The music superstar is now extinct!

The music landscape was hijacked by the technology companies aka ''The Digerati'' companies during the 2000's. The Digerati did 21st century Mafioso tactics on the 20th century thinking music executives in the late 90's into the zeroes.

The tech companies need the masses of humans so their platforms can thrive. Music was the quickest way for them to expand their platforms. The music is about the masses exposing their passion via these platforms. The traditional music industry was about making stars. I will say here the two industries have nothing in common even though they are now so connected to one another. This is why in theory the idea of the influencer/creator terminology came about! It is the few deeply talented (artist) and then the masses (creator/influencer) of average. This is why you need the billions and not the millions in this era. You need more to make less now! The billion is the old analogue million essentially. The Digerati does not help with artist development I will go back to Motown for a moment.... Berry Gordy put the artist in etiquette school to refine them is an example of what a label does! What the tech narrative has done quite successfully was to totally bastardize the label structure aka the majors. That has been the best PR campaign and disinformation that was done in modern time.

The Digerati took a product which is not their own and made it their own without proper compensation. They did a merger without the money! They devalued the product by making it digital and then you have to distribute through there infrastructure! They are the ones who made the price structure! What they have done is genius. However, suffering is coming from this genius. They do not have any cost in creating the product but dictate the terms. These companies have fooled the masses and now with generation Z in full effect the music superstar may become extinct.

Now the cracks are starting to be noticed. It is basically improbable to develop a full blown ''digital music star''. With the digital apparatus via the streaming platforms in full effect we shall not see the Lady Gaga, Katie Perry, Drake's, Kanye West, Rolling Stones again. Digital does not allow mass because it is breeds fragmentation! This is a very critical reason you have not seen a true star developed since the 00's. I pose the question where are the digital music stars that were created strictly digitally? Not a creator/influencer but a real music star. As my old philosophy professor said in my 2-year flyover in college, I am looking for some answers. I do not want fame hogs but a star that sticks!

Currently it appears that going viral with your song is the new feeder system. I call going viral the new minor leagues for the major labels. That is what it appears over the last 4 years. Billie Eilish is the best example. Is this a superior system than what existed before? I would say no! Believe it or not everyone is not built to be a music star and it goes well beyond a song!

The Digerati covertly has attempted to represent being a music artist as a job! Music is not a salaried job. It can be great, and it can be what it is for most a thankless proposition. Music is an adventure. I have had jobs. The music business is absolutely nothing job like.... lol. The tech companies are obviously dictating a narrative as music being a fair proposition, because now everyone can upload a song! When I see these types of articles, I know where this is coming from. Most of the articles over the last two decades has been totally against labels. I would say it has to be agenda based not fact based! The theme of the press I have noticed has been glorious during this time for tech companies and what they offer. What do they really offer?

Talent is not fair. Talent/character and the where with all to see it all through are very rare in an individual. The tech D.I.Y narrative is a false narrative because it is all romanticized. However, this is for the benefit of feeding their algorithm and accumulating more data for tech companies to hoover up. You can't D.I.Y to true stardom which is the ultimate goal in the past. I will say here why go through all of the headaches to make 50k a year. You can get a job and cruise through life to make that type of money. If you are not in it to win it, then why do it!

In this era the artist can't live on their primary work output! Artist can't live off of their recordings anymore. Streaming does not allow the artist to live on their primary output. Due to fragmentation and now the building of the fragmented artist the income from music will not be substantial. This fragmentation has seen the value of recorded music devalued, yet the tech companies during this time over the two decades used music to become trillionaires. However, during the same time music has not kept up in value. This fragmentation has impacted touring. This is why you see many more music festivals. The single artist can't bring people into the venue like before. For example, how many artists during this streaming era sell out Radio City Music Hall which has the capacity six thousand people? You now also have to do battle with algorithms which can't feel a song. The algorithms and dependency of data has fragmented the landscape also. The new generation growing up in this algorithmic personalization environment which doesn't care about the age of the song. This new generation just goes with the sound and how they may be able to Tik Tok the song. I am labeling these ''new hits inclusive/involvement records''. The composition of a hit record has been changed forever due to the digital economy. You now do something with a song not just listen to it. When I came of age in the 80's you could just listen and then imagine. This is a totally different construct which must be understood by anyone attempting to do music as a career. It is now the official hunger games!

I will pose a question here who does this algorithmic and data benefit? The tech company themselves. They want you to offer your I.P for free yet they do not. You as an outsider do not know their algorithm. It is a ''state secret''. Who does this help? It helps the tech companies because that algorithm is having such a compelling effect on what can happen to a song. There are fewer human gatekeepers now that impact a song. Now also the songs go straight to release without a label having any input on what comes out.

There are no limitations like in the physical world. the world can fit more and more songs digitally. You do not worry about shelf space! This feeds the platform, but then it creates a supply issue because it is just too many. Also, the artist new song is now competing with catalog music just as they are new songs. This is unprecedented in commercial music history until now. Most of that catalog was done by the professional artist. Most of that catalog was a priority when it was released! In this era of streaming, music it has been turned into a commodity and is not art anymore! With ''UGC'' being the crux of a hit record in this era this has altered the industry construct of a hit! Listening to a song is not enough!!! Now something must be done with it by many hundreds of millions. Having a million listens is different than 1 million UGC moments recorded.

The concept of an artist being a priority has been removed from the vernacular of music. Everyone now waits for the song to go viral!! The artist is not as essential. The song which is the output of the artist is what is important in this tech driven music industry. This is why many people can know the song but not the artist behind that song. I call it the disconnect! This is driven by the tech platform. The Digerati only wants the output! The artist is a byproduct. This is why I state it has led to a disconnect between the two entities. We were told about a level playing field, but I do not know for who?

The algorithm has replaced the ''traditional gatekeepers''. All we did was replace one gatekeeper for another. This so-called lowered barrier upset the supply demand formula which is now being felt. This is the 'illusion element' to the music industry now. We now have been tricked by the Digerati because they got rid of the human gatekeeper but the A.I is the gatekeeper now. Why do they never phrase it that way? Semantics is a powerful tool. We are saturated with music now. The number that has come out over the past couple of years is 60k a day! This music output also increases the fragmentation I brought up. You add in TikTok which has increased further fragmentation and now we live in the niche! I just call it shrinkage! This has been one of the things the Digerati glorifies. So essentially, they are telling us there will be no more superstars! Glorifying the niche has been sold to the masses in this new era. The narrative is still beating the dead horse of the major label is under fire still by people, yet their value has not skyrocketed. The majors are Facebook, Amazon, Apple, You Tube and Spotify. It is about the Major Platforms not the major labels! Now say it the Major Platforms! An example financially.... Apple could in theory buy Universal records 40 times over. So, let's please stop the major label narrative!

However, here is the reality according to Spotify data in 2020, 97 percent of the artist generated less than 1,000 dollars in payments while 0.2 percent earned over 50 thousand dollars. Look at that percentage yet it is touted as the technologist saved the music industry. The artist has not been saved but now can't earn money on their product to live! The artist has no choice but to be multifaceted! The Digerati does not discuss that issue. I know artist who are even working harder than twenty years ago. You are doing everything, yet being an artist! Many in the industry had to quit the industry. By 2017 two thirds of my old rolodex was no good. I built my old email list organically while being on the road for 14 years. No one talks about the music industry stalwarts who were lost. Now we do not talk music anymore. We talk algorithms and data. I see a lot of what I call ''artificial fame'' which does not pay! All of this 'mini famedom' does not stick. What is called fame has been redefined. In the past that fame could be monetized now maybe not so.

The older artist who was A&Red by the record labels in the 60' - 00's are the superstars and have the staying power. You see all of their publishing now being sold for up to five hundred million dollars! They came through that superior system. The artist was invested in by the labels. You had to make it through though. The contract is the problem for the major label not what they do for the artist. Any big star you see in music came from this system! Let's add now Rihanna and Gwen Stefani to this list. The 2008-2011 was the end of that era I am stating, and the Spotify era starts in 2012. Also, You Tube becomes more prominent. The time of labels investing in the artist ended and the old label system put out to pasture quietly.

The old marketing systems that stuck are being extinguished. On a personal note, my whole internal marketing and promotion model that I developed for 17 years was useless by 2018. Also, the nurturing of the artist was waning. It has all become about the algorithm and social media. Also, the value of the Dj was decimated during this time. The Dj was important to the minor success we did attain because commercial radio would not touch it. DJ's took chances on a record and an artist. Many DJs took chances because I spoke with them and told the story and what was coming next. I told who the artist was. One song does not do that. Algorithms do not take chances!!!

The technologist put the emphasis on the single not the album. That has been a crucial change to the industry also. Everyone is chasing one record not a body of work! All is now shortsighted. This has impacted the album which was what the artist could survive financially much better on than a single. The playlist is now competing with the album for attention. As I like to say the album is the artistry. That is the story book. That is the work of the artist that transcends. The body of work has taken a hit because now people are trying to hit the viral single lottery. THE HUNGER GAMES OF MUSIC! An artist like Adele was nurtured and it shows. I will state here that the Digerati has lied to the masses that they do not need that nurturing!!! They have turned music into a Nike commercial.... Just do it.... lol!

I know what I am saying above to be true because I have been on the grind since 1999 in this independent music racket. I started my own boutique label called Prohibition Entertainment. I actually lived through this experience I am writing about not from a theoretical perspective. I remember the whole ride! When Napster happened, this started the ''unofficial takeover''. Then Apple came with iTunes which started the separation of the Album! It all became a single. It gutted the album conceptually. Then streaming came and essentially music was free even though they claim that the Digerati saved music. It morphed music. It didn't save it.

The artist and label only control the physical product pricing still. However, since the bulk of the current industry is streaming at 83 percent as of August 2022 what I am saying here has credence. Digital shrink's things! It does not expand it in principle!!! We were told we could reach the world, but we do not. It was a theoretical premise, but it was a lie. What was not said or thought about was the human element. Humans have many tastes. So yes, you can reach the world, but everyone will not reach you. Also, if everyone can reach the world it is as if nothing changed. Now with music always available in your pocket via your phone and once uploaded it doesn't really age now, we have a whole other paradigm. It is based on discovery by the individual. Yes, this is great but with ongoing barrage of music and the increase of utilitarian music we will be truly overrun. Our attention can only go so far. The shrinkage will increase and that is why the music superstar will be suffering extinction like the dinosaur. The majors and the indie label are very necessary in this ecosystem to hopefully keep the superstar alive and kicking. The people at labels have passion for music! The technology companies do not....it is just a means to an end. Of course, there have to be people at those companies who love music, but music is not their business! They need traffic and music is the best for that! The 1 out of 10 that make it to stardom are the special people. Those are the ones that keep the label alive for the other 9 who do not make it big enough.

The label system was never explained to the masses of people fully. The tech companies have sold us a bunch of narcissism! They took the various human conditions and sold us something else. We will have to deal with the effects of this in the future. The artist cannot do it alone. That is a glorified illusion. I am saying here where will the future catalog come from? Will these Tik Tok artist leave catalog behind like John Lennon did? Please someone answer that for me. Quality music is becoming less and less because people believe that they can microwave music. You can do music, but you can't microwave great music. Folks got into music dreaming of playing Madison Square Garden! Now folks say that will be happy playing in a living room. The Digerati has downgraded musical success to telling people that being average is the new success metric.

A.K Smith-Ford is the author of upcoming compelling book 25/52. Twenty-five years fifty-two cities in pursuit in releasing a solo debut album of an artist. In this narrative I go granular on what it took to break a record and an artist from the independent perspective. Stay tuned and connected