love this eliza!! its crazy how the people nit picking vampire empire are quite literally, as the lyric in the song goes, "spinning them all around and asking them not to spin" !! big thief is an artist and it is THEIR art!!! tbh i love the studio version more, i love how emotional it is!
this reminds me of an interview olivia rodrigo did where she said that her team urged her to change the “fame-fucker” lyric in her new song vampire because it wouldn’t be relatable. i’m glad she didn’t because who cares!! making relatable lyrics shouldn’t be an artist’s concern
this is so so very true!!! i love how on point your writing is every time!! i don’t know if you’ve been following the release of mitski’s new song, but people are complaining (again!!!). there’s a group of people asking for her to change the font of the writing on the cover of the single because it’s “inaccessible”.... as if!!! istg she has the most bafflingly annoying fanbase and it’s crazy to me how they think she owes them anything. like you said it’s about them not agreeing with her *Vision*... but the song slays ofc anyway thank your for this piece!
you touch on this lightly, but now i’m thinking about it more deeply...the fact that no artists make money “just from music” anymore and instead it’s all brand deals / sponsorships means that an artists’ financial stability comes from an intangible “likability” that someone in a marketing meeting has calculated as a measure of how well their product will sell by proxy. i feel like the capitalism of it all fuels this cycle of fan ownership bc all the brands have their own weird twitter accounts now??? idk. your piece got me THINKIN tho. thank you!
It feels like it's getting worse and worse. Especially with music streaming... the artists are getting some ridiculous nanosliver of a US dollar every time someone streams their music. Somehow, over time, we got here to this extractive business model. Need to disrupt the disruptors!
So amazing Eliza! Found it especially interesting after just attending the Eras Tour and missing my close personal friend Taylor Swift 🙏 love hearing your thoughts on the music industry and related topics
found your substack through this comment and immediately subscribed after reading 'the twenty-something teens'. you write incredibly well and wove in fascinating historical and psychoanalytical evidence beautifully.
Been talking a lot recently about how I don't really care to learn about an artist's personal life. The life that they show the world outside their art is not something I seek to learn about anymore (14 year old me has different opinions). Sometimes learning personal tidbits about artists allows me to feel more deeply about what they made, but most times it doesn't, or it can even ruin my interpretation of a song. I have definitely been sending this post to my friends because it articulates what I feel and expands on it in a way I have been failing to.
loved reading this! that next-to-last paragraph is such a banger. the connection between the demand for customization/convenience/comfort with this pernicious kind of parasociality.
i do think there's a line between art and cultural force. to an extent, it does matter what the likes of taylor swift and beyonce do because they shape the culture and culture shapes values, what's acceptable (for good and for ill), etc. but maybe the answer is to stop putting celebrities on a pedestal and targeting them as the be-all end-all of ~the culture~ instead of, like, music execs and spotify algorithms.
“To succeed and be beloved, the modern artist must go along with the ruse that not only are they personally connected to each and every fan, but that they like it that way.”
I have conflicting opinions on this topic... I see valid points on both sides, but ultimately, I see this as the inevitable outcome of an industry selling a product that isn't actually the item exchanged for money. There's a reason anonymous artists have never and will never have hit songs — the music isn't really the point. Relating to and emulating — including buying the products [that have nothing to do with music] connected to the mascot... err, "artist" — is. The modern music industry is little more than an advertising platform — designed to facilitate "self-expression" via consumption. There's a reason "self-expression" is of the highest importance in our society, and there's a reason why everyone encouraging it has a way for you be your "authentic" self... just buy this... or better yet, subscribe to this... we wouldn't want you to have to worry about missing a payment and losing your identity... wink, wink.
That said, I think releasing demos before the studio version is kind of cheesy. Your fans aren't your friends... if you start treating them that way, you shouldn't be surprised when you face backlash for messing with your customers consumption (i.e. expression of their ID/EGO).
Eliza, very compelling and enlightening article. I consider music an art. Some people appreciate certain types. I certainly wouldn’t think to tell Picasso (if he was still here!) to change his choice of colors or facial characteristics. The beauty of art or music is it’s open to interpretation. We can always move on if something doesn’t appeal to us. And I’m not sure there is a “wrong” way for an artist to address their fans. They should just be who they are. Love their fans, be aloof towards them or tell them to go straight to Hell. And I preferred the live Vampire Empire. It seemed more relaxed, yet more vibrant if that makes sense? And I’m fairly certain we all love you...:)
love this eliza!! its crazy how the people nit picking vampire empire are quite literally, as the lyric in the song goes, "spinning them all around and asking them not to spin" !! big thief is an artist and it is THEIR art!!! tbh i love the studio version more, i love how emotional it is!
the way you write is so lucid and precise. capricorn excellence ugh.
this reminds me of an interview olivia rodrigo did where she said that her team urged her to change the “fame-fucker” lyric in her new song vampire because it wouldn’t be relatable. i’m glad she didn’t because who cares!! making relatable lyrics shouldn’t be an artist’s concern
So true. More artists should stand up for their art. The execs are nothing without them.
this is so so very true!!! i love how on point your writing is every time!! i don’t know if you’ve been following the release of mitski’s new song, but people are complaining (again!!!). there’s a group of people asking for her to change the font of the writing on the cover of the single because it’s “inaccessible”.... as if!!! istg she has the most bafflingly annoying fanbase and it’s crazy to me how they think she owes them anything. like you said it’s about them not agreeing with her *Vision*... but the song slays ofc anyway thank your for this piece!
you touch on this lightly, but now i’m thinking about it more deeply...the fact that no artists make money “just from music” anymore and instead it’s all brand deals / sponsorships means that an artists’ financial stability comes from an intangible “likability” that someone in a marketing meeting has calculated as a measure of how well their product will sell by proxy. i feel like the capitalism of it all fuels this cycle of fan ownership bc all the brands have their own weird twitter accounts now??? idk. your piece got me THINKIN tho. thank you!
It feels like it's getting worse and worse. Especially with music streaming... the artists are getting some ridiculous nanosliver of a US dollar every time someone streams their music. Somehow, over time, we got here to this extractive business model. Need to disrupt the disruptors!
So amazing Eliza! Found it especially interesting after just attending the Eras Tour and missing my close personal friend Taylor Swift 🙏 love hearing your thoughts on the music industry and related topics
found your substack through this comment and immediately subscribed after reading 'the twenty-something teens'. you write incredibly well and wove in fascinating historical and psychoanalytical evidence beautifully.
Wow thank you so much <3 Excited to have you!
Been talking a lot recently about how I don't really care to learn about an artist's personal life. The life that they show the world outside their art is not something I seek to learn about anymore (14 year old me has different opinions). Sometimes learning personal tidbits about artists allows me to feel more deeply about what they made, but most times it doesn't, or it can even ruin my interpretation of a song. I have definitely been sending this post to my friends because it articulates what I feel and expands on it in a way I have been failing to.
Everyone who listens to music ought to read this. Thank you!
Amazing!! So much respect for Big Thief, they are committed to authentic art and nothing less.
so good. so real. so true re artists and labels (hello). so great. thanks eliza
loved reading this! that next-to-last paragraph is such a banger. the connection between the demand for customization/convenience/comfort with this pernicious kind of parasociality.
i do think there's a line between art and cultural force. to an extent, it does matter what the likes of taylor swift and beyonce do because they shape the culture and culture shapes values, what's acceptable (for good and for ill), etc. but maybe the answer is to stop putting celebrities on a pedestal and targeting them as the be-all end-all of ~the culture~ instead of, like, music execs and spotify algorithms.
“To succeed and be beloved, the modern artist must go along with the ruse that not only are they personally connected to each and every fan, but that they like it that way.”
this quote HIT omg
I have conflicting opinions on this topic... I see valid points on both sides, but ultimately, I see this as the inevitable outcome of an industry selling a product that isn't actually the item exchanged for money. There's a reason anonymous artists have never and will never have hit songs — the music isn't really the point. Relating to and emulating — including buying the products [that have nothing to do with music] connected to the mascot... err, "artist" — is. The modern music industry is little more than an advertising platform — designed to facilitate "self-expression" via consumption. There's a reason "self-expression" is of the highest importance in our society, and there's a reason why everyone encouraging it has a way for you be your "authentic" self... just buy this... or better yet, subscribe to this... we wouldn't want you to have to worry about missing a payment and losing your identity... wink, wink.
That said, I think releasing demos before the studio version is kind of cheesy. Your fans aren't your friends... if you start treating them that way, you shouldn't be surprised when you face backlash for messing with your customers consumption (i.e. expression of their ID/EGO).
Eliza, very compelling and enlightening article. I consider music an art. Some people appreciate certain types. I certainly wouldn’t think to tell Picasso (if he was still here!) to change his choice of colors or facial characteristics. The beauty of art or music is it’s open to interpretation. We can always move on if something doesn’t appeal to us. And I’m not sure there is a “wrong” way for an artist to address their fans. They should just be who they are. Love their fans, be aloof towards them or tell them to go straight to Hell. And I preferred the live Vampire Empire. It seemed more relaxed, yet more vibrant if that makes sense? And I’m fairly certain we all love you...:)
never ever ever missing
fuck yeah eliza! loved this