Artists need to smarten up. The platforms make it easy to dumb yourself down. This isn’t a criticism against Tiktok. It can be beneficial. Fire is useful. It’s used to cook food but it can also burn down the house. TikTok is all about the daily trend. If you run out of ideas, they give you ideas. But conformists follows trends and individuality is lost in trends, whereas artist is all about individuality, freedom, self examination and self expression.

TikTok tells you what songs to use in your video. Tiktok will give you memes, monologues and challenges, If you don’t know what to feel or say in your video.

TikTok is playing the role of the artist setting trends, and the artist is behaving like a consumer following trends.

Think about it. The labels have a deal with TikTok and not the consumer, unless you are influencer.

Listen, if you want to jump on the algorithmic bandwagon and repost the meme “ You want me, I want you, baby My sugarboo, I’m levitating”…that’s fine. But make a statement, make it stick, and then jump off the wagon.

Olivia Rodrigo, is getting called by the ruling class to deliver a public service announcement. This needs to revert to the time when artists were above the ruling class. But she’ll follow the command like a faithful dog given by the master.

It’s easy to chase a trend and respond to the call. Don’t forget to say NO. Remember, NO is better than YES, and NO can pay dividends.

Stop being used. Use the platform to grow your base, not to embolden THEIR platform.

Members of the UK Parliament are calling for a complete streaming reset to assure artists are paid fairly.

Royalties should be split 50/50, instead of the current rate, where artists receive about 16% according to the report.

“While streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it – performers, songwriters and composers – are losing out,” said Julian Knight, MP.

“Only a complete reset of streaming that enshrines in law their rights to a fair share of the earnings will do.”

Streaming companies really don’t care who gets paid as long as they get their 30%. They pay out 70% to labels, publishers and artists.

The MP’s are calling for an equal split between labels and artists.

The committee also noted that streaming inequity bolsters the already successful artist and creates barriers to entry for a new artist……33% of the music streamed in the US this year were new songs.

Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, a song written 40 years ago just surpassed a billion Spotify streams. How many songs that are released today will stream big numbers 30 years from now? Certainly Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ and Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” but it’s slim pickings. Blame culture, technology, and digital distraction.

But Don’t Stop Believin’ lives forever and it’s rediscovered by generation after generation. A great tune has no time stamp nor expiration date.

It’s easy to follow the trends and throw down a 30 second beat hoping some dimwit moves to it on TikTok. But do you want a 30 second rush or a 30 year journey?

If you look at writers today, they want 30 seconds of viral fame. A short term investment mindset. One and Done. A flash in the pan.

But I believe a new crop of artists are growing that are writing songs for a generation because they are in touch with themselves after losing themselves in the digital world. In world grown cold, artists are weary of the data entranced business.

I see it. I believe. Don’t stop believin’

The moment a newcomer has a HIT, everybody wants to crash the party, take a selfie and CASH IN – the songwriters, music producers, and chart topping artists. It’s an open game for the new player, and naively, they let everyone in, and shortly after, they’re squeezed out. Today, this takes the form of artist collaboration and features.

But collaborating is killing artist individuality.

Here is an example. The Kid LAROI is a breaking artist. His track Without You is a hard-to-come-by radio hit. I love the track. Then Miley Cyrus is added to the remix of LAROI’s “Without You”.

The track is just gathering steam. It’s pre-mature for a feature. I barely know The Kid LAROI. He’s a 17 year old that rose up the music ranks in Australia before moving to Los Angeles. I want more of LAROI, but now Miley Cyrus is singing the opening verse. I like Miley too, but maybe not Miley with LAROI. Now, LAROI and Miley are rooted in my mind. Brand association. It’s a marketing mess. The artist is losing individuality that was sacrificed on the alter of audience reach.

And now LAROI has paired up with Justin Bieber for a track titled Stay. This keeps Bieber on the top shelf while LAROI sits in the stockroom, never given a chance to make a first and lasting impression.

I understand the team wants to reach the largest audience possible, but artists’ need more time to develop a face, a brand, a statement before they start attaching themselves to brands and other artists. I hope Olivia Rodrigo is listening.

There are two ways to climb to the top. You can affiliate yourself with others and be a guest at the kings table, or you can dominate and be the king. Eminem came out as a king. He wasn’t releasing remixes with guest vocals by Britney Spears or Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys, instead he aligned himself with Dr. Dre. His name, his brand, his influences were important to him. He didn’t want that tossed for profit, and nobody cashed off of Eminem.

Indie rapper Tom MacDonald clocked over 1 million YouTube views in less than 24 hours with his new single Don’t Look Down. The video is trending on YouTube and #1 on the iTunes Hip Hop Charts.

“This never stops feeling unbelievable to me. No gimmicks. No clickbait. No controversy. Not even a chorus! AND WE STILL DID THIS!!! I know there’s folks punching the air right now” says MacDonald.

MacDonald has no label, no big marketing and promo. It’s mostly all him driving the MacDonald machine. MacDonald keeps on reminding everybody that he has no music label. I’m not even sure if that’s a talking point today. More entertainers are building multi-million businesses without the help of a label. Sure, the label may promise global exposure. But who needs global exposure today? Sure, radio pays better than streaming, and labels still own radio, but radio wouldn’t play MacDonald anyway. Radio is today’s jukebox. It has the same classics on repeat. Not that a major could help MacDonald, but if they did strike deal, you wouldn’t know about it. The major would have an arrangement with a subsidiary label and they’d make money from a distance.

The buzz around MacDonald doesn’t come from marketing and promo. His notoriety comes from work ethic and superstar talent. He’s raising the bar for each song. He connects to an audience and gives them everything of himself which nobody nearly does today. He’s non-stop talking to fans, if he’s not creating a new video, he’s live streaming.

Politicians and internet influencers dominate the discussion while artists fell by the way side. Artists want to be neutral, but neutrality no longer exists. People just don’t buy songs, they buy values. This is Tom MacDonald’s ace in the pocket. He addresses cultural talking points – social issues, race, gender and the economy. He isn’t afraid of the big man because he wasn’t created by the algorithmic machine.

MacDonald claims he’s the new Slim Shady. And quite frankly, he is Em with more cojones.

You don’t get it still
I am the one
(Don’t look down)
You don’t have to admit it to yourself, you don’t have to admit
(Don’t look down)
You don’t have to tell the whole world that when you look at me, you have to look up to me
And I don’t look down
(Don’t look down)
Everybody, please keep on talking, I am a f#$king superstar