The New Status Symbols in the Music Industry (And Why Fame Doesn't Work Anymore)

I spent years at MTV Europe when a rotation slot could make an artist’s career across a dozen countries at once.

Back then, status was simple. Undeniable.

The gold record. The sold-out room. The headline slot. A spot on Braun’s European Top 20 chart. Ray Cokes or Pip Dann introducing your video.

You either had it or you didn’t. And when you had it, the whole continent knew.

Then the internet did its thing: it turned scarcity into abundance, and abundance into noise.

I watched it happen in real time. The mechanisms we used to gatekeep (video rotation, chart positions, premiere slots) became quaint. Then irrelevant. Now everyone’s dropping. Everyone’s charting. Everyone’s viral for 48 hours.

Success became so visible it became invisible - algorithmic wallpaper you scroll past without blinking.

Here’s what I learned watching generations of artists chase the same symbols across every territory: status dies the moment everyone can have it.

Status was never about the plaque or the number. It was about what couldn’t be faked. What couldn’t be bought. What couldn’t be gamed.

In music, that’s no longer visual. It’s behavioral.

The artists who mattered at MTV Europe weren’t always the biggest. They were the ones who made choices. Who said no. Who protected something we couldn’t see but could feel.

The new status symbols aren’t on walls. They’re in calendars and contracts and quiet rooms where the work happens.

Choosing not to chase. Choosing silence. Choosing ten people who care over ten thousand who don’t. Choosing to finish the work instead of feeding the feed.

Real status now? It’s having time. Creative control. An audience that leans in instead of scrolls by.

Anyone can upload. Few make people wait.

Anyone can buy attention. Few earn permission.

Anyone can look like they’ve made it. Few can step away from the machine and still be missed.

I’ve seen both eras. The before and the after.

After luxury comes discipline. After fame comes resonance. After being seen comes mattering.

That’s where status lives now.

Not in what everyone sees, but in what no one else can replicate.