Emerging musicians torn between publicity and authenticity

Young upcoming musicians say social media marketing is draining them of creative time, but they feel it’s too important to leave to someone else to do.

Many are having to make a choice between maintaining an authentic connection with their fanbase or delegating it to a professional social media manager.

When artists like AC/DC, Midnight Oil, and Crowded House dominated the Australian music scene, fans tuned in to catch their music between radio static on ABC-FM, or to see a glimpse of their blurred faces on MTV Australia. Today musicians broadcast their content on social media 24 hours a day, in 4K resolution. However, it is this accessibility which creates more opportunities for people to release their music.

 

The high volume of new artists pumping out their music across platforms like TikTok and Instagram means Australian artists have to work a bit harder to set themselves apart from the other 225,000 recording acts on Spotify, for example. Many up and coming artists have appointed social media managers to take care of the digital side of things, but young Aussie musicians have cited this as one of the reasons there aren’t more successful emerging artists.

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, a 2024 ARIA Award-winning rock band, believe the nearly 50,000 followers they’ve accumulated across Instagram and TikTok can be credited to their relaxed and genuine approach.

“A lot of the time I feel like there’s a whole label and management behind it and just doesn’t feel authentic to the artist,” said Neve van Boxsel, the band’s drummer.

“We’re at that exact age where we grew up alongside social media,” added Jaida Stephenson, the band’s bass player. “And we’ve kind of tried doing stuff like that before and it just doesn’t seem genuine.”

“It’s like reading a script,” laughed vocalist Anna Ryan, earning nods of agreement from bandmates.

 

Ryan, Stephenson, and Van Boxsel, alongside guitarist Scarlett McKahey, came together to form Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers during their early years of high school in Canberra. In November they toured Australia after the release of the deluxe version of their debut album, titled I Love You Too, in September, promoting on TikTok with tongue-in-cheek humour: “buy tickets to our tour so we can afford to quit our catering jobs,” and “raw dogging our 1 hour flight to Melbourne!”

“I feel like social media’s so fun! Like actually being able to interact with your fans, you know,” said McKahey, hands clasped over her heart. “You see them commenting and you see them replying to your stories, and I think it’s so nice being able to kind of have that connection with people.”

“Like just doing silly little fun posts,” van Boxsel added. “I feel like that’s more authentic to who we are.”

 

These sentiments are shared by many young Australian musicians, including Will Haynes, 16-year old Wollongong musician who has been writing and producing his own music for the last two years, releasing his latest single WESTHOUSE in September.

Haynes said it was important to him to have a one-on-one connection with his audience, treating them “almost as friends”.

“Me personally, I would love to have someone guiding me through the process with things like posting schedules,” the RnB artist began. “But I also feel like when you have a social media manager it can seem not as personal and you don’t feel like you’re dealing with the artist.” 

 

Unlike Teen Jesus, Haynes finds managing his own social media presence extremely draining. Juggling his high school studies and other extracurriculars, it can be frustrating to do the work that pays someone else’s bills — for free.

“I think it’s hugely unfair to be honest with you. I think it’s just not how it’s meant to be,” he said. “Because it used to be just about the music and marketing was more of a publicist or a record label thing. Whereas, now it’s like part of the job description which can be frustrating.

“Although it’s irritating to be doing the social media thing as an artist, that’s also the landscape of life now.”

Haynes, who performed as an opener for Budjerah’s Australian tour earlier this year, found his success after being discovered on social media when he was just 14. Soon after, he released his debut album changing? on Spotify and has gained over 16,000 streams on the platform since.

“I also think there’s some fun in it,” he added. “You can share more of the songs, and your making of them, and your image as an artist. You can sort of sculpt that a bit more, and control what people see.”

 

This, says Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, is the beauty of social media for musicians — anyone can do it.

“It makes it available for literally anybody to be able to get their music out there, which I don’t think has ever been a possibility before,” said Stephenson, eyes lighting up. “Twenty years ago you’d have to have at least some form of money or connections to actually be able to produce a record, and now you don’t need that. You can do it in your bedroom and promote for free.”

“It’s so much more accessible,” added McKahey. 

 

Triple J Unearthed, the ABC’s online radio station and new music hub, is another digital media platform that has been allowing young Australians to rise through the ranks of the music industry since 1995. Playing over 175,000 tracks from 85,000 artists, Unearthed shines the spotlight on a new generation of Australian music with competitions like Unearthed High. It’s also where Teen Jesus and the Jean teasers made their mark as Unearthed’s weekly Feature Artist in 2019.

“Having Triple J Unearthed is such a game changer for emerging artists, having a platform that not only cares about Australian music, but cares about upcoming and emerging Australian music,” McKahey said.

“So supportive,” Ryan added, nodding. “Having a platform to help you get started is so helpful!”

Main image by Meg Craigen.