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

[Tribal Outkast]

This guy has the number 1 song on billboard and sold out his show in under a day.

The fans don’t even know his versus

Steve, why didn’t ya say the next verse?

Sorry babe we don’t know it

Noooooooo!!!!

 

[Tribal Outkast]

White women are the reason this song is so popula?

They’re playing it on hiphop stations in Charlotte.. I heard it like two times today

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

They’re playing it on hiphop stations in Charlotte.. I heard it like two times today

it's because he's black and anything black gets pushed to urban formats. black people aint spinning this

 

[Tribal Outkast]

I’m not going to say you’re wrong because I don’t know who’s spinning it.. I just know it sounds out of place on there bro mg played next to Lil Baby and Pop Smoke lol. I’m cool with it being on there anyway, I’m just saying it’s on black stations for some reason. @dora_da_destroyer

 

[itsyoung!!]

This guy has the number 1 song on billboard and sold out his show in under a day.

The fans don’t even know his versus

Steve, why didn’t ya say the next verse?

Sorry babe we don’t know it

is this really #1 on billboard? ive never heard this song in my life

 

[Red Money]

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.

Pretty sure Soulja Boy blew up due to the internet and him making beats on his laptop 2007 ish.

 

[Red Money]

So glad you said this, too many times when there is a real music discussion or asking for better quality music, folks get dismissed as hating, out of touch, or waved away on “there’s music out there for everyone” - that’s not the issue. Some people never want to admit that along with fluff from the machine, there were also unique, extremely talented, groundbreaking artists as part of the mainstream and there was some level of cultural cohesion when random nikka from the hood, random Maria from the burbs, and backwater bill could all fukk with a song from someone like Linkin Park, to Britney Spears, to DMX.

Everything is so divisive and siloed today because of the internet, it’s part of the reason society at large is divisive and irrational AF, these silos are pervasive in politics, media consumption, “news” sources, etc. we’ve taken away institutions that used to provide some, even if surface, levels of cultural cohesion - an American experience

It’s the relatability and representation era for any and everyone and the modern world allows you to be highly tuned in while blocking outside noise.

Why blame the internet? Cable tv with a 1000 channels in the mid 90s had specialized content that started to erode network tv and you could silo yourself into food, cartoons, 24hr politics, music, movies etc.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

It’s the relatability and representation era for any and everyone and the modern world allows you to be highly tuned in while blocking outside noise.

Why blame the internet? Cable tv with a 1000 channels in the mid 90s had specialized content that started to erode network tv and you could silo yourself into food, cartoons, 24hr politics, music, movies etc.

cable didn't have that effect at all, in fact all the research about cable and the reason cord cutting was popular was because there were only a handful of channels people really wanted/watched. you got sports on ESPN and the big networks, cooking was foodnetwork, home design HGTV, black sitcoms UPN, music MTV and BET, etc. now all of that content is spread between tv, streaming services, websites/blogs, social media accounts, YT channels, reddit/discord servers, etc. people don't coalesce around one thing

 

[Playaz Eyez]

This guy has the number 1 song on billboard and sold out his show in under a day.

The fans don’t even know his versus

Steve, why didn’t ya say the next verse?

Sorry babe we don’t know it

Who the hell is this lmao

 

[$cam-U-Well_Jack$on]

Good discussions are being had.

 

[Ol’Otis]

This guy has the number 1 song on billboard and sold out his show in under a day.

The fans don’t even know his versus

Steve, why didn’t ya say the next verse?

Sorry babe we don’t know it

His music is trash and guitar playing skills are Lil Wayne during his rebirth era

 

[Ol’Otis]

black people aint spinning this

Damn sure ain’t
The majority of the people in that crowd are white

 

[Harry B]

Who needs hits, we don’t listen to radio and don’t watch MTV, so anyone can choose whatever they like at any time wherever they are. It’s crazy cause Adele is going diamond and shyt and I don’t know any of her songs since her 2 first albums, while I know all the diamond album hits from back in the days when radio and mtv forced you to listen.

Of course sing-along and everyone turning up to the same songs in the club is still fun.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Who needs hits, we don’t listen to radio and don’t watch MTV, so anyone can choose whatever they like at any time wherever they are. It’s crazy cause Adele is going diamond and shyt and I don’t know any of her songs since her 2 first albums, while I know all the diamond album hits from back in the days when radio and mtv forced you to listen.

Of course sing-along and everyone turning up to the same songs in the club is still fun.

Aren’t hits the only thing that matters? Muni long doesn’t breakthrough without Hours and hours blowing up on TikTok

I would argue the only reason we still have album is because advances are structured around them

 

[Street Knowledge]

I don't even know if they would have sold more records. Like, if we just look at the Summer Walker-Amerie comparison, R&B is in a different place now. Summer Walker is one of, may be a handful of successful R&B acts. 20 years ago, there was Ashanti, Alicia Keys, and Tweet. Those were just the female R&B acts that debuted within the year and some change of Amerie's debut. Even then, we're talking about Ashanti, who had crossover hits and was pretty much a household name. Alicia was one of the biggest artists in music period. Tweet had everybody talking about what "Oops" was actually about and her song "Call Me" had her in Verizon commercials. Puff and G-Unit had unofficial remixes to that song. Amerie came during the summer with "Why Don't We Fall In Love" and then there's "Talkin Me", which hit in the fall.

Did u consider Ashanti to be a “superstar”? Foolish was the biggest song in America for ten weeks in 2002 and Her debut did 500 K which was the highest debut first week in history for a female artist