Can you separate a musician’s art from their bad behavior IRL?
Cancel culture continues to be a contentious thing. What’s your opinion when a musician does (or is at least accused of) something bad? Can you separate the artist from the art?
A new study by TickPick of over 1,000 fans across all age groups and genre preference found the following.
- 52% say that they’re against cancel culture and that it should be, er, canceled.
- 62% say that artists must be held accountable for their actions
- 48% stopped wearing the merch of artists who have done something dodgy
- 36% have thrown away or deleted albums or music.
- 30% have unfollowed them on social media
- Over 50% say that they’ve stopped listening to at least one musician because they’re done something controversial.
- 2 in 3 music fans say it’s impossible to separate the artist from the art.
- The artists who lost the most support last year due to their behavior in 2021 were R Kelly, Chris Brown, and Kanye West. Weirdly, Bryan Adams has been ditched more than Marilyn Manson? WTF?
Let’s break things down by genre.
Read more of this survey here.
I can and do separate music from the artist’s bad behaviour. In one case, a singer/songwriter I’ve liked for years was accused, via twitter, of doing some bad stuff. The artist was a HUGE influence on me in my twenties. I struggled with some things, and those songs were there to help me.
To this day, criminal charges are not present. The twitter court has already released its guilty verdict. If a criminal conviction ever happens, I don’t think my opinion will change regarding the music. I might think of the artist in a negative light (more disappointment than hatred). At the end of the day, the music remains, along with the positive memories.
Vince Neil killed a man while driving drunk. Millions of people, myself included, still listen to Motley Crue.
I still love Ryan Adams’ music, despite all the women who said he was mentally cruel to them, including his ex-wife Mandy Moore. I might feel different if he was physically abusive, but he’s made such great music…