I assure you this will be as unfortunate to read as it was to write. It comes as no great pleasure to write candidly about a culture that's so important to us all, but sometimes hard conversations need to happen. Merriam-Webster defines culture as "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group." That being said, music is an intricate part of culture. Music often acts as the engine that drives certain aspects of culture as well as the soundtrack for the narration of culture. So if a racial group doesn't control one of the means by which their culture is narrated, then what does that say for the culture at large? That brings us to the current issue at hand.
It is no secret that Black culture is now pop culture and influences world culture at an incalculable rate. The problem is that now we have reached the point where we don't control Black music, therefore there is a significant aspect of Black culture that is not under the control of Black people. This should be alarming. The pervasive narrative that some artists express that Black music isn't in a good place, while also giving up control of their music to executives and companies that don't have Black culture or Black music's interests at heart, is duplicitous at its core. We cannot continue to acquiesce control of our music to people who have no care for the quality, while also inveighing profusely about the quality of the music. We must pick a side.
Malcolm Bradbury said, "Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail.” Black music has always been a means to describe the world we exist in detail. This does not mean that every song is an in-depth narrative of Black life. This does mean that the overarching theme is a narrative of Black life and Black culture, and if there are some songs in between that don't fit, then so be it. How can the artists that need to define in detail the overarching Black narrative do so in peace, if the gatekeepers that are deciding if the music is released have no context of that narrative? The goal of the music business is business. It's to make money, not to be the messenger for Black culture. So why expect the industry to have the culture's best interest at heart, if they are not part of the culture? See how the argument can become circuitous?
What's the solution? Black artists need to take control back of the art. Up-and-coming artists must understand that the traditional label route is not the only way to achieve a music career. Of course, if we're being honest, if the goal is superstardom, then not being associated with the label system will make that route to superstardom more arduous than normal. But how many artists truly reach superstardom? Even if as a new artist you sign to a major label, the chances of becoming a superstar are slim. It's possible but unlikely.
Chartmetric is a company that measures global music streaming data. Earlier this year they released a report that quantified a lot of what was previously unquantified. Chartmetric described "Undiscovered" artists as artists who have yet to establish a consistent audience and presence on social and streaming services. Undiscovered artists account for 99.9% of artists added to Charmetric in 2023. Midlevel artists are artists in the top ~12k - 35k of artists. Mainstream artists are in the top ~1.2k - 12k of artists. The top ~1.5k artists are widely known and dominant. Why do these numbers matter? 0.1% of artists were labeled as Mid-Level, Mainstream, or Superstar. So, why sign to a label and be part of a system that doesn't care for the essence of Black culture in exchange for a 0.1% chance?
There are plenty of services artists can use to control their destinies. This isn't the 60s. Artists don't need labels to distribute the music, learn who their audience is, or perform in the cities that their audience is located in. Metrics are available for artists if they look. Streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and others will tell artists where their audience is. Products like United Masters, Distrokid, and Tunecore, will distribute the music to the various streaming platforms and make sure you're paid for your streams.
So with these sorts of tools at our disposal, let us not continue to act out of desperation signing our name, image, and music rights away to the highest bidder. Let's proceed with caution and control the sacred thing we call culture. What's done cannot be undone, but the future is still an option and we can steer the ship in the right direction.