Taylor Swift was forced to cancel all performances for 2020.  Although Swift never booked a massive tour in support of her Lover album, she did still have a handful of shows.

Swift was set to headline the European festival Glastonbury.  She was also booked July 25th and July 26th at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on July 31st and Aug. 1st.

Post Malone and Lana Del Rey have produced a new crop of artists capitalizing off their sound. Some are even better, well to be open, I haven’t discovered an artist better or more relatable than Post Malone but I think Lana Del Rey has lost her way musically. I think emerging artists like Baby Jane fills that space, offering emotion over quick soundbytes.  The 18 year old hails from Los Angeles and her debut single  “Khaleesi”  garnered traction on TikTok with her #KhaleesiChallenge clocking over 250,000 impressions.  Check out the track Games on Indie Invaders Playlist.

TikTok is the latest trend. But can you get famous off of the Chinese-owned platform? I’m not sure if you can build a meaningful audience through TikTok.  Everybody is trying to build popularity off these platforms which also makes it difficult. Plus, the concept of building off a platform, then starting another site is no longer new.

Is TikTok more than a passing fad? I don’t know, but do you remember when Snapchat was hyped as the next big thing?

Don’t get me wrong, TikTok does have some features that makes it stand out. TikTok is all about fun. Hence, it’s not really a place for brands and social media marketers, it’s all about fun.

Hashtags, lip synchs and the ByteDance are the pillars of the platform. The algorithm quickly learns each user and taste and then rolls out an endless stream of content hooking the user. People spend about 45 minutes a day on the platform.

Users aren’t pressured to build a sizable audience or at least that doesn’t seem to be the goal like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Dan Crossley releases the fantastic ballad Drunk Call. This marks the first single release of 2020. I’ve always took a liking to Crossley’s songs and his vocals are pretty amazing. The pop singer garnered radio support in the UK winning praise from BBC Introducing and Billboard. Give the track a stream on Indie Invaders Playlist.

Social media has paved the way for pop artists to stick around a lot longer, and maybe a little too long? It wasn’t ages ago when the artist had to prove themselves to an audience with songs and performance. Their careers would slowly dissipate if they failed to deliver. Today, we see a plethora of artists that haven’t released a meaningful song in a decade and are still hogging the spotlight. All they need to do is put their face in front of their iPhone and upload it on Instagram and TikTok with a crafty caption.

Let’s be honest, many of these artists that emerged 10+ years ago and who are still taking up media real estate wouldn’t have been around prior to the advent technology. It would have been like “Do you remember that girl swinging nude on a ball? Oh Yeah! I remember, where is she now?”

I understand trying to extend the shelf life as long as possible, but yesterday’s pop artists can really milk the system, more so now than ever.

Katy Perry scored an American idol gig to play music judge for $25 million. Kelly Clarkson spins around The Voice chair for reasonable pay. Moreover Instagram used these artists to dominate the platform to achieve a level of growth.

To succeed in football, a player must deliver. When a player stops performing , so does the career. Whitney Houston rose to fame with songs and performance. When she released mediocre material coupled with disastrous live shows her career began to unravel. If that trajectory continued, she would have been a faded photograph that brought memories of bygone days.

Today, an artist can stay somewhat relevant even when they are no longer on top of their game because of social media, the iPhone camera, and TV deals.

I’m not here to sour on artists that don’t deliver the goods. I have more or less discovered that it’s the emerging talent that have less of the spotlight when the aging artists refuse to leave or just want to hog the spotlight with shenanigans. The spotlight isn’t big , it’s a small. It should shine its light on the players who are performing, not bench sitters who refuse to leave and who photobomb themselves into the limelight with selfies.

Do artist have a moral responsibility to pass the baton to the next generation of artists? Really, one has to ask oneself, when is enough is enough?