Heavy metal music as "social media content"
A Lorna Shore fan asked a question on Instagram Stories that left me baffled and confused.
Hate reading emails? Get the SubStack app! Silly goose.
It was the day after Lorna Shore released their newest album, Pain Remains. Guitarist and song writer Adam De Micco was doing a Q&A on his Instagram Stories. Someone asked the question: "I know the new album just dropped, but when's the next one?"
When is the next album??? Broh, the new album dropped YESTERDAY!!!
Have people become so incredibly addicted to new releases and new content that as SOON as new music has been listened to, it just immediately becomes boring?
People crave that absolute constant stimulus. Especially youth (millennial and younger) are craving that never-ending stream of content - thanks TikTok. It makes me worry about the evolution of attitudes and behaviors towards music and art in such a screen-obsessed culture.
Point being: New music is being treated like content and musicians like social media influencers. Same can even go for art.
I'm not saying that bands getting attention through social media is a bad thing at all! Social media is probably the quintessential platform for marketing anything in today's day and age.
What I'm saying is when content creators - people who make content for a living - like Nik Nocturnal, invite musicians from bands on his Twitch stream, and/or these musicians also happen to use social media to interact with their fans and promote their music, musician's role in the Internet world seems to be changing.
In contrast, I'm used to bands and musicians being these people who no one really has access to even through social media. You could only know about them through magazine articles, fan-taken photos, and Wikipedia.
Take Ronnie Radke for example! He's the perfect (and kinda extreme) example of what I think about when looking at this new wave of content from musicians: he has a Twitch channel, the perfect attention-grabbing, loud-ass, and highly-opinionated personality. On top of that, he releases (INCREDIBLE) singles instead of releasing 2-3 singles in preparation for an album drop. (Nothing wrong with any of this for the record.)
Other musicians I see online - Alex Terrible, Johnny Ciardullo, Will Ramos and Adam DeMicco, Taylor Barber, etc. - are getting demands to provide content: new albums, new singles, new covers, take cover requests, do more TikToks, make more music, release a new video, go LIVE and share your experience on tour.
I see these kind of demands in comment sections all the time and it's mind boggling to me when nothing seems to be enough.
Musicians and artists are not here to create 15 second video content to cram into your bathroom break.
When the reality is.....Artists and musicians often take a LONG ASS TIME making and perfecting albums and songs and masterpieces. Even producing song covers takes a lot of effort!
I don't know the variety of content you've created beyond snapping a photo or writing a Tweet, but CREATING AN ALBUM takes time, and it's fucking HARD.
There can be a whole other debate on whether musicians/bands should or should not be on Twitch, making podcasts, YouTube videos, whatever to become content creators or something. I personally don't care, and I don't think most of the metal community cares either (unless you're Eddie Trunk). But that's not the point I want to make here.
People have become so accustomed to always instantly see new stuff all the time readily available when they pull out their phone out of boredom or out of habit. This gross mindset of demanding quantity AND quality is going to cheapen the art and the experience of anyone listening to a new song, seeing a new painting, hearing a new album, etc.
People — maybe it's just the kids, I dunno — want MORE....NOW. And the social media algorithm is set for creators to either keep up or become irrelevant.
Create. Post. Repeat.
This is NOT how music should be consumed or created. Music is more than just content! Okay!?
I hope people unlearn doom-scrolling or else they're going to try to doom-scroll life and will never be satisfied and they will never truely appreciate something that's really well done.
All this to say: I hate TikTok.
OF COURSE today’s album pick is Lorna Shore’s latest and greatest “Pain Remains.” If you follow me on Insta or Twitter, you’ll know I’ve been absolutely fawning over this album. This one will definitely be remembered in metal’s history.