If you are a musician, you are fully aware that nowadays that means juggling more than just notes and melodies. In an era dominated by social media, artists are expected to wear multiple hats, from marketing gurus to full-time content creators. Music, it seems, is just one part of the equation in a career that now demands digital savvy.
Devin Townsend highlighted this shift in a recent interview with Metal Blast. For him, the reality of modern musicianship was startling. “90 percent” of the job, he says, revolves around creating content, not music — a fact that he found “very jarring” early in his career.
Townsend reflected on how his youthful, romanticized vision of the music industry quickly faded (via Guitar.com). “I love and loved music so much that I assume that clearly the foundation for being involved with the music industry is art and emotions and music,” he explains. “It was naive, you know, as a kid. And then when I get down, I realize, ‘oh no, it’s an industry. It’s like anything else.'”
The cutthroat nature of the business became evident as Townsend realized that much of a musician’s role today has little to do with making music. “Now, more than ever, I realize that 90% of the job is to be a content creator rather than write any music,” he continued. “And these are the sorts of realizations that I found to be very jarring when I was a kid… I was made painfully aware of what the nature of the industry is.”
Despite the disillusionment, Townsend doesn’t hold any bitterness. “I don’t resent it, or think of it as being something that needs to change. It’s just what it is,” he says, acknowledging that his younger self had to adjust to the practicalities of a musician’s life. “The transition between the idealistic version of what I thought it was versus the practicalities of what it takes to be a musician was, I guess, upsetting as a kid.”
As content creation takes center stage in maintaining audience engagement, especially in a world filled with distractions, the pressure can be overwhelming for some. 30-years-old guitarist Mateus Asato, one of Instagram’s biggest guitar community stars, quit social media in January 2021, admitting he “got lost inside the boxes of the 15s-60s videos.”
Still, in some ways, there’s an upside. Herman Li of Dragonforce points out that getting involved in content creation can give musicians more control over their art and business. “Understanding the business (lets you) control your music and your art,” said Li. “Or else someone else is going to come in and do it for you, and they always know better than you because their percentage is really what they care about the most.”
Balancing artistry and content creation remains a challenge, one that today’s musicians must navigate to thrive in the digital age. As Townsend and others have learned, it’s no longer just about the music; it’s about the full package.
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