South Devon Music Scene on Spotify: Artists Going Digital

From Street Performers to Spotify: South Devon Artists Going Digital

A distinct summer vibe exists in South Devon with the sound of nylon string guitars resonating off the harbour walls, noisily backed by a thumping kick drum pounding through the floorboards of a pub and accompanied by raucous singing, creating an atmosphere that encourages holidaymakers to do their special hybrid of walking and dancing from one place to another.

The destination of your music is now more than just a one-off gig on a Saturday night, and you no longer need to wait until the end of the show to find out where you can share your music and receive feedback. The Spotify conversation that used to be only relevant in South Devon is becoming something everyone will want to participate in if they want their music to continue long after it has been played live.

After we have uploaded our music, the focus changes from "how do I upload my music?" to "how do I find listeners for my music?" Some musicians will begin to experiment withSpotify organic promotiononce they see that a song is connecting locally, as an incentive for them to increase their reach instead of just taking shortcuts.

The old map of discovery

For several years, the way South Devon has operated musically has been to work in circles and to perform in the places where there are already a lot of people. This would include the pub circuit, the smaller venues within bars, community halls, etc., in addition to a limited number of seasonal festival stages and an area where there is the highest density of pedestrian traffic (this would be the seafront). Buskers and street performers were usually able to tell by reviewing the weather forecasts when their gigs would be that week.

The relationship between the music industry and the performance industry is romantic at times but often very pragmatic. The financial benefits of a successful pitch spot can help cover the cost of your instrument strings and gas for driving to destinations. As a live performance venue, being able to schedule a weekly "session" for your band will allow you to continue rehearsing as well as bond with band members during the downtime of the off-season from live music venues when the tourist volume drops significantly.

The rules for local discovery are based on inter-personal relationships between humans; they include everything ranging from an eye-contact based request from the audience to someone yelling at you from across the bar to a bartender that genuinely enjoys the material you're performing and encourages their friends to see it live. People use the term "community" as if it were an established marketing term, however, in smaller, coastal areas, "community" is usually much more literal than people recognize. You get used to seeing the same people frequently in your travels, you quickly learn which of your material appeals to more of the locals and which material appeals to visitors who are already at least three ciders deep into their evening agenda.

One of the limitations of the "loop" is that it is only a short distance. If you feel that you have a good base of support from the same people week after week, just know that your audience will be gone by the end of the week. The locals are great supporters; however, their numbers are limited and/or somewhat spread out as well. A good number of talented street performers throughout South Devon have experienced this "fame" for one small stretch of promenade and lack of visibility ten or more miles away.

Why Spotify suddenly matters here

Although streaming services did not create an entirely new way to discover music, they have reshaped the way music is discovered. The traditional model of discovering music in a physical space, such as through live performance venues and open mics, has now become a digital model with user profiles, listener statistics, and algorithms determining where in the world your song fits in with others - such as if your song belongs to the category of Nashville Country music or Bristol House music.

Although that might seem abstract, the sheer number of streams is anything but. A recent report fromUK audiothat researches audio streams within the UK indicates that the total volume of audio streams will exceed 210 billion in 2025 despite a year-over-year slowdown in growth. If there are this many listens occurring, then being absent from music streaming is not actually a statement about how "real" or "true" an artist is; rather, it's akin to being invisible.

What I keep seeing, especially with local artists going digital, is that Spotify becomes a kind of afterlife for a live set. Someone hears you on the quay, Shazams a song (or just remembers one lyric), and later searches you out. If you are not there, you become a memory instead of a habit.

Indeed, ego plays a role here as well; it is rewarding for an artist to have someone in another country save the song; however, a more profound change occurs emotionally.... Instead of having something as 'one-off' event, streaming now allows us to have something that is repeatable; in essence, that same chorus, which resulted in a coin being dropped into a container, has now become the hook or that same thing that will be played hours later in a home, in an apartment, that you have never been to.

Three artists, same leap

To help put this into perspective, we must focus on People rather than spin-off products. In addition to hundreds of small-scale creative hubs that exist in South Devon, we observe a commonality among many such types. These include the busker, the songwriter, and the bar band. People lead very different types of lives, yet they are doing similar things.

1) The busker who becomes searchable

We will refer to this man as Jamie. Jamie's portable amplifier has endured far more district nature than ever humanly possible! Jamie knows what location most effectively attracts an abundance of people at dinner time and comes prepared with a musical selection that provides support to his audience to generate varying degrees of excitement; to move them from "I hardly detached from their music" towards "It seems I belong with them now."

Jamie's marketing efforts for a long time consisted of an Instagram link provided on a chalkboard sign. Eventually, he decided to release two CDs - not out of a desire for celebrity status, but out of frustration with being hard to find after a moment in time.

One of the most important things Spotify does for buskers - is to document intent. The fan that would have otherwise tossed a £1 coin into a busker's hat has the option to keep in touch with them, save them in their own playlist and return to listen to them later. Although it seems like a minor detail; in actuality, this simple change alters everything about the performer/audience relationship.

Jamie struggles with the mental element of busking, especially the difference between a physical room and a virtual environment. In a physical room, you feel the energy of the crowd immediately; in a virtual room, you receive delayed feedback; you have a stream of views over time, some saves and a certain area where people are listening that may keep you guessing. Therefore, Jamie must learn to be patient. Patience is not typically the first quality buskers develop while on the streets.

2) The songwriter who learns the long tail

Another example is singer-songwriter Priya. She performs intimate shows at cafés, open mikes and some small venues that give you the sense of being within the space; she creates that atmosphere. The type of audience noise (i.e., bad/too loud audience members) would spoil her performance because her songs are so personal to her, and therefore, she tries hard to play at venues that will cater to her and help create the right environment for her performance.

Priya's transition into digital means realizing that just because a song is her best work, it does not guarantee it will also be her best performing song on Spotify. The song that can silence a crowd may not have the staying power as a casual listener and that being said, does not correlate with how good or bad a song is. Rather, the difference lies in their differing contexts of each listener's experience with each song.

According to a recent overview on trends byDataart, the increase in "streaming" platforms which put a premium on artists retention and repeat listening behaviours is consistent with what many feel intuitively - you are now creating music simultaneously for two different audiences; one in a physical location (known as "the room") filled with real people (faces) and the other for a virtual / digital audience who are represented by the collective actions (tapping) of their smart devices ("the crowd") who also skip to the next experience (skipping).

What Priya has won is that streaming allows artists to utilize their entire catalogue of music. In the live performance world an artist is only as good as what is happening tonight. On a service like Spotify, there is an opportunity for independent artists to find their audience slowly by living within the long tail of the audience's mood base habits through slowly building a following. This is really where most independent artists are actually found.

3) The pub band that turns into a project

Lastly, we will talk about Tidebreak, a small band that started out playing only cover songs and classic rock at local pubs to gain bookings, but eventually began to create their own original music along their journey together. Their drummer had always wanted to pursue recording their music, while their guitarist preferred performing locally, and the lead singer was simply looking for enhanced monitor systems to hear themselves better on stage.

The act of placing songs on Spotify transforms a band from something that exists occasionally on weekends (to) a project that needs to be run and maintained. This also creates a need for someone to take responsibility for the profile, for someone to put forth the effort to create an image for the band, and for someone to repeatedly tell people five different answers to the same question of "What do we sound like?"

An amusing aspect of this is that this internal pressure can actually be beneficial to artists/bands. For instance, some artists/bands have never had an extended discussion about their identity; however since having their music available on digital platforms such as Spotify, artists are able to determine if the only people listening to their music are from a particular location (usually the local regulars) or if there is a subgroup of fans/bands located elsewhere who also enjoy their style of music. The ability to receive this kind of feedback is extremely enticing.

What "going digital" feels like

Digital distribution is most often discussed in a technical way, yet for most artists, it represents a shift in culture. Whereas previously, an artist's reputation was based primarily on word of mouth, an artist's reputation now exists within the context of digital distribution as representations represented on a 'Page Layout' and as data contained within Numbers.

There is also an odd sense of loss associated with this. Many musicians in South Devon appreciate the closeness of this small community. When they go online they feel as if they have left their village (even though many still perform at the same pubs). As they begin writing their bios, creating images and developing their sound, they find themselves creating an identity for other people to see.

However, the positive aspects of using this platform are substantial- a streaming service offers a wider variety than only expanding your audience worldwide. It also provides a connection to your fans. The Southwest of England has a very strong relationship to its seasons in terms of when certain songs are likely to receive attention from local audiences, so having an avenue where tracks remain available regardless of weather conditions or holiday periods is extremely valuable.

The impact that a venue's online presence has on local bookings is something many people miss. Although most venues won't admit it, they are likely to view you as a more credible promoter if you have a professionally formatted Spotify profile. It is the same as arriving at a venue with your own DI box, or other gear; it communicates that you take this seriously, and that you want to be professional.

Algorithms meet seaside reality

If you are used to performing in person, you may think that Spotify's algorithm does not fairly represent you because the convenience of performing live allows people to see how much work you put into creating and performing your music. However, because Spotify does not have any method for tracking the amount of time spent creating a piece of music, there is no way of knowing whether your efforts were worth it or whether they were wasted until your song catches on.

However, it is possible to find a method for navigating through all of this madness within recommendation engines. Recommendation systems tend to operate based on user actions: "save," "listen again," and how long users remain in a particular location or setting. This is why a song by an artist born in South Devon may gain sudden popularity or virality in an area that has no previous connection to the artist. The user is not consciously associating the music with its location, but rather associating it with their own personal listening habits and experiences.

A forward-thinking piece of contentLucidsamplesidentifies the way technology is changing the way people are discovering and listening to music. The real-life example of this translated into actions is a songwriter from Torquay creates a song; a listener in Germany finds that song and adds it to their study playlist, which gives Spotify the opportunity to determine whether this song may also appeal to "listeners like" those who found it. There is no promoter/street team behind you, and you do not need to make a flyer run; this seems odd to some, but in reality, it is very wonderful.

The point at which "buskers on Spotify" goes from being something new and quirky to becoming something that will eventually happen. The street corner today has been replaced by Spotify's algorithm!

When a song starts moving

Following the initial upload phase there is an extremely engaging stage of local artists transitioning to the digital format; your song has been released, you've had friends listen to it, your initial excitement has died down but if you're fortunate enough you'll have noticed something subtle developing; maybe a few new listeners who you don't know or receive a couple of added playlists that might have been added by a real person.

This turning point created a shift in how artists behave. Rather than the obsessive nature of whether their setlists were correct, they began obsessing about the "Fans Also Like" section. They started asking themselves if the photo of them matched the genre of music they were creating. Every artist noticed that there was at least one song that had a larger number of playbacks than all other songs on an album, and once they noticed that, they couldn't overlook it.

Indeed, some artists are using the initial traction from organic signals to boost that early interest. If you have seen improvement through organic signal after organic signal, I can guarantee you Conversations about Playlist Pitching or Light Promotion (using services such as PromosoundGroup) will come up amongst those artists to assist with furthering a track's reach without misleading with artificial demand.

Here's my perspective: many people mistakenly prioritize exposure over having a song that is actually capable of holding a listener's attention. If the song does not hold the attention of your local area audience, it is unlikely that it will hold the attention of a stranger on Spotify. The order of these steps is important.

South Devon stays in the sound

Musicians hold a sense of fear that digitization may eliminate what makes regional scenes special. Everything sounds generic. Musicians are dressing up their projects for playlist inclusion by dressing alike. The area surrounding them becomes a branding tool rather than a place they experience.

While it is possible for the South Devon music scene's Spotify story to be mostly focused on algorithmic discovery, there are also other aspects to consider. In addition to the search for algorithmic discovery, it is important to archive a culture, which, for many years, has only existed at specific times. For example, there could be a chorus that was floating in the atmosphere; a group of musicians who were very successful during two summer seasons then separated; or a songwriter who produced their best work but couldn't afford to record it until they had made enough money performing in local gigs.

Through streaming, these special times can be revisited. And, with streaming, the "local" part of a local sound doesn't need to be caged. So, while you might listen to a track about salt air in a town you have never set foot in, it still feels like salt air.

The change to digital formats is compelling artists to identify themselves. This is good for the artist as it defines the artists' role within the scene and gives the patrons an opportunity to help the artists, as well as these developing comforts with online-only support, long after the patron has been present at an event in the local community.

There will always be buskers along the seafront of South Devon and bands playing in pubs. That is a constant aspect of South Devon's character. But, in today's world, instead of just shrugging your shoulders when someone asks, "What was that song???" and mumbling a tune, you can tell them what it was!

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