Neo Soul Lexicon: Visbility

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

This fourth installment of the Neo Soul Lexicon Series is devoted to categorizing the different levels of visibility attributed to neo soul artists.

Vocabulary Prerequisites
Before delving into visibility and to prevent any confusion or misinterpretation, it is worthwhile for you to know what we mean by the following terms: neo soul, neo soul artist, and contributing artist. When using the term “artist” in this installment, we are referring to neo soul artists as opposed to contributing artists.

Visibility
Visibility is the essential attribute that describes how visible a neo soul artist is to listeners, the media, and the general public. An artist generally falls into one of 3 well-defined artist visibility levels. These 3 artist visibility levels are collectively called the artist visibility range of neo soul. The neo soul artist visibility range is a continuum of the levels of visibility of neo soul artists ranging from the least visible to the most visible. In order to easily classify the visibility of neo soul artists for the purposes of more effectively finding, promoting, and reporting on them, we have isolated 3 discrete levels along the artist visibility range.

The 3 artist visibility levels of neo soul, listed in order of decreasing visibility, are:

Mainstream: Mainstream neo soul artists are easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. They are highly accessible through mainstream online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television, newspapers, periodicals, websites, and other channels. Mainstream artists include, but are not limited to, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and D’Angelo.
Midstream: Compared with mainstream neo soul artists, midstream artists are not as easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. However, they remain somewhat accessible through mainstream online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television, newspapers, periodicals, websites, and other channels. They are highly accessible through specialty channels. Midstream artists include, but are not limited to, Leela James, Les Nubians, Van Hunt, and The Brand New Heavies.
Underground: Underground neo soul artists are not easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. They are somewhat accessible to midstream audiences. They are primarily accessible through specialty and niche online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television programs, periodicals, websites, and other similar channels. Underground artists include, but are not limited to, Eric Roberson, Peven Everett, and Julie Dexter.

We welcome your thoughts.