The Underappreciation of Music’s Greatest Legends

BY: TYLER M.

The Rise of ‘Stan’ Culture: In today’s world, we celebrate the fact that we can choose who and what we fill our minds and our everyday lives with. The fact that there are so many people out there who create and express themselves in a way that resonates with so many others in the world has always been an astonishing feat. However, with so many for whom we are starstruck, the lines can sometimes become blurred when it comes to what people are starstruck by. What classifies as the golden standard for effort in today’s music industry?

Examining the Then v.s. The Now: To answer my previous question, I will be looking at a few examples of underappreciation that are very prominent today. In January of 2001, an app was released that would forever change the way the music industry worked. It may have seemed like a fad back then, but now, it is held with high regard amongst today’s generation. That app was iTunes for Apple. When this app was first released, it started as a new, more efficient way to get music out to people sooner and with greater impact. Artists could sign over the free use of their music to Apple and in exchange, they would be able to reach a wider audience and achieve possibly even greater success in a smaller time frame. In some cases today, this is true. However, this would have a detrimental effect on the inner working of the music industry. The Billboard Music charts, in particular. Before the rise of iTunes, the only way people could rate the success of a song was through Billboard’s Hot 100 #1’s chart, which was used as a placement system for the popularity of songs based on radio play. In a newly formed digital age, iTunes sought to accommodate people's rising dependence on technology by implementing their own rating system, although this system would rely on digital downloads and streaming time, not radio play. This would soon become even more popular than Billboard’s classic and amazingly reliable system that had been in place for so long, as kids of younger generations don’t even know what the billboard music charts actually are. I once had an interaction with a good friend of mine and I mentioned that Ariana Grandé had finally landed her first official #1 hit song. (Thank U, Next in February of 2019.) And they outright denied me and argued that she’d already had multiple #1’s. I, of course, knew this wasn’t the case but we would later discover that the reason for the mix up was that my friend didn’t even know what the Billboard chart was. Then, they said to me, “Does that even count anymore? I only ever check iTunes now anyway.” That’s when this complete miseducation of our generation really hit me. Then that brought into question, what really counts as a win anymore? What is greater, the approval of the charts? Or the approval of the audience? Well, of course, the charts mean you make money as an artist and mean that you will be recognized by other singers, but success amongst your audience is how you stay relevant. And there is no money without relevancy.

What Takes an Artist? : In today’s digital world, “effort” has become something of a redefined term. To some, “effort” means putting your own time, money, and resources into a passion or project until you have success. To others, however, “effort” just means having success in general. Regardless of what you did or didn’t do to achieve it. This is where the generation divide comes in where older individuals look down upon some of today’s artists as if they are putting forth very little effort in order to achieve near the same level of success as artists of generations past. Today’s artists, however, would argue that times have changed and this is the way things are now and that those who critique the new generation should just accept this as fact.

Inspiration Appreciation: My biggest problem isn’t with the way things are done nowadays, it’s how people with a specific platform tend to handle their positions today. To me, there seems to be this entitlement that artists today seem to carry. Like, they should be celebrated as legendary with little to no regard to the legends that came before them. Now, what classifies a ‘Legend’? To me, there are certain things someone needs to achieve in order to even be considered a legend. First and foremost, you have to have an impact. You have to make strides in your personal career that redefine the standard for the music industry. Having a #1 song? It’s been done. Having a #1 album? It’s been done. Winning a Grammy? All of these things have been done before and do not immediately label you as game-changing. The second most important requirement is being genuine. Being fully yourself and being authentic with your audience, but doing it in a way that makes you memorable. Thirdly, and the one that is most subjective is the amount of time you have had a career in this industry. Many people argue that this shouldn’t be a factor if they feel that the artist in question has already had a major impact. It is, however, important to consider not only time spent on a solo career but the experience gained during this career as well and to me, the longer you have a career, the more experience you gain in this industry.