Long take on how the music industry is increasingly about the fans vs. the artists and their products. A good development overall. Wish the author would have explored how artists are thriving now on the back of the idea best encapsulated by Kevin Kelley’s 1000 True Fans.
Social media opens up nearly endless ways to engage with an artist: following their tweets or Instagram stories, or watching them goof around on Twitch. Community can’t meaningfully grow without new content, and that content can be teased and promoted in ways that play directly to fan dynamics….. With a surplus of music available, the “community” itself, or rather the sense of oneself as participant, is increasingly the point.
Jim Cuene 