Music Industry

We covered a lot today about the music industry! There's a lot of avenues we can venture down, but I want to focus on the mental health concerns for both the fans and the musicians. 

So first off, lets talk about STAN culture... aka stalker fans. 

Eminem released a song called Stan back in 2000. It brought up some pretty dark stuff about the consequences of fame. From the eyes of Eminem, he writes about a fan who has become obsessed. This obsession leads to this fan officially losing his mind and deciding to commit a double homicide and suicide. The reason: the fan felt like Eminem was ignoring him. Obviously this is just a song, but it does an excellent job at essentially identifying a stan. 

I want to add that there is a spectrum for Stans. This song exemplified the extreme.

I'm sure in one way or another, we definitely have our stan moments. We might stalk our favorite artist's social media, stalk their album releases, tours, etc. The issue develops when the love of said artist becomes all-consuming. Moderation everyone! Being a fan is a one-sided relationship, realistically speaking. You do not know the artist. You may enjoy their music, but you aren't directly interacting with them (not unless you win some backstage passes). You may interact with their music in the sense that their music resonates with you, but that song was not personally written for you.  Music is not the person, ergo, you are engaging in a one-sided relationship. Those do not last. When you become so consumed in the artist's life that you lose touch with reality, you're being a Stan. When you go to the ends of the earth to defend your favorite artist (even when they're completely wrong), you're being a Stan. 

Stan attitudes can lead to delusions, obsessions, violence (both self-inflicted and to others), and depression. 

The thing I think is wild is that the music industry plays on this. The music industry relies on stans to promote the artist as a means of free advertising. Smart on them, but it totally exploits the fans. I think it also takes a sense of security away from the artist. The music industry encourages strong interactions with fans and that's totally great, until it becomes a security issue and the artist feels violated, uncomfortable, and unsafe. 

Next I want to go into the mental health issues of artists. 73% of musicians claim they suffer from some form of mental health issue. 50% claim depression, and 12% claim having had suicidal thoughts.  

I think part of the reason is because musicians are really able to tap into these dark places of emotional instability and create beautiful and vulnerable music. In a way, I feel like that serves as a predisposition for some musicians to succumb to mental illnesses and mental health concerns. 

The other aspect is due to the people who own the rights to the artists' music. Record labels push and push to populate songs at such a rapid quantity. They force musicians to conform to the trends. This takes the joy and creativity out of the music. When we look at quantity over quality, we are failing to appreciate the gifts that these artists have. What used to be something personal and enjoyable for the artist now becomes a chore wrapped up in a legally binding contract. Also, the artist gets ripped off on the pay. 

I would be depressed too :/