Music IQ:
May ‘21

The Future of Livestreaming in the Post-COVID Era

By Dylan Pham

For much of the last decade, livestreams and virtual performances were seen as bumbling technologies that were more afterthoughts than centerpieces of an album rollout campaign. But the COVID-19 lockdowns catalyzed their mass adoption by artist teams, quickly becoming one of the primary ways to connect with fans remotely. In an August 2020 survey published by BandsinTown, 75% of artists have reported performing in a livestream compared to 45% in the previous year while 73% of fans have watched a livestream up from 33.8% pre-pandemic. This engagement increase has led to substantial investment in the livestreaming space. 

Wave Entertainment announced a strategic partnership with WMG in hopes of establishing a consistent pipeline of content for Warner rosters and audiences. In addition, many established music companies such as Bandcamp and Pandora have announced their own livestreaming wing to complement their pre-existing features. However, the imminent return of concerts and festivals obviously creates a challenge to the growth of virtual performances. In this month’s longform Music IQ, we’re going to examine the success stories of pandemic livestreams then identify ways virtual performances can develop a niche alongside live events. 

One of the defining characteristics of a successful virtual event is the ability to foster a feeling of community amongst guests who interact primarily online. This is often done on forums like Reddit or community messaging apps like Discord through shared interests like gaming, politics or music taste, but it can be challenging to generate consistent audience turnout without a certain edge. For the past year, two event companies that have nurtured this sense of community are Open Pit and Club Quarantine. 

Open Pit is an agency that specializes in producing events in Minecraft, the sandbox video game with over 126 million monthly active users aged primarily between 5-25. Essentially, users join the pre-made worlds like a chatroom and listen to artists perform through a streamed audio channel. These Minecraft “festivals” have seen acts such as 100 Gecs, AG Cook, Charli XCX and Kero Kero Bonito headline and curate the lineups. When looking at Open Pit’s artist selections, it is important to note that these choices heavily position their events amongst the LGBTQ+ music community that already congregates on Internet platforms like Stan Twitter and subreddits like Popheads. Furthermore, 100 Gecs and AG Cook are the heads of the LGBTQ+ and Internet-driven subgenre of “Hyperpop”, which often borrows their visual imagery from playful video games such as Minecraft. In a way, these Minecraft festivals provide a “physical” space to a music scene that primarily exists online thus allowing the artists to directly connect with their fans that feels authentic to the scene. As a result, Open Pit is leveraging a pre-existing community that already thrives on the Internet and taking it a step further by creating a virtual event that directly serves their needs. This intention is made even more clear by their premade worlds which are covered in rainbow and transgender flags along with a replica of Sophie’s possible Grammy award following her nomination. As VICE puts it: “[Open Pit’s event] felt like a welcoming place for LGTBQ+ attendees and artists, made possible by a conscious effort from Schramp and his co-organizers.” We can see a similar approach being executed by Club Quarantine.

Founded by four Toronto creatives, Club Quarantine is an online queer club that has developed a solid following in the wake of the pandemic. Living on Zoom chat rooms, Club Q hosts lineups of DJs and cabaret performers who entertain their guests with creative setups in their apartments. On an average night, the moderators will hand the main screen to attendees who go around in a virtual dance circle showing off their best moves from voguing to twerking on images of gay icons like Kim Petras or Nicki Minaj. This lively ambience has sustained Club Q’s attendance throughout the pandemic with attendance in the thousands nearly every week since last March. The momentum has resulted in high profile guests such as Charli XCX attending and partnerships with PAPER Magazine. Paper and Club Q have come together to co-host events with full lineups and relevant cause-based initiatives such as donating to Exhale, a mutual aid fund for Black women and femmes. Not only is Club Q capturing the exhilarating essence of real life gay clubs, but it’s tapping into important media outlets and philanthropic organizations that resonate with their audience. As a result, the virtual connection has become undeniable as explained by co-founder Andres Sierra for PAPER Magazine: 

"The club tends to be one of the only safe space for queer people, and it was natural to adapt this world of isolation to maintain that safe space. A lot of queer people may not have the support others do during quarantine. They may not have access to their chosen family or the spaces that make them feel at home, so this may fill that void just a bit. Clubs have always been our churches, almost spiritual in a wild effed up way, so this is just us praying at home." 

Both of these event series demonstrate the fundamentals of brand development and marketing: understanding the needs of an audience, how they consume media and what influencers and artists best appeal to their emotions. These insights drove their strategic decisions and as a result separated them from the avalanche of livestreams this past year. These event series also showcase the strongest benefits virtual performances can provide such as providing a gathering space for communities that have less support in real life. While it is likely livestreams will once again be a secondary consideration in the face of live concerts, livestreams can sustain themselves through serving communities and genres that live and die on the Internet, whether that’s esoteric genres like Vaporwave or queer folks in less accepting societies. Moreover, artists can leverage the intimacy and specificity of virtual performances to directly connect with segments of their fans in a way unavailable before. These can go hand-in-hand with typical album promotion strategies like press runs and meet-and-greets because they provide high amounts of engagement. What is essential, though, is that brands immerse themselves in Internet culture the same way that Open Pit and Club Q have done throughout the pandemic. 

But with this summer approaching and lockdowns on the verge of being finished, how can livestreaming maintain engagement while alongside live concerts? For the livestreaming wings of companies like Bandcamp and DICE, it’s going to be a challenge to sustain the interest of their notoriously fickle Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Even for organizations like Open Pit or Club Q, whose communities are Internet-driven to begin with, they will need to ensure their content offerings are consistently unique and compelling. However, it’s likely livestreaming will remain in an album release cycle through two ways: generating reach in secondary markets and sustaining fan engagement with highly targeted activations. 

In 2020, DICE, an online service that sells tickets to real life concerts, launched their livestreaming platform DICE TV to enable their audience to discover and stream performances while also making it easier for artists to reach their fans. It’s an interesting business decision because this new platform has the potential to cannibalize their ticket sales to IRL concerts. However, Jordan Gremli, the VP of Artist Development at DICE, sees livestreams as complementary to an artist’s touring because of how it can extend reach, explaining in a conversation with Premier:

“We’ve seen that fans are interacting with live streams in ways that are a little different than how they buy concert tickets. For example, fans are more likely to buy tickets for streams at the last minute. We’ve also found that the flexibility of streams opens up accessibility to a wider group of fans. Streams appeal to a far wider age demographic than live events and we’re seeing audiences outside of big cities more likely to tune in to a live stream. As we return to live we want to ensure that high-quality live events from the biggest and best artists remain accessible to all fans, whomever and wherever they are.” 

This means that artists can simultaneously do their typical tour routing while filming content for fans that can't attend their concerts for a variety of reasons from living in a secondary market to being unable to book a babysitter to even being too young or old to attend. The added flexibility of purchasing a livestreaming ticket right up till the show (because there is no theoretical capacity or need to travel to the show) also makes livestreams attractive for someone who may not like an artist enough to commit to a real life event but still wants to give them a last minute shot. Moreover, DICE and other online platforms have the advantage of developing user analysis through previous purchases and viewing history and thus can make new recommendations to fans living in 178 different countries. Artists could potentially play a show in New York and use that footage to develop fans in Croatia through a built out livestreaming platform. Thus, livestreaming has the potential to maximize reach and discovery in a way not seen before. 

Livestreaming also can create activations that sustain engagement beyond your typical album-tour cycle. As DICE’s Gremli further explains in our interview: 

“[DICE] believes that an artist’s connection with a fan during a show is only the start -- it needs to extend beyond the set … [livestreams] give an artist a unique way to interact with their fans as much as they like throughout every facet of their career. We’ve seen artists interacting with fans virtually as they’re writing new material, getting it ready for release, and after it’s out in the world, so we think live streams can be a powerful way for artists to keep fans engaged whenever and however they choose.” 

We can already see these kinds of activations happening across the industry. From Kenny Beats streaming beat battles and production tutorials on Twitch to Doja Cat playing video games and debuting new songs live, livestreams provide another tool to engage fans and build additional facets to an artist’s overall brand. It would be challenging to properly introduce an artist’s passion for video games or fashion at a chaotic live event, but with the convenience and intimacy of a livestream, it’s easier to showcase those other sides. On top of that, it has become easier to create additional income streams through paywalls and tiered membership by having an online presence to store BTS material, “director’s cuts” and early access. The mass adoption and advancements of livestreaming platforms have created the infrastructure for this business model to continue, especially since users are now more familiar and comfortable with it. And to reiterate a previous point, artists can take it a step further by making targeted decisions for segments of their audience through highly specific events like Club Q or Open Pit. 

All in all, there’s probably nothing that can truly replace the thrill of going to a live concert, but livestreams don’t need to do that to remain valuable. Instead, they’re poised to extend the reach and accessibility of tours while further developing the intimate relationship between fan and artist. 

Music IQ:
May ‘21

Lil Nas X: The Quintessential Pop Star for the Social Media Age

By Dylan Pham

Social media has given artists and labels more options than ever to market and promote their music. However, because it’s easier than ever to start an artist career, it’s far more difficult to set yourself apart from competitors. Not only are fans constantly inundated with an endless amount of content, but competition has expanded beyond national borders and even generations due to the expansive and easily-accessible catalogs of DSPs. So, how can an artist develop a compelling marketing campaign, social media presence and brand identity that sets them apart from their peers? Today on Music IQ, we’re going to examine the meteoric rise of Gen Z pop star Lil Nas X through three verticals (owned media, earned media and brand identity) to answer that question. 

Lil Nas X is a 22 year old rapper, singer and social media personality who rose to the prominence with the release of the country rap single “Old Town Road” which first reached viral popularity in early 2019.  “Old Town Road” has set the record as the highest certified song ever by the RIAA with a 14 platinum status in the United States and his new single “Montero” is currently number one on Billboard’s Global 200 chart.  Beyond the raw numbers, Lil Nas X is a quintessential 2021 pop star: he rose to fame through social media, his music blends multiple genres (pop, rock, rap and country) and his brand identity is powered by memes and social activism.

From the beginning, Lil Nas X has understood music culture, but more specifically, he has understood Stan Twitter and its many eccentricities. Stan Twitter is a community of Twitter users  noted for having particular shared terminology and possessing highly fanatical culture (it intersects heavily with other tribes such as Black and LGBTQ+ Twitter). Before “Old Town Road”, Lil Nas X was an active member of the community through operating a popular Twitter account (@nasmaraj) centered around rapper Nicki Minaj. After accumulating a six figure following, Lil Nas X used this account and his knowledge of Stan Twitter to devise and disseminate a strong owned and earned content strategy. 

Owned Media

To understand the content strategy of “Old Town Road”, it is important to remember two distinct cultural moments happening back in 2019. First, the highly anticipated sequel to Rockstar Games’ Western franchise Red Dead Redemption was being released to a large fanbase who were constantly discussing the video game online. Second, black cowboy culture was seeing a resurgence through the “Yeehaw Agenda” in which Western imagery became a staple in popular culture through artists like Solange, Mitski and Kacey Musgraves. It is not a coincidence that Lil Nas X chose to make this cross genre song while these two movements were gaining traction across the Internet.

To begin, Nas X set his single to a DIY montage of footage from Red Dead Redemption 2 which was then posted to his popular Twitter meme account. This choice played directly into the hype surrounding the video game and set the stage for a viral challenge on TikTok where “Old Town Road” really began to take off. In the challenge, fans would drink “yeehaw juice” then turn into a cowboy while the song played in the background. He then enlisted Billy Ray Cyrus for a remix which was simultaneously a decision to commit towards the country music genre (playing into the Billboard country chart controversy) and also to make the song an ironic joke that could be shared like a meme. This strategy is further emphasized by the additional remixes that featured Mason Ramsey (the Walmart Yodel kid), Diplo, RM of BTS (BTS and K-Pop have fanatical Stan followings) and Young Thug (one of the originators of Hip-Hop country crossovers). 

We can see this approach is being replicated for his recent single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).” Since releasing the single, the rapper has been releasing remixes of the song that play into several Internet trends found on YouTube. For example, one of the remixes reimagines the song as “lofi and something you can study to” which is a homage to the lofi hip-hop YouTube channel Lofi Girl and its most popular live video titled “Lo-fi Beats to relax/study to.”  Another remix is titled “MONTERO but ur in the bathroom of hell while lil nas is giving satan a lap dance in the other room” which is a reference to a collection of popular YouTube videos that places songs in specific contexts like “She left you last minute at prom so you’re crying in a school bathroom while Mr. Brightside plays.” The last remix is “Montero (But Lil Nas X Makes All The Sounds With His Mouth)” that plays off a recently viral YouTube user who remakes hip-hop albums all acapella. 

Evidently, Lil Nas X understands Internet trends and formats well enough that he can repurpose them to promote his material in a way that feels authentic and humorous. Thus, his remixes aren’t simply network expansions like a traditional remix, but they actively contribute to viral movements and showcase his fluency in Internet culture. 

Earned Media

Traditionally, earned media has encompassed news media coverage, publicity mentions in outlets or consumers recommending products to each other. But now, consumer technology has advanced to the point where anyone with a smartphone can make, edit and distribute content for public consumption. Lil Nas X, more so than any other pop star, is effective at encouraging his fans to make content around new music.

For the “Old Town Road”, Lil Nas X has said that the ‘yeehaw challenge’ was the result of him promoting the song as a meme for months until it was finally picked up by TikTok users. We can see this is happening now with his most recent single “Montero” which is thriving from the controversy resulting from its music video. “Montero” faced significant backlash from the religious and conservative US communities because the video features Lil Nas X pole dancing into Hell and giving Satan a lapdance. As a result, it has inspired countless memes and TikTok videos that playfully comments on this conflict while also using the iconic Lil Nas X pole dance imagery. This maximizes its reach and directly encourages people to save and stream the song (even if it’s purely out of spite or fascination). This controversy-stoking approach to content even extends to merch, with his limited edition Satan Shoe (produced in collaboration with viral media agency MSCHF) not only angering conservatives but also drawing fire from Nike, who successfully filed a cease and desist and turned what would otherwise be a standard merch drop into a national conversation topic.

If you take a look at Lil Nas X’s Instagram or Twitter accounts, they're full of him re-posting fan memes and then responding with his own. This creates a positive feedback loop in which Lil Nas X and his fans are generating a high volume of viral content around his song, making it inescapable and moreover a social experience that capitalizes on the strengths of these social media platforms. For every original meme and owned media, Lil Nas X receives high return on investment through earned media that makes and shares itself. 

Brand Identity 

All these strategies play back into Lil Nas X’s central brand identity as a ‘Twitter stan that just happened to become famous.’ He speaks a Gen Z and Internet vernacular that is unrivaled by his contemporaries, making him not only relatable but an entertaining figure to follow. In looking at how he’s handled the “Montero” controversy, he doubles down on being a terminally-online black gay artist through “clapping back” at conservatives with witty quips and memes that serves his Stan Twitter base.

This is not to say that artists should go out of their way to cause controversy and make people angry, but rather it demonstrates the power of speaking from a specific perspective for a community. Shortly after releasing the song, Lil Nas X posted an iPhone notes app screenshot in which he pens a letter to his younger self explaining why coming out publicly is powerful for the LGBTQ+ community at large. This note, the memes and ridiculous music videos all play into the Lil Nas X’s central brand tenants that people should commit to who they are, not take themselves too seriously and engage with their fellow fan communities. All in all, Lil Nas X has cultivated a robust content ecosystem and social media presence that effectively express these values, turning him into the superstar he would have stanned himself back in his meme account days. It would have been easy to write off Lil Nas X as a one-hit wonder, but you can attribute his sustained success for his multiple campaigns to his social media and marketing strategy.

Music IQ:
April ‘21

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs: An Introduction to Blockchain and its Implications for the Music Industry and the Creator-Consumer Dynamic

By Dylan Pham

In recent weeks, references to blockchain and its many uses have become inescapable in the media. Stories from Elon Musk driving up the value of Dogecoin through tweets to millionaire Bitcoin owners being locked out of their fortunes are becoming increasingly visible and numerous. Today in Music IQ, we’re going to introduce the fundamental concepts of blockchain, its current uses in music, and its potential impact on the industry as a whole.

In its most simple terms, blockchain is a type of electronic database. These databases are designed to be accessed, filtered and manipulated by a large number of users through servers on a network of powerful computers. The biggest difference between blockchain and a typical database is how it’s structured: blockchain organizes data in groups known as ‘blocks’, each of which holds different sets of information (unlike the typical database model, which organizes information in tables, e.g. Microsoft Excel). After being filled with data, blocks are latched onto a previously-filled block and given a time stamp. This forms a chain of data called the “blockchain”, which continues to get new blocks added onto it, each filled with new information. The result creates an irreversible timeline of data. Here is a diagram of how this process is applied in cryptocurrency. 

One of the biggest draws to blockchain is how the data is verified and updated through a decentralized network of computers (each called “nodes”). In the case of cryptocurrency, this means that every node in the blockchain network validates and holds onto information of every transaction through complex processing puzzles. Individuals can then use a personal node (or blockchain explorer) to transparently view transactions both live and in the past. This set-up makes it very challenging to alter the blocks already in the chain - the majority of the network would have to agree to change the irreversible time-stamped chain, or a user would have to expend impossibly vast amounts of processing power to solve all the calculations in the chain.

Data within blockchain is not limited to finance: it can include information like legal contracts, company product inventory, and state identifications.  Due to its secure system, blockchain promises advances in transparency and efficiency, and has already made a sizable impact in several industries. Companies such as Walmart, Pfizer and IBM have already integrated blockchain technology into their infrastructure and supply chains. In fintech, Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherum are forms of money that use blockchain as the infrastructure to store transaction information. This efficiency and security is inherently appealing in managing money and as a result has driven both currencies to be valued at $1 trillion and $220 billion respectively.  And now, the music industry is seeing its own blockchain integration through two uses: personalized cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

Social media has expanded the direct artist-fan relationship in a myriad of ways throughout the last decade, from livestream Q&As to exclusive subscriber content.  Now, cryptocurrencies are  introducing a new method to monetize fan engagement, which is popularizing more than ever due to COVID restrictions. Many notable acts from Portugal. the Man (PTM Coin) to Akon (Akoin) to even Lil Yachty (YachtyCoin) have created their own cryptocurrencies in partnership with social-money platforms Rally, Bittrex and Fyooz respectively. Rally and Fyooz’s specializations in content creation are the core of why musicians are entering this arena: artists can utilize personalized cryptocurrencies to foster an intimate and sustained relationship with their most loyal fans. Fans can purchase coins and in exchange, redeem them for exclusive content and artist experiences such as meet-and-greets, appearances in music videos, BTS videos and private listening parties. Lil Yachty’s coin, in particular, has been quite successful as it sold out at $15 a piece and brought in over $270,000 in only 21 minutes. 

For consumers, the main advantages of using a cryptocurrency over a fan subscription service like OnlyFans and Patreon is increased fluidity. Instead of paying a fixed monthly subscription fee for all content, fans can purchase a set amount of coins ahead of time and use them as they see fit. Likewise for the artist, cryptocoin allows for a higher diversification in offerings (Patreon or OnlyFans are limited to written and video content), and the ability for tiered product offerings. 

In a sense, purchasing an artist coin is a fan pledging their commitment to the brand and thus is primarily reserved for a musician’s most loyal fans. Artists can then convert their earnings into Ethereum or Bitcoin and cash out or hold for investment strategies. Personalized cryptocurrencies are providing the foundation for a new type of artist-fan economies where brands have more freedom to customize their businesses unique to their strengths and followers. 

In a similar vein to artist coins, NFTs add another dimension to the direct artist-fan relationship. A non-fungible token is essentially a virtual certification that authenticates digital art, using blockchain as the infrastructure to verify the item and track its purchase history. Digital art (such as paintings) are by nature easily reproducible and, as a result, can not create enough scarcity to warrant a price tag. Buying a NFT provides the customer with a secure verification that in fact they own an original piece, no matter how many digital replications there are on the Internet. NFTs are designed to artificially generate scarcity because the token itself is rare even if the art is not. This perceived scarcity has driven enormous NFT bidding wars for music items in recent weeks: Grimes sold $6 million worth of digital artworks, 3LAU sold $11.6 million and Yaeji has sold several $30k art pieces. At first glance, it can be dizzying trying to understand why someone would spend so much money on a certificate for a 50 second video clip that can be easily viewed on the Internet. However, one should see NFTs as the digital evolution of the collectibles market. For example, basketball cards are simply pieces of paper that can easily be replicated by printers. However, having a small amount of cards that can be verified as originals creates a perceived urgency for collectors. It only makes sense that there are now NFT basketball cards which feature video highlights from today’s biggest players (three Zion Williamson NFTs sold at $250k a piece, for example). 

For many artists, streaming revenues alone do not provide a liveable wage and, for the time being, the touring that represents most artists’ primary income source is on hold. NFTs create a compelling alternative revenue stream that could become a core component of an artist’s business and marketing strategies for many years to come. For Yaeji, a relatively minor artist outside the indie and editorial world, selling a $30k NFT piece is equivalent to playing a set at a major music festival. If she sells several a year, that is a solid cushion to sustain herself and takes pressure off having high album streams or touring relentlessly. Because blockchain efficiently tracks an item’s purchasing history, NFTs can also be programmed to provide percentages of each re-sell of the piece, no matter how many different owners. So if one buys Yaeji’s NFT and sells the ownership to another collector, Yaeji still gets a cut of that exchange because the data is immediately integrated into the blockchain network. This is distinctly different from purchasing a physical art piece where resell transactions do not benefit the creator. Theoretically, Yaeji could see passive income from her NFTs decades into the future and through the hands of hundreds of owners. 

NFTs also create an entirely new incentive system to make products specifically for this marketplace. They not only make artists feel more motivated to evolve, but also make their collectors feel like their purchases are more special. For established and legacy acts, NFTs allow them to superserve an older and more affluent audience, such as the Kings of Leon being the first major band to sell an album with NFT packages. One package is a special album bundle, the second offers live show perks like front-row-seats for life and a third is an exclusive audiovisual art piece. Embracing new technologies such as NFTs can provide a jolt of relevance to mid-career acts like Kings of Leon, aligning them with fresh trends and innovators.

While cryptocurrencies and NFTs open the doors of possibility, brands should still be careful in betting their futures on blockchain. Like any emerging technology or industry, blockchain is relatively unregulated and volatile. Some economists (including Nobel Prize winners) argue that cryptocurrency’s high value is driven primarily by speculation and is thus a bubble waiting to pop like it did in 2017 and 2018. This extends to NFT art pieces because an NFT is only as valuable as the public perceives it to be. Moreover, the primary guarantors that one can liquidate cryptocurrency into US dollars are private companies, not banks. There are also few guardrails in place to prevent widespread piracy: who is monitoring whether an art piece being sold as an NFT is a stolen work? And last, blockchain, and more so NFTs, are known to be particularly harmful to the environment due to the amount of energy expended for processing verifications. Overall, music’s current usages of blockchain may not be sustainable for widespread usage and likely will need substantial innovation and regulation before becoming stable and dependable.

However, this does not mean that blockchain’s far-reaching implications are unencouraging. For example, blockchain technology could make it easier for DSPs to efficiently pay the multitude of songwriters, producers and publishers on every record. Currently, record labels are tasked with the laborious work of processing vendors, splits and bill-pay systems from a variety of different income streams. It may eventually be possible for parties to quickly calculate payouts through inputting non-alterable percentages and monitor multiple income streams update live. However, the biggest obstacle for this ecosystem lies in wide-scale adoption: unless every party and vendor uses blockchain (and maybe the same cryptocurrency), the seamless transfer of funds would be unfeasible. Furthermore, an interledger, or an infrastructure in which different blockchain currencies can communicate with each other, will not be available for at least another five to seven years according to Rolling Stone. 

Blockchain can also make legal agreements more secure. For example, an artist and a venue can enter into a blockchain contract that can not be altered after being signed. If the venue agrees to a certain percentage of ticket sales or merchandise, those payouts can happen in real time to the exact amount agreed. A final implication from this increased transparency and security would be a community wallet that crowdfunds independent artists. In exchange for a small investment, early investors could be guaranteed a certain percentage of sales or perks like early copies or advance concert tickets. This would allow independent musicians to further sidestep the traditional route of signing to a label and commit to the direct relationship with fans from the inception of their career.

Blockchain is an emerging technology that is likely to make increasing contributions to businesses throughout the music industry. Though it can be easy to be swept up in the excitement of novel content and marketing strategies, brands should be wary about the obstacles that lie ahead in terms of wide scale adoption, regulation and sustainability. In a similar way that smaller distribution services like AWAL or The Orchard have made it easier for artists to forgo a traditional record deal, blockchain allows artists of all mediums to securely sell and monitor their work directly to their audiences. The need for gatekeepers seems to be shrinking with increased computer processing power, cheap information sharing and decentralized community building. Perhaps the current NFT craze may soon fade away, but this paradigm shift in the creator-consumer dynamic probably will not.

Music IQ:
March ‘21

The Evolution of Virtual Performances: How Livestreams have Transformed into Compelling Expressions of Artistry

By Dylan Pham

With festival mainstays Glastonbury and Coachella announcing their first consecutive cancellations, it seems increasingly likely that we face another complete year of little to no tours and concerts. Since last March, artists have supplemented this loss with all sorts of livestreams, virtual performances and remote activations; however, the phenomena of “Zoom fatigue”, or the emotional burnout caused by using video mediums, and the subsequent “livestream fatigue” have long set-in. Not only are consumers tired of virtual concerts (and anything that reminds us that we’re in a pandemic), but there is also a highly saturated pool of players attempting to win this limited amount of attention. In addition, companies such as Bandcamp, Bandsintown and Live Nation have all launched or purchased their own livestreaming platforms in hopes of capturing lost revenue, driving up an already over-served market. However, with the uncertainty of vaccination rollouts and public trust in large gatherings, virtual performances remain a vital tool for music brands to maintain relevance and engagement with their audiences in the coming months. Livestreams are perhaps the only way to currently execute an album rollout; and given the time constraints of most artist careers, many must happen now. 

Brands and artists are faced with the challenge of having to create virtual experiences that feel distinctly unique and generate a poignant urgency that can be felt through a screen. As a result, majors, indies, and even brands have become even more creative in lockdown and evolved their offerings to bring an immersive entertainment experience to consumers’ living rooms. In today’s Music IQ, we’re going to examine the players who are reshaping the virtual performance medium and how each approach represents a different strategy moving forward. 

Note: The virtual concerts we are discussing today are not to be confused with gaming activations like Travis Scott’s “Astronomical” or 100 gec’s Minecraft Festival. Those activations specifically use built-out video game infrastructures as stages and often opt for the original masters as audio. The discussion will focus on the contemporary extension of music performed live and through video as it has a much wider audience than the niche gaming subcultures we’ve examined in previous Music IQs. 

The first approach is developing a series of livestreams and performances that have a cohesive aesthetic and underlying narrative that holistically build a recognizable brand universe. Even with a large label-backed budget, it requires tremendous focus and self-awareness to ensure that these endeavors remain coherent and consistent. In the past year, The Weeknd and Phoebe Bridgers are two artists who have been committed to developing a spectacle and extending the worldbuilding of their albums. This work has resulted in their projects being amongst the few campaigns that have succeeded in the pandemic year. 

The Weeknd’s After Hours remains one of the biggest albums of 2020 and throughout this era, the R&B artist has been releasing stellar virtual performances that elevate the production and theatrical expectations of the medium (Super Bowl Performance, “Save Your Tears / In Your Eyes” at the AMAs, “Blinding Lights” at the VMAs and “Alone Again” for Vevo). Every performance has an instantly recognizable look that plays off the album’s artwork and music videos. At the center, The Weeknd is dressed in his costume (a bold red suit, blood makeup on his face and gauze bandages) while he saunters through an 80s neon light dystopia, occasionally ending in complex pyrotechnic displays. The Weeknd has developed a well-formulated cinematic vision that builds upon itself with each subsequent live performance, playing into the multiplatform worldbuilding we touched upon in our last Music IQ. His team sees virtual performances as opportunities to make significant artistic statements rather than a simple means-to-an-end in typical album promotion. As the cherry on top, Showtime has recently announced that they will be releasing a documentary on The Weeknd’s Super Bowl performance, creating an extension into the traditional video and media space. 

Phoebe Bridgers has also been successful in infusing her personality into her livestreams. Bridgers is notable for deadpan and meme-worthy humor showcased on her socials. In almost all promotional material for her critically acclaimed record Punisher, Bridgers is wearing this Halloween skeleton onesie. It’s unclear why but it’s akin to The Weeknd’s red suit costume: it’s eye-catching, silly and speaks volumes about Bridger’s sense of humor. This humor plays out in several of her virtual performances: "Kyoto" from a bed that turns into Carnegie Hall, her NPR tiny desk in front of an Oval Office desk replica and a campy, haunting Christmas performance featuring a robotic piano she named “Irma the ghost.” She even responded brilliantly to widespread criticism about her destroying a guitar on SNL. If The Weeknd has created an extended universe through his debaucherous, adrenaline-filled imagery, then Phoebe Bridgers has succeeded in creating her own ecosystem through her sarcastic wit and social media presence. Bridger’s brand and performances feed into this continuous inside joke between her and her fans, creating a sense of camaraderie and exclusivity that powered her rise to this year’s indie rock it-girl.  

Another way to differentiate a virtual performance is through creating an experience that can not be easily replicated on tour. Two activations that fit this category are Dua Lipa’s “Studio 2054” and Arlo Park’s Tonight with Arlo Parks. 

Building off the success of her disco-revival album Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa finished off 2020 with a blockbuster livestream concert entitled “Studio 2054” (a reference to the legendary disco club Studio 54). At $10 per ticket, “Studio 2054” drew 5 million global live viewers and was widely acclaimed. “Studio 2054” not only demonstrated a similar excellence in production and aesthetic cohesion like The Weeknd, but it also utilized the network of a star studded guest lineup featuring Miley Cyrus, Elton John, FKA Twigs, Bad Bunny, Kylie Minogue and Black Madonna. This starpower injected a feeling of urgency into “Club 2054” that made it feel like a must-see event, rather than an optional sideshow. The stacked lineup could probably be not assembled on the road; a stationary virtual performance in London provides this unique opportunity. Building off that, Dua Lipa herself has admitted that the virtual show is more like a “live music video” and she would be unable to execute the idea on tour. 

Furthermore, a studio environment allows artists to create shows that integrate non-music content on top of their performances. In celebration of her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams, Arlo Parks partnered with Amazon Music to produce an hour-long variety show entitled Tonight with Arlo Parks. The special features poetry readings, an interview with Romy from The xx, a guest performance from Glass Animals and of course a performance from Parks herself. This curated selection feels thoughtful and aligned with Arlo Park’s artistry, which emphasizes her multidisciplinary background and the influences she regularly champions on her social media. As a result, fans who have been following Parks will be delighted to exclusively see their favorite artist show multiple sides of herself while newer fans will become aware of Park’s passion / taste for poetry, film and literature. As a long term strategy, this opens Parks for future brand deals in multiple industries: she could host her own TV show or podcast, curate special magazine editions or be the face of literature journals. The variety show is an increasingly popular tactic in the influencer world where figures like Charli D’Amelio and James Charles use them to build upon their dance and makeup careers respectively.

Dua Lipa and Arlo Parks’ livestreams use the lockdown as a tool to capitalize on a captive audience and build upon the unique circumstances of performing from warehouses or studios. The primary takeaway is that virtual performances do not need to serve merely as a backup to live shows: they can evolve to becoming a unique component of an album release even after the lockdown. By using technology and opportunities unavailable to tours, brands can create exciting offerings and then capitalize on the event through merch capsules exclusive to ticket holders. 

Virtual performances have the potential to be a unique expression of an artist’s brand. A focused vision and well-executed production using emerging technologies make virtual experiences as unique if not more than live performances, which can be limited by touring logistics. This is not to say that virtual performances will replace live concerts, but rather can serve as an additional useful tool in the album release cycle. Moreover, artists must understand the core components of their brand so they can maximize those characteristics through thoughtful curation and theatrical presentation. Such an intentional mindset to livestreams makes them stand out amongst competitors. It will be exciting to see how virtual performances break free of “Zoom fatigue” and continue to evolve into “Zoom vigor.”

Music IQ:
February ‘21

“Driver’s License”: How Next-Gen Artists Use the Power of TikTok Memes and Multi-Platform Worldbuilding to Drive Engagement

By Dylan Pham

In their first ever US Music Report, TikTok announced that over 176 different songs surpassed 1 billion video views and revealed the platform’s top 10 songs of the year. Those 176 songs accumulated over 50 billion video views from 125 million creations and 15 of them reached #1 on the Billboard 100 Chart (Examples: “WAP”, “Savage”, “Toosie Slide”, “Mood”, “Blinding Lights”, “Rockstar” and “Say So”). It is undeniable that TikTok is a major force in generating hits for the present day. Record labels and agencies are thus faced with an important question: “How can artists effectively use TikTok to organically drive engagement and dialogue around new releases? In today’s Music IQ, we’re going to explore why TikTok has emerged as the biggest breeding ground for new stars and the new exciting marketing strategies that are emerging on the platform, using Olivia Rodrigo’s global smash hit “drivers license” as a key case study.

Olivia Rodrigo is a Californian actress and singer who is best known for starring in Disney’s reboot of the High School Musical series. Her debut single “driver’s license”, released on January 8th, was streamed over 60 million times in one week and broke the record for most streams of a song in a single week, while its TikTok hashtag amassed over 888.5 million views in one week. Lyrically, “driver’s license” centers around Rodrigo driving around her town and lamenting the destruction of a recent romantic relationship with evocative stanzas such as: "You're probably with that blonde girl / Who always made me doubt / She's so much older than me / She's everything I'm insecure about." Fans and press outlets alike have speculated that the song is directed towards Rodrigo’s High School Musical co-star Joshua Bassett and the “blonde girl” is another Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter, currently dating Bassett. As none of the artists have formally confirmed or rejected this hypothesis, the resulting speculation has driven thousands of fans to make videos on TikTok discussing the subject – the ultimate organic marketing.

This gossip storm is further fueled by numerous videos preceding and following the release of the single. For months, Rodrigo had been teasing the single through posting videos of her writing “driver’s license” and then cryptic videos that hinted at its subject matter. For example, Rodrigo posted a TikTok in which she is listening to her High School Musical song “All I Want” that is captioned with “you think u [sic] can hurt my feelings? i wrote this song” and “and that’s on failed relationships.” This video, which has been liked 11.2 million times, seems pointed towards Bassett since the song is about the character he plays on the show. After “driver’s license” was released, both Bassett and Carpenter have dropped new songs, which have been interpreted as responses to Rodrigo’s single. 

With every release, fans have been endlessly generating original content around the ongoing saga on their social media profiles, driving streams until “driver’s license” became 2021’s first major hit. Some have created videos simulating social media had it existed during previous similar romantic song exchanges in pop music (like John Mayer with Taylor Swift). Some have created humorous meme-like content like a girl dramatically acting out the narrative of the song. But most, like true Gen-Z and Millennials, are revelling in the song’s unapologetic heartbroken and “sad girl” perspective and posting lighthearted videos about crying all day to the song. This is where it begins to get interesting. Building off the exchange between the three Disney Channel stars, fans are beginning to create their own “POV” singles in which they take the instrumental or chords of “driver’s license” and post their own version. For example, one video, which has garnered 2.6M likes, features an amateur artist singing “driver’s license” from the perspective of the “blonde girl.” These versions are like fan-fics that extend blockbuster franchises such as Harry Potter or Twilight, except they are widely shared and thus directly feed into the hype of the single. As The Atlantic puts it, these creative fan contributions create a “cinematic universe” in which all fans are both participants and spectators. 

“driver’s license” is an excellent example of how Gen Z artists can execute a multi-platform narrative that functions like a roleplaying game in which fans seek out evidence and discuss with their peers. Rodrigo, Bassett and Carpenter have executed a well-formulated plan that capitalized on the social conversations of their audience, understanding topics and social media strategies that would create buzz and dialogue. Rodrigo, Bassett and Carpenter (and their teams) understand that they are public figures that lead the same tribe of consumers: individuals under 18 years old who follow Disney Channel and likely interact with their friends on social media apps such as Instagram or TikTok. Thus, creating content that drives speculation is a powerful way to organically build up hype for a song that hasn’t been released. This is clearly evidenced by Rodrigo’s cryptic social media captions, which are very relatable to teenagers who post in a similar vernacular. And since Rodrigo, Bassett and Carpenter are famous aspirational figures, these social media decisions play into celebrity gossip culture long established by the likes of TMZ and People Magazine, optimized for the rapid-fire creator culture of TikTok. 

Furthermore, what TikTok and Instagram now bring to the table is that fans take after this example and contribute to the universe themselves. If brands can establish this dynamic early in an activation, fans may be encouraged to contribute themselves. Another recent example of this dynamic is Mark Ronson’s “Guest Verse” challenge on his Instagram. Ronson begins the challenge by playing a looped instrumental that has space for artists to sing over. He then invites his followers to post stories in which they contribute their own verse and tag his account. The best performances are then re-posted on Ronson’s Instagram. The fascinating thing about the “driver’s license” POV responses is that they seem completely organic: fans were being creative and came up with this concept for their own platforms. However, they stand as a model for possible upcoming marketing strategies and Ronson’s series could be the first of many “guest verse” challenges for future huge songs. 

The primary takeaway is that the blurring line between creator and audience has created an unprecedented amount of engagement. When artists and influencers create content, fans generate their own content on their personal platforms (reaction videos, discussions and memes) and thus increase awareness and interaction with the original media. Knowing this, artists can create multi platform narratives, like highly choreographed dramas, with the intention of driving fan content and engagement. Furthermore, these narratives can utilize the functionalities of social media apps to create viral challenges and further develop the worldbuilding with each release. The ability to foster this kind of interactive relationship with audiences will be a key consideration in how labels sign and develop new talent and a primary factor for which brands succeed going forward.

Music IQ:
January ‘21

Bandcamp: A Music Company Finding Success in the Pandemic through an Artist-First Business Model

By Dylan Pham

2020 was a year in which the entire music industry has been challenged to reformulate their business strategies. The pandemic requires brands to discover new ways to connect with their audiences, diversify their revenue streams and demonstrate their core values. One music platform has found a surprisingly large amount of success through a simple, decade-old model. Unlike other platforms emerging in 2020, its focus is not on social bite-sized video or AI algorithms; rather, its focus is on developing loyalty and legitimacy with indie artists and fan communities. This platform is the Internet music company Bandcamp.   

According to a recent Digital Music News report, Bandcamp has sold five million digital albums, two million tracks, one million vinyl albums, 600,000 CDs, 300,000 cassettes, and 250,000 t-shirts this past year. In addition, 40% of purchasers paid more for their item than the artist listed asking price. Overall, sales are up 122% in the last 30 days, compared to the same period last year. In addition to revenue growth, Bandcamp has succeeded in generating substantial goodwill with the public through their artist-friendly initiatives such as “Bandcamp Friday.” Today in Music IQ, we’re going to examine Bandcamp’s business model, brand philosophy and recent strategies then hypothesize about their potential future.  

Founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, Bandcamp is a digital marketplace where artists and labels can sell music and merchandise directly to consumers. Taking after Radiohead’s landmark decision to make their 2007 album In Rainbows “pay as you want”, artists on Bandcamp can set their own prices and offer fans the option to pay more. Fans are then able to download their purchases once or limitlessly stream their music on Bandcamp’s application or website. Uploading music to Bandcamp is free and the company takes a 15% cut of sales made from their website (in addition to processing fees), which drops to 10% once an artist sales surpass $5000. Bandcamp is less of a streaming service and more of a virtual merch table (venues also take percentage of sales sold on-premise). In an interview with NPR, CEO Ethan Diamond shares that half of Bandcamp’s sales are physical goods yet it has no warehouses or delivery services. The company allows artists to take orders for physical items that they can fulfill however they choose. So purely in terms of infrastructure, a more comparable online service would be Etsy, where craftsmakers can also easily set up an online shop and sell their products directly to customers.It’s also notable that Bandcamp has been a mostly remote workplace since its inception, which seems so feasible now during the pandemic, but it truly makes them pioneers in the work-from-home space. 

This business model distinguishes Bandcamp from their modern competitors like Spotify or Apple Music, which are distribution services that generate revenue from subscriptions and ads then calculate payout to labels and artists based on the “pro-rata” system. The “pro-rata” system takes all revenue generated from users and puts it in one pot then multiplies it by the percentage of total platform streams each artist receives. This system is controversial because critics argue that it largely favors major labels and artists who accumulate the highest streams. Critics also assert that this system encourages artists to make shorter songs for repeatable spins and find ways to game the system. For some fans, it’s disappointing that a large percentage of their monthly subscription is used to pay superstar artists rather than the indie artists that make up the majority of their listening. Despite everyone paying the same subscription fee, the fans who listen to more than the average of 25 hours of content become more valuable than those who do not.

A proposed alternative to this system has been the “user-centric” model, in which a user’s subscription fee is proportionally distributed specifically to the artists they listen to, rather than contributing to the overall pot. A notable adopter of this system has been Deezer, which instated a pilot program at the beginning of 2020. Alexander Holland, Deezer’s Chief Content and Strategy, describes the main benefits of a user-centric in an interview with Musically: 

“I would consider it more fair if my money goes to the artists that I love, rather than running through a black box… It also leads in our view to better allocation of the money across the spectrum of artists and genres… and it might create almost a pension fund. Even artists that in the short term might lose, in the long term might get this money back as their audience grows older, and their frontline catalogue becomes back catalogue. [user-centric] also creates a closer connection between the artist and the fan if the fan knows that his money goes to the artists he listens to.” 

A group of Finnish music researchers published a study in 2017 analyzing the differences in payouts between the pro-rata and user-centric models and came to this conclusion:

The pro rata favours artists and tracks, which get the biggest amount of played streams regardless if they are created by a large number of users with few plays or a smaller number of users who have played them repeatedly. The user centric model favours artists with smaller number of streams, especially when the overall stream count is smaller. However, it should be emphasized that the positive financial effect is not automatic in all user centric cases but the result may as well be the opposite. The results depend on the cumulative effects of both individual and user groups’ listening habits. 

So although the user-centric system provides some benefits to smaller artists, those benefits are highly dependent on the volatile and unpredictable listening habits of their fanbases. A Norweigan music group also published a report that found major artists' market share changed very little (76%, pro rata vs. 75%, user-centric) and that the top 5000 artists still received the same amount of revenue. There was a small increase for artists in the middle but ultimately the redistribution in payouts were negligible. And lastly, Spotify’s Head of Economics Will Page argues that the cost of maintenance and management that would be required to ensure a proper user-centric model would cancel out the potential increased earnings. 

Thus, there is no clear solution to the inequities in streaming distribution. Both pro-rata and user-centric systems have their clear pros and cons while also being very complicated. These circumstances make Bandcamp’s relatively straightforward and almost archaic business model stand out even more. Moreover, no other DSPs are selling physical items alongside digital music on one platform, providing Bandcamp a unique edge. But this parallels the tremendous differences in business philosophy between Bandcamp and its competitors. 

For example, Spotify has developed its technological capabilities to maximize music discovery and social engagement. The platform's curated playlists have streamlined the discovery process and their marketing campaigns like Wrapped make it easy to share listening habits on socials. In addition, they have purchased numerous podcasting production companies in order to capture additional components of the audio market. Spotify’s focus on how listeners spend their listening time beyond music is best captured by CEO Daniel Ek’s address in his 2020 Q1 earnings call:  

"When I look ahead both short- and long-term, I'm always thinking about what's Spotify's role within the larger ecosystem. And while most focus is on competition between streaming services, we continue to be focused on the billions of users that are listening to linear radio. The 20-year trend is that everything linear dies and on-demand wins. This is a trend that we suspect will be accelerated by the COVID pandemic. ... So in my mind, our competition is actually those learned and long-held user behaviors. For us, it will always be about capturing the share of time listeners spend elsewhere and prove out [sic] that their time is far better spent with us." 

Spotify is a technology company whose main goal is to maximize and maintain subscriptions, whether through original content, curation or social engagement. As a result, their primary focus is on the needs of their subscribers and their audio ventures that extend beyond music (licensing music is currently a loss leader for them). This strategy may be one of the reasons why Spotify pays only fractions of a cent per stream: they need to keep subscription rates low in order to grow their subscriber base as fast as possible. 

Meanwhile, Bandcamp has made their business philosophy centered around music and the artists themselves. CEO Ethan Diamond explains Bandcamp's ethos in an interview with NPR: 

“I think of Bandcamp as a music company first, because I think of who we serve as first and foremost the artist. And the way to best serve artists happens to be through technology, a particular model of technology that our business is based on. But we're definitely – no question – we're different than a lot of digital businesses. I mean, the mission of the company is, I think, fairly unique. ... There's this great story – there was a New Yorker article about it – about how Prince was working on his autobiography just before he died. And he had picked a co-writer and in one of their initial meetings together he said, 'Music is healing. Write that down first.' He said that he wanted it to be the guiding principle they used in the book. And if you start with this idea that music is healing, that is obviously a power that should be in the hands of everybody who has the talent to wield it. ... And so that's what Bandcamp is. That's what I feel like we're here to build – that system. And the way you do that is by ensuring that artists are compensated fairly and transparently for their work. And that is through the direct support of their fans." 

This mindset makes Bandcamp’s position in the distribution space relatively unique. While Spotify and other competitors come consistently under fire for their payout systems, Bandcamp has been heralded as the “anti-Spotify” by some publications for their artist-first mindset and initiatives. 

One of these initiatives, Bandcamp Friday, has been a resounding success in the midst of the pandemic. Bandcamp Friday began as a one-off at the end of March to help artists supplement lost income through Bandcamp waiving its revenue share from all sales made. According to an update written by Ethan Diamond, fans purchased 800,000 items (versus 47,000 on a typical Friday, 15x the amount) and earned artists over $4.3 million in one day. Seeing this enthusiasm, Bandcamp extended Bandcamp Friday into a three month series taking place on every first Friday and in three days earned artists $20 million. It also donated 100% of its share of sales to NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Juneteenth. Then in July, Bandcamp Friday was extended until the end of 2020. And as of December 15th, Bandcamp announced that the program will continue until March 2021 and has sold $145 million of goods since last March. 

Bandcamp Friday underscores how demonstrating a strong set of values through meaningful initiatives can elevate brands above their competitors. In previous Music IQs, we have explored companies that have established significant audience loyalty through taking strong political positions on contentious issues. This includes Patagonia’s ongoing environmental policies and Spotify’s “Play Your Part” voting campaign. All these initiatives succeed because they take definite stances, make significant contributions to relevant organizations and provide educational resources to their communities at large. Through their substance and breadth, they feel like legitimate gestures of goodwill rather than mere public relations strategies (much stronger than the typical “We’re All In This Together” ad). And in this case, Bandcamp has proven their commitment to supporting artists in an unparalleled way compared to other distribution services. Through forgoing millions of dollars, Bandcamp has taken the undisputed position that they prioritize the artist community above profit. This move is especially potent in the context of our currently fragile economic situation, where many businesses (especially marketplace ones like Bandcamp that depend on consumer disposable income) are choosing between benefiting their organizations or supporting vulnerable communities and employees.  In addition, Bandcamp’s position is made more compelling against the backdrop of public discontent towards streaming services and tech corporations in general. In the past decade, public opinion towards Silicon Valley has soured: big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Spotify have all been challenged by widespread accusations of fostering unfair competition. As a result, Bandcamp Friday is a well executed program at precisely the right time, making Bandcamp one of the few digital music companies that are perceived as giving back back rather than hoarding wealth and power. 

But of course, this initiative also provides the company ample business benefits that extend beyond pure goodwill. It has earned Bandcamp large amounts of positive publicity, marketing exposure and social engagement across all platforms. As described in the LA Times piece linked above, many artists (especially underground) are now completely transitioning to Bandcamp full time and bringing their fans with them. One example is the NY underground hip-hop scene affiliated with rapper Earl Sweatshirt. This exciting collection of musicians (such as MIKE, Piink Sifu, Maxo and Navy Blue) have been credited with ushering a new generation of rap music and are notably releasing new music on Bandcamp months before any streaming platforms. Bandcamp Friday also provides an incentive for new customers to become familiar with the product and check out its other features such as its editorial platform. Moreover, people who purchase goods during this program leave with the emotional gratification that they’re directly supporting their favorite artists and those in need. This feeling encourages word-of-mouth recommendations and makes the use of Bandcamp’s product a personal expression of one’s values. This invaluable aspect of brand identity can not be purchased like adspots; it must be earned through substantial action and well-crafted strategy. It provides an intangible yet significant advantage in building a loyal customer base and increasing market share. 

And like a cherry on top, Bandcamp made another gesture that further cements its credibility amongst hardcore music lovers. In December, Bandcamp’s editorial director J. Edward Keys penned a feature announcing that it will not be doing “end-of-year” lists anymore, arguing: 

“When you assign something as hard-coded as numerical rankings to works of art, you start moving out of the realm of subjectivity, and into the realm of codifying taste. But that approach is doomed to failure, because creating objective metrics is not the goal of the critic. What’s interesting about criticism isn’t the Final Judgment—it’s not the numerical score or number of stars. What’s interesting about criticism is the argument. But, if all you’re arguing about is whether or not something deserved to be 17 instead of 27, you’re not really arguing about the substance of the art at that point—you’re arguing about numbers.”  

For some fans, the endless arguing on online forums and social platforms over number positioning has robbed recorded music of its purity, relegating the artform to another competition in line with politics or sports. As a Redditor’s comment upvoted by 805 others states: “This nails what I've been trying to put into words about music criticism and end-of-year lists for years.” And as another comment concludes: “Is there something [Bandcamp] can do wrong?” 

This position strongly contrasts with the majority of music publications such as Pitchfork, NME, Rolling Stone etc. that make their end-of-year lists a significant spectacle and offering of their website (Pitchfork has neatly organized lists for nearly every decade and year since the 1960s). Many publications that were once heralded as Indie gatekeepers have noticeably moved more mainstream. This can be seen through Pitchfork and NPR having mainstream pop acts like Cardi B and Beyonce frequently top their best songs of the year. Perhaps this is a natural consequence of Pitchfork being purchased by Conde Naste in 2015. Meanwhile, Bandcamp has doubled down on their indie credibility through their numerous explorations of obscure and esoteric genres, such as this deep-dive of vaporwave and all its derivatives. They have also taken a contrarian point of view that makes them stand out from major music publications. Thus, last week’s announcement is clearly aligned with their editorial voice and moreover their overall brand strategy. Bandcamp has a clear understanding of their target audience and how to implement cohesive messaging and positioning that continuously increase loyalty and enthusiasm for their product. 

So now that we have a clear understanding of Bandcamp’s brand identity and recent strategies, let’s look forward and hypothesize about their potential future. In late November, the company announced that it will venture into the livestreaming space through Bandcamp Live, a ticketed service that’s completely integrated into their platform and will provide 90% of revenue directly to artists. In true Bandcamp fashion, they are waiving their fee until March 31st, 2021. Bandcamp Live has several clear benefits, some of which are not available on competitors like Twitch or Instagram Live. First, the pre-built infrastructure of its online store makes it easier for artists to receive payments from ticket sales and direct traffic to their virtual merch tables showcased alongside the performance. Second, any individuals who purchase items before or after the performance become followers of that artist and are thus notified for future promotions and concerts. Third, Bandcamp Live provides options such as allowing live chats that encourage engagement between fans and artists. This engagement translates into future ticket sales and more merch purchases. Although the live concert business will likely come roaring back after mass vaccinations, the pandemic has demonstrated the business potential of online concerts and how it can serve as an auxiliary income source. Dua Lipa’s recent virtual concert Club 2054 attracted over 5 million live viewers ($10 USD per ticket) and showcased the production value that can make live streaming an attractive event, especially for fans in secondary markets. Bandcamp will probably continue developing features that will make its live streaming platform more specialized towards music performances, carving out a niche that separates it from Twitch and Instagram. Given that Bandcamp makes livestreaming an accessible business for upcoming artists, perhaps underground music scenes will be encouraged to more frequently showcase their talents virtually and connect directly with their fans. In addition, this could also lead to established record labels consistently having virtual concerts in partnership with Bandcamp and create more sophisticated offerings so long as the technology continues to improve. 

Bandcamp is an excellent case study of a brand who has clearly defined their values and executes a cohesive set of strategies that furthers these principles. As a result, they’ve succeeded in separating themselves from competition, developing loyalty with both artists and consumers and positioning their product as an expression of morals. In terms of the music industry, Bandcamp also represents the future in which the traditional relationship between artists, labels and distributors will possibly become less relevant. The Internet allows fans to directly engage and form decentralized fanbases; as a result, platforms that empower artists to maximize their direct connection with fans on their own terms will be perceived positively and survive.