Murder on My Mind/Sales on My Mind

Image result for ynw melly mugshot
Image result for r kelly mugshotYNW Melly, music artist was charged with two accounts of Murder on Wednesday, February 13th. His song Murder on My Mind was released in March of 2017, but by February 16th, after his charge of murder, his song shot up to No. 1 on Apple Music.

R Kelly, the R&B artist, was exposed as the leader of a sex cult in a documentary called "Surviving R. Kelly." Three days after the premiere, his song and album sales doubled, greatly increasing profits for the sexual predator.

There seems to be a gross pattern in which music sales spike after the artist has been accused of some horrific crime. What prompts people to listen to R. Kelly's music, suddenly, after he was outed as a sex offender. Is it curiosity? Do people simply want to hear the music of the man who assaulted many children? I certainly doubt it is to support the singer.

After a lot of contemplation, I realized that it is simply about attention. Any attention is good attention - and being charged with murder or pedophilia is a lot of attention. People are curious, people hear the artist's names everywhere, and next thing we know, their music sales have doubled, their song hits number one. Unintentionally, we reward these artists for being atrocious human beings.


Links -https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2019/01/10/r-kellys-sales-and-streams-spike-after-surviving-r-kelly-airs/2541287002/


Comments

  1. nikkie leeMay 21, 2019 at 10:08 PM

    i agree that any attention is good attention. it is crazy how we subconsciously support artists who are pedophiles, rapists, murderers, etc. this idea of "any publicity is good publicity" is also used in politics. everyone knows who donald trump is because of the ridiculous things he have said or tweeted, which attracts attention to him. meanwhile some other politicians who aren't as bold with their comments aren't really as well known.

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