Recently, Kanye West announced that another collaboration with Jay-Z, any follow-up to ‘Watch the Throne’, wouldn’t happen due to his views on the exclusive streaming of music on services such as Apple music and TIDAL, Jay-Z’s own company.

Ye’s statement is both significant as it rules out a potentially ground-breaking collab, as well as bringing to light issues surrounding the streaming of music and the value of the art, which is essentially the product of the musicians themselves.

West’s argument was that music should be freely available without having to pay subscription fees to exclusive services. It’s not a totally accurate comparison, but in some ways Kanye was asking for the producer to put their finished product out for free for consumers. In any other profession that’s basically inconceivable. As a music fan, however selfish it is, it’s a mouth-watering proposition, but then again, it’s already in place.

Musically, artists’ incomes are much more heavily rooted in live shows and bookings, rather than album sales and income from record labels than they would’ve in the past. Labels have become more and more alienated as independent start-ups are blossoming in the market. The responsibility is on the artists themselves to become more marketable and appealing to their fans and ultimately promoters. At the end of the day, anyone can make music, what seems to be more important now is what they can accompany the music with to stand out?

The pursuit of individuality has led to the development of the artists’ brands themselves. Branding is almost part and parcel of the musician’s package. Logos and merchandise will obviously always be symbiotically linked with artists and bands, however it’s only a recent development that collectives and artists have started launching their own hashtags, clothing labels, films, documentaries and anything else under the sun that puts them further apart from the crowd.

With more and more of the successful and hopeful artists’ time being spent focusing on their respective brands, potential initiatives and total marketability, the main victim is the music itself. Artists are using initial spikes in popularity emanating from their music to launch their careers in different directions; take for example Joey Bada$$ who has played a starring role in hit US series ‘Mr. Robot’, Action Bronson launching his own show on Viceland or A$AP Rocky becoming the face of Dior. Of course, it’s always a positive thing to see talented artists doing well for themselves, but in the end of the day, we came to hear the music. Other ventures are bonuses but the music is the draw, not magazine covers. For those mentioned above, this obviously isn’t the case, and more importantly the Kanyes, Jays, Pharrells, Tylers and any other icons of this world have shown that they can juggle corporate and creative to success on more than one occasion.

The real ‘problem’ beginning to persist within all aspects of the music industry is the consumers’ overwhelming desire for individuality and extravagance. With all types of music being so freely available, it’s all one big pile of noise to anyone on the outside looking to dive into a new sound. Naturally enough, rather than buying an album based off someone’s recommendation of that artist’s talent, people are more and more going for the shiniest rock in the quarry. Cue, the Lil Yachtys, the Rae Srummurds and the *insert EDM act here*s of the business. People have become so obsessed with following the most distinguished new artists that it has led to the most unequivocally unique artists becoming red hot in the eyes of the public and blowing up as a result, with little or no regard for that artist’s actual sonic output.

Take for example, the maligned but ever-popular genre of EDM. The scene is more known for its lights and extremity at live shows, zany DJs and edgy presentation, so that the cheap and repetitive production that goes into its actual music has been overlooked by its fan base. Similarly, new-age ‘mumble rappers’ have begun to take over the Hip-Hop industry, most notably Lil Yachty. While his sound itself is obviously unique and popular, associating it with the time honoured works of many other rappers is a bit of farce. While Yachty himself hasn’t marketed his music in that light either, upcoming artists will lean heavily in the ‘Bubblegum Trap’ direction he and his Nautical crew have found so much success in, leaving behind other styles and the less aesthetically attractive ones in particular.

Yachty’s contemporary is Big Baby D.R.A.M., an up-and-coming artist, whose music had strong ties to soul and funk, but then turns down a conversely transparent track and made radio-hit ‘Broccoli’ alongside Yachty. In another case, Trap star 21 Savage, with his iconic dagger tattoo, has had many imitators, most notably 22 Savage, mimicking not only his sound, but more notably his look and brand.

With people no longer investing any hard-earned cash in the music itself and the listening experience (the development of affiliation with any artist’s primary product), their associations are becoming more and more rooted in their monetary investments in those artists’ secondary products like clothing, merchandise, apparel, etc. Who wants to spend their money on their favourite artist’s Techno set when they can go to an EDM spectacle they’d never forget? At the end of the day, they can invest in a speaker and an aux cable and play whatever Techno they want in the comfort of their own home, but they can’t buy extensive LED lighting, dancers and flamethrowers, can they? Similarly, what’s the difference between an intimate set and playing an acoustic album through a decent set of earphones? Why not just go to a high-energy Candy-Trap show where the luminous-haired rapper hops around the stage with his branded crew?

To some degree, Kanye’s statement was highly detrimental to the long-term maintenance of good quality music. Exclusive streaming services, despite their own financially-focused motives, are in some ways a glimmering hope for the purists in the music industry. If people must go that extra mile to listen to the next musical masterpiece, it will hold more personal significance, rather than just hitting play on any website they can find it on. No one likes entering in their bank details to obtain a free trial or to part ways with the most trivial amounts of money, but it’s these gestures that make albums and artists stick in people’s heads. As much as we’ve subscribed to red braids, LEDs and sensory stimulants, the real uniqueness of music lies in its personal effect on the listener. Everyone remembers the albums they’ve bought or received as gifts, no touch of a screen weighs up to that gem you found in the back of the CD shop that made you want to search out that band’s next date in Ireland or that godawful selection that made you refund your prematurely-bought Aviva stadium-date ticket.

It has all boiled down into an odd juxtaposition of output-heavy and reclusive artists, whose actions have somewhat detrimental effects on the listener. No one wants to wait four long years to hear a new Frank Ocean album after the tantalising debut ‘Chanel Orange’. With that being said, people see through Drake and Future spending a week recording an album together. In the homogenous free market, waiting it out and making people beg for a release will obviously then improve attendance at your live shows and spark interest in any other ventures which happened with Frank, but conversely, constant output will obviously keep fans hooked, while sacrificing the quality of the music being released because of the rushed element surrounding it. With exclusive streaming services generating that bit of a unique and exclusive buzz, there’ll be less emphasis on timing and production speed and more so on quality output.

Of course, not every music fan is a mindless consumer, hypnotised into the corporate creativity surrounding most facets of the music business. The Underground will always fight against the conventions of popularity and we’re seeing that with the burgeoning popularity of Underground genres, especially in Ireland. However, the success of these can only go so far, because at the end of the day, promoters and booking agents only care about numbers, so the more and more emphasis that is placed on one dimensional acts, the more and more of them we will see popping up with distinctive hairstyles and shocking outward personas.