The Big Topic: How will music compete in an era when content is king?
In the past, music offered a way to associate yourself with a specific tribe that expressed a version of your identity, whether this was being a fan of Blur over Oasis, The Rolling Stones over The Beatles, a metalhead or a Mod. Now, simply being a music fan that has the ability to listen to an album in its entirety places you into a niche category.
During previous eras, bands and artists competed solely with other similar acts. People were forced to choose wisely about which album they wanted to save up and purchase. Then, they’d study the sleeve and fawn over every aspect of the record. Whereas, in a world where every possible recording, film, TV show, podcast, YouTuber and more is available at the touch of a button, simply finding a person to give an album a chance is a significant achievement.
Of course, the impact is that fewer superstars are born, resulting in a lack of genuine artists with the ability to become a household name. The major label record business can no longer grow artists in a lab and turn them into pop stars. Meanwhile, even those who can comfortably sell out arenas can still likely walk down the street freely. While the latter is positive, it does speak volumes about how music’s role in society has changed and the tastes of youth have altered.
Of course, there will always be a sector of us in society who still buy albums religiously and treat them as an art form, as intended, but it would be ludicrous to suggest that’s commonplace. Thanks to social media algorithms, we all exist in our own small and manufactured universe. Even though bands like Wet Leg managed to secure a number-one album, they’ve probably not entered your consciousness unless you’re invested in indie music.
Recently, Warner Music Group CEO, Steve Cooper, spoke at a conference in San Francisco and said: “In running our portfolio, what we’ve done over the last number of years is reduce our [financial] dependency on superstars. [And] reducing that dependency has allowed us to continue to reinforce our approach to A&R, which is long-term artist development.”
He added: “We try and find artists at the beginning of their career so that we can build their career with them, but [via] a set of economics that we believe are reasonable and rational, as opposed to economics that we often observe in other deals that frankly we don’t understand.”
Cooper’s comments show how the music industry is changing, and it’s now more viable to have a range of artists with moderate success in different niches rather than being reliant on creating superstars because that’s no longer possible.
A new report by Billboard reads: “From 2001 to 2004, over 30 first-timers cracked the top 10 annually. In 2019, however, only 15 first-timers reached the top 10, and 2021 had the lowest number of new entrants this millennium: just 13.”
On the one hand, it has never been easier for musicians to find an audience for their art, but there’s also never been more content to compete with. Although ‘content’ is a crass word to describe music, for many, songs are nothing more than background noise on TikTok. We need to understand that a large audience would rather spend their free time watching somebody else play video games on Twitch rather than seek out new sounds.
Although there are still anomalies arriving in the shape of artists such as Billie Eilish, who managed to rise to the top abnormally fast, she only has one number-one hit in the United States to her name. These success stories are becoming incredibly rare, and getting an invite into the elusive top-tier club of pop music is an impossible dream for most hopeful musicians.
Times are changing, and we are now seeing a wealth of music being created with the ambition of being used in 15-second loops on social media, with the art form adapting to the medium. While trends have always dictated popular music to a degree, those who are remembered as true innovators are those who only dance to the sound of their own drum.
As we know it, music will always still exist, albeit likely on a smaller scale, and the days of it constantly having mass societal appeal are over. The excitement surrounding the new album by Arctic Monkeys is a throwback to a different era. the Sheffield band is carefully launching The Car in a way that treats the record as a body of work rather than a selection of songs thrown onto Spotify to accumulate streams. However, the harsh reality is most bands are not the Arctic Monkeys, and the music industry is no longer the golden goose of the entertainment sector, unlike the gaming market or Hollywood.
With National Album Day arriving on October 15th, it’s a timely reminder to appreciate the sanctity of the traditional LP and head to a record store this weekend to pick an album out before returning home to soak in its beauty.
