Many people resent the fact that artists like Drake have such a huge power to make songs popular. Songs which likely would not be hits become hits simply because Drake is involved.
But to resent the popularity of an artist like Drake is to misunderstand what an artist is. They are a creator of music, but when it comes to popular music they are also a music brand. Or another way to think of it is they have developed a music distribution pipeline directly to their fans.
Time is scarce. When you want to listen to music, you are seeking a feeling and exploring new music is part of that, but you can’t spend too much time on it. You need to balance the investment in looking for new music with a reasonably high expectation of finding something that you will like. The best way to do that is to use artists as a proxy for music you will like.
We are open to listening to new music from an artist we like, but we are much more hesitant to listen to new music from an artist we have never heard of before. So once an artist has established themselves and become well known, part of their value is a level of trust that they have built with their fans. People know that they are very likely to enjoy Drake’s new music so they pay attention to it.
To resent the fact that Drake can “get away” with slightly less innovative music is to ignore one of the key things that people value, consistency and low decision-making cost. The solution isn’t to damn the industry, but to find ways to market yourself to consumers and build trust with them. To use marketing and the tools available to you to consistently building your own pipeline to distribute new music to music consumers.
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