I remember some 20-30 years ago you would sometimes hear about an artist (usually musician, or a group thereof) being sellouts, or having sold out. This of course in a pejorative way, as this was the most heinous of crimes an artist could ever commit against their fan base.
However, I can’t recall having heard this term for at least a couple of decades. Has the term been replaced with something else? Is it more accepted? Or is it simply so hard to make it nowadays that the concept of “selling out” is basically just synonymous with making a living?
Are there any modern examples of this and I simply missed the online chatter about it?
You must log in or register to comment.
True, it’s not really a thing any more. Two reasons I’d say:
- If you want to make a nice living by being distributed by a label “selling out” is mandatory
- Anti-establishment musicians have a cheap distribution method in the form of internet. If they don’t care about making money, they just offer it for download directly to their fans
That being said, the term is still used in the open source software community quite a lot.
Because selling out is the standard in America now.
It’s not noteworthy to sellout anymore. It’s expected.
Can’t sell out when everything is a sellout.
I only know this phenomenon from the punk scene and I think it still exists today. NOFX released a song about it 10 years ago.
First verse lyrics:
She asked me if I was a singer, then called me has-been
She said she really liked my band in the early '90s, oh yeah
I said stop saying those mean things, my ego is so fragile
And then she called me a poseur punk
Why don’t I drink up and get the hell out
'Cause I’m a selloutwe do hear about ‘industry plants’, however…
Came here to mention industry plants, too. There’s no “selling out” for the most part because most major artists are controlled from day one by the industry, versus back in the day when they needed to scrape their knuckles on their own to appeal to a major label. Social media and The Algorithm lets the labels build careers out of nothing.
Many social media influencers nowadays try to get big with the goal of “selling out”, or getting sponsored. From what I understand, ad revenue on its own hasn’t paid well for years, so they take on sponsors in order to fund their channels and pay their bills. You then have influencers like MrBeast and Logan Paul living large and shouting out their sponsors, making it look glamorous to their (often younger) audience.
“I didn’t sell out son, I bought in“
I suppose the bands / artists that were accused of “selling out” back in the day have weathered that criticism and inspired multiple generations of subsequent bands / artists that have also gone in to inspire multiple bands / artists.
Take Green Day for example. For me they were the canonical sell out band for my generation. But now nobody cares about that. And bands that rode the wave of their success don’t care. And bands that were inspired by Green Day don’t care either. Neither do the fans, neither does the press.
So I think it’s just less and less of a thing these days. So people don’t care as much when you leave your small indie label and join a major. In fact quite the opposite. Good on you for winning against the system.
FWIW there are still loads of people/bands in the punk scene who loathe Green Day specifically for how commercial they went. No clue about the press or fans, but plenty of venues around here where I’d be laughed out of for mentioning Green Day in a serious punk context
McDonalds started charging $15 for a Quarter Pounder Value meal, and everyone realized in this post 9/11 America, you need to make as much money as possible just to be able to survive, which is diametrically opposed to the 60’s and 70’s still post war boom(ers) playacting socialist/communist Hippies, pointing and laughing when an artist they liked took a big check, when they’re own rent was either subsidized by their parents, or cost them $200 a month and their University tuition another $500 a year. Shit was different. Shit changed.
Sellout would be what I’d call snoop doggy lapdog after his recent performance
Indie won the war and “selling out” to a big company is now just a simple business decision and not having your hand forced to participate.
If your idols are youtubers and tiktokkers, their business model is selling merch.
So opinions had to change.
Because most people recognize “selling out” is the end goal for many acts. Why shouldn’t the act that can make enough to retire young on not go for that option if that is what they want for themselves?
A lot if the people bitching about selling out and authenticity in the 1990s were kids who did not have bills to pay.
Everyone aspires to sell out.
Because for a lot of people who aspire to be artists don’t want to hear about how its about the money and not the art
