At a moment when only an elite few albums go platinum anymore, big festivals are seen as saviors of the concert industry, and more artists than ever are charting the course of their own careers — what does it mean to be successful now?
It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves in numerous editorial meetings and have attempted to answer with this special issue, which features interviews with artists who are making an impact — or are hoping to — in increasingly nontraditional ways. We’ve even extended that specialness to the cover: On the newsstand you’ll find one of three different artists gracing this issue — garage punks Black Lips, Brit sensations Arctic Monkeys, and Midwest balladeer Bon Iver — each of whom currently enjoys the spoils of differing kinds of success.
Here are just some of the artists we profiled for the Success Issue. For full coverage, check out the July 2011 issue of SPIN, on newsstands now, and available via SPIN Play, our iPad app.
Arctic Monkeys: The Graduates
Black Lips: The Road Warriors
Bon Iver: The Craftsman
Eddie Vedder: The Hobbyist
Patrick Stump: The Gambler
Elbow: The Visiting Dignitaries
Skylar Grey: The Changeling
Lil B: The Human Meme
