#i know fan artists do like monthly subscribers or supporters

[tennessoui]

ko-fi fic uploads

hey guys, I'm going to start putting some of my new tumblr prompt fills and writing warm-ups (ficlets of 4k-6k length) up on my ko-fi!!

Monthly supporters will be able to go into the gallery tab on my ko-fi and click on an uploaded image. The title will be which tumblr-based au the ficlet fits into and how many words it is. The description beneath the image will be a quick summary of the au and a link to the google doc containing the ficlet. The "root" au post, aka the post that started the au on my blog, will be linked as well on that google doc.

This will not affect my wips and progress on them in any way! I feel like that's very important to state - I write these sorts of ficlets all the time because it helps get me in the writing mindset for writing ao3 fics. I will just be spending a little extra effort on them to put them up on ko-fi.

I will NOT be posting any ficlets on my ko-fi that you need to read to understand a fic on ao3 - that's some disney monster conglomerate kind of shit. I will also still be posting shorter ficlets (1k-3k) on tumblr as I write them, especially if I'm answering a prompt someone sent me here. Again, I think it'd be a bit of dick move to not do that

I'll try to vary which ficlets go up on ko-fi and every time I upload one, I'll make a post about which au it is as well as a link to the page in case anyone wants to, idk, unsubscribe for a month because they hate the hopeless in coruscant au, and then refollow next month because they enjoy the playmaker au etc etc

I'm definitely still trying to figure out what I want this to look like and what feels fair or reasonable, so hopefully this isn't a huge mess on my end!

All this being said:

I've posted the first ficlet/fic on ko-fi: it's for the Senator Menace AU, an au that's basically "What if phantom menace but reversed? how fucked up would anakin get over the youngling his father master died to protect?"

the first au post is here // my ko-fi is here

#obikin #my fics #i really hope this works ok #i know fan artists do like monthly subscribers or supporters #on patreon or ko-fi #but i haven't really seen fic writers do it #so i really don't know how it's going to work #i think the lowest for monthly supporters is $4 ? but no one has to go higher or anything! #it's not tiered membership/supporting #so if you do the lowest you should still have access to everything #im applying for grad school in the next few months and i saw the application fees are like. wild. #LOL #but commissions got really stressful for me at times #but i think this could be a good sorta thing? #maybe? #i'll reblog this once at a reasonable time tomorrow and if nothing comes of it thats also fine fr #accepting suggestions on this too if people have ideas #ideas for aus for ficlets and also ideas for how to improve this #if it turns out to be confusing or a clusterfuck #yes i do understand that anyone could share that link with anyone and get access for anyone #but im hoping that that happens not a lot or not widespread #also honestly this will not affect working on my wips #or new fics #cause lol if people wanted me focused theyd just take away my tumblr or somethign #im a lil stressed about this if you couldn't tell from all these tags #and the late night for me posting time lol

[reimenaashelyee]

Clean version here

Not a bingo but a jenga. My responses below the cut

Somehow I have half of this image filled out. I wish I could cash it in for points to redeem.

Jenga:

First comic is a magnum opus: There had been a string of graphic novel adaptations of books I wanted do when I as a young teenager, but The World in Deeper Inspection was my first, substantial, original behemoth of an idea. It was the only one with the power and the potential to stay and push me to become a comics creator. Everything I am and have as an artist and writer is because of TWIDI.

Fan art more popular than OCs: This was going to be inevitable because I hardly ever post about them online. But I suppose if you count my one-off character design illustrations that go viral or my published graphic novels, this box wouldn’t be true… (The God of Arepo is my most popular fan work)

I binged your life’s work in 2 hours: I am glad you like my work enough to be this engrossed in it – but honestly please please reread it again and SLOWLY so you can appreciate the visual storytelling – not just the words and the main action!! You’ll have a fuller experience if you take the time to luxuriate!!

This isn’t even my day job: It both is and isn’t. I do enough from comics that I can survive out of it near full time (thanks to my usual speed; very grateful), but I get financial stability from the monthly paycheck from the actual day job. Relying on my speed to produce near-constant output for money is something I am losing interest in as my ideas become more ambitious and niche.

Subscribe to my Patreon: Somehow I am able to hawk my free-to-read platforms with a certain amount of success but never can get a big dent on my Ko-fi.

Received unsolicited critique on a free comic: Unavoidable reality. Though I hadn’t had something egregious in a long time (and it better stay that way).

Had to explain what a webcomic even is to someone IRL: Nearly all the people I surround myself with are ‘normies’ (people who aren’t so online and/or don’t read online media), so this comes up often – and it will become more frequent as I pursue institutional pathways like residencies and grants. Even if they knew what webcomics were, it would be under the name of webtoons.

I can’t wait to draw this scene in 4 years: lol @ Alexander Comic and TWIDI

Multi-year hiatus: TWIDI’s eternal curse, until I figure out how to build enough stability in my career/life to return to it – full-time and for real.

Financially supported by someone else: My dayjob, mainly, but previously my parents.

Is somehow mutuals with favourite artist: That’s what it’s like as your career progresses and matures! It’s always nice to become peers with those you admire – especially the ones you grow to love only after knowing them.

Characters get gayer over time: Growing up and being able to witness the various ways of living can and will change how one approaches their characters.

Successfully fulfilled a Kickstarter: Not on my own, but I had a few for my books that published smoothly.

Empty space:

ADHD diagnosis: I have ADHD-esque behaviours that I have managed to overcome with ADHD-specific hacks, but whether I actually have the thing itself is a question mark. I lean towards not really having it since I am able to execute and complete tasks regularly.

Works in animation or went to school for it: I used to want to study and work in animation before I discovered the potential of comics as a storytelling medium. I don’t have a desire to break into that industry, even without all the employment and late-capitalism instability that it’s going through right now. I am not averse to trying if asked, however.

Had an art teacher who hated anime: Never went to art school.

Yes I’ve had burnout but what about second burnout: Currently going through a fallow period, but I really don’t think it’s Burnout Burnout. Touch wood, I continue to maintain my love, interest and desire to make comics and stay in my artistic career.

Forgot how to draw main character’s face: Characters are so seared into my brain, it’s not easy to forget. Helps that they each have particular quirks that belong to their design.

This comic gave me my hand/wrist injury: Still out here WITHOUT any of those. I hope I can keep it that way until whenever I retire.

Emergency commissions: Hopefully I will never have to resort to do this. (Very grateful, yes)

Sleep… “schedule”? my 7-8 hours of sleep is essential and non-negotiable.

If it’s not 3 hours long is it even worth adding to the work playlist: This is is referring to video essays I guess? I rarely ever encounter essays of over 3 hours that I am interested enough to watch. (Also I can’t really watch something while drawing; I lose speed/concentration)

Embarrassed to look at early pages: Not embarrassed – I was younger and less-skilled then, that’s just how it is. There were a lot of things younger me did that I could still learn from.

Regrets costume choices: I pride myself in being able to style myself and my characters, and so far I have never regretted the clothes I give my characters – the TWIDI characters all have base outfits from when I was 15!

#artist meme

[bluebeesknees]

Hi Bee! Going anon because I feel so awkward asking this and I genuinely like you and your work is beautiful ;;;;;;

Patreon subber here! I've noticed that you seem to be drawing less and less of BTS art and more of that anime show. Which is 100000% your prerogative and I fully support anyone following their own joy and especially artists creating art that interests them, not just to cater to their audience, so this is in no way me asking or requesting you to draw less anime and more BTS! However, I'm not in the greatest place financially right now and I need to be more strict with myself and where I am spending my money and to make sure where I'm spending my money also aligns with my own wants. I wish I was in a position to just remain subbed as a patron no matter what because I love your art and want to support you as an artist, and I've really been warring with myself over this for the last couple months because that truly where my values lie when I have the means. But between the topic and amount we're paying for, I'm feeling torn. I TOTALLY get the reasons for the decrease in content, your health issues and school and work are completely valid, but it doesn't change the fact that we're getting noticeably less now than we did a year ago, and you've been promising it's temporary for set periods (first school and exams last year, then work, then health), but it's held pretty steady for at least a year now and has never returned to the level many of us subbed to originally despite repeated assurances that eventually things will pick back up. Less content is honestly not a big deal in and of itself, but it doesn't sit right with me that you haven't been upfront that these changes will be permanent, always promising that the current volume is temporary. But also there's been no broaching the subject of the fandom your creating for the majority of the time now changing from what your subscribers subbed to or for. Again, I fully support you creating for whatever interests you, but when I subbed you were solely a BTS fanartist and described your patreon as such on twitter, offering early and uncensored access to NSFW art, and you've never said anything to your subscribers about your focus permanently shifting to predominantly be anime. So far in 2024, not including previews for or commissions, you've published 2 BTS art posts and 8 of the anime characters on patreon. In the position I'm in, it just doesn't make sense for me to be spending a monthly subscription fee on fan content that isn't something I follow or know anything about. So I guess what I'm asking is for confirmation that you will no longer be focusing on BTS art? Truly you are so talented, I genuinely do love your art in general, I just can't afford to spend monthly money on something that doesn't genuinely interest me, even if I wish I could stay subbed just to support an artist I admire.

Dude hey! It seems you put a lot of thought into this so I'll answer accordingly!

I know I haven't been as reliable as I wanted to be in the past few months and I apologise for that. I don't mean for this to sound like an excuse, but I did very much believe for things to be temporary. (I tremendously overexhausted myself with my degree and my health has been a bit shit since qwq) I overestimated myself and should have had more foresight and taken proper breaks with the payment cycles as well.

Now, as for the shift in fandoms, I have wanted to broaden my range of fandoms I produce art for for quite some time. I do still very much love BTS and the aus I made mean a lot to me still. But the fandom in general has sparked a lot less joy than it used to lately and I've gotten a bit bored drawing only them. BTS was already an uncommonly long obsession and while i wouldn't call it burn-out, I AM a bit singed. I haven't announced something like a permanent shift on my patreon or twitter because it isn't, I love to draw them still but my focus just isn't as singular as it was for the past few years.

I know that keeping multiple fandoms under a single hat on patreon isn't ideal, and I completely understand that patrons don't always vibe with that. So I do not take it personally AT ALL should they decide to leave. Honestly it makes me very grateful to see that this meant enough to you to contact me like this.

Jjk is currently the thing that interests me the most, but I did plan to return to the roots of doing bangtan ship polls again for next month!

You've definitely given me stuff to think about. I'll make an announcement in the next few days regarding future plans.

And finally, I'll plainly say that my focus on bts art won't return to the level of intensity it started out as for a good while. It will continue, but not as it was. As you said, it's good for an artist to draw not only for an audience and I won't ever force myself to do that either. But I should have been more transparent, maybe it really is time I overhaul my page to represent the current me.

Ok, enough serious waffling, Please Do Not Feel Bad for cancelling your subscription!! In fact I encourage it if it doesn't spark joy anymore!! Smutty patreon art is a luxury expense and shit is hard enough these days!! I pinky promise I will not be mad above some entirely impersonal mild annoyance that my monthly budget shall now encompass 3$ less :)

I hope I covered it all, if you want to ask me about anything else, feel free to dm me, I promise I won't bite. I should generally encourage more plain feedback on my page so if you have more notes, I'd love to hear them!

But for now that's all!

Love, Bee 🐝 💙

[musicinfooy]

Under the current “pro rata” model held true in Spotify and Apple, money from your dedicated fans goes into a giant pool that’s paid out to artists based on their share of total streams. This mostly benefits mega stars.

Spotify figures out how many streams came from a given country and then calculates the portion of those streams that went to specific artists. This causes smaller artists who might not have such a massive reach, but have a dedicated loyal audience, not getting much money because they share a smaller portion of the overall streams.

Effectively, if The Weeknd or Harry Styles gets 5% of all streams on Spotify in any given period they and their labels will get 10% of your monthly subscription fee, even if you never listened to any of their songs.

Rolling Stone reported in 2020, that the top 1 percent of streaming artists end up getting 90 percent of the revenue.

If you were to take the more than 1.6 million artists who released music to streaming services in the past year and a half and ranked them by their total streams, you’d find that the top 16,000 of those artists pulled in 90 percent of the streams. And it doesn’t take more than a basic grasp of math to realize that this leaves 1.6 million artists with just 10 percent of the streams.

FYI the current number of artists on Spotify has now grown to about 9 million, this means more share less.

This “pro rata” model typically benefits the major labels and the most popular artists. When you listen to music on the streaming services what do you hear on these platform generated playlists, radio stations and suggestions: More of the same top artists represented by the biggest labels. This has changed very little if at all over the last 3 years.

Obviously this is not acceptable. Not only from the view of the music creator, independent label and self-publisher but also from the fan’s’ point of view. It too sucks knowing that these superstars are taking money away from your choice artists.

Yet, I cannot feel too bad about using streaming services. The subscription fee is for using the service. No longer do I need to carry around all my CDs or be limited to the storage capacity in my device. And new releases are automatically available. But there must be a better way to focus user and fan activity and payments in a more meaningful way.

Lets see how the biggest record labels will get their fingers into the new payment models. We’ll take a look at the most recent deal with Universal and Deezer, as well as the first change in the “pro rata” model founded by Soundcloud and Warner.

Micropayments and Tips: A Better Way to Pay Your Artists

If only there was a way for a fan to pay directly to the artist. Wait, hold up there is. Though Netease and Tencent in China use the “pro rata” model, they calculate the accumulated streams of a given artist and pay out according to the type of user: free, subscribing, or VIP. So the pay per stream varies from user to user. Already there is a distinction between users. But even, is the possibility for the listeners and fans to give gifts directly to their artists.

Yet another advance in China that the western services are lacking and struggling to “catch up to”, if that is even a tangible consideration for the streaming services to implement?

Micropayments and digital tips are common in China. There are apps that allow people to tip or give monetary gifts. However, many platforms have this function built into their system as they do in the music platforms in China like QQ and Netease as well as Douyin and others. And you can always use a 3rd party app to send a gift to the ones you choose. How awesome would it be to go to Spotify or Deezer or Apple and leave your thoughts and show your love as comments to your artist as you listen to their music, as they do on Netease and QQ. And also showing your support by giving them a tip or virtual gift.

Moving Beyond Pro Rata

Universal has struck a deal with Deezer or is it vice versa? Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira says that the deal is the “most ambitious change” to the economies of music streaming since it first started.

Focusing on artists who have a minimum of 1,000 streams per month with a minimum of 500 unique listeners will get a “double boost.” Is that 2x per stream?

They will get another “double boost” if the song was actively searched for by the user rather than suggested by the system or on a playlist. Is that 4x times per stream?

This Artist Centric streaming model is definitely a move forward. It seems though that the ones it benefits the most are the artists who are already taking the majority of the royalties. So any artist who has more than 1000 monthly streams and 500 different listeners will now be taking double of what they are already taking. Where is this coming from?

Denis Ladegaillerie of Believe, expressed his concerns that this 1000 streams/500 listener threshold will increase over time. Essentially squeezing out any upcoming artist with fewer than the threshold.

Jeronimo Folgueira of Deezer has addressed a very sore point in the streaming world, “There is no other industry where all content is valued the same, and it should be obvious to everyone that the sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favorite artist streamed in HiFi.”

Deezer is planning to replace non-artist noise content with its own content as functional music which won’t be included in the royalty pool. And of course tackling fraud by driving a better new and improved fraud detection system, making it less attractive to fraudsters and protecting the royalties.

So at least we can count on 2 things: Artists will receive a smaller payout if their songs play as part of an algorithmic playlist and will not need to compete with background noise tracks. Please remember this is only on Deezer. And how about all artists that are not part of Universal Music Group do they share pro rata of whatever is left over?

As of now Spotify is not on board, “We are willing to make the switch to a user-centric model if that’s what artists, songwriters, and rights holders want to do. However, Spotify cannot make this decision on its own; it requires broad industry alignment to implement this change. The research we’ve seen to date suggests that a shift to user-centric payments would not benefit artists as much as many may have originally hoped.”

Another possibility implemented by Tidal is their Direct-to-Artists payment model established in 2022. As a listener and subscriber your monthly fee will be allotted to a pool of royalties based on your subscription tier. As a premium HiFi plus subscriber it is estimated that 10% of your fee will go directly to your artists you listen to.

At the forefront we have Soundcloud and their Fan-powered royalty model since 2021. This is only available to independent artists who monetize directly with SoundCloud. The more time your dedicated fans listen to your music, the more you get paid. So a user paying $10 a month only listens to five artists, those five artists will get a split of that $10, after SoundCloud takes its cut, no matter how many times the user listens to each of them.

This model that seems to benefit independent artists is a collaboration with Warner Music Group, having cut a licensing deal with SoundCloud to adopt the streamer’s Fan-Powered Royalties system. WMG is the first major label to adopt the system, and its embrace of the model could signal a larger shift for the industry. Warner and independent artists are like oil and water, could there still be a light at the end of the tunnel for independent artists?

Conclusion

The structure of payments between streaming services and labels or independent artists are in need of change.

There is an inability to distinguish premium content, any stream over 30 seconds in length counts the same. This means that the music that has a higher value is not recognized.

An alternative is a more flexible artist-centric model that seeks to distribute payouts based on the value an artist creates and provides for the platform.

Fan-powered royalties means a subscriber’s subscription fee or advertising revenue will be shared among the artists they actually listen to, rather than going to a big pot and being split up among the platform’s most popular artists.

Streaming platforms have more pricing power than they have demonstrated in prior years as several major music streaming platforms have increased their prices on their standard services; however, the average revenue per user on paid streaming music services has fallen by 40% since 2016.

Apple Music and Spotify have essentially lowered the value of their catalogues by introducing family plans and smaller prices for bundled users, but maybe they are preparing for the next generation of users.

Musicinfo Newsletter Signup

#digital music #digital distribution #music streaming #diy music #music producer #royalties #getting paid

[gm-juce]

Paizo Pathfinder Second Edition Guns & Gears Playtest Gunslinger & Inventor

Guns & Gears Playtest

On January 5th Paizo released the Guns & Gears playtest with the Gunslinger, and the Inventor. Recently I did a stream discussing these over on my Master The Game YouTube Channel. Overall I was pretty impressed with what they came up with. The Gunslinger has some over powered combinations but with some minor adjustments I think they will be a ton of fun without being OP. The Inventor seems a little under powered but looks like a lot of fun. I did not realize how bad I wanted Guns & Gears until really diving into each of these classes. Now here I am anxiously anticipating this release in the Fall of 2021.

Gunslinger: Way of the Pistolero

When it comes to the Gunslinger my favorite is the Way of the Pistolero. To me the Pistolero is your typical wild west style gunslinger and it fits into fantasy games really well. Pepper in some of the feats like the pistol twirl and you might as well be shaking down robbers and helping local sheriffs lock up bandits. If you want to play a wild west game a group of these gunslingers is to good to pass up!

Gunslinger: Way of the Sniper

While I like the Way of the Sniper I just think it is really OP! You get extra damage while using stealth for initiative, and tons of persistent damage from doing so. You also get extra damage just for using the stealth during your initiative. Then at higher levels firing this shot doesn’t give up your position. Many feats combined with this only make it far more powerful. This one is awesome and thematic but will be a headache for most gamemasters I think. Players will probably love this though.

Gunslinger: Way of the Drifter

The Way of the Drifter looks like fun and is a lot like your anime style character. Known for using a melee weapon in one hand and a single handed gun or crossbow in the other hand. These gunslingers will be fun to play in a variety of situations. You can run around the battlefield doing ranged and melee damage effectively. A lot of feats compliment this style of play very well.

Community Complaints About The Gunslinger

While the internet is not a fan of the feats that are less realistic than normal those things are not the more powerful choices. For instance the drifter can throw a melee weapon, and shoot it for extra damage while forcing that melee weapon to return to the character. I think it is fun thematically but I can see why a lot of people won’t like this. Also the old Quake and Call of Duty Black Ops trick of shooting while jumping to gain extra distance has really bothered some people but when it comes down to it I think these are very minor. They aren’t game breaking and are just some fun flavor if you ask me. If it ruins immersion it wouldn’t be hard to remove these from the game or in the case of shooting the weapon you could reskin that to make it work for your games.

Inventor: Innovation Armor

With all of the innovations they are meant to be gadgets that are pieced together for function over appearance. They might not look to be of high quality and for the most part they have some flaws but ultimately do some cool things. The armors give resistance to specific damage types. Later you can add more things to your armor by choosing specific feats. My favorite option is the Harmonic Oscillator (force, sonic resistances) due to the inaudible thrum to it. I imagine the most subtle hum of the armor even though the flavor text says it is inaudible. Obviously the character should not be given a sound penalty for it but for flavor I want to imagine being able to hear it slightly.

Inventor: Innovation Construct

These little clockwork constructs/robots are awesome! I have already seen some fun fan art that takes inspiration from the Mandolorian for this. I believe I saw it on Instagram. If I find it again I will add it to this blog post while giving proper credit to the artist. Some of the most fun aspects are that you can cause it to explode while surrounded by enemies. Also with a specific feat later on you can actually have it explode surrounded by friendlies to heal for 1d4 hit points. You can do so much more with it that I like and I can’t wait to see the final version of this class. It seems on par with most classes that get a companion but it still feels underpowered.

Inventor: Innovation Weapon

You can modify simple weapons to change damage types, damage amounts, and so on. Someone else can’t use your weapons proficiently because of the modifications made even if they are proficient with that type of weapon. While you can make your weapons more effective the Inventor is not a good combat character. I would probably not be drawn to this specific type of Inventor for that reason. This is probably the least survivable type of Inventor.

Community Complaints About The Inventor

The Inventor also has the Quake/Call of Duty Black Ops rocket jump built in except your construct can do it too. The people I have talked to think the Inventor would be a lot of fun but it is a suboptimal class. Some of the limitations on numbers of construct companions being one is a bit of a put off. We hope there are some rules for “crafting” inventing things in the Guns & Gears book. It would be nice to have the Innovation Weapon type while being able to craft some gadget armor still but not quite as effective as the Innovation Armor. It would also be cool if you could change what your Innovation actually is.

Overall Opinions

Like I mentioned before I love what they have done with this playtest. The Inventor having the modular option is really cool. I am excited to see players using both of these classes in a variety of ways. I see a ton of cool inspirations for the feats and class options. One thing I really want to see make it into the Guns & Gears book is Gun Blades like in Final Fantasy VIII among other things. It could even be its own class and could be so amazing. If I don’t see that in the book it might end up being something I homebrew myself. If Secrets of Magic has stone magic I could recreate some Final Fantasy video games even. Who wouldn’t want to play a one shot or campaign inspired by that? My fingers are crossed for those things.

At the end of the day I am very impressed with the playtest. What will make the final cut? What will be added? What will be tweaked? Let me know what you want in the comments below.

If you want to support us please subscribe to Master The Game on YouTube, share our content with your friends on social media, or monetarily by becoming a Patron. We create random roll tables for our Patrons and run one shots monthly for them.

Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate we do earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. When you purchase the product via the links here it will benefit me at no additional cost to you. Thank you for all of your support.

#Master The Game #Master The Game Juce #Juce #Paizo Pathfinder Second Edition Playtest #Paizo #Pathfinder Second Edition #Pathfinder 2e #Pathfinder RPG #Paizo Pathfinder #Pathfinder 2e Gunslinger #Second Edition Gunslinger #Pathfinder Gears & Guns Playtest #Paizo Pathfinder Second Edition Guns & Gears Playtest Gunslinger & Inventor #Pathfinder Iconics #New Second Edition Iconics #Way of the Drifter #Way of the Pistolero #Way of the Sniper #Gunslinger Ways #Pathfinder 2e Inventor #Pathfinder Inventor #Inventor Innovations #Innovation Armor #Innovation Weapon #Innovation Construct #Inventor Armor #Inventor Construct #Inventor Weapon #Construct Companion #Guns & Gears

[everythingwrong]

  EVERYTHING WRONG WITH KPOP

 

Before we start discussing about the problems or the backlashes faced by the Korean Pop industry, we need to know a little about how and where this entertainment industry began. A term now widely used to refer to the popularity of Korean entertainment and culture across Asia and other parts of the world, Hallyu or the “Korean Wave” first appeared during the mid-1990s. After Korea entered into diplomatic relations with China in 1992 and Korean TV dramas and pop music gained great popularity in Chinese-speaking communities.

 

Me personally being a Korean entertainment fan cannot choose to ignore the various flaws in the Korean entertainment industry. As a K-pop the music given me positivity and happiness. And I do think that a lot of fans of the K-pop and K-dramas will agree with me that the Korean Entertainment industry has brought in more happiness in our lives. And, I think a lot of us are well aware of the tight schedules, unhealthy diets and toxicity within the industry. Through this video I would like to address the problems the idols face due to this beauty standard and perfection that Korean entertainment industry showcases.

 

Now, let's start addressing the actual problems that this industry faces. This industry is racist, xenophobic, sexist and fatphobic.

 

1. EXISTENCE OF SLAVE CONTRACTS

 

 

 The idols are made to sign slave contracts with the entertainment labels. And, these contracts gives the entertainment labels  complete control over the idols and their daily life is strictly monitored by their managers. Even, the food that they consume is monitored by their managers. Now, addressing about "slave contracts ".In the past, K-Pop contracts usually were around 7-15 years, so they were nicknamed “slave contracts. However, many artists started filing lawsuits due to how unreasonable these contracts were. Over the years, companies started settling down and shortened the length of their contracts. Despite all of this, even if an idol group becomes famous majority of the money goes to the managers and the entertainment label. 

 

We all know how draining the kpop industry is,the idols are overworked, pressured and always have to be on their best behaviour. This makes them sacrifice their mental health. And along with all of these they even have to deal with a lot of criticism from the audience. And we have also seen several cases of kpop idols who not having been able to deal with the pressure in the industry and having received hate from people choose to end their lives. And, the scandals in industry are on a different level and that it.

 

 

2. THE BEAUTY STANDARDS

  

 

Idols are sometimes forced to have a plastic surgery to meet the beauty standard. But, nowadays due to a lot of emphasis on the freedom of idols, the idols can sue the company if they are forced to undergo a plastic surgery, but majority of the time the idols are trainees when they are asked undergo surgeries and stuff. What more would a trainee want than getting a chance to debut. So instead of taking any legal courses the idols end of altering themselves to just be part of the industry. And, this negatively influences not only the idols but also the fans who follow them. All Asian countries in general have a perception that  if a person has white skin he/she beautiful. And this perception is overemphasised by this industry. Now, about them being fatphobic. Any female idol weighing above 50 kgs is forced to go on a strict diet,due to this a lot of idols end up being underweight and and they also develop several health complication. And on several instances companies and idols have been caught lying about their weight just to maintain the image and be a part of the beauty standards. And we have also seen instances where idols have fainted while preforming on stages.

 

 

3. HARDSHIPS THAT TRAINEE'S HAVE TO UNDERGO 

 

Trainee's. We all know that before a new idol group is formed the entertainment label conducts auditions. There are usually many auditions held each year but it’s pretty hard to pass the audition since there are many people auditioning.

 

When you become a trainee you have to take singing, dancing, and acting lessons as well as some language classes if you are a foreigner. Life as a trainee can be hard because of the tight schedules and also the mistreatment.  During the evaluations the trainees have to perform their best to show the company that there are making progress in their training or else they’ll get kicked from the company if they’re not improving. And they are also graded on a monthly basis and ranked, due to which the idol trainees are under constant pressure to be number one. 

 

In addition to their training, trainees also usually receive homework to do on a daily basis, and if they don’t do their homework given to them by their company, they’re going to get left behind. There are many trainees who give up their dreams of becoming a kpop idol because of the tight schedules and all the training and practice they have to do in order to not get kicked  from the company. And also, there are certain companies who request to get paid training fees by their trainees,but, it’s not common. And, in addition to this, there have been situations in which several people who have trained for years to be become an idol ,have not been able to become one. Just think,what career options do they have left, they would have put in all their efforts into becoming a idol and if they or their group fail to debut what are they supposed. How are they supposed to fend themselves.

 

4. RACISM

 

There have been several instances of racism that kpop stars belonging to different ethnicities or mixed race stars have undergone.SBS Pop Asia reported that Fei from Miss A had stated that during her early days in the kpop she was tormented by people who thought that she showered only once a week as she was Chinese. And,singer Shannon was repeatedly called a foreigner despite her being half korean. Mamamoo, a girl group has also given a lengthy apology for putting on a blackface to portray Bruno Mars.

 

5. CULTURAL APPROPRITATION

https://twitter.com/adorebybeykook/status/1270817395242827778?s=20

https://youtu.be/uUCrK4aQOlg

On June 26, one of the biggest groups in the K-pop music industry made their long-awaited comeback. Blackpink, a four-member girl group, released their single "How You Like That" and its accompanying music video after over a year, breaking several records. It became the YouTube video, as well as the music video, with the most views in a day at a whopping 86.3 million. But as fans rejoiced about their favourite group’s comeback, another corner of the internet outraged. In yet another incident, K-pop idols were called out for misappropriating South Asian culture and religion.In a scene that has now been removed, one of the members could be seen rapping sitting beside a sculpture of Lord Ganesh, a Hindu god. South Asian K-pop fans expressed their anger at the fact that the bust was just used for aesthetic purposes on the set—which had nothing to do with Hinduism. In Hindu religion, the elephant-headed god is invoked at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. Fans not happy about seeing the deity being used as prop then spoke out against cultural appropriation in the music industry, lashing out against it on social media.

In 2017, Korean idol Lee Hyo Ri came out with a song called “White Snake”.The song was just one of the thousands that K-pop idols had released that year, except for the one thing that made it stand out: It had a stanza of the Gayatri Mantra, a Sanskrit chant that is said to be one of the holiest mantras in Hindu culture. It is a Vedic prayer, associated with the divine and the pure. So obviously, when South Asian fans saw her perform a seductive sequence to it, they weren’t very happy, to say the least.

 

Despite all of the flaws in the industry. I will continue to support my favourite idols because they deserve a lot of support for what they are doing. And it is our support that keeps them going. And again,thank you for watching this video and do not forget to like, subscribe and comment.

#kpop #racism #slavecontracts #fatphobic #Spotify #Youtube

[nicholas-martin]

YouTube Star PewDiePie Feeling Tired

YouTube star PewDiePie has announced he is taking a break from the platform, saying he is "feeling very tired". The 30-year-old Swedish star, real name Felix Kjellberg, found fame with video game commentaries and was at one point the world's highest earning YouTuber. But he was more recently involved in controversies around accusations of racism and anti-Semitism. "Early next year I'll be away for a little while. I'll explain that later," PewDiePie said in a video post. "I'm taking a break from YouTube next year. I wanted to say it in advance because I made up my mind. I'm tired. I'm feeling very tired. I don't know if you can tell," PewDiePie said, laughing.

Disney cut ties with him in 2017 after some videos he released were found to contain Nazi references or anti-Semitic imagery. He accepted the material was offensive, but said he did not support "any kind of hateful attitudes". PewDiePie had been linked to Disney through Maker Studios, a company with a network of YouTube stars. Later that year, he apologised for using the N-word during a live stream. And last year, he apologised again for reposting a meme which appeared to mock Demi Lovato's hospital treatment for a suspected drug overdose.

Earlier this year, PewDiePie, who currently has 102 million subscribers, was overtaken as the biggest YouTube channel in the world by Bollywood record label T-Series, which now has more than 121 million subscribers. T-Series is a 35-year-old Mumbai-based music label and film production company. Some 15% of the firm's revenues of $100m come from its YouTube channel, which is run by 13 people out of the firm's seven-storey headquarters in the heart of Mumbai's entertainment district. But the 28-year-old Swede then mounted a challenge to Gulshan Kumar's T-Series, to retain his status as the YouTuber with the most subscribers.

Since then, the competition has been raging on. Both PewDiePie and T-Series have moren subscribers than Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift  on the video sharing platform, which has nearly two billion monthly users worldwide. PewDiePie is currently gaining on average more than 220,000 new subscribers per day, while T-Series gets on average about 178,000 a day, according to website SocialBlade. Fans of PewDiePie have hacked tens of thousands of printers to print out messages and posters urging people to subscribe to him. Reports say they also hacked the Wall Street Journal with a note that the newspaper would be sponsoring PewDiePie in an attempt to beat T-Series in the race for subscribers. The Swedish YouTuber's fans have set up online petitions demanding the removal of the Indian label from YouTube "as it is a threat to individual creators" and described it as a "monolithic dictatorship of YouTube analytics" and a "greedy corporation".

The kerfuffle over amassing followers on the Google-owned video sharing platform appears to have, at once, amused and befuddled executives at T-Series. "I have not told my artists to put up supportive messages to boost our followers on our channel. We are not in that game," says Kumar, a boyish-looking second-generation music baron. "Thanks to this controversy, our label has now global eyeballs. Everybody's approaching us. International artists want to work with us. Forget about the rankings - our reach is the highest," he says. And the dust up with PewDiePie couldn't have possibly come for a better time for the label. Next month, its YouTube channel will launch a music video of Guru Randhawa, one of its most popular singers, featuring the Florida-born rapper Pitbull. 

The video - the label routinely spends up to $100,000 to shoot a music video - was shot in Los Angeles and has Randhawa singing a "romantic" Punjabi hip-hop track with Florida-born Pitbull rapping in English. And now, says Kumar, the label is negotiating with a "big international pop star" to do another "romantic fusion" number with a top Indian singer. Over the years, Kumar claims, his label has launched a number of music stars like Randhawa, whose top three music videos on the channel have already grabbed more than 1.5 billion views. The music videos, which are often shot in foreign locations, feature the singers driving cars like Lamborghinis and slinky models dancing against exotic backgrounds. The way music is often made at T-Series is a testimony to the label's nimbleness of operations, and acute sense of the popular zeitgeist. 

#pewdiepie #youtube #google

[black-pink-soul]

YG BAD TIMES. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?!

I would really like to write about something good now, but everything turned out differently. And I really want this text to be read by people who care about the fate of other people. I understand that in life there are many more important and serious things and each of us has its own difficulties in life. But now is the moment when it is time to return the joy that we received from music, concerts and shows. I appeal to all fans of artists from YG. Now is the time when we have to unite and do something for those who have helped many of us overcome difficult times. It's easy to be a fan when an artist is successful and his life is good. But we all found ourselves in a situation where the future of our favorite performers is under great threat. I do not know what kind of person director Yang is, and not trying to justify him, I just think that YG became the victim of an “attack”. Someone systematically drowns the company and it all began with the most successful grou - bigbang. Yes the world of idols is not as pure and innocent as they want to show us on tv. They are all ordinary normal people who have weaknesses, but they are also those who put their lives in order to be part of the entertainment industry. We all have seen and know how rigid the selection frame is in YG. Monthly checks for many years and no confidence in the debut ... Our boys and girls deserve someone to stand up for them now. Because the company to which they gave the best years of their youth, their strength and dreams ... this company does not do its job properly even in good times. These are bad times when our boys and girls get an incredible amount of hate, but the agency has not made a single statement. It is unthinkable. People can lose their dreams, the ability to work and earn money, they can be thrown into a new reality if the pressure of society continues. LET'S MAKE ANYTHING! CREATING A PETITION, MAKE THE SUPPORTING VIDEOS, GETTING ANYTHING I don’t know ... but we have to do something. I am a shy and uconfident  person and it’s difficult for me to lead and I have few subscribers, but I cannot see how these people lost fire in their eyes, how people are calling to remove them from the industry, calling them prostitutes and drug addicts. There are more of us, those who think adequately, those who are ready to share the good! All those who were at concerts in many countries of the world, all who bought albums, all these millions of people who signed in instagram ... all must stand up and show that we are stronger than dirty rumors and vile attempts of anti-fans and fans of other groups to use the situation. LET'S NOT BE SILENT AND INSTEAD, TO INCREASE HATE, WE WILL COMBAT WITH GOOD HELP! It sounds silly and naive, but I hope to be heard by those for whom k-pop are not just beautiful pictures, but people who also suffer and just need to see love and support like you and me.

#YG #bigbang #lee hi #akmu #winner #ikon #blackpink #2ne1 #music #support #vips #ikonic #blinks #love #hate #people #petition

[jumphq]

A Jump, Little Children Renaissance?

It's hard to believe that it was just a week ago that we were playing with our newly-named New Oblivion Orchestra. That was a week ago? That was a week ago. And exactly one year ago that Vance the Manager sat us down with the plan for funding, writing, recording, releasing, and touring a new album. ONE YEAR AGO. Thank you for making this entire year one of the most fun we have ever, ever had. 

The day after our last show of the year we had a photo shoot with our friend and photographer Nathan Baerreis, and from the looks of the early shots, it's going to be a good one.

"Why would you have another photo shoot?", you ask, "Isn't Sparrow done, already?" What is left to do?

A lot. Four months isn't a ton of time for an album to be out. There are still so many people–so many fans of Jump, Little Children, even–that don't know about the album, or that we are writing new music. While it might be easier to get the word out thanks to various social media in some ways, in many ways it's just as hard as ever to introduce people to new music, because there is so much noise out there, literally and figuratively. It'll be tough for us, too, because we know that we're not going to be a full-time touring band again. We love our home lives: we like making our own coffee in the morning. We also like getting on a bus, playing shows, saying "hello", but I don't think we'll ever get back to the point where we are touring most of the year. It's a choice that we're happy with.

So how do we a) increase our "noise" both online and elsewhere without physically touring and b) try to support all of this work that we need to do to make it happen?

We have a few ideas, and many of them we discovered by accident. My brother Evan and I started doing Facebook and Instagram Live streams because we had things to announce that were band-related. They were awkward, at first, then awkward AND fun. Soon we were talking about things that were unrelated to Jump, Little Children because we enjoy talking to each other and have lots of things to talk about. The experience was made even better by you, chiming in in the comments. The Bivins Brothers Show (name pending) was born. Coming soon to a Facebook & Instagram Live and YouTube Channel near you. We're working on a few ideas of what the focus of the show will be, but no matter what we feel like it's an excellent way for us to all stay in touch.

After our first performance of Sparrow at the Footlights Players Theatre last year, we did an extremely fun "Q & A" that gave you the opportunity to ask questions about the album, and about us as a band. It got Jay thinking about how fun it would be to break down the entire album, song by song. For those of you familiar with the podcast "Song Exploder", that's what we'll be going for. Jay Clifford, a remarkably entertaining podcast host, will single out accordion tracks from "White Buffalo", interview Johnny Gray about how many basses he used in the song "Voyeuropa", and learn from producer Josh Kaler how much reverb went into the harmonica in "Cyclorama". It's going to be a high-quality and very interesting dive into our new album, and how the writing/recording process really goes, for those of you that don't know!

But there's more.

We kept a secret from many of you this year, and it's time for us to fess up. On December 29th we performed a very special show at the Queen Street Theatre in Charleston where we played the entirety of The Licorice Tea Demos and Magazine, back-to-back. Yes, we played "Opium" for the first time in probably 20 years, and "Dark and Lonely Man" for the first time in a loooooooong time. We only announced this show to our Facebook Group called Opium, a 1000-strong group of folk that has been a part of the official J, LC "fan club" for a while. 200 tickets sold in about three minutes. Many people on Opium didn't get to go, and there were plenty of you out there that didn't know about the show at all. We called it "#licmag". It was f'ing magical.

The Opium Group is open to anyone. It's a private on Facebook, but any fan of the band can apply, and you should: (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1621541794731647/). In Opium you'll often get first dibs on any ticket sales, special questions from Vance the Manager about merch and the like, even more interaction with the band, etc. This year, Opiates got a chance to come to see us play very old songs that you haven't heard in years. It's a very supportive group and we appreciate it so much. 

What if there was an "Opium+"? An "Opium Pro"? "Opium XS"? An "Underground Elite"?? What if we could build a place where JLC fans that want to support the band financially, to support this community, to share information and talk about live taping and in return for their support get special tickets and original content created by the five of us?

"Underground Elite 2.0" (name pending) will be built at patreon.com. We love Patreon's very-old-school concept of having Patrons support Artists directly. Old school like "The Renaissance". It has a ton of tools that we can use to be closer to those that want to help us stay a rock band, to help us write more albums, to help us just create. I personally support a number of Patreon accounts, just a dollar or ten a month, and I love the feeling it brings to be able to allow another artist the means to continue to do more of what they're doing, to feel like I'm helping them not have to find money doing something that would in any way keep them from being great podcasters, singer-songwriters, or comic book writers. 

Patreon lets you support an artist monthly or based on what they create. Either way helps. And we're ready to exchange this patronage with content. Besides Jay's yet-unnamed-podcast, our Patreon channel will be a home for special episodes of the Bivins Brothers Broadcast (name pending). We'll share newly written demos, and songs that "didn't make the cut" to be on Sparrow. Exclusive merchandise designed by Evan and some of our favorite designers. I’d actually love to write out some more lyric prints (or phrases?) for those that would like them. Would it be fun for Ward Williams to teach guitar and cello lessons, or Jonathan Gray perform "80's Mall Organ Store" renditions of songs on my Fun Machine? You're damned right it would be fun. Official Archivist Chris Slack is willing to share never-before-released Jump shows he has on file. Remember the "secret show" I mentioned above? #licmag? Chris recorded it, and as a Patreon subscriber, you'll get to hear it, and also our night with our incredible New Oblivion Orchestra.

And we'll be talking tickets. Early-Access tickets to shows that non-subscribers know about, and probably some that they don't. Tickets, podcasts, videos, merch, and a lot more. We're still dreaming stuff up.

We've always been a band that is very open to our fans. We try to write back when you email, answer when you call. I have (very recently) stood in line with a blazing fever after a show because I genuinely wanted to talk to each and every person that came to see us play. We don't have to; there are lots of bands that don't care about that stuff. To me, it's part of it, maybe the biggest part of it. The problem is that we're not going to be touring 250 days a year like we used to, and that could seriously limit our interactions. But if we can create a place where we're sharing stuff that we create, you're helping us create stuff, we throw in a decent forum platform, and Boom. We will get even more of this lovely community and communication, is my hope. We'll just more of these moments in our PJs on the Laz-E-Boy on our computers instead of at the end of a long night at a rock and roll club. 

Last year we hit January with a very clear plan for the entire year: fund the creation of an album of new songs, write songs in 3 months, record those songs in 2 months, release said album, tour that album for about a month, end the year with an orchestra. We pulled it off and learned a lot. We learned that we like having goals and we like creating and writing songs. Evan and I like recording ourselves talking about superheroes and intense diets, and yes, Jump, Little Children. Jay loves to talk about the songs he has written. There were some growing pains, but we feel ready. We want a plan for this year, and next year, too. Part of that will include more touring, and part of that will likely include a new album down the line. Sparrow has just dropped, though, and there is a ton to still say, a ton of people that need to find us. We think that Patreon will help with that. 

Our Social Media Sensei Alison Kendrick suggests that it's time we "let our hair down". #licmag was a good start, and 200 people got to see us, Scrunchies off. (Especially Ward Williams…holy sh&t!!, right?) We want more people to come to the next party. Including you. More information coming soon.

#thefuture #patreon #2019

[girlgoth]

White pencil speed draw video!

I sped it up and added text to describe my process as it’s happening. This is also similar to what eye portraits that the $3 and $5 tier will be getting (except there will be both eyes.) ;) And for a reminder, I have a Special Offer going on for ALL patrons who join my Patreon by January 31st, 2019! Portraits of You – A Celebration of Patrons of the Arts! I  would not be here today without the help of my friends, family, and  supporters. And I want to thank you, not just with words, but with  actions. Since February marks the 1 year anniversary of going live on  Patreon, I thought this would be the perfect time to do something  special!   As some of you know, when I was born, I not only inherited some  amazing artistic talents, but also some physical disadvantages. I was  born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) - a collagen/connective tissue  defect, and hip dysplasia. Both genetic conditions, and both considered  rare disorders. These conditions are degenerative and cause other  conditions that are progressive, and make it so I cannot do most of the  things that people take for granted without severe pain or injury. But  what I can still do, is make art....so I'm making as much as possible  for as long as possible!  My goal is to have enough portraits by the end  of the year to have a solo gallery show in the Seattle area. Every  portrait will be of someone who is not only a fan of my work, but helps  to support me and enable me to keep making art!

All patrons who subscribe to my Patreon before the end of day on January 31st, are invited to be a part of this project!

I will be doing portraits with just your eyes, face, or head and shoulders, depending on what tier you're on. Details below:

$3 Elves and Fairies: The  eyes have it! A beautifully hand drawn portrait of your eyes will be in  the collection and on display. When your portrait is finished, you will  receive a digital download of your finished piece, model mention in all  written and displayed info of your portrait, and the option to buy your  portrait once the show is over.   

$5 Satyrs and Fauns: The eyes have it! A  beautifully hand drawn portrait of your eyes will be in the collection  and on display. When your portrait is finished, you will receive a  digital download of your finished piece, model mention in all written  and displayed info of your portrait, and the option to buy your portrait  once the show is over.

$10 Merfolk and Kracken: The face can say a thousand  words! A beautifully hand drawn portrait of your face will be in the  collection and on display. When your portrait is finished, you will  receive a digital download of your finished piece, model mention in all written and displayed info of your portrait, and the option to buy your portrait once the show is over. Also included is a physical mini-print  magnet (similar size to a business card) of your portrait that will be  sent to you after the show. 

$25 Phoenix: The face can say a thousand  words! A beautifully hand drawn portrait of your face will be in the  collection and on display. When your portrait is finished, you will  receive a digital download of your finished piece, model mention in all written and displayed info of your portrait, and the option to buy your  portrait once the show is over. Also included is a physical mini-print magnet (similar size to a business card) of your portrait that will be  sent to you after the show. 

$50 Unicorn: You're head and shoulders  above the rest! A beautifully hand drawn portrait of your head and  shoulders will be in the collection and on display. When your portrait  is finished, you will receive a digital download of your finished piece,  model mention in all written and displayed info of your portrait, and  the option to buy your portrait once the show is over. Also included is a physical mini-print magnet (similar size to a business card) of your  portrait that will be sent to you after the show and  also a  charm/pendant of your portrait that can be in the form of a keyring or necklace. 

$100 Dragon: You're head and shoulders  above the rest! A beautifully hand drawn portrait of your head and  shoulders will be in the collection and on display. When your portrait  is finished, you will receive a digital download of your finished piece,  model mention in all written and displayed info of your portrait, and  the option to buy your portrait once the show is over. Also included is a physical mini-print magnet (similar size to a business card) of your  portrait that will be sent to you after the show and  also a  charm/pendant of your portrait that can be in the form of a keyring or necklace.

Tiers $10 and up also still have the “Pay it  Forward” option, where their monthly payments accrue and they can use  the total as money off of buying their finished piece if they like.  More details here: www.patreon.com/girlgoth

Please feel free to share!!!

#eds #ehlers danlos syndrome #ehlers danlos #artists on tumblr #artist #fulltimeartist #white pencil #white pencil portrait #lily munn #girlgoth #girlgothpatreon #patreon #special offer #let me draw you #your eyes #scumbling

[howlongisthedata]

What Helps a Band Sell?  A Music Industry Analysis: Part 1

Introduction:

This is meant to be just part 1 to a multi-part series where I’m analyzing music industry data mainly for my only amusement and curiosity (I’m a music fan).  I plan to evaluate and extract data in various ways, with the objective of seeing what insights can be obtained regarding what helps an artist sell.

So in this article, we’ll be reviewing some basic results and some initial theories \ insights.

Full Data Location:

For those that are interested, you can find the dataset for this tiny analysis on data.world under the project ID:  yeamusic21/musicindustryanalysis.

Again, this is just part 1, so hopefully more updates to come.

Data Description:

The data currently is made up of over 30 bands.  Bands included are:

For this analysis I collected data from Facebook, Twitter, SongKick, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Spotify.

The data was collected in a manual manner by searching Google and the Spotify desktop application.  

The Analysis:

As a very simple & dirty initial analysis, I took a Pearson Correlation (i.e looking at how strongly connected 2 variables are) between Spotify Monthly Subscribers and all other qualitative & continuous variables (and one or two binary variables I believe).  Pearson Correlation can range from -1 to +1.  If more subscribers means more sales then the correlation would be closer to +1, but if less subscribers means more sales, then the correlation would be closer to -1, and 0 means no correlation or relation between the variables.  So I took the absolute value of the correlations and sorted the correlations in descending order.  Figure #1 (below) shows the results.  This give a sense of how powerful each variable is in the analysis.

Figure #1.

We can also look at the pure correlations to get a sense of how each variable relates to Spotify Monthly Subscribers.  Figure #2 (below) shows the results.

Figure #2.

Interpreting the Results:

The first thing they teach you in statistics, and the most commonly known phrase, is “Correlation does not imply causation”.  With that in mind, we can move on with evaluating the results.

Takeaway #1:  Likes, Views, and Subscribers .. Oh my!  Good signs you’re doing well!

Facebook Followers has the strongest correlation to Spotify Monthly Listeners, along with Facebook Likes, YouTube Views, and YouTube Subscribers.

This begs the question "which came first: the chicken or the egg?"  There is no way to know for sure, and each band is probably different.  My personal theory / speculation would be that if someone is already listening to you, they are probably likely to follow you and like you on Facebook and YouTube and Twitter.  From my experience, if I like a product already, and I’m on a social network, I’ll probably go out of my way to say “I like this product”.  So my thinking is that most of these likes and subscribers are coming from tenured fans, and not new fans who discovered that artist on Facebook or Twitter.  Also, the correlation is very high.  Given this correlation holds with more data (which I think it would), and let’s say I’m wrong, then if I was a record label I would put all my money into Facebook.  But I think the more likely scenario is that most of these followers are tenured fans already.  Would you agree?  What’s your theory?

Takeaway #2:  You should probably go on tour...

So then after a bunch of the ‘follows’ and ‘views’ and ‘likes’ variables, we have SongKick Distance Traveled.  

This variable I found very interesting.  Again, this begs the question "which came first: the chicken or the egg?"  And again, each band is going to be different.  Maybe as bands obtain more listeners they get signed and can afford to tour more, or maybe they toured a lot and that lead directly to sales?  My personal theory / speculation is the later.  It would seem intuitive that getting out there and touring around would lead to more listeners.  To test this theory I would have to grab more data and make sure that I get a nice population of unsigned artists to see if the relationship holds.  Regardless, this feels like possible verification that touring is a powerful tool toward building a fan base.  Unlike ‘likes’ or ‘follows’ the SongKick Distance Traveled is something that is mainly controlled by the band, and is probably not as influenced by marketing, so I think it’s pretty interesting to see this toward the top.

Takeaway #3:  Hang in there!

photo via kisspng.com

Variable Start Year has a nice negative relationship with Spotify Monthly Listeners.  This means the earlier the band started the more subscribers they have.  If you look at my sample of bands, I know it’s small, but they are all punk-ish bands with roughly similar sized followings (not like I’m comparing Aerosmith or Maroon 5 to MxPx).  So I think I can say with at least a bit of confidence that more time as a band means more followers.  Obviously bands that hit it big probably go through a spike in popularity and then fizzle out and stabilize on a cult following unless they get another big hit; but in general, the more time you put in, the more followers.  Makes sense I think.

Takeaway #4:  Is Twitter important for musicians?  Maybe not?

After SongKick Distance Traveled, SongKick Popularity really dominates.  Note that the lower the popularity number the higher popularity you have on SongKick.  So the huge negative relationship makes sense here and isn’t too interesting.  Then we have some other semi-interesting variables, and then way at the bottom is Tweets.  I think this is very interesting, because again, Tweet is something only the band can control unlike ‘followers’ which could be driven by a lot of things.  Tweets are only created if the band creates one.  If Twitter activity was very important, I would expect to see this toward the top, but it’s really low.  This kind of supports my ‘Takeaway #1′.

Summary:

My personal theory from all this is that touring pushes sales more than social media work.  That’s not to say that social media doesn’t help, but just seems like touring is more important to build sales and a following.  After touring I would focus on YouTube I think, because that seems to float toward the top, with Twitter being the least of my concerns.  And finally, try not to break up!  

A Call For Input:

Please comment below in Discus!! 

What do you think of these results?  What’s your take?  

I plan on doing a “part 2″ and building on this analysis, what’s your feedback?  Anything you’d like to see or would be interested in seeing?  

Thanks everyone, and hope you found this interesting!

#music #music discovery #analytics #title fight #the hotelier #circa survive #sorority noise #dance gavin dance #thursday #my chemical romance #funeral for a friend #the used #post hardcore #pop punk #the wonder years #pity sex #tigers jaw #the story so far