THOMAS HORTON

With the dominance of modern streaming platforms, music is more accessible than ever. However, music listening as an activity is profoundly shaped by the technology that facilitates the listening experience, the environment in which the listening takes place, the listener, and the music itself (Nowak). In his article, “Music Listening Activities in the Digital Age: An Act of Cultural Participation through Adequate Music,” Raphaël Nowak asserts that “the digital age of music technologies has participated in increasing the presence of music in everyday life and across a variety of environments. […] With the advent of digital technologies, the materiality of music is only further emphasized” (Nowak). Before the digital age, music was far less integrated into daily life, as access was reduced. Since then, music listening as an activity has shifted drastically. Listeners now curate music that is suited for its environment, whether it be mood, atmosphere, or location (Nowak). Freed from the constraints of formal listening settings, “Music is not only there; it is a possibility” (Nowak). These shifts have forced the music publication industry to evolve, both adopting social media promotion, and adapting to meet the preferences of a more selective and dynamic audience- an audience with a more pronounced capability to choose.

The Internet is the name of a genre-blending band known to mix R&B, funk, and hip hop. Notable members of the group include the lead singer, Syd, and their producer, Matt Martians. However, one such member was the young Steve Lacy, whose time with the group kick-started his solo career as a musician. Lacy was born in Compton, LA, in ‘98, and joined the group as a teenager. The young musician quickly became an integral part of the band, producing a significant amount of the tracks off their third album, titled Ego Death (Fantasticman). His work with the band on albums like Ego Death in 2015 helped shape The Internet’s signature sound, and this has allowed Lacy to start a very successful music career, starting in 2017 with the release of his EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo, among which was the song “Dark Red,” which claimed viral status in the year 2021 after gaining an incredible amount of popularity through passive promotion on TikTok (Fantasticman).

The popularity of short-form-content social media websites like TikTok has been huge to the music industry. This, along with modern music streaming services, has changed the music publication landscape, necessitating a social media presence for artists. In an article on BYU’s The Daily Universe, titled “Changing tunes: How social media, tech are impacting the music industry” writer Mckenna Jensen details how experts in the field are sizing up the changes made to the industry by modern methods of media consumption, highlighting short form media content websites like TikTok in particular. Jensen chronicles the founder of Deseret Noise Co., Zach Collier’s opinions on these newfound changes. “According to Collier, social media and the internet have dramatically transformed the music industry. Not only has social media morphed genres and increased creativity, he highlights how they have enabled musicians to succeed independently of major labels” (Jensen). One such major impact is the actual length of songs that achieve vitality through Tik Tok (Jensen). Because TikTok promotes shorter material and “engaging songs that capture attention quickly,” musicians are heavily encouraged to write music that will follow that model, which can negatively impact the authenticity of the music creation process by enforcing an agenda over creativity. 

In an NPR article titled “TikTok has changed music — and the industry is hustling to catch up,” Mia Venkat, in a conversation with musician Tai Verdes and music industry analyst Tatiana Cirisano, discusses how the music industry is changing to fit the modern needs of the consumer. “‘They’re not just listening to music in a sort of, like, lean-back, passive way,’ says […] Cirisano. ‘They’re more likely to do more lean-forward activities, like creating playlists or listening to full albums on streaming or buying merchandise.’ Consumer behavior data compiled by Cirisano shows TikTok users are more likely to spend money on music, and be more invested in it” (Venkat). This evidence supports Raphaël Nowak’s understanding of the modern listening practice, in which “Digital technologies contribute in making music more ubiquitous and multiply its material presence” (Nowak). The second half of this discussion comes in the form of the music industry’s response to this shift. According to Venkat, “These days, there’s a cottage industry dedicated to marketing a song or artist on TikTok — paying influencers to promote a song, posting short clips to see what people respond to, trying to get a dance challenge going” (Venkat). Since TikTok can reach an audience of up to one billion members, it’s obvious why  publishers handling music promotion would flock to the site (Venkat). 

The research paper, “Music Sales and Artists’ Popularity on Social Media,” published in the International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media by Andrzej Szymkowiak, Bartosz M. Kubala, Marcin Adam Antoniak, is a highly detailed analysis in five parts; the third of which is a discussion of the promotion of artists on social media. The authors of this paper argue that musicians make up a significant portion of the most popular social media accounts. “A ranking from 2, March, 2019, presenting Twitter profiles with the largest number of followers, shows that the first 20 places are occupied by 10 musicians (“TOP 100 Most Twitter Followers”, 2019). […] According to an Instagram report from May 2019, 4 out of 10 accounts with the largest numbers of followers belonged to musicians” (IJMCNM). The authors argue that the traditional methods of music promotion, which include press, live performances, and word-of-mouth, often lack measurable results. This, in conjunction with popularity of the Internet, “has changed the way artists promote their music and deliver it to the public worldwide” (IJMCNM). 

Content and social media have become central in music marketing. The authors list the top platforms for music promotion being YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Spotify (IJMCNM). I would contend, however, that TikTok also deserves to be considered, if for the hundreds of millions of dollars the company pays out to the music industry in royalties alone, but doubly so combined with Cirisano’s assertion that TikTok users are more likely to spend money on music. Because the Internet has both democratized the promotion of music and also increased competition in the music industry, independent recording and publishing has secured a more significant share of the market. This change, in combination with the simple fact that “artists have the opportunity to reach a virtually unlimited number of people” (IJNCNM), has ensured that social media will continue to be a significant factor in music publication and music promotion. 

In the time between the release of Steve Lacy’s Demo and the soon-to-be incredibly popular “Dark Red”, Lacy worked on and finally released his first solo album, Apollo XXI in 2019, at the age of 21. Having spent time producing for artists like Kendrick Lamar, Vampire Weekend, and Mac Miller, Lacy had a considerable amount of experience in the industry by the time of this album’s release. Apollo XXI released to favorable reviews, with the official DJBOOTH review stating, “Apollo XXI is a fabulous clinic in mood. Apollo will feel rewarding for both Internet fans and Steve Lacy fans. There are jam band sensibilities to this album, but with climbing guitar riffs and calling background vocals, we quickly realize this is a jam session of one, and that one is a compelling auteur” (DJBOOTH). The next year, Lacy published The Lo-Fis at the very end of 2020. It would be almost two years until his next album would be released. 

Lacy released his third album, Gemini Rights in July of 2022, and the song “Bad Habit” went viral on TikTok almost overnight, with thousands of users sharing videos playing the song after the song was posted on the platform. The single eventually rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Stereogum), and currently sits at 1.2 billion listens on Spotify. The popularity of the track led to an influx of “interlopers” who only knew the song “Bad Habit,” “a concern Lacy addressed onstage last week at New York’s Terminal 5, perhaps validated by footage of fans halting their ‘Bad Habit’ singalong after the section that’s been endlessly looped on TikTok” (Stereogum). After a particularly rowdy concertgoer threw a disposable camera on stage, he grabbed the camera and smashed it before leaving the stage, abruptly ending the show, and later taking online to vent his frustrations online about his concert experience. 

It is clear that the popularity of short-form-content sites like TikTok has heavily affected the ways in the music publication industry; whether it be the way in which artists create songs for said platforms, or the manner in which these songs are promoted. On one hand, social media and streaming services have enabled artists to reach billions without much help from traditional label backing, the viral success of Steve Lacy’s “Dark Red” and “Bad Habit” being prime examples, sitting at a combined 2.7 billion listens on Spotify. On the other hand, the reliance on digital platforms can impose creative limitations, pressuring artists to create songs and publishers to push promotion that suits the algorithm rather than the artist’s artistic vision, and leaving artists with a wider but shallower audience with only surface-level familiarity of their work, as seen with Lacy’s touring experience. So long as music is so heavily embedded in our digital lives, and vice versa, the music publication industry must navigate the trade-offs between  the accessibility and reach gained through digital publication and the preservation of an artist’s authentic expression.

Works Cited

Deville, Chris. “Steve Lacy Smashes Disposable Camera Thrown at Him, Ends Show Early.” Stereogum, 25 Oct. 2022, https://www.stereogum.com/2204008/steve-lacy-smashes-fans-phone-and-ends-show-early-after-another-fan-throws-phone-onstage/news/.

Frank, Alex. “Steve Lacy – A Nineteen-Year-Old Genius on the Brink of Superstardom, If He Wants It.” Edited by Chloe Rose, Fantasticman.Com, 2018, https://www.fantasticman.com/articles/steve-lacy/.

Nowak, Raphaël. “Music Listening Activities in the Digital Age: An Act of Cultural Participation through Adequate Music.” Leonardo Music Journal, JSTOR, 2016, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26779206?seq=3. 

“Steve Lacy Delivers a Clinic in Mood on ‘Apollo XXI’: Review,” DJBooth, 24 May 2019, https://djbooth.net/features/2019-05-24-steve-lacy-apollo-xxi-album-review-new-music/#:~:text=Apollo%20XXI%20is%20a%20fabulous,one%20is%20a%20compelling%20auteur.

Szymkowiak, Andrzej, et al. “Music Sales and Artists’ Popularity on Social Media.” International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media, vol. 8, no. 14, June 2020, https://doi.org/10.54663/2182-9306, http://u3isjournal.isvouga.pt/index.php/ijmcnm/article/view/495. 

“Tiktok – Has It Helped or Hindered the Music Industry?” RSS: GigPig. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024, https://www.gigpig.uk/news/tiktok-has-it-helped-or-hindered-the-music-industry#:~:text=TikTok%20has%20become%20an%20essential,click%20of%20a%20button%20away.

Venkat, Mia. “TikTok Has Changed Music – and the Industry Is Hustling to Catch Up.” NPR, 22 May 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/05/22/1080632810/tiktok-music-industry-gayle-abcdefu-sia-tai-verdes-celine-dion.