It does stand out to me that the list of artists whose rabid fanbases cheer for UMG are all solo artists, not bands. I guess I've heard people describe solo artists as "selling out" before, but the demise of "selling out" as a concept seems tied to the demise of rock music as a relevant force in popular culture.
You might be on to something! I could be wrong but I think band fans often are busy with intraband dynamics as well so there's less of a need to look outward.
Then again, the k-pop scene is also very metrics focused.
“I wonder if a lot of this outsold-phenomenon is rooted in a general pessimism about our own prospects. Industries are collapsing around us, AI is coming for our jobs, but we can still pick the winning team, argue over single sales versus album sales, streaming numbers versus touring revenues.” 💯!!! I think it’s a form of projection, the parasocial veering into the financial because people feel powerless about their own lives.
"Or simply search for “Justin outsold” or “Ariana outsold” or “Rihanna outsold” or whoever else you can think of, and you’ll be presented with thousands of tweets arguing about sales figures, as if they mean something to the fans, as if these are particularly vocal shareholders bragging about future returns."
This is something I noticed in gaming discourse as well before retreating from those kinds of spaces, the shareholder comparison is something I also arrived at. We are gamers, not shareholders, why do you care how much this game sold. I don't care about the Wii U's sales numbers, it was a great console with unique features and games that I greatly enjoyed, that's what matters to me.
Pokémon fans in particular have become such corporate cheerleaders that I think paid shills would be less extreme. Cheering for the games that represent new lows in series quality selling well and for a patent trolling lawsuit against an indie game. There's starting to be a pattern of them creating and spreading misinformation to protect their beloved brand, always easily broken by looking at what the developers themselves actually said or did.
It does stand out to me that the list of artists whose rabid fanbases cheer for UMG are all solo artists, not bands. I guess I've heard people describe solo artists as "selling out" before, but the demise of "selling out" as a concept seems tied to the demise of rock music as a relevant force in popular culture.
You might be on to something! I could be wrong but I think band fans often are busy with intraband dynamics as well so there's less of a need to look outward.
Then again, the k-pop scene is also very metrics focused.
“I wonder if a lot of this outsold-phenomenon is rooted in a general pessimism about our own prospects. Industries are collapsing around us, AI is coming for our jobs, but we can still pick the winning team, argue over single sales versus album sales, streaming numbers versus touring revenues.” 💯!!! I think it’s a form of projection, the parasocial veering into the financial because people feel powerless about their own lives.
There is something to be said about how humans can derive pleasure from second-hand/by proxy experiences...
"Or simply search for “Justin outsold” or “Ariana outsold” or “Rihanna outsold” or whoever else you can think of, and you’ll be presented with thousands of tweets arguing about sales figures, as if they mean something to the fans, as if these are particularly vocal shareholders bragging about future returns."
This is something I noticed in gaming discourse as well before retreating from those kinds of spaces, the shareholder comparison is something I also arrived at. We are gamers, not shareholders, why do you care how much this game sold. I don't care about the Wii U's sales numbers, it was a great console with unique features and games that I greatly enjoyed, that's what matters to me.
Pokémon fans in particular have become such corporate cheerleaders that I think paid shills would be less extreme. Cheering for the games that represent new lows in series quality selling well and for a patent trolling lawsuit against an indie game. There's starting to be a pattern of them creating and spreading misinformation to protect their beloved brand, always easily broken by looking at what the developers themselves actually said or did.