especially smaller ones, goes a long way. Streaming has been an incredible tool for artists to put their work out without the help of a label, but it only makes so much money. Buying their music makes them more profit and helps them focus on making good music rather than promoting it. As well as this, finding and sharing music organically lessens the reliance artists have on social media for promoting their work. Social media is an incredible tool to find new music, but it shouldn’t be the source to share music –finding music by talking to people and reading about it often feels more fulfilling.
Ultimately, the rise of social media has shifted the way we view and consume art as an audience. It’s important that we do what we can to keep music alive as it continues to get more and more commercialized. Remember that music is an art form–that is something we should never forget.
