10 May Does our appreciation for artists increase when they die?
Photograph by Brian Feinzimer – Fans celebrate the life of Nipsey Hussle at memorial service.
Introduction
The entry requirement for the Student Publication Association Awards, Entertainment Piece is one story as well as a 300 word supporting statement. I agreed with LJ that my agreed output was a long form feature article discussing the appreciation of artists following their death, I have produced a 1,300 word article along with a 300 word supporting statement. I choose this award as I wanted to focus on the area of music and this award is specific to music, film or culture. The deadline for this award closed in March, so I will put my story forward for next years entry once this opens.
Competition Details
Student Publication Association – Best Entertainment Piece
This award focuses on various areas such as music, film and culture. An example could be a music preview, a film critique or a theatre review. It will take into account the piece’s structure and relevance to the audience.
Submission Guidelines: Include one story and a supporting statement of 300 words.
Does our appreciation for artists increase when they die?
Some call it fake love and others call it appreciation. In recent times, a number of well-established artists have passed away, together with this, the streams for those artists have dramatically increased. Statistics show that streaming figures have escalated by over two-thousand percent following the deaths of musicians. This often results in social media debates as to whether people come to show fake appreciation towards the artists as a matter of popular opinion or alternatively that they are reminiscing on an artists life.
Whilst it’s understandable that people will feel the urge to reflect on an artists craft following their death, mass increases of over two thousand percent could suggest a growth in the number of fans. Due to the huge impact that social media has on today’s society, there seems to be something which could be referred to as an increase of ‘clout chasers’. This meaning that one will engage in a certain activity to gain a sense of popularity. As well as this, social media often means that individuals will partake in certain activities to feel a sense of inclusivity. In this instance, it can be applied to those who post a screenshot of them listening to an artists music to almost ‘prove’ that they are fans of their craft due to this being the popular culture.
The artists family and music label to which they were signed will continue to receive the artist’s royalties and PRS (Performing Right Society) money following the artist’s death, so there would be no reason for this to be a problem, right? But, the problem comes into place when people have never previously shown appreciation to an artist; never shared their work, bought their work or even spoke about their work to anyone. This is when we can almost confirm a case of clout chasing.
A recent celebrity death which hit headlines, flooded social media timelines and caused devastation to a lot of people was Nipsey Hussle. To put it in simple terms, Nipsey was an American rapper, songwriter and most importantly entrepreneur who passed away at the young age of 33-years-old. His cause of death, gunshots to the head and torso outside of the clothing store he owned.
When reflecting on his life and his influence to a mass audience, Nipsey was a true role model. He spent his life building what could only be described as a huge legacy. During his ten years of fame; he became one of the only artists in the world to own the full masters to his GRAMMY nominated album meaning that he was able to have full creative control of his music, he had the trademark to his own clothing line and owned the shopping plaza in which it was located, owned a barbershop and two restaurants within his childhood community and constantly gave back to his people.
So the real question is, why weren’t we made aware of his contributions to society before his death? Why didn’t we place Nipsey on a pedestal prior to the shooting? Why do we only appreciate his lyrics and meaningful quotes now?
Mac Miller is another artist who sadly lost his life and became the subject of news coverage, a social media buzz and another huge spike in streams. On the day of his death Miller’s streams exceeded thirty-two million streams in comparison to his daily average of three million; that’s a huge increase of twenty-nine million streams in just one day.
Often exploring mental health and addictions within his music and openly admitting his relationship with both topics, Mac Miller was an artist protected by his fans. He passed away on 7th September 2018 after a suspected accidental overdose of cocaine, alcohol and fentanyl – a combination which can only be described as a toxic mix.
Previously being linked to Ariana Grande due to their romantic relationship, Mac Miller received a lot of love and attention from her dedicated fans following his death. As she publicly expressed her devastation and love for the twenty-six year old rapper, people became infatuated with their connection causing a further increase of attention to the situation, again increasing his streams.
During the week following his death, Mac Miller re-entered the Billboard Top 100 charts with three of his previously released tracks. “Self Care” charted at number 33, “Hurt Feelings” charted at number 70 and “Come Back to Earth” charted at Number 91 – all correct as of Billboard chart day 22nd September 2018.
Following his death, a huge tribute concert was held in the name of the Mac Miller Cirlces Fund. The fund was put into place to provide programming, resources and opportunities to youth from undeserved communities helping them recognise their full potential through exploration in the arts and community building. World renowned artists performed at the tribute concert, including Travis Scott, Chance The Rapper and SZA.
Whilst Mac Miller was very open about his drug and alcohol addictions throughout his period of fame, he was continuously touring and releasing music for fans in a surprisingly up-beat and energetic manner. Respected by some of the best in the game, Mac Miller’s music was well respected and received. So it was mostly a matter of shock that he was found dead in his own home.
Another artist who recently lost his life, resulting in an increase in streams and this time a more controversial figure is XXXTentacion. He was shot and killed in an apparent robbery outside of a motorsports dealership. At the age of just twenty-years old, XXX has collected sixteen hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and three entries on the Billboard 200.
But, the controversy comes into an act when we consider his history of legal issues. At the time of his death, he was awaiting trial on more than a dozen felony charges – a crime considered as the most serious in the United States – and allegations of domestic violence against his then-pregnant girlfriend.
In comparison to Nipsey Hussle and Mac Miller, XXX’s streams only increased by five-hundred percent, which in comparison to the previous two-thousand is not a major amount. Suggesting that due to his criminal charges, those who were mourning his death were original dedicated fans. With the topic of his charges coming to the surface on social media and news outlets, it seems to be highly unlikely that XXX would have amassed a new fan base.
Also comparing Mac Miller’s streaming statistics to Nipsey Hussle’s, the cause of death seems to play a huge factor in the number of streams amassed. Although not purposely carried out, Mac Miller’s death which occurred due to an overdose could be seen as self inflicted. One of the substances found in his system post-death was responsible for almost 50% of opioid-related deaths in the US in 2016.*
Although the majority of people seem to show more appreciation to artists once they have have passed away, this looks to be for a number of reasons. The most obvious being that we want to reminisce on an artist and all the memories surrounding their music. The second reason applies to those who are new to an artists music. This reason is that they are curious as to why people are mourning over an artist, they want to know if they can relate, going back to the inclusivity aspect previously mentioned.
While we can be curious for all artists music, it seems that their cause of death and certain circumstances in their life can all be relevant factors as to whether we bewail their death.
* A study conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that in 2016, synthetic opioids (primarily illegal fentanyl) were involved in nearly 50% of opioid-related deaths in the United States.
Supporting Statement
Throughout the three years of my Journalism undergraduate degree at London South Bank University, I have worked within music journalism and found a passion for writing long feature articles. Now working closely with marketing teams in some of the biggest record labels within the UK, I have come to realise the importance of streaming figures, especially in the contemporary music scene. With this in mind, I had noticed a dramatic spike of streams almost instantly after music artists were pronounced dead, specifically with American artists.
The total number of streams received by an artist is calculated by the number of streams on multiple streaming platforms including Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Focusing on three artists who all had very different causes of death, I wanted to find out if this had an effect on the number of streams post-life. I compare Nipsey Hussle’s murder, Mac Miller’s drug overdose and XXXTentacion’s murder. Looking further into the amount of streams they received prior to the end of their life and calculating the difference to the figures published for the week following their death including the Billboard charting positions, I found dramatic increases in streaming as well as high chart positioning – and on all occasions this was a case of re-entering the charts.
