Touring in Support of..

While doing homework this week, I was listening to a KEXP live in-studio music playlist.  During one of the set breaks, the radio host asked Tamaryn, the performer, a fairly forgettable question prefaced with "it's been almost two years since you've been here."  Tamaryn responded with an equally forgettable answer, prefaced with "yeah, that's because we haven't released an album in two years."  This forgettable exchange forced me to ask why artists constantly tour 'in support' of a recently released album, when it seems that we as consumers are consistently told that labels steal all the album revenue, while the artists struggle to make it by touring and selling merchandise.

When I think about successful mega-artists from decades past, I think about platinum singles and signed LP's lining the wall.  Today, I see exclusive streaming deals and verified status on Spotify.  Are these artists really touring to drum up enough album sales to be Apple Music's next exclusive offering?  Is making it onto one of Spotify's hundreds of curated playlist really that much of a monumental stepping stone in an artists career?

I think it's clear that today's music industry is suffering from an unsolvable dilemma: recorded music is no longer a novelty.  Since its inception, recorded music has undergone a plethora of revolutions.  We've seen EPs, LPs, cassette tapes, compact disks, mp3 files, and finally, today, we are in the golden age of music streaming services.  While all these revolutions have stark differences to their previous iterations, streaming has one that stands out from those before it: consumers no longer need to make a choice.  I never need to think about what label put our the most recent Blink-182 record.  An exclusive bonus track will never entice the masses to pre-order the next big hip-hop phenom's mix-tape.  A latecomer will never again be able to find a "Greatest Hits of Miley Cyrus" collection outside of some poorly constructed playlist posted by an unknown lurker on her subreddit.

The only choices we really have left are towards live music and merchandise.  While I can stream upwards of 20 albums in a day, I'd be hard-pressed to purchase tickets to see 140 artists in a week at every bar in Williamsburg.  Artists aren't touring in support of their increasingly devaluing albums, but touring in support of themselves and their live music as art in and of itself.  I'm not entirely sure if this is how it should be and I'm not sure if it's how I want it to be, but as long as artists can continue to support themselves, and I can help them out by enjoying an awesome show, then I know, at least, that I'm not worried.