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?
Quote from the wonderfully hilarious movie Popstar: Never Stop, Never Stopping.
“Nowadays if you don’t sell out, people will wonder if no one asked you to.”
Its the only way for artists to survive now. It was always dicey before, but cost of living and meager returns on streaming mean that artists need to produce music with broad appeal.
If your idols are youtubers and tiktokkers, their business model is selling merch.
So opinions had to change.
Can’t sell out when everything is a sellout.
