The Gatekeepers

Imagine the music industry as a vibrant universe that requires an entry code. The entry code consists of approval from several entities at the entrance. These entities are called gatekeepers. If anyone aims to be successful within this industry, they will need consistent praise and approval from them.

But who are they and why are they so important??

Good question.

The gatekeepers of the music industry are A&R’s, bloggers, DJs, playlist curators and basically any person or organization with an influence over large amounts of people. They essentially control the songs in which the masses will pay their most attention. Most music consumers rely on playlists and radio to discover new songs for their library. This is how gatekeeping leads to commercial success for many artists.

The most notable of the gatekeepers are the A&Rs. These people are responsible for finding talent and delivering them to record labels. Without getting discovered by A&Rs, it will be extremely difficult to enter the music industry. Their influence reaches beyond blogs and playlists as they often have ties to every important entity within the industry. With such a vast responsibility, there are not many A&Rs to increase the gate’s opening. This results in extreme difficulty with unlocking the “entry code” and breaking through the gates.

With the expansion of streaming, playlist curators are becoming more important amongst the gatekeepers. More people are shifting to streaming versus radio. Because of this, consumers are discovering more songs through curated playlists on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. This gives much more influence on consumers for playlist curators. The “Playlist Game” is currently evolving, and that evolution has eroded much of the barriers to entry in becoming a gatekeeper. Anyone can create a playlist with no costs other than the streaming platform’s membership fee. This has allowed for successful curators who are as young as 15 years old. Playlist curation also adds an additional revenue stream for the industry as curators can charge artists for placements.

Unfortunately, gatekeeping tends to deprive consumers of a large percentage of incredible music. Since there are only a small number of gatekeepers, they cannot possibly hear all of the music the market has to offer. Thousands of exceptional songs will likely never be heard by the masses because of gatekeeping. This is another downside of the industry, however, as social media and streaming continues to evolve, we may see an expansion in gatekeepers.