Has being an artist turned into a never-ending cycle of chasing social media clicks and streaming metrics? Tenured music executive Jimmy Iovine seems to think so.
In a recent interview with Consequence’s “UNCUT” podcast, the storied Interscope Records co-founder shared his personal impressions on the state of the music industry—and it wasn’t unanimously glowing remarks.
“What happened in music is fame has replaced great,” Iovine lamented. “It’s happened in society basically. Fame has replaced great.”
Iovine points to society’s ever-increasing social media usage, the emphasis on streaming metrics as a measure of success, and the present and future use of generative AI as some of the primary drivers of this perceived trend.
“Artists are making so much money in so many different places, which is fantastic, but after they have a hit record, they can earn a lot of money on Instagram and all this stuff,” he elaborated. “I feel that a lot of people, a lot of artists, not all, but a lot of artists are taking their foot off the gas in the record-making category. And that’s affecting the quality of the work. And I think you’re seeing that in a lot of different genres right now.”
Similar sentiment was echoed recently by EDM superstar David Guetta, who recently contemplated what kind of role social media and technology are playing when it comes to the art form of DJing specifically.
“There’s almost some DJs that play for Instagram more than for the people,” Guetta asserted. “You see 5,000 people with their phones filming the show, because they want to say to their fans that they were there, but no one is dancing.”