Music found a new competitor. It’s called digital distraction. Music has the ability to evoke emotions and it releases Dopamine, the neurotransmitters associated with reward. Social media also releases dopamine. Music can be addicting, but Twitter and Facebook are more addicting. That’s why you’ll get more likes with your photo in a bikini than a song.

Instead of breeding music junkies, the world is birthing social media junkies getting their dopamine fix from cunning engineered platforms.

The Beatles performing in the middle of a casino couldn’t warrant the attention of a gambling addict playing a slot machine. The slots to the addict are far more addicting than a 3 minute song performed by the greatest band of all time.

Today, you’re competing in the world’s largest casino filled with junkies checking their phones every 5 minutes. Likes, clicks, smiley emojis, and hashtags. Nobody is listening. They are not engaged.

You may even find yourself getting sucked in the digital delusion, hence, must create daily distraction-free rituals.

You thought social media was your friend. You were told it was great way to engage with customers, and develop a brand. The jokes on you. We are the customers. You are THEIR brand. You make up the the 2.7 billion monthly active users that drives the stock price. Ed Sheeran generated $775.6 million from touring, not on Twitter.

Stop trying to communicate with a junkie and take your music to the streets. You’ll be better off than hiding in the realm of social media. You have to be passionate about your art. Wait outside of the hotel rooms for the bigger artists that come to your town. Play your music and find your way backstage.

Start busking and street performing, you’ll never know who you will meet. You’ll have the ability to make people fall in love if you have superstar talent. You’ll know it when people stick around by the end of your first song. If you get 100 by the end of your 3rd, it’s even better. If you get shutdown by the police, you’re going Hollywood.

You couldn’t be more wrong if you think street performing is passé. It’s easy to put yourself online, but street performing requires effort. This is how Tones And I made it. Her breakout hit ‘Dance Monkey’ was the biggest song 2020. But you wouldn’t have heard of her had she not danced herself from the streets to the charts.

Serendipity, and the right place and the right time is still the emperor, not algorithms.

Stop communicating with addicts. Take your music to back to the streets. It’s back to busking.

America entertainment is polarized with politics. But not in India’s Bollywood or South Koreas K-Pop machine. For them it’s dance, song, and escapism. BTS adds $3.6 Billion to the Korean economy.

In America, many claim the ruling class has curtailed creative freedom. Comedian Chris Rock said entertainment is boring.

Entertainment in America WAS a vehicle for escapism. It took us away from reality into a world of imagination. Today, entertainment has become politicized, polarized, and fueled with debate.

Look at the stir around Aaron Lewis and his #1 country song “Am I The Only One” and the backlash against Billie Eilish, and Olivia’s Rodrigo visit to the WH which stirred backlash.

Decades before, artists were immune to criticism. Now, many are scared and are lying low. Let’s face it, entertainers are either polarized or paralyzed.

Do Americans want to escape? Yes they do. They want to escape from the onslaught of media and negativism.

But for this reason, people disengaged. Everybody is an observer, scrolling through hollow TikTok videos in a near hypnotic state.

The artist that steps up the game will win. Olivia Rodrigo won people over with her emotionally charged songs. To get there, you may need to unplug yourself from the grid and once you have something, plug back in. If you’re not pushing something on social media, there is no reason to be on it. Creativity will manifest living outside, not living on social media which is rigged by marketers.

Break out of the matrix. Live outside. Big things will happen.

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’