Is The Music Business Really Rigged?

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So we're gonna try something new here today. About a month ago, I did this interview where I was asked if the music business is rigged, and my answer has gotten me well... inundated with questions.

@therackethouse

@Jesse Cannon / Music Marketing answers one of the biggest debates in music #IndependentArtist #IndieMusic #UnsignedArtist #NewMusic #Musi... See more

Then I put up a video last week that brought it up again, and I tried to give more clarity, but it seems it invited more questions than answers.

And it doesn’t help that some people, as usual, are spreading lousy information. And the result is I’ve got tons of depressed musicians on consulting calls, in the comments, or my DMs, thinking their dreams are never going to come true because the music business is rigged against them, all because some idiot wanted to get clicks and go viral by appealing to people’s worst instincts.

It’s Only Rigged For HUGE Artists

So, if you watched my recent video or the reel that spread around Instagram, you heard me recently answer the question: Is the music industry rigged? I said something like: At the top, yes. At the bottom, very much not.

This means that if you’re trying to go from being an artist with, say, 3 million monthly listeners to one with 120 million, yeah, at that level, a lot of what gets you there is rigged. If you don’t play ball with certain people, it’s very, very unlikely you’ll make that leap.

But if you’re trying to go from 0 to 3 million monthly listeners, where you can actually make a pretty solid living for yourself*** (big asterisk there, since everyone defines that differently), that path is not rigged. The journey from 0 to 3 million is fair, it’s real, and it’s achievable. And that’s something to be reassured and confident about.

Defining “Rigged”

Now, before we go further, let’s define what we mean by “rigged”: It means something has been manipulated or fixed dishonestly or unfairly to create a specific outcome, usually to benefit a particular person or group.

The Top (3+ Million Monthly Listeners)

Here’s what I mean by the music business being rigged at the top.

The level of fuckery that goes into securing a #1 album is insane. But let’s start with why that matters. A #1 album unlocks doors: late-night TV slots you wouldn’t usually get, top-tier tour and festival placements that bring in way more money, brand deals, visibility: the kind of leverage that leads to real money, you can demand way more once you have that accolade.

The Bottom (< 3 Million Monthly Listeners)

But what about that lower level I mentioned, where you have under 3 million monthly listeners?

Well right about at that point you start to be available for a lot of those opportunities like late night shows, big songs on some big netflix show that will take you up millions more monthly listeners, brand deals, opening act slots on area tours, getting placements and covers on playlists, and most of all sick budgets to work with toptier creatives with good ideas that make videos that spread and strategists who can really help.

So this brings us to a thing that all of these clowns who say the music business is rigged and that major labels are dying, they all fail to understand something because usually they are frauds who just talk out of their ass and don't deal with this stuff.

Why Artists Sign Major Label Deals

So why do most of these acts offered the major label or big indie deals take them around this 1-6 million monthly listener mark? When these deals are offered, the labels show them all the unfair advantages (aka the system's rigging at this level) and what they can do for them.

This can be an army of fan and influence accounts like I talked about in my last video. They can guarantee them a ton of brand deals, which will help fund what they want to do.

Many producers and songwriters give preferential treatment to the labels they have deals with, even in genres like metal, country, or indie rock, since the producers and songwriters know that the deals get paid and the contracts are solid. And if they do well by these A&Rs, they keep getting top-tier clients.

So the artist then realizes the only way to the connections in the label's little black book — which can be getting their band T-shirts into Hot Topic stores or the producer/ songwriter that made all their favorite records, and the sick mixer who made your favorite song — made available to them now is if they sign on the dotted line. 

The Reality of Chart Manipulation

But how does that make it rigged? Well, these labels know the plays that work to hit goals, like getting a #1 song. The labels are up on the latest tricks to get that #1 record, the songwriter with a backlog of sick songs, cause they have an untapped, and well, will hook their artists up with them since the labels have a great relationship with them.

All of this adds up. While it’s not impossible, it’s very unlikely you’ll become one of the top artists beyond that ~3 million monthly listener mark.

So let’s talk about the mark right above that: Most weeks, around 15 million monthly listeners is what it takes to crack Spotify’s top 500. As I write this, my favorite band, The 1975, sits at #493 with nearly 17 million monthly listeners. Meanwhile, Gym Class Heroes, with about 15 million, aren’t on the list.

If you want to see for yourself, the list of the top 500 artists on Spotify is very public. You can also check Chartmetric to see which artists are moving the most.

Labels 🤝 Gatekeepers

So when I say “rigged,” let’s be really clear: that word is an oversimplification of what it actually means.

You need to be the most significant exception to the rule and probably in EDM to be one of the few artists in the top 500 artists in music. I’ve seen some of the viral artists get in that top 500 for a few weeks, but they usually don’t last in there for more than just their quick viral moment, unless they team up with a major label or big indie that gives them a significant cut of profits.

And have them manipulate the system with a playbook of best practices and the many deals they have in place with gatekeepers to get to those levels. Major Labels have a lot of resources to manipulate the charts.

Take Morgan Wallen and Playboi Carti, for example. Both recently dropped albums have around 35 tracks specifically designed to inflate first-week streams, hit flashy numbers, secure those top chart slots, and, of course, Grammy nominations.

But What About Small Artists?

Since some of you truly think it is rigged for you. Some music marketing guru influencers love to talk if you don't have a bot army, pay off influencers, have rich parents, or a sick manager who’s sleeping with one of the top TikTokers; you'll never get any attention, go viral, or get past ten thousand monthly listeners. 

This is stupid. So many people watch these videos and are part of our members' community that made it happen this without any of this bullshit I just mentinoned.

Every week on consulting calls, I talk to 5–10 artists I’ve never spoken to before. And every week or two, one of them shows up shocked. They thought the algorithm hated them, they were stuck in algorithmic jail, and they were convinced no one would ever hear their music. Then something changed. They started to blow up. More people started hearing their songs, and now they’re psyched since their dreams are starting to come true.

It is not true that the music industry is rigged at the bottom.

It is not true that you need all that bullshit to get ahead.

There will be ups and downs ahead, no doubt. But that first moment, going from “the algorithm hates me” to “I changed some things and now people are actually listening” feels really good.

For some of them, that spark turns into a sustainable career. For others, it doesn’t. There are an infinite number of reasons why that goes one way or another, and that’s a conversation for another time.

It’s Easier Than Ever In History

We just covered the artist Pacific in last week’s newsletter. He’s been grinding, posting 4-6 videos daily until his short-form content racked up around 300 million views, with his song regularly going viral in the background. Now that song “never in love” has nearly 2 million plays on Spotify. He made his dream happen, and he told the story himself on TikTok.

I always see this kind of thing happen, and it amazes me. We’re in the best era I’ve ever seen for musicians getting their music heard with less effort than ever before. Because frankly, if people fw the song, the song blows up.

And it’s not just TikTok. As evil as Spotify can be, tons of artists are getting real attention from people who genuinely love their music. It’s blowing up through the Spotify or YouTube algorithm. And that’s sick because these algorithms reward people who share music with their friends. We dreamed of this for decades in music.

Now you'll get compensated for it more than you ever have, but that is a much longer conversation we will hopefully have in another one of these newsletters, since I have a lot of ideas on how we'll start solving that in the next year.