People don't want to feel things. They want distractions. They want candy. And bubble gum! And drugs! And guns! And sex! And they apply this same mentality to music and entertainment as well.
When I post music that has depth and calls attention to the seriousness of the crises we are facing as a society and as a species, it's often questioned as satire. This is especially true when the instrumentation is more serious-sounding music like acoustic guitar, slower BPMs or epic-sounding electronic instrumentation or percussion.
When I post music that complains, commiserates, has no real depth or metaphors, has simple, repetitive melodies, and high BPM electronic beats, it is well received. This has been known for a long time, but to actual see it happening in real-time with my own music is probably not common experience.
When I tap into the highest realms of spirit and channel down messages of faith, trust, hope, discernment, compassion, understanding and other high-vibe topics, these songs are all but overlooked by the masses, at least those that the algorithms serve my posts to.
When I dilute that message into something that takes zero effort to consume because it's shallow, narrow-minded and bite-sized, it gets exponentially more positive feedback.
Proof positive that most people don't give a shit about anything but themselves and their dopamine hit. They don't want to do the work. They don't want to take a spare moment to think or reflect or investigate. Nope. Just gimme that hit or it ain't shit!
But I don't blame them. It's not their fault. Society is under a spell. Humanity has been hijacked and is being held hostage. And it's a damn shame because the music that we need isn't the music that we're getting. You can't just tell an alcoholic to quit drinking, they have to do it themselves. You can't say: "look at this nice life over here, try it out!" They laugh (or cry) and continue on what they're used to and what is comfortable for them. One argument I hear all the time is that plenty of people see the issues and therefore don't listen to current pop music. Well, what do they listen do? If they're not listening to current alternative music, they're listening to pop from yesteryear. And since no one is making the thought-provoking, deep or philosophical pop music from yesterday, what happens when those old pop songs fade into obscurity and no one has made any thought-provoking, deep or philosophical pop to replace it? What happens when those kids of today grow up and realize that their superficial dopamine music won't work forever, but no modern artist has created anything deeper for them to turn to? The old music from yesterday just won't be relatable to most. So, what do we do? Well, I have a long term, life long plan, at least for my own contribution.
It boils down to making the music they want to hear while keeping my morals, values and messages intact. Get their attention with the carrot on the stick. Then once the listener/fan is engaged in my world and I have built trust with them, present them with my deeper work.
It's a moral and ethical bait and switch, if you will. For every 1,000 listeners I may potentially bring in with my more superficial songs, it would be great if 100 become fans and listen to the more positive, deep and life-changing music. Then rinse and repeat. Thank god it's so easy to produce bite-sized pop music these days. (hint hint as to why so much music is crap and toxic these days.)
It's simple to write the plan, but will take massive energy to execute. Energy that I have and am willing to commit to the long term goal. I didn't come here for nothin'. I didn't harness these skills, go through what I have and study humanity and spirit for nothin'. This is what it's for. The long term mission. The plan. The strategy. Like moths to a flame - put out music to attract the weary, sick and aimless, then give them a look at something even better. Some will take it, most will reject it, but it's those few that will eventually build from 1000 to 1,000 and beyond. If that process works one time, then I have succeeded.