Making art in a world of consumerism is a bit of a backwards proposition.
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Making art in a world of consumerism is a bit of a backwards proposition. I do the labor before I know if anyone wants it, then I try to find people who want it. Global scale only encourages this one-sided creation. I send my art out into the global pool and hope it reaches somebody. Performing live faces a similar predicament.
Without a doubt, Spotify and other platforms make matters worse. They siphon the world's listeners by providing an unending stream of options and give nothing in return. Even playing live seems affected by this dynamic. Live shows are a dime a dozen and contend with celebrity acts rolling through town. As a musician, do I make an effort to engage beyond putting myself out there on stage? Does anyone care? As a show-goer, the experience feels tainted by the infinite options available to me. Sure, there's a human in the same room breathing the same air, but it's just live entertainment. Why bother trying to have a conversation? I came, I saw, now I go home and return to the comfort and convenience of infinity.
I think a big part of what's lost in making any kind of art today is a sense of community. Community can exist on the World Wide Web, though my relationships there might not be as deep and enduring as those I maintain in person. Yet, it's important to remember that digital distribution is just one tool in our toolbox.
To mend this situation, I feel our tools might account for these symptoms to help us restore some balance. Global-scale efforts feel increasingly harmful. We need avenues for exposure, support, and interaction that put local and like-minded first. Anything online involves middlemen to some extent, but what if musicians had their own websites under their control by default? Having a website doesn't guarantee exposure, so we might boost its effectiveness by using technology like ActivityPub and by methods of self-organizing like webrings to connect with other like-minded websites.
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The problem starts with the fact that anyone almost anywhere can distribute their audio files. The glut this has created has potential listeners swimming in new releases. Spotify amplifies the malaise by shoving "related" tracks in the streams of unpaid subscribers. The situation now is that many so-called "listeners" are using music as sonic wallpaper, and that's not a new concept. But how are your tracks going to get traction if they're just a music bed to lovemaking, exercising, working, sleeping and wine tasting? It's been said many times, listeners to a playlist probably didn't get the artist's name unless they were blown away.
I've written about this several times, the latest being "I Am Your Wallpaper" where I give the details of how my music is sent through Spotify's algorithmic playlists to (at the time is was written) twelve thousand listeners a month. It quickly feel to under 7,000 when one song was dropped from their editorial "Blues Covers" list. The same track that was sending 250-300 streams per day on Spotify was gettng 10 a week on Apple Music.
The only solution I can see in the near future is to find ways to play live. Many of you probably stream live, which is cool. I'm too old to play live other than occasionally, and I don't feel like streaming live, even though I can improvise like many do on Twitch, etc. Playing live would allow sales of physical media, too. Several sites to sell media and merch, like Ampwall, can help, but you still need to find a way to send the potential audience there. That's the thing about Spotify, it has the biggest audience and a playlist ecosystem that spoon feeds them. Is it possible that some day, a community (like this one?) will find a paradigm that actually works for the artist? I'll happily lend my support. Like I said in my intro, I join everything.
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The problem starts with the fact that anyone almost anywhere can distribute their audio files. The glut this has created has potential listeners swimming in new releases. Spotify amplifies the malaise by shoving "related" tracks in the streams of unpaid subscribers. The situation now is that many so-called "listeners" are using music as sonic wallpaper, and that's not a new concept. But how are your tracks going to get traction if they're just a music bed to lovemaking, exercising, working, sleeping and wine tasting? It's been said many times, listeners to a playlist probably didn't get the artist's name unless they were blown away.
I've written about this several times, the latest being "I Am Your Wallpaper" where I give the details of how my music is sent through Spotify's algorithmic playlists to (at the time is was written) twelve thousand listeners a month. It quickly feel to under 7,000 when one song was dropped from their editorial "Blues Covers" list. The same track that was sending 250-300 streams per day on Spotify was gettng 10 a week on Apple Music.
The only solution I can see in the near future is to find ways to play live. Many of you probably stream live, which is cool. I'm too old to play live other than occasionally, and I don't feel like streaming live, even though I can improvise like many do on Twitch, etc. Playing live would allow sales of physical media, too. Several sites to sell media and merch, like Ampwall, can help, but you still need to find a way to send the potential audience there. That's the thing about Spotify, it has the biggest audience and a playlist ecosystem that spoon feeds them. Is it possible that some day, a community (like this one?) will find a paradigm that actually works for the artist? I'll happily lend my support. Like I said in my intro, I join everything.
Ah I missed this thread! Great posts here, with great points.
I think this idea of “frictionless” music listening, where all the choices are being made by unaccountable algorithms, is what we’re struggling against. It’s a similar situation to radio: mainstream corpo radio where the DJs can’t even choose what they want to play. Human curation is relegated to smaller, community efforts.
But because the idea of “choosing and buying singles or albums” is now so niche (physical or download), the likes of Spotify are now kinda the only game in town when it comes to music discovery. And, as @anon78643841 points out, being supported by their system isn’t even that great.
So definitely, we have to rebuild our smaller DIY communities, and find ways to connect our communities together to rebuild DIY networks. ActivityPub is a lovely hub for that, in my experience, and similarly IRL community building like regular nights with different performers.
