Why are musicians tired?

The other day, while surfing the internet, I came across a title like “Why are musicians tired today?” Without reading the content of the article, I thought the author was probably talking about the tiredness of rehearsals, tours, travels, recordings, and concerts, but when I read the article, I saw that it was not like that at all. In my article last week, I talked about digital music platforms, specifically Spotify, and the possible manipulations regarding algorithms and lists. This article explains the troubles musicians have with the digital world so well that I did not hesitate to find the author, called him, congratulated him, and asked for permission to quote him in today’s article.

Batıkan Baksı is a young music writer. He graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism. He also did his master's degree in this field. He currently writes for Dergy, Beatsommelier and Bavul Dergi. He also works for our professional association's wonderful magazine Yorumcu, with Işıl Çalışkan, who is both our newspaper's writer and Yorumcu's Editor-in-Chief. Let's take a look at the reasons for the 'fatigue' that this young journalist friend of ours points to.

• Being a musician now means practicing many professions at the same time; we have a producer profile who has to do everything on his own, from writing songs to creating a sharing calendar.

• The effort spent on disseminating and making music visible, rather than producing it, slowly consumes the artist.

• While once upon a time, just getting on stage and releasing an album was enough to be a musician, today, in order to get on stage, you have to do a lot of work behind the scenes.

• The process that used to be a team effort now runs on the back of a single person, making artistic production difficult.

• The rules of the digital world impose on the musician the tempo of the algorithms, not his own rhythm of creation.

• An artist who has to constantly present something regardless of his mood may lose his connection with the music over time.

• A musician who wants to be known cannot escape social media; these platforms are no longer a showcase, but a mandatory stage.

• The artist is expected not only to produce but also to 'entertain', which can alienate him from his artistic identity.

• The value of a song is now measured by how many clicks it gets and how many lists it gets on, rather than its artistic merits.

• Artificial arrangements made to attract the listener's attention push the emotion of the song into the background.

• An independent artist has to deal with every stage from production to promotion, like a business that supports his career.

• Over time, this invisible burden isolates the artist and makes the production process psychologically difficult.

• While the stage was once the brightest area for artists, today it has become an ordeal fraught with cost, stress and uncertainty.

• Listeners no longer consume music by feeling it, but at the speed offered by algorithms; connecting has been replaced by clicking.

• The pain of production experienced by the artist is often invisible, because expectations are always based on “what comes next.”

• The artist, who feels that what he has worked hard for is not seen, is left with the question of “what is the use of this effort?” and becomes alienated from his work.

• Fatigue is not only caused by the intensity of the work, but also by the lack of compensation.

• To avoid this fatigue, the artist should not be alone; support systems, collective production and staying true to one's own pace are essential for a sustainable artistic life.

These are very accurate observations and determinations. I wanted to share them with you. Stay healthy.