By mere chance, I have been to two Catie Turner performances within a three month period. Not because I sought her out or was following her social medias at the time, but because she was opening for the artists that I was already committed to. That statement alone is not unusual, musicians within certain genres and aesthetics tend to circle around each other. It is not uncommon for bands to routinely go on tour together. However, what is unusual about this coincidence is that the performances I was slated to see were polar opposites. One was an independent artist and one was a band. One wrote R&B and one composed alternative rock. One was famous on social media and one was a home-grown band. From the individual artistry to the audiences they pulled, the overlaps were slim. However, Catie Turner opened for both.
As fitting as her gravelly pop was for both performances, the sheer chance of this occurrence can only be chalked up to industry brilliance. It ensures that Turner is put forth to a large, diverse crowd. It spreads her music organically, like a fire rather than something viral. Fans bring friends and romantic partners, people who weren’t even committed to the headliners appear in the front lines of a crowd. One never knows where the lyric will bounce or land when it comes to a concert, who will be singing the way home or who will be creating playlists between sets, I wish I had the metrics to back this tactic up.
While I don’t have the numbers, I do know that Turner’s musical history originates with American Idol. I do not watch America Idol, nor does anyone I know currently watch American Idol. And by the sounds of the crowd when she tells this story, none of the audience does either. It seems Turner has discovered the false promises of television and media. American Idol pulls a much older demographic than it did when it originally aired and Turner’s pointed demographic is much younger, the differing generations result in a loss in direct statistics. So all I can say is that Turner currently has well-over a million monthly listeners on Spotify. I’d wager that a decent proportion of those fans arose from Turner’s opening tour.
Turner is still opening for Valley on their current cross-state tour. While those are the only dates confirmed on her pages, who knows when and with who she’ll tag on with. Perhaps it’ll be three performances within four months for me and thousands of fans for each concert. Opening is an opportunity for the performer and the fan, who knows who each will discover?
Art in Your World 
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