Some bands never make it out of the garage. Some have a couple of hits. Others release a few good albums, before slowly but surely fading away.
And then there are the artists who seem to keep on going forever. These musicians truly stand the test of time, remaining popular decade after decade. It’s an impressive feat that involves more than simply having a collection of awesome songs. It takes a real effort to remain relevant from one generation to the next.
So how do they do it? Let’s take a look.
Sell-Out Shows
You might be able to stay relevant by staying at home, but it’d sure be a lot more difficult. The biggest artists continue to play live, albeit not as frequently as they did when they were first starting out.
And the best musicians don’t just turn up to perform. They fully deliver. From Bruce Springsteen to the Rolling Stones, legacy artists often put on huge, multi-hour shows that remind the public that they’re still the best around.
Media Licensing
Legacy bands are of particular interest to creatives in other fields. After all, they typically form a big part of the person’s musical education. As such, you’ll often see media completely based on legacy bands, such as games, or that use one of the band’s songs, such as in TV shows and movies.
At sites like Wildz, you’ll find slot games based on a wide range of music artists and bands from yesteryear, including Guns N’ Roses, ZZ Top, Ozzy Ozbourne, and Jimi Hendrix, which helps to keep these artists in the public’s consciousness.
Most major movies and TV shows feature famous songs, too, ensuring that the bands’ creations never truly fall out of fashion – and the fact that the artist often gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for licensing the song makes the arrangement all the sweeter.
Re-Issues and Streaming
Even the best albums of all time would begin to gather dust if they were left on the shelf. Famous bands from the old days are continually remastering and reissuing their biggest albums, which helps to return them to the spotlight many decades after the music was initially released.
And of course, virtually all artists make their back catalog available on streaming platforms such as Spotify. Once there, it couldn’t be easier for music fans who missed the band the first time around (because they weren’t born) to discover their music.
Working With the New Generation
Even the greatest artists can’t expect to be an instant hit with younger generations. After all, each generation has its own set of musical heroes.
One way that legacy artists reach new, younger audiences is by collaborating with more current musicians. We saw this in the collaboration between Elton John and Dua Lipa, who released ‘Cold Heart’ together, as well as in the collaboration between Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. It’s an easy, fun way for artists to remind younger generations that they still exist – and that they still have talent.
Social Media Buzz
There are a lot of great songs from the past 70 years, but you can’t expect all of them to be popular all of the time. Sometimes, an artist will have an unexpected wave of popularity with no intervention at all. Thanks to TikTok and other social media platforms, some well-known songs from days gone by have been given a new lease of life.
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, and No Surprises by Radiohead were all adopted by the younger generation after they became popular on social media. So if you write a song and it’s not a hit, remember that it might be in the future!
Mia Brooks dives deep into the beats and rhythms of the music industry, covering everything from chart-topping albums to underground artists. With a passion for discovering new talent and exploring the stories behind the songs, Mia keeps readers updated on all things music.
