Artistic relevancy in music.

[Nick]

While I'm sure it varies from artist to artist, underground and mainstream, but I just have a quick question for you all. It's something that I see people discussing a lot.

How long (or within X amount of years) is an artist in music relevant for, before they start to lose it? What are the things you consider to be important for remaining relevant in the industry?

 

[Esper]

I have no idea what's considered relevant for the industry, only what's relevant for me.

For a guess I'd say just one year. If you aren't in the spotlight in over a year you're forgotten and not a hot item anymore (if you were one to begin with).

 

[Rogue planet]

It varies, there's no set amount. Some artists can remain relevant for one year, some for twenty years. Even if they're only around for a short while, their legacy can be very significant (The Smiths are one of the best examples).

Relevance to the industry is very rarely in correlation to an artists relevance to music itself. Industry cares about money, not music. The Velvet Underground were hugely influential, and barely got any industry or public attention during the time they were actually active. Innovation and creativity are what an artist needs to be significant.

 

[Scarlette]

I think it just depends on whom you, I'd say most last a year or 2 but some people like Elvis, the Beatles, Michale Jackson, Madonna are icons and always talked about and people play their songs

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

It's all relative! (And I so wanted to find a picture/.gif of Monica yelling that to Ross in the best Friends episode ever... but, alas, Google Images came up short.)

Depending on both the legitimacy/staying power of the artist in question and the management and business operations going on behind the scenes, artistic relevancy can be as long as a few months (for a Rebecca Black-type figure), a few years (for most artists that become 'popular' for a while) or a decade or two (the very rare cases of bona fide celebritees. For the most part, I'd say the behind the scenes stuff is so much more important, and is the primary reason for people like Beyonce and Lady Gaga being as popular as they are.