Annabelle’s Making History And Nascent Industry

As artificial intelligences and automated processes promise to phase out swaths of labor, creative tasks like videography, writing, and production are questionably posed to become dominant forces in the economy. There’s a thought experiment out there somewhere that ends when the only work left is self-actualizing – singing, creating, and searing one’s identity into the stars.

A community of music creators is making names for themselves on the blue-chip cultural platforms, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and they could just be the prototype.

“These new platforms aren’t exactly like blogs; they’re more community oriented. All the people on TikTok doing what I do, we all started around the same time, around the end of 2020. And now we’re all growing and doing our own independent projects,” said Annabelle Kline-Zilles.

Community couldn’t develop without shared geography until maybe twenty years ago. The internet is home to a hundred thousand cultures now, all hanging on digital strings. With more jobs than a politician, Annabelle Kline is at the front of wherever our collusion course as a technical society will move music creation and the conversation around it. Alongside her TikTok, she created her small artist support platform, That Good Shit, and the two have worked in tandem ever since.

With one hundred thousand followers and a following, she influences an order of magnitude of our society. Earthgang, one of the most optimistically and successfully experimental acts in music, platinum record holders, and close collaborators with J. Cole, Meerba, JID, 6lack, and other genius level talents of both high notoriety and obscurity, did something that may one day stand the eroding sands of music history with Annabelle.

Earthgang’s manager, Barry Hefner of Sincethe80s, was looking for a music content creator to promote their album rollout and several successive tours. “He’s super forward-thinking, always bringing on young people. My friend David Peters, who works at Dreamville, recommended me,” said Annabelle. “They might be the first artists to bring on a music influencer to be a part of and promote their tour and their album instead of traditional press. They’re the first and only I’m aware of.”

Sincethe80s and Earthgang architected flying Annabelle out to join the band for the first half of a tour of their at the time unreleased album, “Ghetto Gods,” a heavyweight contender for album of the year and another page in the history of Atlanta’s and America’s contribution to music. The shows were completely free, rsvp and show up early if you want a spot, a bouncer will loudly and wrongly insinuate that J.Cole will be there, and you will be sardine sacked against a big dude with a bubble butt kind of affairs. It’s an alarmingly under-the-radar prototype of what will become commonplace: new media, entrepreneurial, vulnerable, and artistic promotion.

The band and its management didn’t give Annabelle any guidelines, and it stunned Annabelle at first. She had to store the nerve to call it to their attention.

“We hired you just to be you,” they told her.

Annabelle’s been industrious. Creator economies necessitate it. I went on a date with a TikTok star a while back who told the masses about her day to massive applause and sold personal planners in the digital wake of it. Annabelle’s designed and sold hoodies, custom playlists, and key chains with QR codes to personalized music selections. She curated five playlists for Tinder’s Spotify page like “Sending Thirst Traps.” That Good Shit hosts open mic nights, talent showcases, and Instagram live interactive workshops. The next step is a music festival.

Where you don’t accept money is more important than where you do. Unlike most of her peers, Annabelle doesn’t charge for placement in her playlists. You can’t healthily remove capital from any early business, especially an artist. For Annabelle, the long-term goal is more important than the short-term toll fees she could extract out of hungry artists. She’s in the game to promote the young, the experimental, the wild, and the uncontrollable, the vanguard of what’s next.

There are certain fundamental truths. Walkable communities produce happier and kinder people. Carbon isn’t priced for its negative externality. And ranking and rating art is akin to doing arithmetic in base lima bean. It doesn’t make much sense. How you engage is more important than your reach.

“How are you going to compare ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ and ‘To Pimp a Butterfly?’ Find some kind of criteria to put one above the other?” Annabelle understands. “People want something more genuine, connection, out of the music industry right now.”