Too Many Songs, Not Enough Hits: Music Is Struggling to Create New Stars

[ISO]

Summer Walker's last album is approaching a year in and still has no certification.

And it's easier for an album to linger on the charts these days. Several albums are setting and breaking records for how long they've been on the charts. When you unpack it and look at how long the albums have been on the charts vs how much they sold, it's staggering. One would expect some huge numbers, but that isn't the case.

It has no certifications because her label hasn’t gone through that process to get the plaque. It sold 166,000 first week and has been on the charts for 50 weeks pretty much since it dropped and you don’t think it’s even Gold? Once her label updates her certifications you will see that Over It is multiplat and Still Over It is platinum.

The only albums that stay on the charts are those with legs and staying power. That’s how Take Care and Good Kid, Maad City have been on the charts pretty much since they dropped.

U said Summer is on par with 2002 Amerie success wise. No she…isn’t she’s far far bigger. Way more cultural cache with these women in this generation and far more commercially successful. Summer Walker is not equivalent to a Gold artist in 2002.

 

[CrimsonTider]

The labels used to have a higher standard for the product (music) they put out. They don't demand the type of QC and musicality in recording, mixing and mastering that produces lasting music. Right now they rely entirely on the pop formula because that's the only thing they can bank on. They don't care about music, they care about algorithms. Algorithms don't make people listen to music, nor do they guarantee quality. This backwards view is one of the main reasons they cannot sustain success.

It is, even if it's not in the title...that's what this is about inherently. That's what it will always be about no matter how you process the data.

how is it a quality issue when there’s 80k songs uploaded to streaming sites a weeks?

So the argument is that because the ways and avenues people consume music on has expanded people who were once mid-tier and higher stars can't get the shine they used to? When I was a kid it was MTV, BET, VH1 and radio and that was about it so if a label pushed someone on there it was efficient as the audience had to notice. Now there are so many ways to get music it's difficult to create a new star with just a label push. I would argue stars are created more organically. There's people I've never listened to like NBA Youngboy who are stars from social media. Maybe around the time Justin Bieber came about this started.

Yb isn’t a star because social media.

 

[JustCKing]

It has no certifications because her label hasn’t gone through that process to get the plaque. It sold 166,000 first week and has been on the charts for 50 weeks pretty much since it dropped and you don’t think it’s even Gold? Once her label updates her certifications you will see that Over It is multiplat and Still Over It is platinum.

The only albums that stay on the charts are those with legs and staying power. That’s how Take Care and Good Kid, Maad City have been on the charts pretty much since they dropped.

U said Summer is on par with 2002 Amerie success wise. No she…isn’t she’s far far bigger. Way more cultural cache with these women in this generation and far more commercially successful. Summer Walker is not equivalent to a Gold artist in 2002.

We don't know why it hasn't been certified.

Just because an album isn't on the charts doesn't mean it has legs. It simply means that some of these albums are being streamed more than others. The fact that these albums are still on the charts is more telling of where the industry is than anything.

Summer Walker doesn't have the cultural cache that a Amerie had in 2002. A gold album in 2002 meant that there were 500K shipped to stores indicating that there was a demand of at least 500K copies that were physically purchased. In 2002, this meant someone driving to a brick and mortar (or at least purchasing online) and shelling out $10-$15 on an Amerie album. If you bought the album from a brick and mortar, that's gas money and time it took to buy that album. This is an artist that people actually invested dollars into to listen to her music. This is one of the reasons for the shortage of stars. There's so many artists and with streaming, there isn't any real investment in any one artist like that.

With Summer, people know the story because of the issues with London and this was all public, which gives her a story. That doesn't mean she has any more cultural cache than Amerie. We never knew who Amerie was dating until she was married and it turns out she married an A&R for Columbia.

 

[IIVI]

This is terrifying, just the idea of this being the music 8/9/10 yr olds consume.

Yup.

Funnier is the fact that the "terrifying" artist they're listening to is from the suburbs of Orange County, CA (Irvine).

Dude's main producer making those beats is an Indian dude who went to graduate school at USC.

 

[ISO]

Summer Walker doesn't have the cultural cache that a Amerie had in 2002.

Do you know any women under 30 this ain’t true

Summer’s whole look and personality embodies these young women to a tee they love her

This is ridiculous at this point

The album debuted and peaked at number nine on the US Billboard 200 chart in August 2002, remaining in the top 20 for two weeks only and dropping off the chart in its fourteenth week. The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 3, 2003,[1] and earned Amerie a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist in 2003. According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of July 2009, the album has sold 661,000 copies in the United States.[2] It peaked at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart by Billboard. It was also minor success in Japan, peaking at number 181 on the Oricon albums chart.

7 years to move 660,000 copies only Gold still to this day.

Over It is Platinum, on the charts 150 weeks straight, had a significantly higher first week, in a significantly worse era for album sales especially in R&B but you still want to argue Summer Walker is only at Amerie’s level of success

 

[trillanova]

how is it a quality issue when there’s 80k songs uploaded to streaming sites a weeks?

 

[JustCKing]

Do you know any women under 30 this ain’t true

Summer’s whole look and personality embodies these young women to a tee they love her

This is ridiculous at this point

Social media and you're out of touch if you think the look and personality is exclusive Summer Walker.

years to move 660,000 copies only Gold still to this day.

Over It is Platinum, on the charts 150 weeks straight, had a significantly higher first week, in a significantly worse era for album sales especially in R&B but you still want to argue Summer Walker is only at Amerie’s level of success

On the same token, 150 weeks straight for an album to only go platinum and you're arguing that Summer Walker is far far bigger. The numbers don't add up when you have artists that have sold more and have been on the charts for less weeks.

 

[IIVI]

Music Streaming Hits Major Milestone as 100,000 Songs are Uploaded Daily to Spotify and Other DSPs

According to the CEOs of both Universal Music and Warner Music, DSPs are now adding an average of about 100,000 new songs to their libraries every day.

variety.com

shyt is crazy, didn't believe it myself.

If you listened to music non-stop it'd take about 2-3 years to listen to the amount of music that came out this week.

If you listen to every song that came out last week for 1 second and pressed "skip" it'd take about 4 days to go through it all.

The amount of music that gets released and uploaded this year is too much for any one person to listen to even if they spent their entire life listening to music for only this year.

Putting this in context, Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s global head of editorial, wrote: “Back in the 1960s, only 5,000 new albums were released each year. … Every day, over 20,000 singers and songwriters are delivering new songs to Apple Music — songs that make our catalogue even better than it was the day before. One hundred million songs is evidence of a more democratic space, where anyone, even a new artist making music out of their bedroom, can have the next big hit.”

DAWs practically changed the game because everybody got a computer and can download music-making software.

Look how many songs get added to playlists like this every day:


Where many artists go when they want something cheaper instead of hitting up someone like Pi'erre Bourne for those retro beats:

Buy Beats Online | Download Beats | Rap Beats For Sale | Instrumentals For Sale

BeatStars is a digital production marketplace that allows music producers to license and sell beats and give away free beats. Recording artists and songwriters can download beats and distribute their beats. worldwide.

www.beatstars.com

These are producers/artists worldwide basically flooding the market with new instrumentals every single day.

If you even manage to standout, all them folks basically going to copy your formula and release songs that sound like it in about a week.

 

[JustCKing]

And to put it into perspective how these numbers and yime spent on the charts is smoke and mirrors, look at Doja Cat. She recently set a record for most weeks for a female artist in the Top 10. She spent 30+ weeks in the top 10 and sold an equivalent if 1.4 million records. Big accomplishment, but when you compare her to other female artists, a lot of them sold more albums without remaining in the Top 10 of a chart. Because there are a shortage of stars, these records are easier broken and set. It was previously held by Cardi B.

 

[ISO]

Social media and you're out of touch if you think the look and personality is exclusive Summer Walker.



On the same token, 150 weeks straight for an album to only go platinum and you're arguing that Summer Walker is far far bigger. The numbers don't add up when you have artists that have sold more and have been on the charts for less weeks.

Didn’t say it was exclusive but that it speaks to modern women.

The album been went Plat in May of 2020 and has remained on the charts since it dropped 3 years ago

Yes artists may have sold more first week but they fell off because people stopped streaming it enough for it to still chart

 

[JustCKing]

Didn’t say it was exclusive but that it speaks to modern women.

The album been went Plat in May of 2020 and has remained on the charts since it dropped 3 years ago

Yes artists may have sold more first week but they fell off because people stopped streaming it enough for it to still chart

When I say artists sold more, I'm telling you they sold more overall in less time without the album still being on the charts.

 

[Sad Bunny]

“I don’t really listen to rap but I love Kendrick Lamar and Eminem”

I listen to all music rap is my favorite genre. Next?

 

[CrimsonTider]

Music Streaming Hits Major Milestone as 100,000 Songs are Uploaded Daily to Spotify and Other DSPs

According to the CEOs of both Universal Music and Warner Music, DSPs are now adding an average of about 100,000 new songs to their libraries every day.

variety.com

shyt is crazy, didn't believe it myself.

If you listened to music non-stop it'd take about 2-3 years to listen to the amount of music that came out this week.

If you listen to every song that came out last week for 1 second and pressed "skip" it'd take about 4 days to go through it all.

The amount of music that gets released and uploaded this year is too much for any one person to listen to even if they spent their entire life listening to music for only this year.


DAWs practically changed the game because everybody got a computer and can download music-making software.

Look how many songs get added to playlists like this every day:


Where many artists go when they want something cheaper instead of hitting up someone like Pi'erre Bourne for those retro beats:

Buy Beats Online | Download Beats | Rap Beats For Sale | Instrumentals For Sale

BeatStars is a digital production marketplace that allows music producers to license and sell beats and give away free beats. Recording artists and songwriters can download beats and distribute their beats. worldwide.

www.beatstars.com

These are producers/artists worldwide basically flooding the market with new instrumentals every single day.

If you even manage to standout, all them folks basically going to copy your formula and release songs that sound like it in about a week.

That’s why playlist are so important. It’s the new radio

 

[FeverPitch2]

I mean we have access to millions of songs and artists, but there’s still a small amount of stars out here.. You have the artists that will stay around for years and the interchangeable one hit wonders. I mean there are so many artists with talent that have been left behind, it happened back in the day also, but you’d think it would be better now. We have people saying in threads that “r&b is dead” and all that.. Man there’s some amazing r&b being made right now.. You’d never know it though until you come across that music in an algorithm years after the great music drops.






I found these artists with the “there is good music, you just have to find it” method that people talk about here. Imagine if people like this had a song played on radio, or was put on one of these big playlists.. They could be outta here.

While this stuff is not trash, it's missing a few components of classic R&B.

 

[FeverPitch2]

And the average person does not have this time. Between working longer hours and kids, folks don’t have time to go digging for new shyt, especially when that’s the ask any time you open Spotify or Netflix or look for a book on your Kindle, etc. access to everything doesn’t make things better for most people

I've been saying this to the "go out and find it" crowd for years.
When you're an adult, your disposable leisure time is in much shorter supply than it was when you were a teenager or college aged.
Before we even get to the issue of time, the average person doesn't care enough to look even if they did have time.
Music heads think that everybody else is a music head.