In Criticizing Social Media Demands Put on Artists, Newcomer Chelsea Cutler Makes Her Own Way in the Music Industry

variety.com:

Mike Wass Frustrated by the direction of the music industry, specifically its fixation on short-term goals and social media engagement, Chelsea Cutler decided to share her feelings on Instagram. “I’ve struggled terribly the last year or so with how to adapt to the way the industry landscape has changed,” she wrote in a post dated January 3. “I don’t know how to keep up with how insatiable our content culture has become.”The 24-year-old then turned off her phone and went to bed.

She woke up to messages of support from the likes of Niall Horan, Maggie Rogers, Sasha Alex Sloan, blackbear, Noah Kahan, Carlie Hanson, Justin Tranter, Lauren Jauregui, JP Saxe, FLETCHER and Matt Maeson. “God I feel this so deeply,” Julia Michaels responded, while Ryan Tedder called it “the most perfectly written summation of how I feel weekly.” “I had no expectations whatsoever when I posted it on Instagram,” Cutler tells Variety. “I was really floored to see massive artists commenting.

I realized, ‘Oh wow, okay. This is a problem for everybody.’” The singer-songwriter’s misgivings about music marketing have been building since 2020. “I do think that the pandemic has accelerated our social media consumption,” she explains. “It’s become more forced and less raw.”A post shared by chelsea cutler (@chelseacutler)The thirst for new content weighs heavily on artists. “I think there is a lot of pressure,” Cutler says evenly. “You see the way that viral content has catapulted other people to success and it’s easy to get down on yourself and think, ‘Okay, maybe if I was doing that, I’d be having the same success,’ which — God knows if that’s true.