Music Over Metrics: Russ

Atlanta based artist who at this point in his career is very well known on a global scale “Russ” hops on X formally known as Twitter to speak his mind about the music industry, artist, and fans using streams and listener counts to Guage ones impact, fan base, and or popularity solely based off of Metrics instead of the actual music.

I for one have never been the Soulja Boy type to “I was the first to” but if you been following me for some years then you know back in 2021 there was a shift that started to happen. I made it very clear that I wanted to focus more on the talent and work ethic of an artist/ creative rather than being focused on how many numbers one has.

After that I literally saw a wave effect of so many people speaking on the same topic and wanted change within the industry in regards to the music. As time has progressed from 2021 and many wanting change when it comes to numbers and Metrics, I feel alot of people have started to change how they view it but we still have a ways to go.

I agree with Russ because I know from experience how thw system works, gaging if one is truly lit or hot should be off the quality off music that’s put out, not off a metric that’s paid for.

Labels look at numbers which in turns makes artist seek to gain high monthly listeners and streams to have a chance to be on the radar. For me you’re talent, work ethic, and purr love for what you do is what will solely put you on the radar for w2c3nt. You can have a low monthly listener number and still be a way better artist, rapper, singer, and or performer than someone with thousands of listeners. Impact is what matters, how the music makes the listener feel? How can one relate to the music?

The day we can get back to this as a whole is the day i’d say we have truly have changed the game.

Whats more important to you? The popularity or the quality of music? Quality is going to do it for me everytime