Pluto Jonze is an Australian indie-pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has just wrapped up his first UK tour in support of the release of his latest single, “I’ll Try Anything”.
As playlisting on Spotify becomes the main game, and artists try to stay constantly relevant to their fans (something I admit I’ve not been good at over the past few years), it seems to make more sense for acts to drip feed out their songs piecemeal, constantly throughout the year, every year… Like just one of so many other pieces of content to keep you at the top of the feed.
This is something I’ve struggled with because for me getting a record right really takes time. It might be a product of working predominantly on my own – producing yourself can be a tough game. I’ve always tried to take my time with releasing music, but I get the feeling that these days that’s something probably only massive acts can afford to do. Us minnows get swept away by the current so quickly, lose any foothold you had and then it can be hard to put your hand up later and squeak “hey guys I’m still here!” without the budget or backing to do so.
As a songwriter and artist, I definitely feel a desire to put out albums and a gravity towards releasing a meatier body of work out into the world than just piecemeal songs. Every musician I’ve ever spoken to about this feels the same way.
It’s hard for me to see how this ‘keeping at the top of the feed’ tendency could be a good thing artistically, but maybe for the listener/consumer it’s a different story? There’s this constant contact thing. Fans want to know exactly what is happening at all times with their favourite artists. They lap it up. Personally, I’ve always preferred artists I’ve loved to have a little more mystery to them, but I can see the appeal. I mean, imagine how great The Beatles would have been on the ‘gram!
I’m not saying it’s all doom and gloom. It’s an interesting development, and an understandable one in a super saturated market. But I do feel it’s important to pause and consider the effect that the way we consume music is going to have artistically going forward. We still want great things to be made, right? …Right?
