So how do aspiring artists get on the celebrity band wagon these days?

[Cecil6243]

In the old days you'd sign up with a record label and they would promote you, get played on the radio, American Bandstand, Midnight Special, Talk shows, do concert openings for well known bands etc. How do they do it now? Is there a top 40 or top 100 Billboard list at all anymore ? What do today's artists do: stream songs, You Tube to get noticed, what? Most of the radio stations I'm hearing seem to be doing older songs or remakes. How does it work now days?

Just saw tickets to an Eagles Concert (of course already established) were $300.00 and they were only playing on one area of the country. No matter how much I like the Eagles ain't gonna happen for me. Sure I can afford it, but I can think of better things to spend $300.00 on.

And please don't make this about the older generation vs. the younger generation. I just want to know.

[FrankHudson]

I'm not all that "plugged into the business" now and was only peripherally knowledgeable earlier in this century.

Various social media factors are big. Short videos with something that catches the ear can break hits, like radio in the old days. "Old Town Road" and Little Nas X was famously launched with a Tik Tok short video. Streaming services (Apple Music, Spotify, et al) have a quasi social element built in with publicly shared playlists that break artists. There's also just folks talking up bands/artists/genres on social media.

We've just gone through an unusual pandemic period where live touring has been heavily constrained. There's still an element of "get in the van" touring that was used and I'd expect to be used again for some genres. I would suppose dance club music has had a similar period of "not the normal business".

In some genre's radio probably still have some impact. Ditto club bookers. Record labels and larger media companies for which music is a component are still a thing, even if the world they operate in has changed. I remember how "independent" bands and artists were able to break in the "folk scare," in the hippy ballroom 60s, and in the punk/new wave/indie world of the late 20th century--all times in which the big music business and it's promotional heft was supposed to be in control. In our current world things are even more decentralized and the gatekeepers even more bypassable. It's still somewhat rare for artists to be good themselves at doing the promotion thing I think, which keeps the music business' promotional arms in business.

The splintering and siloing of music genres continues apace. There are charts of all kinds, and many try to take into account that a lot of music is listened too via streaming services not bought on media or even as a downloaded file.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

…And please don't make this about the older generation vs. the younger generation. I just want to know.

Hi Cecil…
Probably one method which is not worn out yet, nor saturated (there's still room), and is not dependent on you playing at a professional backing guitar/lead guitar level (so much then better if you are and do play at that level) is YouTube.

Minimum entry level YouTube:
Effective immediately (as of Jan 2018), to apply for monetization (and have ads attached to videos), creators must have tallied 4,000 hours of overall watch time on their channel within the past 12 months and have at least 1,000 subscribers.

Be really great, and a little unique, and start a YouTube channel.

To make meaningful money, you need about 100,000 followers, and when you post, be sure you're getting at least 50,000 listens every time you post.

Write all your own music. Or teach lessons, theory, or writing/arranging etc.

Go after the first 1000 hours of listeners/viewers like crazy (so you can monetize the channe).

Find several key honest friends who will tell you how you are doing. Listen to them and improve.

Be sure to post at least twice a week (for exposure), every week, and keep it up for at least 2-3 years. Listen to the feedback…(don't turn off the comment section).

Keep your posts under 4 minutes (unless you are Rick Beato). Shorter is better on YouTube these days for non-established channels.

Get the right camera/posting gear, and space where you play/record your uploads.

An example of a player who just 'surfaced' from out-of-the-blue is Carl Miner (The North American Guitar). He plays demo flatpickeing videos for them on their YouTube channel.

[Andyrondack]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

In the old days you'd sign up with a record label and they would promote you, get played on the radio, American Bandstand, Midnight Special, Talk shows, do concert openings for well known bands etc. How do they do it now? Is there a top 40 or top 100 Billboard list at all anymore ? What do today's artists do: stream songs, You Tube to get noticed, what? Most of the radio stations I'm hearing seem to be doing older songs or remakes. How does it work now days?

Just saw tickets to an Eagles Concert (of course already established) were $300.00 and they were only playing on one area of the country. No matter how much I like the Eagles ain't gonna happen for me. Sure I can afford it, but I can think of better things to spend $300.00 on.

And please don't make this about the older generation vs. the younger generation. I just want to know.

Do something outrageous on a 'reality' tv programme.

[J Patrick]

….talent and social media…..and good business sense…..no substitutes for em..but a little luck might help…

[TheGITM]

The old music industry has imploded thanks to the combination of digital content delivery and the lower cost of modern recording equipment.

In the old days, the publishing companies and the record labels made most of the money at the artist's expense. The artist would get signed by a record label and (hopefully) get an advance on the deal. Then, the record label would require the artist to record in their studio using their producer. The label would then charge the artist for the recording time. So that cash advance would usually wind up back in the label's pockets. To make matters worse, the recording contracts would give publishing/ownership rights of the artists songs to the publishing company. We've all seen the artists who fought to get their publishing rights back...

Most artists made the bulk of their money touring.

While the labels and publishing companies have mostly fallen by the wayside, the artists still make most of their money touring (ticket sales + merch). There is very little money in the retail sales of the music.

For the newer artists that I follow, they have built up the fan base by working directly with local radio stations along their tour routes. They will do call-in interviews, and/or sometimes do a live short set of songs at the local PBS radio stations where they have small production/broadcast studios. They all have social media presence, and often support each other and collaborate.

It's a whole new market for aspiring artists.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

Do something outrageous on a 'reality' tv programme.

Or have hard luck story but not necessarily sensationally talented.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

Or have hard luck story but not necessarily sensationally talented.

Hi Cecil…
Or consider Rory Hoffman (blind) who could have had a hard luck but he just learned to play…

Since the topic is 'how do aspiring artists get on the celebrity bandwagon?'

Talent…and lots of it…

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Cecil…
Or consider Rory Hoffman (blind) who could have had a hard luck but he just learned to play…

Since the topic is 'how do aspiring artists get on the celebrity bandwagon?'

Talent…and lots of it…

That's awesome but I was referring to one of the TV talent shows where people seem to get onto the TV appearance stage because of some hard luck story or rags to riches blah blah blah. It's obvious there have to be much more talented people that don't make the cut because they don't have an interesting life story. Bascially a reality show. Don't get me wrong there are some incredibly talented people but...

[6L6]

Joe Walsh was asked this very question. His answer was...

"I have no idea whatsoever of how a young person can get discovered these days and achieve the success I've personally enjoyed. No idea."