DJ Akademiks is questioning the position of recent media in shaping tradition, arguing that conventional retailers now not drive what turns into standard however as a substitute observe tendencies that already generate consideration and income.

During a current livestream, the YouTube personality and hip-hop commentator mentioned media corporations are largely reactive, not influential. “Most media companies… we all chase what’s popular. We don’t look to popularize,” Akademiks mentioned. “That’s the real facts about it.”

Akademiks framed the difficulty as a enterprise actuality quite than a artistic failure. According to him, editorial selections are more and more guided by viewers metrics.

“If A is popular, they’re gonna lean into A,” he mentioned, including that “clicks generate attention, attention generates clicks, generates money.”

As a consequence, he argued, retailers concentrate on topics they already know will carry out nicely as a substitute of taking dangers on rising tales or artists.

“They’re not feeding fans stuff,” Akademiks mentioned. “They might bring new information to life, but they’re leaning into things fans already interested in.”

While Akademiks acknowledged that he has some freedom on his personal platform, he mentioned that stage of autonomy is unusual throughout the trade. Referencing criticism over his continued protection of rapper 6ix9ine, he mentioned, “Yo bro, you’re the only one talking about 6ix9ine… yeah, ’cause I want to talk about it. That’s my friend. My bad.”

For instance of how media consideration can grow to be self-sustaining, Akademiks pointed to the extremely publicized feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He described it as “the gift that kept on giving.” He famous that it marked “the most lucrative time” of his 15-year YouTube profession. That monetary success, he mentioned, creates a “trickle-down effect” throughout media, incentivizing retailers to stay centered on the identical storyline.

“People stay in that moment,” Akademiks mentioned. “You’re gonna keep eating off the corpse off that thing that gets you the most amount of revenue.”

He argued that this tendency has broader penalties for hip-hop. Media, he mentioned, will “hyper-focus on a beef a year after it’s done,” even when “it really don’t exist,” as a result of audiences stay invested in acquainted narratives.

Akademiks emphasised that storytelling performs a key position in how music is bought and consumed. He cited coverage such because the “War on Chiraq” for example of how media as soon as formed public understanding of drill music by defining characters, feuds, and context.

Today, he mentioned, that position has largely shifted to YouTube documentaries. He provides that conventional media has centered on previous conflicts quite than what comes subsequent.