Millennial Musicians Don’t Like Labels

PHOTO: @TAYLORSWIFT INSTAGRAM

When Taylor Swift first stepped on the scene in 2006, she branded herself as an endearing country gal who writes relatable breakup songs. Eleven years later, and Swift is embracing the world of electronic dance pop and fighting her haters one song at a time. The old Taylor Swift is dead, and she may be bringing music genres to the grave with her.

Swift is not the only singer who has broken the traditional boundaries of music in search of a new sound. Sam Hunt is a rapping country artist. Ed Sheeran emits rock and roll from his acoustic guitar. Country-rock cutie Kelly Clarkson is now an R&B artist, and blackbear is riding the wave toward teen-angst hip hop.

Today’s budding musicians are refusing to pinpoint their styles, instead blending many sounds to create their music.  This trend is amplified by a cultural transition away from record stores, which categorize music by genre and artist, and toward streaming services, which suggest songs for listeners based on activity or mood. Millennial artists are showing a refusal to be tied down, meaning that it may be time to bid farewell to music’s traditional categorical system.

Off the Record

When Columbia Records introduced its LP vinyl record in 1948, they revolutionized not only how music is played, but also how it is categorized, branded and sold. When record labels realized the potential profit from albums and radio play, they began to characterize artists based on their style of sound. “In the 60s and the 70s, record labels would not want you to merge,” Anna Celenza, the Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University, said. “They wouldn’t want you to cross over from one area to another, mainly because you would be harder to sell.” Record labels held all the power, and since artists were desperate to establish themselves and gain popularity, they did not mind being pigeonholed. 

Today, many artists are free to experiment with different styles, although the direct catalyst of this transition is the subject of debate. It may be that due to the monopolies present in the radio industry, record labels see experimentation as necessary to increase their reach, as well as to maintain profitability.

Prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, there were limitations on how many radio stations one company could own, as well as how many in one region they could own. These limitations allowed new artists to make their debut on regional radio stations. After the 1996 law passed, those limitations disappeared, thus enabling massive media consolidation in the United States and decreasing opportunities for regional-specific artists to receive national airplay. “If you create music that is very regional, it will not get played,” Celenza said. “Because the same radio program is being played all over the country, the radio corporation chooses music that will appeal to the broadest masses.”

Okla Jones III, a 31-year-old journalist for the A3C hip-hop music festival, agrees there is a monetary aspect to this musical shift. “It’s only natural that artists might take the route of trying to cater to what the masses are purchasing. Musicians have a love for what they do, but it’s also a career,” Jones said in a phone interview.

Some, however, view the blending of genres as the decision of artists, not radio or record companies.  30-year-old Beth Ploger, who is better known by her radio name Elizabethany, works closely with record labels for her job as a music director at Hot 99.5, and said that “they still very much try to keep people in a lane.” Rather than being influenced by pushy record labels or demanding fans, Elizabethany sees artists channeling their inner Sarah Bereilles (her 2007 hit “Love Song” sent a clear message to record labels that she could not be manipulated) and making the music that they want to make.  

Fellow Hot 99.5 radio personality DJ Chris Styles agrees with Elizabethany’s observation, and questions whether artists still rely on their labels for success. “The artists and the producers are in full control,” Styles said in a phone interview. “The music is going to go wherever artists and producers want it to go.”

A Connected Culture

Social media is largely responsible for the increase in artists’ autonomy and appeal to mass audiences. Because they have the whole world at their fingertips, artists do not need to adopt just one sound; rather, they can seek inspiration from other regions to create a sound that is unique, while still attracting a large fan base.

“Hip-hop was always a traditional New York sound. Now, the most popular New York artists sound like they are from Atlanta, like French Montana and A$AP Rocky,” Jones said. “A lot of these New York artists were influenced by southern artists.”

While inspiration is part of the creative process, social media has also played a role in eliminating regional sounds from the equation entirely. “There are no more local sounds,” Styles said. “Before, all these pockets all across the world had their own distinct sound. In general, there are no more pockets of music and style and culture.” 

Internet and streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music are mutually beneficial to both artists and their listeners. They suggest songs and artists to listeners, providing consumers with opportunities to expand their music tastes. Meanwhile, streaming services enable artists to expose a wide range of listeners to their individual styles.

Victoria Middleton, 19-year-old co-music director for The George Washington University’s radio station, thinks music platforms like Spotify allow artists to break free from the confines of categorization. “[Artists] can still find an audience without being in one specific niche of music,” Middleton said in a phone interview. “I think that allows for a lot greater creativity, and I think we all benefit from it.”

 Unfortunately, modern streaming services also hurt artists. A song played one million times on a streaming service may only generate $20 for the artist, leaving him/her to make money through merchandise sales or touring instead. Because of this, it is more beneficial to the artist for a listener to use Apple Music or download an MP3 of his/her music than it is to get it through Spotify. “It’s not worth the artists’ effort to make recordings if they can’t make any money,” Celenza said, “so the recording industry will die if they don’t figure this out.”

Successful Switch-Ups

Taylor Swift has managed to maintain the same fan base since she first rose to fame back in 2006, despite her many musical switch-ups; however, for other artists, this evolution is not easy, and their attempts at experimentation are unsuccessful.

 In this digital age, branding is a key factor which can make or break an artist’s musical evolution. The internet gives listeners an opportunity to not only learn about an artist’s music, but allows them to learn about his/her personality as well. Character, therefore, is a strong factor for popularity among listeners. According to Elizabethany, social media enables your fans to learn anything about you, and one mishap can be damaging to an artist’s career.

“If they like you as a person, you can get away with anything,” Elizabethany said. “Look at Cardi B, she’s just an entertaining stripper and she had a number one song.”

Often, the artists that effectively change their sound or leap genres are played on Top 40 radio stations, and typically have smart marketing teams behind them to facilitate the success of their new albums.

 “Those who have successfully switched styles have often had very good ad campaigns that made that happen,” Celenza said.

When comparing Taylor Swift’s and Katy Perry’s latest projects, Celenza notes that Katy Perry’s flopped not because of its content, but because her new feminist image was not believable to her audience; Taylor Swift’s jaded girl-next-door campaign, however, was accepted by her fan base. 

DJ Chris Styles pinpoints Kanye West as example of someone who has tried to switch up his sound and failed. Though he is one of the most awarded artists of all times, West has received significant negative mainstream attention for his antics award shows and on social media. 

“Before he puts out any new music, he has to 100% rebrand himself. He has to apologize people, he has to look sincere, Styles said. “If he wants to get back to the level of old Kanye, he has to fix so many different relationships, and he has to make us believe that he is a different person.”

Perry, Swift and West are just three examples of the impact that branding and image can have on the success of an artist’s musical experimentation. In the age of social media, if a listener doesn’t like an artist’s personality, they’re not going to like their music, no matter how many different sounds an artist adopts. 

“I really don’t think it has to do with music,” Styles said. If they haven’t lost their core fan base, they haven’t pissed anyone off, then I think they’re always going to be there no matter what music they put out.”

Music Moving Forward

Music is neither easily describable nor predictable; it is hard to know for sure what is next for the music industry, or how far artists will go when it comes to blending sounds from all genres. For now, listeners still need to have a way of describing their favorite artists. The labels of “pop,” “country,” “rap,” etc. are part of a greater descriptive language that listeners can use to discuss and find music. “People always need some sort of classification, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be super defined,” Elizabethany said.

While these labels are useful when it comes to descriptive purposes, they can also be restrictive for new artists that want to escape the confines of categorization. Due to labels, truly new music styles may be wrongly pigeonholed into the pre-existing categories of “pop,” “country,” “rap,” etc., rather than being acknowledged for their originality.

“Genres are always changing,” Jackie Reed, the music director at George Mason’s radio station WGMU said. “Today, there's so many different styles of music, that it's limiting to define artists to one singular genre. To some artists, it's offensive and feels belittling.” Getting past this point requires the industry to start recognizing new forms of music for what they are, not for what they are in relation to other genres. 

Middleton hopes that artists and listeners stop restricting themselves to one form of music, and start to see the broader similarities across genres. “You don’t have to confine yourself to one niche of music, because music can be so much more than fitting into one particular box,” Middleton said.

Genres are continuously evolving and musicians are constantly experimenting, but most sources do not see genres disappearing any time soon. They will exist if artists, listeners and the industry at-large permit them to, and will continue to progress until then.   

“I wouldn’t say that genres disappear or that they’re irrelevant, but what happens is they evolve,” Celenza said. “As we witness them evolve, we think they are falling apart, but they are just doing what they’ve always done.”