Tune Bloom
Remember the days when bright-eyed musicians would play their guitars on the corners of Hollywood Boulevard in hopes of a random Columbia Records agent walking by? Small-time artists would migrate from all over the world to musical meccas like Los Angeles, New York City, and Nashville, praying to be recognized by a label willing to platform their creative works. Before the dominance of streaming platforms, the music industry operated solely at the mercy of record label suits, who-you-know politics, and star-studded, serendipitous pop-up shows in major cities, but not anymore.
The way music is created, distributed, and consumed has been completely altered by the proliferation of online streaming mega-platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. “In the past, purchasing physical copies of albums or singles was the primary way to listen to music, limiting access based on geographic location, price, and availability,” online music magazine Illustrate, explains. “Streaming services have eliminated these barriers, allowing users to access vast music libraries at a relatively low cost.” Accessibility is one of the main benefits of the streaming revolution, giving audiophiles an easy way to explore unknown musical genres and discover upcoming artists without any financial consequences.
The music streaming industry is far from perfect, of course. Manipulating artists’ pay contracts, debating musical ownership, and injecting the creative process with greed, it remains deeply corrupt. However, even though now it’s nearly impossible for small artists to make money off of their music online, these musicians have never had a better chance of building a niche audience than now. Even in the early days of the Internet, indie streaming platforms like SoundCloud and LimeWire fostered the careers of many artists who have since made it big, proving that audience accessibility (or the lack thereof) is one of the biggest hurdles in one’s budding musical career.
Because of this fundamental and formulaic shift in the industry, music discovery has evolved significantly over the past several decades. By providing seemingly infinite libraries of songs from all eras and genres, streaming platforms no longer gatekeep music discovery behind live-show paywalls, album purchases, or hours of aimless digging. It’s all right there on the platform, just one click away. Plus, if listeners want to dive deeper into music similar to their existing tastes, they simply turn to their “Discover playlist” of the week. As it turns out, your choice of streaming service knows all about you, revealing intimate personal details through your most recently played music.
Like all applications, music streaming platforms provide a personalized experience, judging selections, curating suggestions, and predicting user patterns that are likely to yield positive results. Algorithmically, many streaming platforms know what music we want to hear even before we do. In a way, these platforms can act like a DJ for life’s soundtracks, queuing up tunes that transition perfectly from one to the next, providing mood music and vibes for every occasion.
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Most notably, one of the best algorithmic features of streaming platforms is their Discover playlists. Embellished with personalized music recommendations, Discover playlists are packed with recent releases from emerging musicians, underground tracks from your favorite artists, and hidden gems, which are all catered to your musical profile. Not only that, in many cases these playlists are updated weekly, providing a fresh set of discoverable tunes every seven days.
On-demand tunes and a near-infinite library of songs have encouraged audiophiles to branch out in their musical tastes. Now, they can spend long afternoons listening to the creations of foreign artists, relatively unknown musicians, and random goldmines of music they might never have stumbled upon without streaming platform suggestions. Because of this phenomenon, many artists, especially those with niche audiences, have found success without a record label by leveraging streaming platforms for distribution.
Small Trout, Big Lake
It’s tough out there for smaller artists. Without an overly generous financial backer or the support of a mega music label, breaking into the music industry was once a nearly insurmountable task. However, in the modern era of online streaming, with Discover playlists and free-to-post platforms, hopeful artists can upload their tunes into the internet void with greater optimism. Casting their nets wide into the sea of anonymous audiences, smaller artists are able to have their voices heard, even if only by a tailor-made group of avid listeners.
Although not every artist will grow popular enough to play the Super Bowl or headline Coachella, their skills are validated on music streaming platforms by fostering their own versions of fans. All it takes is one devoted listener to make an artist feel like they’ve made a difference, and for many creatives, that’s enough to feel accomplished.
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