‘A Real Showstopper’
This is a series about what social media is doing to art, film, music, writing, and performance.
Been having a lot of feels about social media lately.
As always, I hope you enjoy the show.
BG x
[Prologue] Gone from our feeds are our friends and families and the bands and creatives we love.
In their place- a trendy piece of content, a tiny tutorial, 15 seconds of viral audio and clickbait.
Artists are forced to perform for an algorithm, like showgirls on a virtual stage.
Individuality + originality hang in the balance.
We are encouraged to Replicate;
‘Don’t innovate. Recreate.
And you’ll be rewarded with views and validation.’
As the apps got hungrier,
Our screen time went up.
And we were rewarded with tiny spikes of serotonin.
We got comfier on the couch
Than in the arms of a musician
Pouring their soul out on a stage, pulling us in, letting us know
With each strum, stroke, or soft note that we were gonna be okay.
We started looking at art on our phones
Instead of staring up at pieces ten times our size
Buckling under the majesty of a million perfectly placed brushstrokes
In a gallery carrying the weight of the world.
We stopped going to shows together
And started staring at small screens, alone
Now I’ve got one eye on my laptop
And one eye on my phone.
The average attention span on an app is 3 seconds.
You’ve got 3 seconds to make me love you
You’ve got 3 seconds to kill
3 seconds to spill your soul
Turn me on or thrill
And get me to click through
You’ve got 3 seconds
For me to connect with you.
It’s not enough.
BLOOMGIRL STARS IN
A REAL SHOW STOPPER
INTRODUCING
@PORCELAIN_ALICE AS 'MUSIC’
There’s a difference between ‘art’ and ‘content.’
We’re witnessing a turning point right now across all creative industries.
In the Music industry, artists are increasingly speaking out about the pressure to create content over art, and trending audio over songs with soul.
‘Give me a 15 second loop like this one.
Here’s a formula
For what works.
Don’t innovate.
Recreate.
Give me more of what people already love.’
If artists resist creating the content that platforms need to keep your attention, the next step is to swap artists for influencers + manufacture music based entirely on algorithms. While pop-culture data has always influenced record labels, this post-pandemic surge of app-dependency has rallied them to reach to deeper depths for our next addiction. I’ve worked with labels on music videos for upcoming ‘influencers.’ I’ve watched these companies gear up to plaster more ‘good-looking faces with a following’ on their AI generated content than ever before.
And to that, I say;
Fuck Trending Audio
Support musicians in real life
Get offline + go to their shows
Listen to their albums
Show them to your friends
Lift up the independent + the brave
Spin their deep cuts as well as their hits
If we don’t support artists taking risks + trying something new, we’ll be left with a sea of the same. Instead of music that contains multitudes (like the piece I shared above), we’ll have music that contains code.
And I’m not sure if a manufactured piece of music is the same as something that came from someone’s soul.
TO BE CONTINUED