By Aanuoluwa Odole
“Nobody outside this app cares about how many sales/streams a song has…” – Twitter User, Kordeilogy.
This tweet had over 17,000 likes and 2,600 retweets. Quotes were scrambling to answer the underlying question; do stats amount to artistic merit in music? Should we as music fans even care about streams and sales? In 2021, the total revenue of the recorded music industry was 28.8 billion U.S. dollars, with 64% of the revenue credited to global streaming services. Objectively, the music industry is a competitive business. Day after day, record labels come up with different promotion strategies to improve stats for their artistes, from TikTok to PR boxes to free merch or car washes. The industry places a high level of priority on encouraging streams and sales from fans and the general public. The question is, does this determine the quality and artistry of music today?
Music is an art as old as time itself. Before the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877, people enjoyed music by attending live performances. Today, record sales and streaming services have taken precedence, everyone has a subscription to their favourite music listening platforms. Music consumption has evolved, creating communities of people working together to support their favourite musicians. Record sales are the number of physical and digital copies of a record bought. Streaming as a verb is defined by the Collins Dictionary as playing music directly from the internet. A part of stan Twitter is convinced that streaming is repeatedly playing a song without a break, it is no sleep, no work and no joy rather than simply listening to your favourite songs while living life like a normal human being.
A common response to Kordeilogy’s tweet was “the artists and their record labels care”. Time after time, we have seen artists show their appreciation for broken personal records or appearances on charts. After the sync of “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush in episode 4 of season 2 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the song climbed to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart 37 years after its release in 1985. It also peaked on several charts in countries like the U.S, Norway and Austria. Kate Bush expressed her gratitude via blog posts saying; “You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of Stranger Things has recently been released on Netflix. It features the song ‘Running Up That Hill,’ which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show—I love it too! Because of this, ‘Running Up That Hill’ is charting around the world and has entered the UK chart at #8. It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.” Kate Bush earned an estimated $2.3 million from this.
In September of 2021, a slowed-down version of Ckay’s “Love Nwantiti” (originally released in 2019) featuring DJ YO and Axel went viral on Tiktok and by November, the song had become the most Shazamed song in the world, accumulated 15 billion video views on Tiktok and charted in 160 countries such as France, India, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands and many more. “Love Nwantiti” was the first African song to surpass 400 million streams on Spotify. The song has also been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America with over 2 million units sold in the USA. Ckay was Billboard’s latest chart breaker becoming the first Nigerian to chart as a solo artiste on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 26.
In an interview with Uproxx, the singer stated “I always just wanted to make Afrobeats go global, I’ve seen my predecessors do great stuff, from P Square to 2Face,” he notes. “These are the African stars from way back that were being appreciated in countries far and beyond. So I always wanted to do that, but take it to the next level.” There have been several other artists who have seen a wide range of success and recognition in the global music market due to an increased number of streams (Dove Cameron with “Boyfriend”, Lizzo with “Good as Hell” and Luis Fonsi with “Despacito”). It is needless to say the line between a commercially successful and award-winning artist or otherwise relies on streams and sales.
However, does this imply that a song which is not a commercial hit is lacking in quality? What categorises good music differs, from chord progressions to a strong song structure, a catchy chorus or well-written lyrics, a good song could have one or a combination of these but above all, a good song needs to incite emotions from its listeners. All these nevertheless do not guarantee “success”. There are a number of factors that contribute to the success of a song or an album; the support of dedicated fans (as seen with the biggest boy group in the world BTS), effective promotion tactics (Olivia Rodrigo), payola or “radio support” ( Dua Lipa), popularising a music trend (Billie Eilish) among many others. In other words, the lack of record-breaking streams and sales does not automatically diminish the artistic quality of a song. There are objectively good songs from artists who are lesser-known or haven’t gotten their “big break” yet.
Kordeilogy’s tweet continued with “Stan Twitter is crazy cause they’ll let that (streams and sales) determine the quality of a song.”. A contributing factor to quality music is the emotions it provokes from listeners. Jon Foreman, the American musician said it best; “Music will always be judged by our subjective ears”. What is considered good music is different for everyone. So, what does it mean when a large number of people subjectively attest to the high quality of a song by streaming and buying? It becomes a fact that the song is objectively good. Sometimes, fans of indie or less popular artists love to convince themselves that the music is better when it is not mainstream.
The number of streams and sales can determine the quality of a song, if a lot of people are tuned in, it is very likely it is good music. In 2021, Adele was one of the highest-selling and streaming artists after the release of her fourth studio album “30” (the best-selling album of 2021). Music critics have described the album as her best one yet with Rob Sheffield on Rolling Stone calling it her most powerful album yet and unsurprisingly, the general public agrees. Wizkid’s “Made in Lagos” was the first African album to receive a Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America after selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S and fans have expressed their admiration for the project. The Guardian called it his most sophisticated album yet. The number of streams and sales support this premise.
In most cases, the presence of a high number of streams and sales indicates impressive music quality. Artistes like The Weeknd, Beyonce, BTS, Fireboy Dml, Tems, Rema, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Davido and many more prove this. If streams and sales are not to be considered, are we expected to place determining artistic merit solely on music critics or tweets from fans? Music is a method of creative expression, theoretically, sharing stories and conveying emotions is all that matters. The industry is however a competition, with streams, sales, chart appearances, number of hits, awards and sold concert tickets used as the metric. Musicians know this. This is why Buju will, unfortunately, come out on top in his feud with Ruger because he has the stats to prove it even though Ruger is the better performer. This is why there are several tweets ranking and comparing artists (Wizkid vs Davido vs Burnaboy). It is up to these artists to figure out what matters more; positive feedback or improved stats.
Needless to say, low streams do not translate to a lack of music quality. However, at the end of the day, when it comes to the business of music, the tweets and compliments are not just enough support. There is nothing particularly rewarding about the tag of an underrated artist, support your favourite song or artist by streaming or buying if you can. It is a give-and-take relationship between musicians and fans; “Your music is important to me and I appreciate you”. Do not delude yourself to believe a song has better quality because it has low streams and sales. Twitter might seem like a different universe most times but outside it, the reward gotten from the music industry is found in streams and sales.