Transcription
Today, we're going to talk about how the largest artists in the world built their audiences from scratch and how you can do the same. Today's topic is what these artists understand more than most. They are masters at growing their audience and keeping their fans for life, all by understanding the psychology of their fans and what drives them to follow and engage.
If you want to grow your audience to the level of some of these artists, you're going to need the knowledge from today's topic because, from the business perspective of your artist project, the size of your audience finds a lot. The bigger the audience you have of real fans, the bigger everything in your artist career becomes: bigger shows, larger fees, better slots, more dates, more money, better lifestyle.
Most artists will just blindly make things and share things without really knowing the fans and why their fans are following them. Knowing why someone is motivated to follow you not only deepens your understanding of them but sets up a game where you can build a real relationship with them and deliver on your side of the relationship, even if you never meet. If you can understand this and make good on the promise of your side of the relationship, you can grow your audience as large as you want.
Now, who am I to even discuss this? I have a longer video on the Neighborhood Art Supply channel that goes further into my backstory, but I'm Chris Alba. I own a niche creative agency called The Cult Creatives. We've done tens of millions of dollars in business over the last decade, and we've worked with many household names in the music world, as well as Fortune 500 companies and brands. We've been blessed to help build hundreds of brands and craft thousands of brand stories and have been lucky enough to have the real-world experience of what works and what doesn't when it comes to brand and storytelling. I was a music artist and a creative maker of things before I ever started Cult, so it was by living first the life of an artist and then living another life where I was helping artists and creative teams where many of the things I now talk about came to light. So, in this video, I'm going to lay out all you need to know to both attract new people to your music and then how to keep them for life. Once you understand these simple concepts, it will profoundly change how you approach growing and maintaining your audience. We're going to hopefully make this easy to follow, so let's get into it.
People follow other people and their stories. That's a fact. The better the storyteller, the better someone conveys their position in story, and the better they are at bringing awareness to their story, the more people will follow. The reason people follow stories goes back to our need to survive as a species. The human brain is wired to hear stories and can help serve the hierarchy of our needs. I won't spend a bunch of time going through this on this video; there are really great videos out there on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but at a high level, it looks like this: Priority number one is physiological needs: air, water, food, shelter, basic survival needs. Priority number two is safety needs: things that are needed for basic safety, money, employment, resources, health, etc. Priority three is love and belonging: so friendship, intimacy, family, connection. Priority number four is esteem: so things like respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, freedom. And then priority number five is self-actualization. This is living life to your greatest potential, living inside of your true self. And the reason these are laid out on a pyramid is that normally, priority one needs to be met before you can move up to the next level of priority two, priority three, and so on.
So, when humans hear stories, the brain is looking for how the story can be used to serve its own needs. Early humans told other early humans stories. So, an example of an early human story might be: "So, I was walking the other day in the forest, and I was by the part of the lake where there are no trees, and I saw an angry bear. He seemed very upset and hungry, so I ran before he could see me." The person hearing this story is 100% paying attention to this one because he doesn't want to get eaten by a bear, and now he knows where to avoid. And two, the person told him what to do: if you see a bear, run. Another example of an early human story might be a single guy telling a single woman a story about his bravery. So he goes, "I was trying to protect our tribe from these other people who are trying to come and steal our animals. I hope I fought bravely, as our tribe means everything to me." And so the woman hearing the story is again listening with two sets of ears. One set is hearing that there's danger, there are evil people out there that are trying to take our animals and hurt our tribe. And then the other set of ears is hearing, "And if he's willing to put himself on the line to protect us, he would also protect me," and that makes me feel safe. So maybe I like this guy.
So, our ancestors told stories, and those stories played into our basic human needs. And this has been happening for centuries, and we are still playing this game today. The only difference is how stories are told, the reasons why we listen, and ultimately why we follow the storyteller are the same.
Now, before I get into the exact reasons of why somebody might follow an artist project, let me preface two things. First, people may only follow for one reason, but they may follow for multiple reasons, and it isn't always just one. It's often a more powerful connection for the brain when there are more than one reason to follow. Second, when applying this to artists, all these reasons usually accompany the fact that they also like the art. If it's music, they also like the music. So it's the combination of both: they like the music, and one of these or a couple of these things are happening on top of liking that music. Okay, so what are the reasons? There are seven main reasons why somebody will follow.
Reason number one: People follow because they are sexually or romantically attracted to a person. They imagine themselves with the person, and this lights up the synapses in their brain. Before we had technology, we were in small tribes of people, and it was rare to find somebody that lit up your mind this way as a potential mate. It is inherently part of the survival mechanism in our brain to recognize this. We, as people, are wired to need love, companionship, intimacy, and sex, so we are pre-programmed to find people to have these kinds of relationships with. And even if we are in a relationship, unfortunately, this part of our brain doesn't show off. What we do with the information changes if we're in a relationship, but the wiring is still there. And there's a lot of people, I'm sure, that would argue this particular point and say, "No, as soon as I got with my significant other, that completely shut off in my brain." And that may be true, but a lot of what I'm talking about is science-backed, where they've done studies with people who are in relationships, not in relationships, and when they see something they're attracted to, it lights up different parts of their brain.
Reason number two: "I want my life to be like this person's life. I want to be like this person." It's aspirational and inspiring to watch them. Consciously or subconsciously, I want to be them and live the life that they're living. This goes back to the survival part of the brain looking at someone who has a life that you want and using their story as a model for what you're trying to achieve in your own life. This doesn't necessarily need to be a life filled with wealth and stuff. Sometimes artists who are down-to-earth and kind have a fan base of normal people who aspire just to be down-to-earth and kind. Sometimes this has to do with power. The way in which somebody performs and lives their life feels powerful, and those seeking to feel that feeling of power and control will be attracted to and follow these kinds of artists. Sometimes this has to do with status and lifestyle. Ralph Lauren, the fashion designer behind Polo, Polo Sport, RL, was a master of this. He started by selling one tie but quickly formed his empire by telling a story of a wealthy lifestyle, and if you wore the Polo brand, you were part of that story about lifestyle and wealth. A more contemporary brand that's running the same playbook is a brand like Roode. The things associated with the brand are things having to do with wealth and nostalgia. If you look at the content Luigi, the owner, presents to the audience, it's life on a boat in Como, Italy, outside of the city of Milan. He's creating a mood board for the life you want to live, and if you follow him and the brand and buy the product, you are signaling to yourself and others that you're a part of this story. If you're a ruler, controller brand, somebody like Jay-Z, this is a part of what you're promising your audience: more stories about wealth, lifestyle, and ruling your kingdom.
Reason number three: "We are the same. This person is just like me. I see my reflection in them, and they confirm all of my biases. I understand and identify with the story they're telling. Even though we may not know each other personally, I feel like we would be friends if we did." This reason is big for a lot of artists and is a very strong reason to attach. Think about groups of friends in high school, secondary school. This is a time in life where humans are moving towards stronger connections with people outside of their family, and there are usually unifying factors and positions that their new group of friends shares. It could be a group that's formed around an interest and focus on sports. Another group could be more creatives and artists. Another group that could be tied together is their love of a particular game or gaming. Another group is formed because of their interest in fashion, and that's what unites them. Feeling like you've discovered another person or people that have similar tastes and a similar point of view is like discovering gold for many people, as we are all seeking that sense of belonging and purpose.
Reason number four: Raw entertainment. This person is entertaining and stimulating my mind more than the rest of the other noise, whether it's funny, controversial, dramatic, or creative. The reason they follow is to be entertained. Everyone needs entertainment to pass the time of life.
Reason number five: "I feel cool following this person. I feel cool being a part of their community." There's a status shift or a belonging that's happening. People use music artists, fashion designers, brands, movies, TV shows to define their own identity. Many people use their taste and their interests to define who they actually are. So often, you may like the artist, but you also feel cool because you like the artist. You may even feel this feeling of power, status, come over you whenever you put on one of their songs. You follow this because it serves your need of raising your status.
Reason number six: This is weird, different, or intriguing. Sometimes people will follow things that are just different, just because they're different. They aren't the normal thing that they're used to seeing because this different thing stands out in their mind, it lights up the brain. The brain thinks, "This is unique from what we usually see. Let's follow this because right now it's piquing our interest, and maybe it will continue to do so."
Reason number seven: My wise friend who advises me. Most people are looking for guidance in some capacity. Even people you would deem to have made it or have all the answers usually still have guides around them. Everyone needs a wise friend who can advise them on what to do next. Most people think of themselves as the hero in their own story, and they're constantly seeking their next sensei, Jedi Master, or person to help them get out of the Matrix. The reason people are following here is to gain information to further pursue their journey in their hero story.
So now that you have an understanding of the reasons of why people follow, now let's look at how you can apply it to your own brand. There's a few things I'm going to cover in this section where I'm going to reference some past videos I've done. So if anything doesn't make sense, I'd advise going and watching some of the past videos on Neighborhood Art Supply for more context. The main thing I'm hoping you understand with all this is your community and why they're actually there. Artists in the modern day are community leaders as much as they are creators. The community that they create is where other people build friendships, form romantic relationships, and create lifelong bonded memories of shared experience, all through the community that the artist creates.
Now, you're going to be your authentic self, and you're not going to change who you are for the audience, but it's good to know why they are there and how you could show up for them should you choose. It's like being in many relationships with all the people who are following you, and like a relationship, you shouldn't change your core self for others unless it's bettering you. The best relationships are reciprocal, where each party is receiving positive things from the other, and to know what it is that your audience is seeking can make you a better partner in the relationship to them.
Here's a few examples of how you can think about this as a community leader. For example, fans will often follow boy bands or girl bands because of the attraction they are sexually or romantically attracted to one or a few of the vocalists. That's why when people put together these groups, they give a variety of looks to the audience because people have different tastes in looks. Have you ever seen a boy band or a girl band where everyone looks almost exactly the same? Now, they may be the same race, but they often have different looks and are different archetypes. Now, if most people are following you because they are sexually attracted to you, that may be fine in the beginning, but just like many relationships that may start that way, the ones that are long-lasting usually have a different dynamic or friendship and connection for the long haul. So, if this was the basis for the follow in the beginning, and you were looking for more of a lifelong fan, eventually you'd want to move them into connecting with you for a different reason, as this will eventually time out.
Now, say someone is following you for information; you're their wise friend that advises them, like you were doing tutorials around production lessons, how-tos. It can be harder to get this person to buy a ticket to see you perform your music because that's not what the relationship is; that's not where they place you in the buckets of their mind. Again, this doesn't mean that you can't start this way, but just like the sexual attraction thing, you'll want to move them into a different kind of connection if you want them to become a real fan of your music to the point to where they buy a ticket for your show.
So now, what if you set it up to where your brand is all about lifestyle and aspiration, and the reason somebody is following you is because they want to be you? I realize that this is a bit of a weird setup for ego and maybe can sound narcissistic, but it's just understanding the mechanics of why someone is following. But if that was the reason that someone's following you is that they want to be you, as long as you keep showing them the life that they could live, and it's inspiring to them, they'll continue to follow. But this can often be hard to maintain long-term because the life someone wants to live at 21 may not be the life that they want to live at 45. There can be nostalgia here, though, and they may still follow even if they change, as long as they're connected with you and that connection was deep at some point in their life.
So, what if somebody's following you for raw entertainment? Then you need to keep the raw entertainment faucet running to keep them continually showing up in their world with notable entertaining moments. This is the game you're in with this kind of relationship dynamic. For certain entertainers, this couldn't be better news because this is all they want to do is create these high-level, entertaining, memorable moments, but not all artists want this to be the foundation that they build their community on.
Now, what if someone is following you because they see themselves in you and you seem to see the world in the same way? This is why many comedians can fill arenas. Now, they say the things that we're thinking, and they say it in an interesting, story-driven way. We relate to them and their point of view, and as long as they don't change and then we don't change, and our core perspectives remain the same, we'll be fans for life.
Ever wonder how to truly cut through the noise and get your music to a broader audience? The Cult Creatives is a niche agency servicing the communities and brands surrounding the spaces of music and fashion. Our unique backgrounds of being highly involved with some of the largest music and fashion brands in the world gives us a unique perspective on how to connect creatives with their audiences. We offer a variety of services including creative direction, design, photography, videography, and strategy. Head to TheCultCreatives.com to learn more. The Cult Creatives: not to be replicated, but if you try, we wouldn't blame you.
[Music]
Okay, so now you know why your audience is following you. So how can you use this knowledge? The first main way is to deepen your connection with your fans and lean into why they're following you. And when you're thinking about deepening any relationship, you're thinking about how you're going to treat them in the relationship. This is how you can now get tactical with this information. What can you actually do to have deeper relationships with the people in your audience, and how might this affect the content you make for your audience and the stories that you tell?
So, as we've established, step one is truly understanding the reason or reasons why people are in the relationship with you, why they're following. Now, what are some real-world examples of how you can use this to storytelling, influence your content? For example, if someone is in a relationship with you and your rebel brand, and the reason is because they think, "We are the same, we have the same views on society, the system, the status quo." Now, what if in your rebel brand content, you're doing the latest social dance trend to your latest song? This likely will not align with the reason that they are following in a relationship with you, and they may quickly move on to a different relationship. Their brain subconsciously thinks, "That's not why I'm here," and the brain will allow for a few strikes, but too many, and they're over it.
On the flip side, let's say you are an everyman, everywoman type brand, and they're following you because you are fun, real, relatable, and they see themselves in you. Then, say for them, one of the things that they love is learning a new dance routine and sharing that routine on social, and then maybe they have a background in dance or dance culture, and then funny enough, so do you, and this is part of your brand, this is part of your position. So, in this instance, it makes absolute sense to do the latest dance trend. You find a relatable common ground of fun in your connection and in your relationship.
So, for the "we are the same" type relationships or reason, your subconscious message to them could be: "You can count on me to express our thoughts. I will represent us. I will be a beacon for how we think, and I'll build community to find other people like us." Kendrick Lamar is a good example of this. In all of his work, visually and sonically, he's telling you exactly who he is, where he's from, what he represents, and he's honest about his authentic self. For his community, he's saying, "I'm one of you. I'm one of us. I represent us." And whether you love him or hate him, you can't deny the fact that he's built a huge community of people and hardcore fans that identify with him and his position. And by having this as an overarching message and position for your project, it will help you make all sorts of decisions in the future, knowing what you're trying to do with your relationship with the audience.
So, why this information is so crucial and valuable is because it informs you on the expectations of your audience. And remember, you are the community leader; you're the one building the community. You're coaching them on what you love, what you're about, and what they can expect from you. So, if you build a community that was founded on your ability to entertain at a high level, you can't be mad at the audience if that's all they expect from you all the time. It's just like relationships in life. Every day, you coach people in your life on how you want to be seen, how you hope to be treated. You coach them on your self-worth, your mission, who you are, who you're not, and ultimately what they can expect from you. And sometimes you're coaching with intention and doing it on purpose, and sometimes you're coaching on a tired default setting or from a place of past traumas, and people are not seeing you how you hope they would. This same dynamic is how it works artist to fan. The artist promises, "I'm going to make a thing and share a thing. I'm going to tell you what I stand for and what I'm about." And if this is worth you following or worth you being a part of the community, you can count on me to do more of this. We are committed to each other. Speakers need someone to listen. A musician needs someone to hear the music. A visual artist needs a viewer. And once that bond, dynamic, and expectation is formed, then it's up to you, the community leader, to make good on your side of the promise.
The second way to use this information is to better utilize your time with the audience. My wife, Lindsay, and I did an exercise once. And what the exercise was was listing out the things you loved most about the relationship together and the things you were seeking or hoping for from the relationship. And in this exercise, we made two lists, and it was such an awesome and eye-opening exercise because it told us exactly what the other person really cared about from the standpoint of the relationship. I didn't realize until we did that exercise how much she valued time just for her and I to talk about life. On my days off, I'm a doer; I love to fill up the day with all sorts of things to do. But this new knowledge from Lindsay now had me thinking, "When we get time to be together, I should block time to have more one-on-one conversations because she loved that, and I want to be good to her in our relationship." So I make this a priority, even though it might not be the first place that my mind would go when I'm scheduling a day off.
So once you know why the audience is generally there, you can plan for how you will engage the relationship. If the audience was there mostly for raw entertainment, you'd want to spend the majority of your interaction with them being extremely entertaining. You manage your time so that your main focus would be creating these moments for the audience.
And the third way is adding this into your framework of how you're building your brand and how you're executing that brand in the wild. If you watch my previous videos, you know that I say that I believe that modern brands are ongoing movies or shows that the audience is watching. I have a bunch of other videos on the Neighborhood Art channel that go into the details of how to craft your movie. But once you have your movie, you know who you are, what you're trying to do, what you're trying to say, and your position. With this new information, now you know why the audience is watching the movie, why they're following the story. And what I found in the last 10 years of working with all these artist brands and corporate companies is that often what happens when creative ideas are getting thrown around is that there's no filter for why those ideas should come to life. People often do an idea just because it's cool, it's a good idea. But imagine if someone put a scene in a movie just because it was cool and it had no purpose for the story. We've all seen this happen, and although those scenes can look cool, it often takes you out of the story. So the best ideas are cool ideas with purpose. There should be a clear framework for why those ideas happen. For most brands, whether it's music or corporate, their main purposes are to connect with their audience and better tell their story. And this is what we try to do with Cult, and that's what we're trying to do with the exercise in this video. We're creating a filter for how creative decisions can be made. Once you know who you are, the movie, and once you know why the audience is following you, you can get rid of a lot of ideas that don't apply to that relationship between the two parties. You'll save years of time just by having an idea framework because you'll have an idea and start running that through the filters, and pretty quickly, it'll probably die. And if it makes it to the end, you know you probably have a super strong idea.
Which brings us to the fourth and last way that you can use this information is applying it to your content strategy. And before we dive in, let me just quickly define content strategy. Content strategy is the specific organization of the stories and concepts that will accompany your music and be shared with the audience. So, for example, if you're a Jester brand, and the main reason the audience is following you is to be entertained, you can do some content that is more heartfelt, real about you and your life, but 95% of your stuff should be high-level, super funny, comedic content, content that is so funny it must be shared with friends and family or other people that I think might find this to be hilarious. This would be your whole content strategy and what you'd be posting to social along with your music.
Now, if you're a Hero brand, and the audience is following you with the "we are the same" reason, then creating content around the life of a hero doing hard things because they're the right things to do would be a great strategy for this relationship dynamic.
Now, if you're a Magician brand, someone like Prince, and the reason the audience is following you is because of how weird yet intriguing you are, you'd want to make sure that with your content strategy, that you showed your unique weirdness and your magic as much as possible.
Now, say you're a Lover brand, and the audience is following you because they are romantically or sexually attracted to you, creating content with themes of love, soft flirting with the audience, showing some skin, or embracing sexuality are all fair game with this relationship dynamic. Putting a large focus of the content strategy around these themes will be key to stoking the fire for this relationship.
Now, what you want to be careful of is when you aren't in alignment with your own goals, perspectives, and who you are in the relationship to the audience. Just like in the real world, why a relationship might not be working is because the two people that are in the relationship aren't aligned in what the relationship is all about and what both of them want from the relationship. And to be clear, I personally don't judge any relationship between an artist and their fans or why someone is following someone, just like I don't judge relationships between other people that don't involve me. I can have opinions, but I generally respect any relationship where both parties find value in the relationship. But what I'm trying to do here is empower you with the knowledge of these psychological systems so you can hopefully use it to grow your music project and bring your dreams closer to reality.
The key to all of this is setting the rules and terms for what the relationship with you and the audience is going to be about. Why are they there? What can they depend on you to deliver? How will you consistently show up for them? The more clear you are on this, the easier it becomes to build directly with people, even without ever meeting them. And once you understand the game, you keep playing the game and getting better. People are wired to follow other humans, and if your tunes are good, and you make your story clear, you bring enough awareness to the project, and you understand why they follow you, the sky is the limit on how large you can grow the community and ultimately live your dreams alongside them.
I know there was a good amount of stuff I covered today that referred to previous videos, so if anything didn't make sense, I'd go watch some of the other videos on the Neighborhood Art Channel. But I hope this helps you better understand your people and community and deepens your relationship with them. As always, I appreciate you listening to this and spending your time with me. See you next time. Peace.