Making and distributing music has never been easier.

Getting someone to actually listen is another story. In this episode of the Kick & Snare Podcast, Michael Nevins talks with Dorian Perron, co-founder of Groover, about what happens when an enormous and growing supply of music collides with a finite amount of human attention.

Dorian has a particularly useful vantage point. Groover connects independent artists with playlist curators, media, radio, labels, managers and other music professionals, giving him a close look at how artists are trying to get heard today.

Michael and Dorian discuss how music discovery has changed as influence has moved from a relatively small number of radio stations, publications and labels toward a much larger network of curators, creators, playlists, social platforms and algorithms. They also get into the uneasy relationship artists can have with social media.

Does an artist now need to be a content creator too? Can you optimize the first three seconds of a video and still be authentic? And how do human recommendations ultimately influence what algorithms decide to amplify?

Then there’s AI. If the amount of music being released already exceeds anyone’s ability to hear it, what happens as generative AI adds even more? Dorian offers a nuanced view of AI as both a creative tool and a source of an entirely new kind of oversupply.

The conversation ends with a different question: Does every artist need to “break through” at all? Or is it time for musicians to define success on their own terms?

ABOUT DORIAN PERRON: Dorian Perron is co-founder of Groover, a platform connecting independent artists with music curators and industry professionals.

Learn more about Groover: https://groover.co/

Topics include:

• The battle for attention in music

• Why distribution is no longer the primary barrier

• Social media, authenticity, and artist development

• Human curators vs. algorithmic recommendations

• How Spotify discovery works

• Playlists and independent curators

• AI-generated music and creative tools

• The growing oversupply of music

• The continuing role of labels

• Building a sustainable career without becoming a superstar

• Defining success as an artist