Sam’s editorial on creators!

[sc1460]

In his latest editorial Sam says: “I am unconvinced that the creator economy is good for artists. I’m even less convinced that it’s good for art.”

I was at a Ditto event, then at a producer event, then at songwriting camp, there was an endless procession of people in their 20s who had something in common: singer/songwriters, recording in the bedroom, Ableton with plugins, Splice, starting to use Suno AI, autotune as mandatory; BUT also all videoing what they were doing with mobiles, GoPro, DJI vlogging cameras; they were talking desperately about TikTok and instagram, the number of followers, how to increase followers, the desperate daily need to upload videos, reels, stories with their music. The smart ones were very knowledgable about parasocial engagement, with Swift and Charlie/ BRAT, Bad Bunny etc etc held as the geniuses to emulate. They also seemed to distrust labels completely. It was about DIY music. Do everything yourself.

Part of me loved this new frontier, wow exciting, video everything, record with just 1 mic, into a cheap interface, plugins, use AI mixing, mastering, and UPLOAD. The Quick and the Damned. The volume of songs demanded at speed at the songwriting camps was astonishing. All feeding the distribution system totally dependent on hooking more creators to feed the subscription machine at the lowest possible monetary returns. The other part of me started quoting Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now!

My soul was saved by meeting a few artists who hankered for art. One young singer/songwriter asked me about what music I liked and to be contrarian (since I love a ton of very different styles of music) said, Cocteau Twins, Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance, and she replies: “oh that’s my favourite label, 4AD, love the Pixies, the artwork was so beautiful, I wish people like Ivo Watts Russell were still around, music was art for them.” Wow.

Imagine the scene in the Matrix after Neo has taken the red pill and pulls out the tubes and sees millions of pods with human batteries in them. That’s what we’ve built, artists in bedroom-pods uploading daily content by the terabyte to feed the social/distribution systems that generate huge profits for their owners and for <0.1% of artists, and doom-scrolling for their addicted customers.

So who will lead a counter to what Sam describes in his editorial? Who and how?

Cheers
H
Now for several drams of Glenfarclas 25 year!

[Folderol]

Dunno about anyone else, but I just do what comes naturally, when it comes, and post here and (maybe) there, sometimes with a picture (mostly not). I've a couple of youtube vids up that were done several years ago. I sometimes think I should do more vids, but never seem to get around to it.

[James Perrett]

Most of the people that I work with creatively come to me because they recognise that they can't do everything themselves. I'm not the world's greatest musician but I'm good at all the techy stuff and, importantly, good at relating the techy stuff to what the artists are looking for.

Adding visuals certainly improves engagement though.

[RichardT]

I’m more positive than Sam. For sure, the new tools are going to lead to the generation of vast amounts of mediocre stuff. But there will be some people who use them to create very interesting things.

[Sam Inglis]

I’m more positive than Sam. For sure, the new tools are going to lead to the generation of vast amounts of mediocre stuff. But there will be some people who use them to create very interesting things.

I think there's always been a lot of mediocre stuff around, although the current environment certainly amplifies that. The specific concern I wanted to raise in the leader column was about de-skilling. If it no longer pays for people to train in highly specialised technical disciplines such as mastering or orchestration, I worry that those skills will be lost altogether, at least as practised by human beings.

[RichardT]

I’m more positive than Sam. For sure, the new tools are going to lead to the generation of vast amounts of mediocre stuff. But there will be some people who use them to create very interesting things.

I think there's always been a lot of mediocre stuff around, although the current environment certainly amplifies that. The specific concern I wanted to raise in the leader column was about de-skilling. If it no longer pays for people to train in highly specialised technical disciplines such as mastering or orchestration, I worry that those skills will be lost altogether, at least as practised by human beings.

Ah, yes, that makes sense, Sam. I guess we can only wait and see. They might persist at the top end of the market, in the same way as hand made clothes and furniture do.

Maybe there’s also a half way house where tools do most of the leg work and humans add the finishing touches.

For myself, I would love to use orchestration tools in that way. I can do it by hand but it’s a time consuming task. As yet, it’s not possible to automate it, at least not to a very high standard. But I’m sure you’re right, it will come.

[Drew Stephenson]

I have many thoughts on this, probably not as well organised as Sam's or the OP's but being loudly wrong is practically what the internet is for these days so I'll continue...

My first thought was to wonder how different this really is to when we were all sitting in our bedrooms with our 4-tracks, hand-drawing or painting our own demo covers (and abusing the work-photocopier to get them reproduced) to send to labels for a one-in-a-million chance of getting signed...
The odds of success are still tiny, emotional drivers are still the same, is it so different or is it just 'the shock of the new'?
Further cogitation leads me to think it is different for a couple of reasons:
One is that back when we were sending out our cassettes (or CDs), the packaging was a nice to have, but I doubt anyone got rejected because the music was good but the artwork wasn't. Whereas now the 'packaging' or 'content' is the determining factor. There was Rick Beato video last year when he shared a clip of a Label exec basically saying the song-writing wasn't important as they had teams of people for that, it was someone's content-making ability they were looking for.
The other thing that is obviously very different is that in the 'Old Days' we would produce one demo, which was the best we could do, and send that to everyone. There wasn't the constant pressure to be producing new content on a weekly or even daily basis.

I'm reminded of a post I saw on Threads not that long ago making a wry observation about how painters and sculptors were now expected to become musicians and producers in order to promote their work...
But if you follow any novelists or other creative writers then you'll quickly see that they're very much in the same boat as musicians in terms of the expectations of both audiences and publishers.

A few years ago I went on a song-writing retreat run by the Arvon foundation and I've been on a couple more since then. I couldn't swear to it, but I'd be willing to make a small wager that the average age has increased each time. Is that because they're fairly pricey and young people can't afford it? (Arvon do have scholarship/subsidy systems.) Or because the song-writing side of things is no longer seen as the biggest or most important problem to solve?

It seems that we're living in a bit of an inversion of the old 'starving artist in a garret' idea. In that there's this expectation that you can stay in your garret but actually achieve a good living in doing so. Which seems a bit optimistic to me!
But it does make me wonder about the difference between art and entertainment and whether what we are actually seeing is more of a separation of paths?
I would never describe myself as an artist. I write songs, I create entertainment. My music is never going to make a statement about the nature of the human condition or push the boundaries of artistic expression. It's pop music.

Maybe we need to think about different models to support different outcomes so that we don't suffer that de-skilling?

[RichardT]

I’ve seen a number of artists complaining that their labels want a endless stream of content for social media. So I agree that in some cases, the music could be becoming less important.

My general view is that today’s social media world is tricky to navigate for young artists, partly because they ‘need’ to create an endless flow of new content. That level of demand can be exhausting.

The pop world was never healthy. It’s involved the manipulation and exploitation of people since it started. It’s just morphed into a different form. Maybe in some cases, people are doing it for themselves more than they did, but chasing likes and views by creating something every few days is fundamentally, IMO, likely to lead to burnout and disillusionment. It’s a hamster wheel.

[Drew Stephenson]

The pop world was never healthy. It’s involved the manipulation and exploitation of people since it started. It’s just morphed into a different form. Maybe in some cases, people are doing it for themselves more than they did, but chasing likes and views by creating something every few days is fundamentally, IMO, likely to lead to burnout and disillusionment. It’s a hamster wheel.

+1

[OneWorld]

I’ve seen a number of artists complaining that their labels want a endless stream of content for social media................ IMO, likely to lead to burnout and disillusionment. It’s a hamster wheel.

In some respects I feel lucky in so much I write music simply for the sheer enjoyment of it, a tune pops into my head, morning noon and night, sometimes I follow it up, others times I don't. Or sometimes I will purposely sit down and write a tune to scratch my itch. I'm on an instrumental roll presently, given up on singing for a bit.

I am long past the time in my life where I sort of sat about at home looking out the window expecting the CEO of Sony/EMI etc cruising up to my door in a limo and waving a contract promising me untold riches and all manner of easy money, my maker decided that wasn't for me

Even if I sought a career music making, I simply couldn't hack it, all that work that needs to be done regarding marketing. OK I like to tell myself they never made a hamster wheel that would go around fast enough to keep up with me, but in truth, I'm a lazy bones, well not a lazy bones, but buy into the concept of 'Economy of Effort' and that's not to say I am a loafer, far from it, I've done enough hard graft in the past.

I have started to try and do videos as well. That's interesting, but hard work, therein lies the rub, I have never ever found music making to be hard work - yes it can be hard work, objectively, we've done our time in the back of the band's van, humping cabs and amps up and down tiny stair cases, but subjectively, the enjoyment of it, has never failed me and I am so thankful for that........I like it, well for the main part, the music that is, so that's a start I suppose.

[BigRedX]

One is that back when we were sending out our cassettes (or CDs), the packaging was a nice to have, but I doubt anyone got rejected because the music was good but the artwork wasn't.

On the other hand from personal experience I know that demos with eye-catching packaging were more likely to get at least a cursory listen. The better our packaging was the more likely that demo would be returned and although most of them were simply accompanied with a short and polite rejection note, some did a more detailed breakdown as to why our music wasn't suitable with points that showed someone had at least listened to a minute or so of the first song.

[James Perrett]

A few years ago I went on a song-writing retreat run by the Arvon foundation and I've been on a couple more since then. I couldn't swear to it, but I'd be willing to make a small wager that the average age has increased each time. Is that because they're fairly pricey and young people can't afford it? (Arvon do have scholarship/subsidy systems.) Or because the song-writing side of things is no longer seen as the biggest or most important problem to solve?

Since getting back into creating music recently, I have noticed that song writing is a pastime that older people are very much getting into these days. This probably goes hand in hand with all the musicians that are getting back into playing after their children have grown up.

There's even a song-writing course at one of the local U3A groups around here which is led by a decent local song-writer so is well worth joining. I have also noticed FB groups and offers aimed at older songwriters - it looks like people are tapping into a market there.

[OneWorld]

A few years ago I went on a song-writing retreat run by the Arvon foundation and I've been on a couple more since then. I couldn't swear to it, but I'd be willing to make a small wager that the average age has increased each time. Is that because they're fairly pricey and young people can't afford it? (Arvon do have scholarship/subsidy systems.) Or because the song-writing side of things is no longer seen as the biggest or most important problem to solve?

Since getting back into creating music recently, I have noticed that song writing is a pastime that older people are very much getting into these days.........................I have also noticed FB groups and offers aimed at older songwriters - it looks like people are tapping into a market there.

Well, we've got K-Pop and Hip-Pop etc so it looks like there's a place for Pension-Pop too

[RichardT]

A few years ago I went on a song-writing retreat run by the Arvon foundation and I've been on a couple more since then. I couldn't swear to it, but I'd be willing to make a small wager that the average age has increased each time. Is that because they're fairly pricey and young people can't afford it? (Arvon do have scholarship/subsidy systems.) Or because the song-writing side of things is no longer seen as the biggest or most important problem to solve?

Since getting back into creating music recently, I have noticed that song writing is a pastime that older people are very much getting into these days.........................I have also noticed FB groups and offers aimed at older songwriters - it looks like people are tapping into a market there.

Well, we've got K-Pop and Hip-Pop etc so it looks like there's a place for Pension-Pop too

A-Pop? (A for ancient)

[Drew Stephenson]

On the other hand from personal experience I know that demos with eye-catching packaging were more likely to get at least a cursory listen. The better our packaging was the more likely that demo would be returned and although most of them were simply accompanied with a short and polite rejection note, some did a more detailed breakdown as to why our music wasn't suitable with points that showed someone had at least listened to a minute or so of the first song.

Absolutely, it was always worth trying to make your artwork as good as you could to get it to the top of the pile, but I don't think anyone was ever signed on the strength of their artwork if the music wasn't good enough.
Which is where it feels a bit back to front now.

[amanise]

Interesting thread. There's no understanding the music industry of today. Anyone with any experience of the TOMB (The Old Music Business) from a successful perspective, is as mystified as we are now. But, some of them don't want the TOMB back, but would rather see a renurturing of the art. Of course they would, they're all sitting, for now, on amassed wealth from their days in the TOMB.

Hope is on the horizon, but I'm told these things take time to set up. For now, my job appears to be to carry on doing my doings. Which is looking after my own art skills as a weird sort of self museum curator, while the cavalry get their shit together. So that's what I'll do. But vlogging, blogging and flogging? No thanks. Make TicTock Go Away. MTTGA... not quite the rallying cry of Make America Go Away, needs more work.

[OneWorld]

I don't get the "I hate TikTok therefore I am" perspective. There is a great number of people who have established table top business ventures, and as the example I saw on TV a programme about TikTok creators and some of them being people who were enterprising housebound and disabled people who established created table top ventures. One for example had particular issues and she gathered followers who shared or at assimilated with her particular situation and she went onto develop aides that would make the condition a little easier to endure.

Yes one could counter such examples with the more negative examples, but I'm not sure TikTok has the monopoly on disagreeable users. And as for the vacuous and vainglorious kids who spend every waking hour gawping at themselves, well, I was at a pal's house the other day, who does have FaceBook, and goodness the torrent of vapid self loving convinced me even more, don't bother (with a FB account) I don't have any social media accounts by the way, they all seem much of a muchness, but remind myself, who am I to judge? If that's what kids do these days then best of luck to 'em, not my cup of tea though.

[pax-eterna]

I agree with the OP....seems these days anyone who suggests a chord change, note change, word change/substitution gets writing credits....I've seen some modern songs with 10-15 credited songwriters!

Not sure how they figure royalties for those hahaha!

[ManFromGlass]

Crediting multiples of writers might be less painful than the resulting lawsuit should the tune make any real $$.

But in the end - it’s all entertainment, even the lawsuits, insults, flying innuendos.

If you are a true artist you’ll just do your thing because you have no choice.

[OneWorld]

I agree with the OP....seems these days anyone who suggests a chord change, note change, word change/substitution gets writing credits....I've seen some modern songs with 10-15 credited songwriters!

Not sure how they figure royalties for those hahaha!

Well, when Sir Alex Ferguson was manager of ManU, even the Tea Lady was exalted, and why not indeed - Doff a Cap to All Tea Ladies

[resistorman]

Desperately Seeking Sjowgren a very interesting episode from Hyperfixed that anyone interested in this subject might enjoy listening to – I won't spoil it here

https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/