Tash Sultana Criticizes Social Media Algorithm

Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana is the latest musician to publicly complain about the time-consuming and groundless rhythm that internet algorithms are marching to and how the need to stay in the main feed overshadows the work of pouring your heart into a song.

While social media has provided a form of free and accessible marketing to uplift musicians like never before, it now seems that being able to wield a platform is becoming more complicated and more time-consuming than actually making the music. 

It seems the devil is in the details for social media users wishing to expand their reach. Unfortunately, the details are evolving at a speed that is unreasonable to keep up with.

You can be talented, but you should also play into the Apple dance, slick-back bun, and skibidi rizz of internet micro-trends that carve a new vocabulary for being ‘in the know’.

The Notion singer shared a clip on their Instagram over the weekend, showing a boomerang of them paired with an ‘eye blinking’ audio. Text over the video read:

“Apparently this audio makes your videos go viral but actual video and audio you put your heart and soul into never even gets seen? Do you agree?”

In the caption, they elaborated on this:

“Instagram has changed, and it’s definitely not for the better. It’s insanely difficult and boring to have to plan your output around an algorithm in order for people to even see it.”

Sultana continued, “As musicians I think a lot of us have suffered with the trap that can barely get you seen. I miss the old school way that actually meant people had a chance rather than trying to crack a fkn code that changes constantly and no one actually even has the answers for?”

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A post shared by TASH SULTANA (@tashsultanaofficial)

Amy Shark had similar criticisms of social media earlier in the year.

“I don’t know if it’s worth being a musician right now. It’s really not worth it,” she stated before jumping in about how her team was telling her to provide constant streams of social media content across multiple platforms. 

“Like, I’m gonna exaggerate this because she’s actually the loveliest girl in the whole world – from my label – but this is what I feel like I’ve heard this week... I love you, by the way – if she hears this – but... ‘Hey Amy, smashing it! So um, yeah, I reckon if you go live on Instagram, and then what you should do is, we should post some Instagram Reels, and then also some TikTok content would be good – we haven’t gone live on TikTok for a while, so we should probably do that...

“And maybe get some things up on Facebook! And some Facebook Reels as well. And while you’re doing that, we haven’t done any YouTube Shorts in a while, so if you could just get some YouTube Shorts up, that would be great. Keep going with the Facebook fan groups, as well – like, the fan page is doing really well. And also the Instagram Broadcast. While you’re doing that, if you could just be a little more present on LinkedIn and Tinder and Grindr and realestate.com, that should cover it.’ I’m gonna jump.”