Influencer Karaoke
I'd like to coin a term: Influencer Karaoke. I'll allow you a moment to imagine what you think it should mean before I do the same; allow me to break the phrase down into it's core parts (and tell you what I think they mean):
What is an 'Influencer'?
An influencer is the first known parasite of Social Media; an ego-driven extrovert/psychopath with a lack of empathy and a clear narcissistic personality who believes their pithy, tiny lives (and likewise brain) are somehow better than other people on this planet, and if only everyone listens to their expert opinion, will be as successful as shown (ignore the fact that I rented this mansion and that car, and those hot girls are paid extras). They use and abuse social media to collect a fanbase of addictive personality disorder patients, then adopt scientifically tested and proven timed releases of 'important' updates on their many channels to their 'followers' to keep them tuned in and seeking the next dopamine hit of fresh content, even if the content is... a decidedly unimportant dose of hopium. Chasing the dragon of their addiction, the fans join in the echo chamber of the platform of their choice (YouTube, Facebook, Truth Social, OnlyFans (see inset), Twitter (X gonna give it to ya!), Instagram, WhatsApp).
Do I despise Influencers? Indeed I do. Their only skill is attracting attention to their favorite subject (themselves) at the distraction and stolen attention of the trendy topic their espousing on. They neither educate nor enlighten their audience in the time they have about subjects that actually matter. They see their fans as manipulative subjects for their dark pattern grasp of fame. They all repeat the same script, because they think it worked for the other guys (Like & Subscribe! Ring The Bell!), and gleefully plan for Ad breaks in their long form content disguised as sponsored posts [Fade to Black]. This goes for all sorts of influencers: internet celebrities, mysogynistic muscle-heads, mega-church preachers, YouTube stars cult leaders. The lack of informative education coming out of them is near nil, and it's very disappointing considering the potential real teaching opportunities available to them.
Statistically, no influencer is actually in the 1% of any skill they may claim expertise in, even if that expertise is in influencing others. As the old adage goes, Those that can't do, Teach. SMH. Not everyone in the world uses social media, visits that website, speaks that language, or cares about that niche subject, and the poor job of researching and delivering your diatribe misses out on all the nuances and delight in exploration of the subject. They cultivate an 'Echo Chamber' of other influencers and fans and appeal to the innate tribalism in humanity and the group-think we all desire.
What's an Echo Chamber? What's an Echo Chamber? What's an Echo Chamber?
It's the same echo chamber bubble of 'Yes Men' that surround Dolt 45 and his MAGA Gestapo so that fat orange chucklefuck actually believes the entire world loves him (and is not laughing at his perpetually lying ass), when he can't see past the manicured hedges of Mar A Lago. If you limit your interactions to your echo chamber online, all you will have accomplished is becoming mayor of an internet village of fucking idiots.
Having recently removed myself from one such Echo Chamber that is spread like a veinerial disease in society today, and finding the national stats show that others agree with me is very comforting! What Echo Chambers do you happily live in?
What is 'Karaoke'?
Made famous in Japan in the 1970s when musician Daisuke Inoue invented the first karaoke machine. This short rock-star fantasy experience can now be had nearly any night of the week at a bar or restaurant near you. They made a movie about it, and most professional VJ's have Journey's Don't Stop Believing
cued up for at least one play a night, only to be disappointed by another drunk attempt at a song best left to professional singers who have a far bigger vocal range (again!)
I'm not singing the song I wrote, nor singing it well (or on key, and I missed some words even though I'm looking at them on the same screen you are), but you'll listen because the song I chose culturally resonates with your past. You are left partially satisfied by a half-assed off-key amateur execution of your memories.
Why is Karaoke popular?
The real success of Karaoke is that the places that offer it to attract customers don't have to pay Music Licensing fees on those nights. Unbeknownst to most, the Bars, Restaurants and Nightclubs you visit all have to pay huge annual fees to ASCAP and other publishing houses for 'performance rights' of popular music. Playing copyrighted music in your business constitutes a 'public performance' and is protected by copyright law. Protect your business from ASCAP/BMI enforcement actions by only playing content from compliant and fully licensed providers. Even if they stick to public free radio, or bring in their own DJ, they still owe these fees, and there is a team of undercover investigators swarming your city to rat them out (and the fines are far worse than the fees). These residuals are all paid out to song writers for decades after the hit has left the charts, and is a poor excuse for a retirement fund. Jukeboxes are only passing those fees direct to the end consumer. I won't even touch on what having a visible Television in a public establishment also requires in licensing and fees.
So, Karaoke is a Cheap, Disposable Entertainment.
If you want to see Karaoke's influence on society, look no further than the explosion of low-licensing cost television shows that are nothing more than televised Karaoke contests: American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, The Masked Singer. It's cheap to license the printed music, the performance costs are under budget (and copyright managed by you), and selling ads in-between songs is straight up profit!
This lowest-common-denominator type of entertainment is encroaching in regular popular music culture; hence the surge in popularity of DJ's (Are they playing their own records? Where's the 'performance' or 'musical talent'? Isn't this just a traveling laptop playing a soundtrack of other peoples music?) or billionaire Taylor Swift (Talk about an echo chamber, Swifties; Note there's only backup dancers on tour, no musicians... Shows are highly scripted and 'synced' with an already recorded & tuned backing track crossfaded into the live massive video screen [no bad seats!] for impeccable, repeatable stadium-sized 'performances'.) Sure, some artists buck the trend and continue to perform live and play their own instruments, but that's becoming the rarity not the norm, and the fans will continue to worship these skilled musicians. You realize most pop songs aren't written by the artists who made them famous? They're shopped around for years on end as demos until it finds the right team to turn a polished turd into a bona-fide hit.
What's Influencer Karaoke, then?
Influencers (by definition) are trendy. They've listen intently to the trendy topics to find future trendy 'hit songs/concepts'. These future hits often are suggested from within their own echo chamber, and being obligated to the very fans that make up that bubble they'll turn their focus onto it (and also dole out attention and celebrity to the subscriber/fan for two news bits instead of just one!). Now, in an effort to appear prophetic, they've hummed a few bars of the talking points, and are now ready for their solo Karaoke performance of someone else's Hit. They didn't put the hard work into writing the song, or composing it's lyrics. They have no mastery of the skills to perform/record/distribute it, nor the memory to remember all of the lyrics. This is their first time trying to sing the song, and they haven't practiced it a thousand times like the original professional singer did.
It's their job compulsion, I get it. I've read up on this subject and am now an expert (Read: I watched a video, it was long!). Allow me to regurgitate the information I just inhaled all over my fans (Am I suggesting they vomit on their fans? Yep.) However, as I complained earlier about expertise, none of these Influencers have any; They're simply following trends and seeking an always bigger audience.