Vanity metric driven fake streams, followers and engagement numbers are bad for everyone - here’s what we should measuring instead...

I've written a lot of long form pieces of content this week and so I wanted to write a shorter post today as a way to present an idea to you that I truly believe can revolutionize the music industry, as well as make the world a better place in the process.

In an industry which is increasingly (and always has been) driven by vanity metrics - streams, likes, downloads, video views, followers, post engagement etc - it’s easy to forget how important it is for artists to have a strong and healthy mindset if they are to have success in the music business.

Vanity metrics 'may' provide an indication for success in the short term, but they won’t tell you anything about the long-term potential or sustainability of an artist, because they do not represent the artist on a human level.

For many new artists, getting noticed is all about playing the “fake it until you make it” game. Artists will create inflated social media accounts with thousands of followers and likes, even though they have nothing to show for it other than their vanity metrics.

This kind of behavior has become so rampant that many people now view social media as a necessary evil—something that artists feel like they have to do if they want to get noticed but don't particularly enjoy doing.

The pressure to create vanity metrics is such, that artists feel they must achieve them at all costs, even if doing so means they populate all of the social media and streaming profiles with fake numbers.

My good friend and colleague Vin Clancy recently created an entire exposure article showing how it's possible to fake every vanity metric imaginable:

An even bigger issue, is that vanity metrics don't reflect an artist's true value or potential for success. Sure, having lots of followers looks great on paper but if those followers aren't actively engaging with your music or supporting your career in other ways, then what good are they?

That's why I believe it's so important for there to be a shift in thinking within the music industry towards a system that is focused on developing artists on a human level, measuring their readiness on what I like to call 'People Metrics' instead of 'Vanity Metrics'.

In my experience, when an artist is equipped with a strong mindset, coupled with an ambition to make an impact in the world with their art, it is much easier for them to utlize their talents towards consistently producing music that will create a connection with audiences.

When these conditions are in place, as an investor into an artist, it becomes a no brainer to not only invest, but to do so over the long term - adopting a philosophy of 'we know what we have', and one where continued support into the artist, will inevitably result in profits being generated in the long term, even if vanity metrics are not initially there as a measure of success.

To this end, I am actively developing a 'People Metrics System', which will be the system that we'll be using in High Time to determine where an artist currently sits in their development so we can assist them accelerating their progress and as a system to identify artists that have the true potential to go all the way and have a long and successful career.

This idea is one that is already deeply integrated into other sectors such as sports and top level business; I truly believe a similar approach adopted within the music industry will be a total game changer.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this idea in the comments below.

Missed my first and most important article?here’s the link to it: