Pop music was once dominated by house-hold names such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. The public knew most, if not all, of the artists dominating the charts and winning awards. However, recently the pop landscape has shifted to a point where a song could be in the Billboard Top 10 but still unknown to an average music listener. This is largely due to the change in how music is consumed.
Radio stations do not have the number of listeners that they once did, with streaming platforms becoming the common way to listen to music. Today people experience a more personalized listening experience, they do not rely on radio stations and popular consensus to get exposed to new songs. Like most things in our society today, social media also plays a large factor. With personalized algorithms on apps like TikTok, users are shown artists that are similar to the ones they already follow on social media. In turn, because of these factors, new music artists who gain popularity could become a known name, but still not have their songs known by the masses.
The rise of social media and streaming platforms has democratized music production and distribution. Reaching a level of stardom that artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift have may not be in the future for many popular artists today, but that does not mean becoming a successful musician is not a possibility. The era of the singular, universally recognized pop star may be fading, but accessibility to music artists is at an all-time high.
