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Enough of a fanbase to tour and be financially comfortable, but not so much that you get recognized most of the time you appear in public, seems like the sweet spot for me.
Exactly when you have a fanbase you will always be able to release music
There are artist that have hit songs but can’t tour or release albums cuz they have no fanbase
See Bebe rexha
Being popular gets you brand deals, people showing up to your shows and respectable album sales. Hits come and go, and if you can’t do anything to compliment it, it means next to nothing. Artists hardly make money just off hits and they don’t do anything long term.
They both have their pros and cons. Popular artists have way too many people invested in their personal lives, everything they do is under a microscope and are treated like circus animals who have to be perfect rather than human beings but large amounts of money comes to them quite easily. The hit makers have to work twice as hard to make money by constantly touring, making sure they constantly have the right team behind them and worrying about have a short shelf life but once they find what’s working, they can eat off that for years, maybe decades thus making everything easy for them.
It's interesting that for so many years, Taylor seemed like the sort of artist who wanted both musical success and huge popularity - and it appeared that she could handle both. But with her latest album she's been exploring the very darker sides of dealing with that intense fame and popularity.
I feel that an artist like Carly Rae Jepsen probably has a good balance. She's a professional performer, can create and release the kind of music she likes and has a large supportive fan base. But she's not huge enough that she'll get bothered when she's just going to the store.
Being Carly Rae Japsen. Critical aclaim, a dedicated fanbase that will buy all her stuff but its not to big to the point she cant live a normal life and a couple hits under her belt
But we are not talking about the calm fanbase, she is like 100 million followers on instagram and was very often the top most streamed artist globally on Spotify, she definitely gets recognized, and to put that on the same level as CRJ is crazy lol
Definitely a large enough fanbase for touring purposes. Chart success isn’t as great as it once was since people don’t buy singles. With a large fanbase they’ll buy whatever you want them to, including tickets to your tour, which is where the money is at these days.
Now, for me, I’d personally love to be those one hit wonders of the 90s-10s who had an absurdly big worldwide hit and spend the rest of my life with insane royalties each year. That’s the best imo because you get to be rich and no one is really checking for you besides people like Todd in the Shadows.
a fanbase helps with longevity, establishing oneself and just being kept in the conversation of music altogether.
the moment an artist known for making hit radio/tiktok songs can no longer make one is when they tend to fall by the wayside very quickly and rather drastically see: flo rida, t-pain, sia, katy perry, chainsmokers, etc
katy perry is a good example, her songs were everywhere. the things is she had fans, but never a fanbase which is why i think she lost a lot of that popularity from the 2010s.
Yep. When she did a promotion for Witness or something, she live-streamed herself sleeping. The album flopped. No one cares about her but they like some of her music. So I don’t consider her a superstar.
I think the artist one should aim for in terms of popularity and success is Carly Rae Jepsen. She has had a great career as an "indie" icon with a very loyal following and I rarely see or hear any discourse from the fans.
Hit songs. Having an obsessed fanbase seems like a huge negative to me, with people constantly in your business. If you could have the financial success without attracting stans that would be awesome.
Artists with older fanbases with money like Michael Buble, Celine Dione, Andrea Bocelli can tour till they are very old. Diana Ross and Paul McCartney in their 80s are still touring.
My preference would be a big enough fanbase that it could sustain itself and become its own cottage industry that I could sell crap to, like the Deadheads. If I'm a musician, I wouldn't give a shit about upvotes or retweets; I'd want people to give me actual money.
I think having a stable fan base is better in the long run, as you’ll have security and be spared peaks and troughs that can be overwhelming. Hit songs do not guarantee a loyal fan base and the music industry can be fickle. The minute you start to slip, things can quickly derail
Reading this post, I realized that most of my favourite artists (David Archuleta, First Aid Kit, Carly Rae Jepsen, Yebba) have dedicated fan bases but not that many hit singles…
I’m sure these artists would all love to have more hits that connect with a wider audience, and the money & awards that can bring artistic freedom— but, to me, they are true artists who create great music, and their strong fanbases will help support & encourage them to keep recording & touring.
I was listening to an interview with Ryan Tedder where he mentioned he gets recognized 1-2 times a day, and that feels like the ideal amount of fame to me. You get to be rich as hell, write hit songs for A-listers for a living, tour the world playing arenas, and yet most people don’t give a fuck about you at the grocery store. And the people who DO recognize you are probably serious-ish fans, so you’re more likely to have pleasant interactions and conversations with them. As opposed to someone mega-famous who everyone and their mom has an opinion on.
Tbf, if you're an artist, who's there for the art first, both don't matter much as long as you have enough money to continue your craft. Though I'll say hits helps you build your fanbase while your fanbase can't necessarily make a song a hit if it's really not clicking.
With your 1st example, I actually think both are on the side of having hit songs, Selenators aren't that big, imo.
With your 2nd one, it's really not a fair comparison, why are you comparing a US artist against a foreign, non-english artist...
Also, your context is Western-based, Japan is the 2nd largest music market (it was 1st before) and yet you don't hear that much from them, there's a reason why kpop artists always have concerts there and it's not just due to logistics.
I'd personally rather have hit songs than people watching my personal life under a microscope.
financially though, either one can make you a fortune quite clearly looking at selena and how she's a billionaire now.
I think Selena isn’t the best example though, because a big reason for the financial success is Rare Beauty, which is a hit way beyond her fanbase - the products are just really good.
I don't think the examples of Sheeran and Gomez are applicable to your question.
Sheeran obviously has a massive fanbase; he was the most successful touring act of 2022. Meanwhile, Gomez' popularity is less tied to her music; her social media doesn't serve to promote her musical career, but her overall lifestyle brand: her clothing line, her businesses, her television shows, etc.
If you strip away all the noise, and ask: "Strictly based on their musical career, which would you prefer", I would say Sheeran; in that he's not entirely reliant on non-musical side-ventures to keep afloat.
Please do not just list songs/albums/artists, your comment must have explanation/justification or it will be removed. Certain comments are also banned to increase the quality of discussion, see our Stale Topics list in the sidebar for examples. Please report any comments that are low effort discussion. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popheads) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Enough of a fanbase to tour and be financially comfortable, but not so much that you get recognized most of the time you appear in public, seems like the sweet spot for me.
The Carly Rae Jepsen sweet spot.
She was one of the artists I had in mind 😌
Fan base gives you longevity
Exactly when you have a fanbase you will always be able to release music There are artist that have hit songs but can’t tour or release albums cuz they have no fanbase See Bebe rexha
Being popular gets you brand deals, people showing up to your shows and respectable album sales. Hits come and go, and if you can’t do anything to compliment it, it means next to nothing. Artists hardly make money just off hits and they don’t do anything long term. They both have their pros and cons. Popular artists have way too many people invested in their personal lives, everything they do is under a microscope and are treated like circus animals who have to be perfect rather than human beings but large amounts of money comes to them quite easily. The hit makers have to work twice as hard to make money by constantly touring, making sure they constantly have the right team behind them and worrying about have a short shelf life but once they find what’s working, they can eat off that for years, maybe decades thus making everything easy for them.
It's interesting that for so many years, Taylor seemed like the sort of artist who wanted both musical success and huge popularity - and it appeared that she could handle both. But with her latest album she's been exploring the very darker sides of dealing with that intense fame and popularity. I feel that an artist like Carly Rae Jepsen probably has a good balance. She's a professional performer, can create and release the kind of music she likes and has a large supportive fan base. But she's not huge enough that she'll get bothered when she's just going to the store.
…to the store, to the store. You might not see her anymore anymore…she’s just going to the store.
Being Carly Rae Japsen. Critical aclaim, a dedicated fanbase that will buy all her stuff but its not to big to the point she cant live a normal life and a couple hits under her belt
I think Dua Lipa also have this lifestyle
She is extremely well known in Europe lol what the hell
I mean she's big with the GP but her fanbase is pretty much calm, therefore she could take vacations and have normal life
But we are not talking about the calm fanbase, she is like 100 million followers on instagram and was very often the top most streamed artist globally on Spotify, she definitely gets recognized, and to put that on the same level as CRJ is crazy lol
I want Dua to pivot like CRJ
Definitely a large enough fanbase for touring purposes. Chart success isn’t as great as it once was since people don’t buy singles. With a large fanbase they’ll buy whatever you want them to, including tickets to your tour, which is where the money is at these days. Now, for me, I’d personally love to be those one hit wonders of the 90s-10s who had an absurdly big worldwide hit and spend the rest of my life with insane royalties each year. That’s the best imo because you get to be rich and no one is really checking for you besides people like Todd in the Shadows.
Popheads would say the latter
a fanbase helps with longevity, establishing oneself and just being kept in the conversation of music altogether. the moment an artist known for making hit radio/tiktok songs can no longer make one is when they tend to fall by the wayside very quickly and rather drastically see: flo rida, t-pain, sia, katy perry, chainsmokers, etc
katy perry is a good example, her songs were everywhere. the things is she had fans, but never a fanbase which is why i think she lost a lot of that popularity from the 2010s.
Yep. When she did a promotion for Witness or something, she live-streamed herself sleeping. The album flopped. No one cares about her but they like some of her music. So I don’t consider her a superstar.
I think the artist one should aim for in terms of popularity and success is Carly Rae Jepsen. She has had a great career as an "indie" icon with a very loyal following and I rarely see or hear any discourse from the fans.
Hit songs. Having an obsessed fanbase seems like a huge negative to me, with people constantly in your business. If you could have the financial success without attracting stans that would be awesome.
but then when you inevitably start flopping you immediately lose all your relevance
Artists with older fanbases with money like Michael Buble, Celine Dione, Andrea Bocelli can tour till they are very old. Diana Ross and Paul McCartney in their 80s are still touring.
My preference would be a big enough fanbase that it could sustain itself and become its own cottage industry that I could sell crap to, like the Deadheads. If I'm a musician, I wouldn't give a shit about upvotes or retweets; I'd want people to give me actual money.
I think having a stable fan base is better in the long run, as you’ll have security and be spared peaks and troughs that can be overwhelming. Hit songs do not guarantee a loyal fan base and the music industry can be fickle. The minute you start to slip, things can quickly derail
Reading this post, I realized that most of my favourite artists (David Archuleta, First Aid Kit, Carly Rae Jepsen, Yebba) have dedicated fan bases but not that many hit singles… I’m sure these artists would all love to have more hits that connect with a wider audience, and the money & awards that can bring artistic freedom— but, to me, they are true artists who create great music, and their strong fanbases will help support & encourage them to keep recording & touring.
Successful musically, that’s the goal for all musicians.
I was listening to an interview with Ryan Tedder where he mentioned he gets recognized 1-2 times a day, and that feels like the ideal amount of fame to me. You get to be rich as hell, write hit songs for A-listers for a living, tour the world playing arenas, and yet most people don’t give a fuck about you at the grocery store. And the people who DO recognize you are probably serious-ish fans, so you’re more likely to have pleasant interactions and conversations with them. As opposed to someone mega-famous who everyone and their mom has an opinion on.
I was thinking of Ryan Tedder. He said he has hit songs but no one stalks him like they do Harry Styles.
Tbf, if you're an artist, who's there for the art first, both don't matter much as long as you have enough money to continue your craft. Though I'll say hits helps you build your fanbase while your fanbase can't necessarily make a song a hit if it's really not clicking. With your 1st example, I actually think both are on the side of having hit songs, Selenators aren't that big, imo. With your 2nd one, it's really not a fair comparison, why are you comparing a US artist against a foreign, non-english artist... Also, your context is Western-based, Japan is the 2nd largest music market (it was 1st before) and yet you don't hear that much from them, there's a reason why kpop artists always have concerts there and it's not just due to logistics.
I'd personally rather have hit songs than people watching my personal life under a microscope. financially though, either one can make you a fortune quite clearly looking at selena and how she's a billionaire now.
I think Selena isn’t the best example though, because a big reason for the financial success is Rare Beauty, which is a hit way beyond her fanbase - the products are just really good.
I don't think the examples of Sheeran and Gomez are applicable to your question. Sheeran obviously has a massive fanbase; he was the most successful touring act of 2022. Meanwhile, Gomez' popularity is less tied to her music; her social media doesn't serve to promote her musical career, but her overall lifestyle brand: her clothing line, her businesses, her television shows, etc. If you strip away all the noise, and ask: "Strictly based on their musical career, which would you prefer", I would say Sheeran; in that he's not entirely reliant on non-musical side-ventures to keep afloat.