Let’s Talk About Social Media’s Pressure and Expectations of Artists

These days, pretty much everyone has some sort of social media account in order to stay connected, share hobbies, or even make money. And while people are constantly sharing photos and videos, it sometimes can make people feel a weird pressure to continue posting even if they don’t particularly want to. That scenario is even truer for those individuals in the music industry.

Social media has been shown to play a huge part in so many people’s success in music, whether it be from continuously posting on YouTube or having one of their songs randomly trend on TikTok. However, while we can have conversations upon conversations about how social media has opened up opportunity for artists of all kinds from different backgrounds to have a place to showcase their work, there is also a major downside that I feel isn’t talked about enough.

This specific downside to social media in the music industry is something that I have had mulling around in my brain for a while now and I have finally found a way to put it into words. After seeing a few artist express annoyance or even just share their experience with this scenario, I really had a chance to fully articulate my thoughts. The downside in particular I am talking about is the expectation or pressure for artists to continue churning out content in order to remain relevant and successful. As mentioned above, social media has allowed for individuals from any sort of background to have a space to put whatever they want out into the world, but what that leads to is an overwhelming amount of content and over-saturation of most industries. Because of that overwhelming amount of content, users on the consuming side can easily lose interest or skip over otherwise good content. Whether it be their label’s advice or simply the societal push to post more, artists are now expected to churn out some sort of content weekly, whether it be new music teasers, more about their personal life, and of course, the continuous high demands for new music. But what does that do to the creative process? Or even the quality of the art?

As someone who obviously has a special love for music, the thing that really draws me to music is the emotional understanding that comes with it. One of my favorite things in the world is finding a song where the artist is singing about something I have gone through and really being able to feel their emotions through their song and know they put their entire heart and soul into it. However, we cannot be oblivious to the fact that music like that can really take a lot out of an individual while creating it. We are lucky enough to have artists who are willing to be vulnerable and pour their emotions into a work of art, but expecting them to constantly be tapping into those emotions in order to continue to produce music has to be draining, as well as have a negative effect on their mental health. I also think that as the listener of music like this, it can also be pretty selfish to constantly be asking for more more more when they are already giving us so much of themselves to begin with.

Another point to the downside of this expectation is simply the question of the quality of work. Putting together and crafting an album to be able to release a collection of songs is a ton of work and even then, it may not be well received. But albums that end up being award winning or even fan favorites take time and effort, so who are we to rush that? I think that a perfect example of quality work taking time is Adele. Adele is known for putting out incredible albums, maybe doing a tour, and then disappearing for a few years. No one is really expecting her to put out a single every few months, or even put out a yearly album. However, many artists, especially up and coming, don’t have the privilege of being as established as someone like Adele where they don’t have to make efforts to stay relevant. So for these up and coming artists, it seems that their only hope at success in their music is to just consistently put out music and hope fans are still liking it, which most likely leads to a severe case of burnout before they really even get started in their career. Plus, as these newer artists work to put out music often, they are probably put in a position to not spend as much time on each individual song in order to really craft a masterpiece, which then leads to a lower chance of them gaining newer fans due to the decreased quality of their work. Even though I am not an artist myself, just thinking of that scenario makes me stressed out and overwhelmed.

So because of these impossible expectations that are put on artists in the world of social media, we end up with quite a bit of low quality songs that trend for a month and are soon forgotten about, as opposed to those songs that resonate with us and continue to hold a place on our favorite playlists. Now I am not saying that all music these days is soulless and just trendy junk, but I do think that the environment we have created within social media expectations tends to favor those quick cash grabs and doesn’t leave creative time and space for those really high quality types of songs.

My main reason for wanting to write about this is to actually have a conversation surrounding these expectations of social media and maybe even find a solution for artists to be able to break out of those expectations. I truly fear that if we allow social media to pressure artists the way it is, we are going to miss out on real and genuine music because people are either too burnt out before they even start or they simply don’t want to play into the constant need for content trap. As music lovers, we need to find a way to cherish and value those artists that are making music we love and be understanding when we feel like they aren’t releasing enough music or as frequently as we like. Quality art cannot be rushed or mass produced and I think society needs to step back and really accept that.

Let me know what you think of these pressures and expectations put on artists. I’d love to indulge in conversation about this!