The whole world has been stuck at home for months now, with nothing to do, yet somehow music streaming numbers are down. People have more free time than ever and many are actually spending less time listening to music than before quarantine. As artists we should be extremely concerned with this situation.
Outside of live events, the only times most people listen to music are when they’re driving to work, at the gym, studying (lo-fi hip hop beats to study to am I right?), or social events. Obviously these things aren’t really happening right now due to the ongoing pandemic, but that’s not what I’m getting at. The important point – what’s really bumming me out – is music isn’t a part of many people’s lives unless they have some unrelated reason to put it on. In fairness, I definitely listen to music when I do all of those things. One of the beautiful aspects of music is how well it elevates other activities. The reason I’m frustrated is because now music is ONLY consumed as background noise. Yes, music adds value to other experiences, but it can also be it’s own experience! Entire worlds await exploration within a great piece of music, but you can’t go on that journey if you’re also maxing out your bench press or speeding down the freeway.
Surely there was a time when everyday people regularly spent intimate time with their favorite songs? Maybe music just can’t compete with other entertainment options: It certainly has its work cut out for it. Today you can literally watch The Office on repeat for $8.99 a month. Clearly captivating entertainment has never been cheaper or more accessible.
What’s troubling is the music community doesn’t seem concerned with this issue. Unfortunately, the conversation is perpetually centered on audience-growth and social media engagement. Based on listener habits, focusing on maximizing your reach is basically putting your energy into creating whatever content is best to lift weights to. I don’t think that’s what most of us had in mind when we started down this path. Maybe it’s time we shift our focus to enriching the quality of each engagement? Artists are quick to google “How to get more Instagram followers” or “How to market your music on TikTok“, but I just don’t see why that matters if that audience never truly experiences our content. Instead, we need to start asking “How do we remind people music, on it’s own, is worth listening to?”.