Being An Artist in An Influencer Culture Part I: A Conversation with Ayomilly & Tj Carroll

The life of the artist has transformed drastically over the years. With major cultural changes and the advancement of technology, the opportunities that artists seek and receive have become far more available, which benefits a variety of groups. More artists can monetize their artistry without relying upon commissions or big companies to accept their art as sufficient. Anyone with creative talents can easily share their work online with others, gain an audience, and assume a position of influence. The main shift that has allowed for these new opportunities for artists is due to the rise of influencers and influencer culture.

What is Influencer Culture?

The term “influencer” has spiked in our culture within the last three years. According to Paris Martineau in “The WIRED Guide to Influencers,” the rise of the “influencer” title is directly tied to consumerism and the rise of technology, specifically social media.

For those unfamiliar with the term, an “influencer” is a job title given to someone who uses digital tools to market products for companies online. Over the last five years, this has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. Many brands, both small and large, are striving to partner with content creators to advertise directly to audiences in a subtle and relatable format. These content creators, many of which happen to be artists, are expected to produce creative and consistent content that will best promote the product they’ve been paid to sell. This includes producing multiple YouTube videos, podcast episodes, blog posts, and TikToks in a week to gather attention to their personal accounts to build an audience to sell to.

While this is a brilliant marketing plan, the Influencer has deeply shaped our current culture in major ways. Not only has it reconfigured the way the mundane person relates to social media, but it has also completely reshaped the way that artists emerge and find success in our society. This impact is multifaceted, riddled with pros and many cons. However, it has, without a doubt, made pursuing art within our culture a task that is burdened by pressures that were non-existent twenty-plus years ago.

In “Fake Famous and the Tedium of Influencer Culture,” Naomi Fry writes that for many influencers, being so is not the goal, “but a stepping stone to getting what they want: a career in a specific art industry.” Many of the influencers we encounter online do not even desire to be such. They simply want to gain income off of the time and energy they put into their creativity. However, due to the rise of consumerism and its invasion into social media, artists are having to drain their creative wells dry by developing promotional content to capture a large enough audience to gain income from their art. This shift in our culture has dramatically changed the position of artists. No longer are we merely the individuals producing the art. We are now marketers, personal managers, business owners, and brands. Ultimately, our art is forced into becoming a business if we are to be “successful” artists according to the new standards of our culture.

Moreover, because social media has become so central to our lives, it is also the very thing that is shaping the dominant philosophies of our society.

Artists have always had a major voice in the shifting of cultural norms. For example, Hip-Hop was and is predominately identified as a cultural movement. This musical genre began amongst those in the margins of society. Artists who developed this music at its genesis and throughout modern history were predominantly using their art to challenge the broken systems in power. Similarly, the art produced in France during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries deeply influenced the French Revolution. Several more artistic movements throughout history have positioned creatives as figures of influence.

Yet, artists today have far more and a much deeper influence than ever before as a result of social media. Artists can directly engage with their audiences daily online. Their art can be accessed with a couple of clicks and swipes. Passive money is made as others view their blog posts or stream their songs. Their art can be consumed just as quickly, urging artists to keep producing more and more content.

As social media continues to mould the paradigm of our present society, so do the artists and influencers who have been elevated to a higher standard. Artists play a major role in identifying and shifting the present ideologies of our society. We are more influential than ever and we should not treat that influence lightly.

A greater influence requires greater responsibility.

Art or Influence?

While the rise of influencer culture has had a positive impact upon artists, it has also brought new and numerous hurdles for those who desire to make this their career, as well as those who create because they simply enjoy it.

No more is your art a hobby. It must become a career. In this business, you must compete with others who are striving to attract the same audience as you. And many of those competitors or colleagues may be in the same industry as you simply to gain fame and influence, not because they enjoy or create good art. This means that those who are creating quality art are buried beneath a sea of others who are just trying to be somebody. Consequently, the journey of the artist can be discouraging, not edifying. As more artists assume the role of businessmen and women, rather than mere painters or musicians, the creative process can become only exhausting, not enjoyable. It is no longer about the art you make. It’s about how well you sell it. It’s about how many followers you gain. It’s about how much “clout” or influence you have over others.

Yet, this is the new way of the arts and entertainment industry. This is the new lifestyle we creatives have been swept into, especially if you are someone attempting to make a career out of your artistry.

A Conversation with Ayomilly & Tj Carroll

It is undeniable that the emergence of influencer culture has dramatically shaped our society, particularly in the lives of artists. Its impact has not only affected secular and mainstream art, but it’s inevitably also infiltrated the way Christian Artists operate. A space where artists are expected to create content that is uplifting and unifying in a way that the secular industry is not. It is art intended to be created with a higher purpose - to glorify God, who gave them these gifts and to initiate opportunities to share the gospel in unique ways.

However, nowadays, it seems that many Christian Artists have tapped into this influencer mindset where they are chasing glory for themselves, not for God. Many of us struggle to resist the temptation to set our convictions aside to gain recognition. We can easily compromise the quality of our art in the pursuit of influence. Most of all, we risk compromising our core belief about the purpose of our art to seek fame and success.

One of the spaces where the effects of influencer culture are evident today is in the Christian Hip-Hop industry. In May, I sat down with hip-hop artists, Ayomilly and Tj Carroll, to discuss their experiences with influencer culture within CHH and how this has affects their creative journey:

Tj Carroll

Ayomilly

Tune in next week for the second part of this series where I will dive deeper into the positive and negative sides of being an artist in an influencer culture.

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Sources

Martineau, Paris. “The WIRED Guide to Influencers.” WIRED, https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-an-influencer/

Fry, Naomi. “’Fake Famous’ and the Tedium of Influencer Culture.” The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/fake-famous-and-the-tedium-of-influencer-culture