Reelification/ TikTokification Of The Music Industry

Tell me your attention span has gone down south without telling me your attention span has gone down south! I’ll go first. Reels, Shorts, and whatnot have impacted my, your, and most of our concentration level, that too on a major extent. And above all, short videos influence our detest for several recent music. Do not get me wrong in the beginning itself!

In the past few years, you might have heard about ‘Tiktokification‘ and ‘Reelification‘. If not heard, you have witnessed the rise of this term. From our favourite peppy tracks to the ones that we gatekept for a long time, our loved songs are becoming unbearable to listen to. Isn’t it the worst feeling ever when we cannot stand something that we have loved? Ahhh, let’s consider it ONLY music and not that specific person in your life.

From English to Hindi to regional songs, creators and Instagrammers, use the same songs to such an extent that we are turning against our favourite songs. Overusage is something that all of us are victims of, in some way or the other. But the worst part is how SOME musicians are choosing the path of glory or shall I say ‘shortcut to fame’ by over-emphaisisng on just 30-40 seconds of a song. No doubt, the catchy verses help the songs to go viral and gain numbers, followers, popularity, yada yada yada but is the music even that good to gain recognition is the biggest question here. Well, if you are an avid social media user, you know the exact answer to this question.

Not gonna lie about social media’s disruptive influence in making an artist’s career after a piece of music starts trending online. However, only 20-30 seconds blow up online, and not the entire track or its most parts. With this, I come to my next thought: are the artists more focused on only that 20-30 seconds of music? Is the quality of music actually seeing a drop these days?

Composers’ take on making music is changing to cater to a wider base of audience. Social media platforms can turn out to be the most effective promotion stage, that too spending little on promoting the music among masses. All it needs is that hook that will later be replayed for the millionth time and get viral anywhere and everywhere. We have been noticing the downgrade of music quality for the past few years now and sadly there are only a few songs that we fall in love with these days. Even if we end up listening to some new, good, and most importantly meaningful music, Instagram would be present there for millions to use at the same time.

With the concept of Reelification/ TikTokification breaking through, there have been some sad instances when musicians focused on making music that truly caters to creators to create short-form videos. Not only my opinion, but many of my friends’ responses and Netizens’ reactions depict how most of these days’ viral songs seem good and enjoyable only on reels. However, our reactions change after listening to the entire song. I think our parents and grandparents are right when they brag about “humare zamane ke gaane“.

That’s all about my rant about Instagram reels and music in today’s generation. BRB! Gotta go and listen to old songs.

Featured Image Courtesy: Canva