It’s 2010. Your music is dominating the Billboard charts, every radio station is playing the singles from your number one album, venturing to the shops is even an experience when you’re getting mobbed by impressionable fans that would give their right arm just for the items in your basket with your finger prints on, you’re charming every prime-time host with your wittiness and humble nature. Life couldn’t get much higher than this. Literally it can’t; fast forward ten years and you’re preparing to perform your twelfth night at Butlins promoting an album that is being marketed to families that might fork out on it because you’re signing after the show and the Mum used to have a crush on you a decade ago. No, I’m not describing Olly Murrs’ career. This is the common scenario for most mainstream artists from the past ten years.
Let me start by saying, yes, the music industry is ruthless. No scrap that, it’s run by malignant, soulless corporates that crave money and will do whatever means necessary to keep the working peasants’ wallets magnetically clinging to them. When the next craze comes along that attracts the ‘kids’ they’ll ditch the last one and start promoting the ‘new kid in town.’ Like a obsessive child going from collecting Toy Story figures before abandoning them for Marvel figures as it’s the latest ‘thing’. Yep, it’s really like that – you’ve got verification from your favourite blogger ‘Earie Entertainment.’
I’ll pause my prejudice against the industry to propose a question: What artists from 2020 can you see still selling out stadiums after 50 years? Even 20 years? Fuck it, even 10 years? If my question isn’t too irrebuttable (which it is) and you can answer anyone I’m sure it’d be minuscule amount. To put it bluntly, when the Tik Tok catastrophe is finally sent to the deepest pits of hell, Doja Cat won’t headlining anywhere besides her living room. There’ll be a new craze and the child ‘figure’ analogy comes into immediate affect again.
Don’t think that perhaps I didn’t contemplate some of you critiquing my argument – “Well… Errrmmm…. No… You can’t prove anything, you haven’t given examples Mr Earie Entertainment” blah blah blah. I’m getting to that. Remember Katy Perry? You’d turn any corner and her songs would be blaring out of every New Look shop in the country. Her ‘Teenage Dream’ album back in 2010 sold over 12 Million copies, her single ‘Roar’ has achieved 3.2 Billion views on YouTube and counting. Yet, where is she now? Oh wait, my mistake, she released an album in 2017 called Witness. Amazing! It sold a whopping 840,000 copies worldwide. Is that it? I mean, for an ‘international pop star’ that’s quite low, don’t you think? Oh well, maybe her most recent single has revived her career…. ‘Teary Eyes’ got 1.7 Million views in three months. Ouch. That hurts and I’m far from a fan.
Though obviously it’s a different class, the likes of Bowie at the same stage into their career were still releasing material that shattered the charts. ‘Ashes To Ashes’, ‘Let’s Dance’ and ‘China Girl’ are just a few examples of tracks he’d released in the eighties. Over fifty years on from when he begun his tracks are still being played religiously in supermarkets, on the radio and even on Spotify by a new generation of fans.
I’m not comparing the two musically but just in terms of relevance. Katy Perry’s hits are still frequently played but a handful isn’t enough to stand the test of time. She’s already playing substantially smaller venues than she did in her very short lasted prime. How long will the declination continue? Bowie even before he retired from touring sold out stadiums across world. Could she do that in 20 years time? I doubt it.
This isn’t a ‘let’s laugh at Katy Perry’ gathering though. She’s just one of the many examples where this is applicable. Just look (and laugh) at Jesse J, Little Mix, Rita Ora, Olly Murrs… I could go on. People just don’t care. Even on familiar territory for me in rock and indie – where are the likes of James Bay, The Black Keys or Jake Bugg now? All chart topping artists that played arenas at some point in their career but now go unnoticed. Even within rap the likes of Dizzee Rascall, Professor Green and others got outshined by the Soundcloud/grime generation.
Without sounding too much like a cynical ‘get awf my lawwwn!’ old man stereotype, the youth of today just don’t have enough attention span for longevity to exist. Streaming platforms allow access to any artist by the touch of people’s finger tips. Often they’ll heavily plug whatever is popular among teens and cater to their tastes on the ‘daily mix’ playlist. As that gets updated, the old favourite artists are a distant memory unless somehow their music either rejuvenates to the current ‘hip’ sound. That happens to very few. Most get the ‘Olly Murrs treatment’ – I’m trademarking that now – where the public’s memory has been wiped of their existence like the Man In Black were involved.
I’m not going to deny that every artist has their downfalls in terms of their dominance of the industry. Kiss are the epitome of this. After becoming established with the makeup and the dumb-fun, ludicrous rock songs people became bored; the band were on life support coming close to falling into obscurity with declining record sales and ticket numbers. What did they do? They took the makeup off, rebranded themselves to a hair metal band for twenty years. When people got bored of that they put the makeup back on and reunited with Ace and Peter. Whoopee! They’re a household name again. They have a legacy.
The trouble with the majority of mainstream artists nowadays, is they’re very one dimensional. Very few can actually rebrand themselves enough to keep their audience invested in their awe, characteristics or style. One of the few that has from recent times is Lady Gaga, she’s consistent yet ever evolving and it’s kept enough people intrigued. Although as loved among fandom her last two album were/are, it’s only had a brush on mainstream culture and lightyears away from the impact her first two albums had on the industry. Yet artists like Katy Perry – not to pick on her too much – lack the pizazz enough to maintain an interest among their once so called ‘fans.’ It’s perceived as a ‘phase’ in retrospect. They were once teenage dreaming now they’re cramped in a corner sobbing to Billie Eilish.
Maybe I’m being too over-analytic. Maybe this is just part of the ever-evolving industry. Maybe the quality is declining. Maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves because afterall you’re my wonderwa…. Wrong blog. Ahem. My point is there’s an infinite amount of possibilities as to why it’s happening but it’s definitely concerning for the industry. There’ll be no ‘legends’ of tomorrow if this continues. Even worse, it could mean a slim amount of artists breakthrough the industry enough to establish a following. Meaning a declination of larger gigs, lack of festival headliners and more unneeded struggle for the live music sector. Who knows? Let’s just hope our favourite modern artists are enough to make the cut now.
Earie Entertainment 