Musical Storytelling
I was listening to the radio on my drive this morning and the program hosts were discussing how no one listens to an album from start to finish anymore. Sadly, I think that’s true. Ironically, radio is the driving force behind that.
Casual listeners — the majority of people — are interested in the one-off catchy song that makes it to the radio, and they don’t come across the remaining 90% of an album. I do appreciate that Top 40 is a good ‘sampler’ for engaging with new album content. But, after I Shazam just one gem from the dozens of repetitive songs, I feel like I rarely strike gold with the remaining 90%. Makes me wonder what’s up with content these days. Where’s the drop off?
Kanye West’s College Dropout, Logic’s The Incredible True Story, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange — I think back to these albums that hooked me and the commonalities between. I arrive at this conclusion: to truly engage with content, I think people need to buy into a story.
I think this is true with all types of content; from start-up pitches to advertising campaigns. We’re bred on stories from childhood so it would make sense that they’re effective at captivating our attention.
However, from conversations I’ve had with artists, I’ve come to realize that Top 40 is a living, breathing opponent to storytelling. It forces artists down a certain path. Instead of investing their creative energy to construct and perform elements of a story, artists focus on getting a song viral. This strategy makes financial sense — appeal to the broader audience, gain traction, secure radio plays, get gigs at shows.
But when will artists be able to start exercising their creativity and not be held captive by the industry’s structure? My non-artistic, pure business perspective says to not give into the norm and stick to doing what artists are meant to do — tell creative stories.
Artists seem to be compromising storytelling in favour of bangers that might end up being one-hit-wonders.
I say work backwards.
That would entail prioritizing the story first: flesh out the beginning, middle, end, prequel, sequel, everything… and then something for the radio. The current strategy is like advertising a kick-ass theme park and then having one ride to show for the hype.
Build it and they just might come.
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