Lizzo is feeling frustrated by the state of social media music marketing, which she says is cutting off her ability to properly promote her upcoming album, B*tch.
In a video posted to TikTok on Tuesday (May 12), the singer-songwriter started out by disclaiming — in anticipation of some haters commenting, “Oh, she’s just mad that she’s flopping” — that that she’s addressing the matter on behalf of all artists, and not just herself. She also noted that “in person, in real life, real people in the industry” have thanked her for speaking out on similar issues in the past.
“The algorithm-based way that social media functions now is destroying the music industry,” she then told followers. “If your algorithm is super serving you things out of order of when they’re happening, then the general public has no idea when music is actually coming out.”
“Back in the day, which was maybe even just five years ago, we used to get things [on our feeds] chronologically,” the Grammy winner continued. “Music marketing relies heavily on social media, but now, ever since the algorithm has been showing us things out of order, there’s actually no way to successfully promote an album where everyone knows your album is coming.”
Lizzo went on to say that even she has missed out on some artists’ releases that she was personally looking forward to. “Where it bites me in the a– is I have a private page with over 280,000 people who follow me because they support me, because they love me,” she added. “But even when I post on that page, I’m not hitting their algorithm.”
In the caption, the Yitty founder also wrote, “Don’t get me started on how the algorithm is racist & fat phobic.”
The video comes ahead of the June 5 release of B*tch, which so far has been preceded by single “Don’t Make Me Love U” and its title track.
Do you agree with Lizzo’s stance on social media? Will the algorithm control the music industry?
