What does it take for an artist to be
successful in the music industry today? What are some of the different ways
that artists have promoted themselves and their work? And do artists still need
the backing of a major record label in order to succeed? Limit: 6 responses
Chance the Rapper, one of today’s top R&B artists doesn’t need a record label… or does he?
ReplyDeleteChance the rapper is a prime example of one of the many rare artists who have tried to be successful (and succeeded) in the music industry by doing it solely on his or her own, or at least that’s what we think.
There are many factors that make an artist successful in the music industry. Social media is a huge aspect of artists’ growth. Justin Bieber is an excellent example of an artist who does collaborations, ranging from 2017’s Despacito, Dj Khalid’s “I’m The One”, David Guetta’s “2U” and many more. Others such as, Frank Ocean, Alessia Cara, Beyoncé, Chance the Rapper and Nicki Minaj were seen in the seven top 100 appearances. Crossovers, also prove to be successful from well-known artists, such as Beyoncé and her rendition of “Mi Gente” from by J.Balvin and Willy William’s Spanish-language, which had a total consumption volume of more than 1.8 million combined song sales and on-demand audio stream equivalent songs” (2017 U.S. Music Year-End Report). EDM did especially well, with DJ producers (The Chainsmokers, Kygo, Zed) collaborating with hit pop artists, while other EDM DJ producers, such as Calvin Harris and Marshmello teamed up with R&B artists, such as Frank Ocean, Khalid and Kehlani. In theory, artists that can appeal to a wide audience have shown to be successful. The top five genre artists in 2017 by Neilson Music were Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, P!nk and Sam Smith, who I would say have a wide range of fans from all ages.
Other ways to promote his or her work are social media, streaming services and live performances. Streaming which has opened a whole new world of possibilities, becoming 2017’s dominant music consumption platform, is great for marketing, creativity and culture. It is “fueling the music industry’s overall volume growth of 12.5% year over year” (2017 U.S. Music Year-End Report). Along with this, is the growth of Hip-Hop; having such an impact that it inaugurated a bunch of new artists, three of which have scored their first time Number one Hot 100 singles, which are Migos’ “Bad and Boujee”, Post Malone’s “Rockstar”, and Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow”, including other artists such as Camila Cabello, Khalid etc. The issue of striving artists is that they are “challenged to consistently create better and better material.” (Bromely, 2018).
Live performances have blossomed with ticket sales and record attendances of 50% of people in the U.S. going to at least one kind of live music event per year, with concerts being on the top of the list. “The internet killed the music industry in the 2000s but now appears to be bringing it back to life”. After sales were seen declining, there has been growth over several recent years of streaming music services going up by billions with $7.7 billion in total revenue in 2016, according to the Recording Industry Association of America” (Cullins 2018)
Even though there has been so much buzz regarding self-promoting artists and independently marketing one’s own music, record labels can still do a lot for striving artists. They have strong connections within their industry, important companies, important people etc. They know where you should distribute your music and when it is a good time to do so. There are still a lot of artists who have become successful, owing a great to his or her record labels. For example, Taylor Swift and Major Lazer are artists in particular who still do amazing using a record label to help promote them. “At International Music Summit Asia-Pacific in September 2016, Daniel Miller, founder and CEO of Mute Records UK, mentioned that ‘it’s a myth that artists don’t need record labels anymore”. He explains that the record label is far from being unessential anytime soon because “record labels primarily exist to help you get your music out there” and they’re constantly searching for new artists, you have more people on your ‘team’, their job is to have excessive knowledge of the industry. It is also very time consuming to release a record, which can be very difficult to do if you have a full-time job. “It’s impossible to be an expert at everything, and believe us, we’ve all tried. When you sign to a label, you get to be the expert at making the music, which as a producer, we know is important to you, and the record label get to be the experts at releasing it, and when you think about it, that just makes the perfect sense…” (Mondo Tunes 2016).
DeleteSo to answer the previous question asked about Chance the Rapper; I do agree. Once one you get people to notice your music, you most likely try to find a way to further continue to get your voice heard around the world, and to do so, you need that someone of higher musical power, i.e. a record label; solely using streaming services probably won’t cut it. For example, even though Chance the Rapper still is not part of a record label to help him grow, he is backed by a $700 billion deal with a company having connections to iTunes, Apple Music, Beats 1 etc. Evidence shows that this connection he has by the “biggest tech firm on the planet, while wrapped up in a narrative in which he represents a music industry milestone for independent artists”, is working. Therefor, he is still not solely doing it all on his own/by himself.” (Friedman 2016)
“2017 U.S. Music Year-End Report” What People Watch, Listen to and Buy. www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2018/2017-music-us-year-end-report.html.
Bromley, Jordan. "The Future of the Streaming Economy: 5 Things to Watch," Billboard 23 Jan. 2018. Web.
Cullins, Ashley. "Music Experts Discuss Why the Internet Is Now Saving the Recording Industry," The Hollywood Reporter 27 Jan. 2018. Web.
Mondo Tunes. “Busting The Myth That Artists Don’t Need Record Labels and Producers,” Nov. 22, 2016.
Friedman, Andrew. “Why Chance the Rapper Is Not a Truly Independent Artist,” FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. 5 Oct. 2016.
Being an artist today is all about being yourself and original. Your brand is yourself today. How artists choose to promote themselves is entirely up to them. The more relatable an artist is to an audience, the more money that will come out of that interconnectivity between the artist and the fan. Kendrick Lamar is an artist whose brand is himself. He comes from Compton, and has had an extremely relatable story line since he was a child. In an article from Variety 22, Andrew Baker wrote “He’s an intensely relatable artist who makes scant use of social media and reveals little about his personal life” (Baker). How Lamar writes his music ranges from familial references to religious themes. There is one other unique trait that he brings to the table. When he performs, he does not do it with backup dancers or even a band for at least half of his shows. It is just simply Kendrick Lamar making music. Unfortunately for bands who play music, they might not be needed someday if all artists begin to perform without a band behind them to lead off, of or use one during a solo to take a break. Two other key and pivotal traits that artists need to be successful are keeping up with how to reach their audience, and having genuine content. Kendrick Lamar creates his own content, where many other artists hire people to come in and write for them.
ReplyDeleteIn general, some ways that artists promote themselves are: distribution, social media, press, websites and advertisements in commercials. Look at Taylor Swift for example. She actually does not do press, but recently switched to streaming and uses social media to promote her albums. In an article from E! News, Jess Cohen writes “…during the months leading up to the 2014 release of her album, 1989, Swift was everywhere, doing multiple interviews, performances and discussing her album on TV shows” (Cohen). Swift tried numerous ways of reaching her audience, because she was aware that her audience shifted based on the content they preferred. In recent years, social media and streaming have strongly determined how audiences find it easier to get a song from Pandora or Spotify, rather than pay for it on Apple Music. Taylor Swift is like Kendrick Lamar in that we do not hear much about her personal life, but her fans are able to keep up with what she has been doing when she pops up once in a while on YouTube. Basically, she lets her audience know what is going on in her life through her lyrics, rather than interviews and guest appearances on shows.
Artists do not need the backing of major record labels to succeed. Chance the Rapper is the best example for this. Chance is not signed to any label and does not rely on anyone to come up with lyrics or provide other benefits for his success. In an article from Pitchfork, Marc Hogan stated “In stories about nontraditional release strategies, the caveat is normally that you already need to have succeeded the traditional way to get away with them” (Hogan). What most artists believe is that you have to get a record deal before you can be successful. Some artists now are using nontraditional methods to reach their audience. Chance the Rapper was number seven on the Billboard 200 chart for albums. He is successful because of his originality, and he is targeting his audience on streaming platforms. Most consumers are turning to these platforms for a more cost-affordable option.
Barker, Andrew. "How Kendrick Lamar Became the Defining Hip-Hop Artist of His Generation," Variety 22 Nov. 2017. Web.
DeleteCohen, Jess. "How Taylor Swift's Non-Stop 1989 Promo Differs from Her Reputation Blackout," E! News 7 Nov. 2017. Web.
Hogan, Marc. “Charting Chance the Rapper's Unsigned Success.” Charting Chance the Rapper's Unsigned Success | Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 17 May 2016. Web.
ReplyDeleteIn one way, it’s never been easier for a musician to get their music out into the world for others to enjoy. At the same time, this has also made it very difficult for many musicians to be found due to the sheer volume of content available. But what it takes for them to stand out, is definitely to be original and to have the right sound. Some musicians have found success through copying similar popular sounds, but still making it their own in some way shape or form. But in this digital age, it’s more than just the sound as well, it’s about branding and promoting yourself. We’ve seen many popular artists emerge from the internet over the past decade but they did it through properly promoting themselves and creating the right image. A large factor in this has of course been the development of social media over the course of the last few years. As Kate Franklin of BrandWatch states, “Social media presents an interesting opportunity. As music fans, most of us turn to Twitter or Facebook to keep updated about our favourite bands, whilst new tracks or videos will 99% of the time get their launch on social channels.Furthermore, social media is where music audiences naturally congregate, forming their own communities and sharing their experiences of bands and artists.” On top of this, social media allows for greater fan interaction in the music industry, allowing for more in-depth and niche marketing too. For example, in the case of popular singer Shawn Mendes, he was discovered through Vine singing covers, specifically one of Justin Bieber helped him to go viral and gain popularity. Social media allows for these talented musicians to control their own branding, relations with fans and most importantly the content they want out in the world. What has helped to revolutionize the music industry for many of these artists however, is the development of streaming sites. These sites, for example Soundcloud, allow musicians to promote and emphasize their music for free to a greater audience. It puts a greater emphasis on the “single” which for some artists, is all they need to breakout. As Jordan Bromley of Billboard states, “Releasing the "single" is a more flexible way to market and promote an act. Instead of releasing 10 songs at once, losing nine to the whirlwind of attention-deficit disorder musical consumption, acts are firing off one by one, creating small ripples which can sometimes grow into tidal waves. This encourages a "no filler" mentality among creators and allows artists to "catch and release" new songs with the possibility to even create and release them on the same day.”
While many believe this social media fame alone can lead to success, I still believe having a major label behind you truly helps propel you into mainstream success. In the case of rapper, Lil Pump, we see him gaining success throughout Soundcloud as well as Instagram. But it was when he was backed from a joint deal from Tha Lights Global and Warner Bros, that he was given the resources to reach out to an even bigger audience and spread his music. (Rys) I believe it’s these record labels that still are able to truly help many independent artists reach peak success. Of course there are cases where this isn’t true and we’ve seen it. But these companies have the money and resources to help create a greater vision for these artists and release it to a wider audience at the same time.
DeleteFranklin, Kate. “Social Media is Revolutionising the Music Industry” BrandWatch. 29 Aug, 2013.
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/social-media-the-music-industry/
Rys, Dan. “How Warner Bros., Tha Lights Global & a Gang of Influencers Catapulted Lil Pump to Stardom” Billboard. 30 Nov, 2017.
https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/8054700/how-warner-bros-tha-lights-global-a-gang-of-influencers?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_term=daily_digest
Bromley, Jordan. “The Future of the Streaming Economy: 5 Things to Watch (Guest Column)” Billboard. 23 Jan, 2018.
https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/8095808/the-future-of-the-streaming-economy-5-things-to-watch-guest
The ways to become a successful artist in the music today is as varied as there are musical styles. It is no longer necessary for a major label to back an artist to make it big, but it also doesn’t hurt. The only common ground shared amongst popular artists in the music industry is that they make music people want to keep going back to over and over again. To exemplify the various ways in which artists can grow in popularity in the era of the modern music industry I will examine three different artists who differ in styles and sounds as well as the way in which they rose to popularity.
ReplyDeleteThe first of these artists, Kendrick Lamar, came up by the most conventional means of the three. Kendrick’s rise in popularity came from being signed to a major label, getting cosigns from industry mainstays such as Dr. Dre, and making strong singles to promote entire albums. Lamar’s fans acclaim his ability to make entire albums that tell a story and leave much to come back to for repeated listens. For this reason it makes complete sense that he was 2017s second most streamed artist, especially when you take into account that 62% of music streamed is from an artist’s back catalog (18 months or older) (Sanchez). Lamar is the focal point of a lot of water cooler talk about hip hop music, and it seems that he knows how to make this happen. He was quoted as saying, “. As long as I keep knowing how much to give, giving just enough, and being able to pull back and leave the audience to interpret it, I think [the music] will stay intact.” (Barker)
Conversely to the way Lamar came up there’s the man (Boy?) behind the hit single ‘Gucci Gang,’ Lil Pump. Pump’s popularity can mainly be attributed to his over-the-top personality that is highlighted on shareable social media content as well as short but sweet, infectious singles. Pump has “already amassed over 100,000 followers on Instagram, despite ¬having released only a ¬handful of songs at the time.” (Rys) His rise to fame was much quicker than Lamar’s and done mostly without the backing of larger artists, as he was a product of the Soundcloud Rap scene.
Finally might be the most seemingly out of nowhere rise from self-proclaimed ‘best boy band since one direction,’ BrockHampton. BrockHampton can best be defined as ‘NSync meets Wu-Tang-Clan. Nothing about their sound is very commercial, they don’t have a hit single, and they don’t have any features from a Gucci Mane or Drake like Lil Pump and Kendrick Lamar did. The group has an eclectic style, and yet as Matias Gutierrez puts it, “Brockhampton has managed to churn out content that is tuned to mainstream issues, albeit in an increasingly countercultural way. They operate as their own creative and stylistic directors. They don’t use ghostwriters. They don’t have the backing of massive publicity firms and labels, and they have virtually none of the usual sex appeal of a manufactured boy band.” And yet the trilogy of albums they’ve released between June and December of 2017 has garnered over a million Spotify listeners a month, and multiple music videos with over 3 million views on YouTube.
The three artists analyzed each became popular through different means. Two of the artists didn’t use a major record label, and are much newer than Lamar. But Lamar the most tenured and popular of the three came up under the traditional model. The 5 year difference in fame makes it hard to determine if Lamar’s popularity could be equaled by these artists if they came up by the same means, but it certainly proves that labels are no longer necessary for artists to break through.
Barker, A. (2018). How Kendrick Lamar Became the Defining Hip-Hop Artist of His Generation. [online] Variety. Available at: http://variety.com/2017/music/features/kendrick-lamar-career-damn-to-pimp-a-butterfly-1202619725/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].
DeleteGutierrez, M. and Gutierrez, M. (2018). What’s behind the rise of Brockhampton?. [online] The Varsity. Available at: https://thevarsity.ca/2018/02/04/whats-behind-the-rise-of-brockhampton/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].
Rys, D. (2018). How Warner Bros., Tha Lights Global & a Gang of Influencers Catapulted Lil Pump to Stardom. [online] Billboard. Available at: https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/8054700/how-warner-bros-tha-lights-global-a-gang-of-influencers?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_term=daily_digest [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].
Sanchez, D. (2018). Everything You Need to Know About Music Sales in 2017. [online] Digital Music News. Available at: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/07/05/buzzangle-music-sales-2017/ [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].