… For Listeners

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The real discovery we want tends to get buried beneath whatever has the most attention. Unfortunately, in today’s digital industry, you can just pay to get that attention, creating what’s more like a competition of wealth. There are some cracks for smaller artists to slip through, but the industry-backed, pay-to-play acts still have the upper hand. What’s worse is that their viral growth is exponential — the whole thing spreads like a virus: the bigger an artist gets, the more space they occupy. For authentically growing artists, any growth seems great, but if too fast it introduces risks like a stunted development (see “For Artists”). Regardless, more often than not, these viral spaces are consumed by wealth-backed companies and labels, lurking discreetly behind their manufactured attention bait. 

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As a listener, you naturally assume that something gaining attention must be worth your attention. It’s only natural that some discomfort comes with straying from a larger group; but, why do we still succumb to a larger “group” when it’s full of manufactured, faceless people? There's that well-known psychology experiment where three people confidently give an obviously incorrect answer, and the fourth person caves just from the social pressure alone. Music discovery can work the same way, especially for young people seeking identity. If enough people like something, whether those people are real or not, the pressure shifts to you: play along or don’t. Nobody wants to be the one with the bad take, so there's a quiet incentive to go along with it.

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On top of that, being early to something feels good. It shows taste, intuition, and free-thinking. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with that pride, so long as it’s humble. I do this too. It’s like winning a horse race, betting on the underdog. The problem is when wanting to be early takes priority over whether you actually like the thing — when you're not there for the music, but the metrics. Wanting to be ahead of the curve just so you can say something like “I told you so”. Virality feeds off that desire. This desire, multiplied by the tens of thousands, is likely why a lot of things get the attention they do. Even if you don't particularly like an artist, seeing them gain traction creates an urge to interact, to timestamp proof that you were there. It's the same instinct as when people buy a stock that’s going up. Like stocks, it inflates into a bubble — one that bursts the moment people realize the hype never had much underneath it.

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The "underground" is a great example of the industry’s control over consumers. For several years, it was a genuine breeding ground — Black Kray, early Carti — artists with real arcs who built something before the masses were paying attention. But, the “underground” has always inherently attracted, and sometimes formed, members from that toxic subgroup: "I was there first” — those for whom the music was secondary to the identity of knowing about it. Over time, that aspect has only gotten worse. At this point, the “underground”, or at least the version most people are referring to, has seemed to become a staple for identity-seeking teenagers to find a personality template. The music has become a social token, with many proudly associating themselves with artists they can't say one good thing about. Now, even that social leverage has been devalued, as the scene is anything but under-ground. Nettspend went viral in roughly two years, off music that generally didn't develop so much as repeat itself, and people bought in for many of these reasons. Watch that bubble pop:).

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None of this is easy to snap out of, for anyone — the systems are designed to be invisible. But just being aware of those mechanisms can change their control over you. No need to go to extremes like boycotting the algorithm or going fully analog. But, it makes a world of a difference — the ability to recognize what you're seeing as real versus industry noise. That distinction is freeing. You can own your opinion, without being baited into one. 

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… For the Industry

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Major labels have always been more interested in moments than careers. Of course they want an artist whose revenue lasts, but they seem to operate under the assumption that the only way to stay relevant is by following trends — reacting to what's already moving rather than building something new.

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One glaring example is [retracted], an artist whose viral spotlight lasted roughly a year, and who was offered a six-figure deal by a major label. Their moment had already peaked, but the offer came anyway. It seems to reveal a painfully simple mindset — chase what's hot for as long as possible. Would they not make significantly more money investing in an artist with longer-term potential?

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What this really shows though is that major labels’ discovery and A&R is just as algorithm-dependent as everyone else's. The people whose job is to find them talent are using the same methods as a random listener scrolling their feed. Whatever taste, intuition, and long-term vision they once claimed to have has disappeared, now relying on reaction as opposed to prediction.

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The interesting part is that if the industry's discovery methods are that reactive, then an authentic independent artist, one who doesn't go viral, might be better off for it. They become invisible to a system that can only see what’s right in front of them. The industry is unable to  gentrify artists it once would have. For the first time, staying underground — actually underground — might be the most protective thing an aspiring artist can do.

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That is not to say that one shouldn’t pursue visibility. Ultimately, for an artist to attain their full reach, some level of publicity is necessary. However, it is more important than ever for one’s growth to be organic, if they want the integrity of their music to stay intact. In any case, organic growth is the best route for an artist for several reasons — no stunted growth, a real audience, long-term stability, to name a few.

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Major labels use virality as a filter: if it didn’t spike, it’s ignored. Metrics replace intuition. Numbers are prioritized over actual artist potential. But, this is a modern blessing, as not only do they leave the authentic artists behind, they vacuum up all those temporary, viral artists that make good discovery so hard.

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By the time the majors catch up, the artist already understands their worth. For now, as long as you don’t go viral, they can’t abuse you.