Blog: fragmented fandom

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

‘Brat’ summer and the dilemmas of going mainstream

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Tatiana Cirisano
It has become a rule of thumb that the moment corporate America begins capitalising on a trend, that trend begins to die. Cultural fragmentation has helped niches and scenes flourish, but it has also left large corporations that depend on mainstream products hungry for relevance — and willing to do anything to tap into the zeitgeist, including wringing cultural moments dry.
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The crumbling of music media is a disaster for the music industry

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Tatiana Cirisano
As a former music journalist, I can say that layoffs are somewhat to be expected when you work in media. Nobody gets into this industry looking for stability. But the past 12 months have felt especially grim, with a growing list of mass layoffs and complete shutdowns that includes Bandcamp Daily , MTV News , NPR , Vox Media, and Los Angeles Times , to name just a few.
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Misaligned incentives make the music business a zero-sum game

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Tatiana Cirisano
“Pop Stars Aren’t Popping Like They Used To”, Billboard ’s Elias Leight writes in a recent article, in which record label executives stress over the struggle to break new artists. The article (or at least, the headline) stirred up a storm on Twitter — ahem, X — last week, where many users took the opportunity to slam record labels’ misguided focus on virality.
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What ‘Barbie’, ‘The Idol’, and more say about the future of artists in film

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Tatiana Cirisano
2023 is already shaping up to be another big year for music artists in Hollywood. Late last month, Jack Harlow made his acting debut in a Hulu remake of 1992 basketball comedy White Men Can’t Jump . The Weeknd (who is now going by Abel Tesfaye) stars in Max’s controversial new series, The Idol , in which BLACKPINK's Jennie also makes her acting debut.
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Why AI music may make fandom even more important

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Tatiana Cirisano
Artificial intelligence (AI) was as hot a topic as ever at last week’s SXSW conference, where debate swirled around how human artists will compete with AI-generated music. As more parts of music-making involve AI assistance, this distinction between “AI” and “human” music may soon become as irrelevant as music created on a laptop versus recorded in a studio.
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At the Grammys and Super Bowl, the last hurrah of the mainstream era

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Tatiana Cirisano
Rihanna’s performance at the Super Bowl LVII over the weekend was remarkable for several reasons, but most of all was that she had not performed a show at this scale in seven long years. “The wait is almost over”, Apple Music’s Ebro Darden teased in promotions leading up to the big night, and the wait simply being over arguably mattered more than whatever Rihanna decided to do onstage.
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What comes next in the music streaming model makeover

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Tatiana Cirisano
The independent music community has been rallying for change to the streaming payment model for years. Now, major labels are joining the chorus. Why? The pro-rata model has long benefited bigger record labels, but their cut of the pie is now diminishing due to a number of factors: The growth of independent music, fragmentation of consumption, localisation of music scenes, and the vast amount of music hitting streaming services.
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