Transcription
Okay, so there's something big happening right now in music and barely anyone in our world is talking about it. In terms of content, it's affecting everyone's reach. And for those who know about it, they have an edge over everyone else in the industry.
The music artists that are winning and making millions of dollars or more per month, every month know about this change. They live a life of travel, creative freedom, and sharing ultimate connection with people all over the world. And all of this is coming from one source and one source only. That one source is the combination of great music and compelling content. And I don't love it either, but in today's world, content is the number one difference between a local artist and a household name superstar. And of course, the quality of the music matters, but today more than ever, content is king.
And this may not be news to you, but what is news is there's been a major shift in how the various algorithms of these social platforms are now trained to show people your content. And this change was apparently ultra quiet and most artists didn't even notice. So at a high level, this is what happened. The algorithms are no longer pushing your content to your followers. They're mostly pushing your content to strangers who look like your potential fans.
So based on that change, here's what's likely happening with you. You're making and distributing content that shows a variety of sides of your music project. And by doing this, you're likely confusing the algorithms, which if an algorithm is confused, it's not showing your stuff to the right people. If your content isn't built for the right environment or if it's distributed wrong, it dies instantly.
So, what I'm going to do in today's discussion is I'm going to break down exactly these topics. What changed and why with the new algorithms, why this is a huge opportunity for music artists in this new era. With that knowledge, then how to build content that grows and scales your audience. And then I'll give you the exact playbook on how to distribute the content that you've made to give it the greatest opportunity to reach as many potential fans as possible.
But before we get into it, who am I to even speak about this subject? My name is Chris Alba and for the last 15 years, I've been a creative director and brand strategist for some of the biggest names in music. 12 years ago, I founded my company, The Cole Creatives, which has done tens of millions of dollars in business. And in that time, our focus has been working directly with artists to craft brand stories and identities that stand out. Our main objective with the artists and teams that we work with is to get to the heart of an artist's current story, where they are now, and their unique point of view, and then bring the right audience in to meet them and their art. Through branding and storytelling, we package up who they authentically are. And then we create the movie that the audience is watching in a way that can be easily understood and goes beautifully with their music, the soundtrack. Once we create the movie, we look at how to market and distribute that movie for maximum eyeballs and ears. We've worked with thousands of artists over the last 12 years, and we've written the scripts and created visual identities for many artist movies.
And today's topic is a bit atypical for what we normally talk about on Neighborhood Art Supply. But the reason that I felt like it was important is that most artists today think that they understand content. They're entertaining people by nature and they know how to entertain. But in reality, most artists are actually playing a version of a game that no longer exists. The more they try and show variety and depth, the more they actually make things worse in terms of reach. And the more conversations I have with artists and their management teams, the more that I realize that most people miss this big change. So, if you actually want to grow your audience and increase your demand, then understanding today's topic will be absolutely crucial. So, let's get into it.
Section one, the new algorithm. So from 2020 through 2023, the algorithms around short form platforms like TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts was written around the concept of discovery mode. The platforms wanted to flood feeds with new creators. So the algorithm was rewarding the following: volume and consistency, clips, randomness, meaning like getting something new, trend chasing to get more people engaged in a moment, and then short bursts of virality.
But then in 2024, a shift started to happen and it's been ramping up ever since because now all the platforms have more than enough creators and more than enough content. The platforms don't need more posts. They need longer attention and retention of returning users. But why the shift? Why do they need this? Much of the way that these platforms make money for themselves and their stockholders is through ads. And the longer that someone stays on the platform, the more ad time that they can sell. So because this is the new model, the algorithm shifted. We are now in an era that a lot of the industry is calling interest media instead of social media. It's no longer what did you post. Now the algorithm is trained to ask what does this person care about consistently because once the algorithm knows that it can then serve them that and keep them on platform.
And then some of the algorithms are prioritizing sharing. But why would it prioritize sharing? If someone shares a post, the person that they shared it with then comes on platform. Then it's the platform's job to keep them on platform. The algorithms are still looking at engagement, but it varies platform to platform. But through engagement, they're all trying to decipher if the person actually cares about the content. So then attention and retention, how long are they spending with it? The algo is trained to think the more time that they're with something, the more they care about it. This may not be true, but this is what the algo thinks and what it logs.
So the platforms now are optimized for the following. First, identity. Second, niche resonance. What do you care about and from what niches? Third, predictability. You always seem to do this. Fourth, return viewership. You'll watch it again. And then fifth, the depth of connection. Were you into it this time around? The tech, in no particular order, is tracking all of this. Its job is to find what people like and then keep them on platform. This is what makes the platform successful now. And whether or not you like it, that's how the algo is built to understand human behavior and is making calculated decisions whether or not to show people your content. The reason you're even watching this now is because the algo knows your taste and it showed you this thumbnail and title as an option. You either consume something similar to a video like this, something adjacent to this topic, or one of my other videos.
So, what this all means is that your consistency of style, message, and world-building matters drastically more than an individual clip now because it lets the algorithm know exactly what you do and who to show it to. So, a consistent style, point of view, message, and world. What does this sound like? Does it sound more like traditional media? Maybe like movies or TV shows? Let's look at this. Think about TV shows that you grew up with. Think about your favorite ones. Before streaming, you had to tune in to watch something. But why were you tuning in? Were you tuning in because every week you were going to see a completely different thing and you never knew what you were going to get? Or did you tune in because there was a consistent style, point of view, message, and world that you liked. And within that consistency, you already knew what you may be getting. You'd been framed for a world that you were into, but something new and exciting might happen in this thing that you already like. That's why you consistently watch the show. That's why you tuned in. And by consistently tuning in, you were a fan.
So, the same but something new and different is how the writers, producers, and directors thought about their show. They had guest stars, but they didn't add new friends to the main lineup of friends. They didn't sub out or replace Kramer Seinfeld or move Jerry to a new apartment. Characters had arcs. Drama ensued. Conflict occurred. But the characters and settings of shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos remain consistent. Consistent style and format, point of view, message, and world.
So, what about other examples? What about reality TV? Reality TV has consistent characters, a specific world, a message, and a consistent point of view. That point of view being the audience as a voyeur fly on the wall. The Real Housewives, Love Island, and the Kardashians all demonstrate this. Another example could be game shows where contestants compete for prizes shows like Top Chef, Mr. Beast Challenges or The Price is Right. Or what about educational shows, edutainment type shows, shows like Ancient Aliens, Mythbusters or Pawn Stars? Or there's animated shows or cartoons, anime, claymation, cartoons, or now AI. Then there's comedy shows, sitcoms, standup specials, stunt comedy like Jackass or clip shows like Ridiculousness. These are all styles of shows that traditional media would program its channels with. The same thing is happening today. There's just less gatekeepers and more people making content on their own.
And then when it comes to music, think about MTV. MTV in the beginning was just about music and music videos. But it started expanding its offerings to different kinds of shows. Reality shows, game shows, scripted drama type shows, animated shows, and stunt comedy shows. All of this programming centered around a world of music. And if you go and you look at the newer creators both on short form and longer form platforms that are growing real fans quickly, they've adopted this model. They create a consistent TV show on their channels. They don't show every side of their creativity. They curate a few incredible shows. It's just a new version of TV. And because we're making content for the algorithm first now before real people see it, I know I don't like it either. But because we're making it for the algorithm first, we need to set it up in a way that makes it easy for the algo to know what it is and who to show it to.
So from a neuroscience perspective, it's repetition equals memory equals identity. Humans bond with a thing when the following happens. They can predict you. They recognize patterns and they know what you stand for. If they like all these things, a bond is formed. This is brand architecture 101. The platforms are now rewarding branding and content that engage primal human behavior. It's now about is someone actually interested. Not just did this go viral or how much content is this creator making. So you don't necessarily need a lot. You need good.
Okay, so now that's what's changed and why it changed. But next we're going to talk about what to do with this newfound information so you can maximize growing your audience.
Section two, the opportunity. So all day, every day at The Cole Creatives, we're working with music artists, emerging artists, mid-tier artists, and household name artists. The circles that we're in keep us in conversations with musicians all over the world. I can tell from having so many conversations that most music artists don't know about this change. Some have a bit of a sense of it because they see what other artists are doing that are having success, but many aren't sure exactly why and feel like their accounts are broken.
So what can you do if you see something that others aren't seeing yet? Depending on the type of person that you are, you may look at this as an opportunity. This is similar to when movies and movie theaters became popular at the turn of the century. There was a new medium of storytelling that instead of books or live plays, it became recorded visual stories and recorded plays. When movies actually became popular around 1905 to 1915, this is the era of what were called Nickelodeons. Nickelodeons were small venues. You'd walk in off the street, pay one nickel, literally 5 cents, and watch a short movie. They were cheap, they were everywhere, and they were made for regular people. Factory workers, kids, working-class families, everyone could go to the movies. Movies weren't exclusive. They were accessible, and they spread fast. By 1910, there were over 10,000 Nickelodeon theaters across the United States. 10,000 in just a few years. This new technology became a format for storytellers and creators to work within. This is when the movie culture was born.
So there was a handful of creative and entrepreneurial types that saw this new technology and knew that it was going to be big. They saw that there was an audience for movies and visual stories. There were viewers going to a specific place to be entertained, educated, and inspired. Does this sound familiar? So these creatives decided to get in the game and form studios. Small production houses that made, licensed, distributed, and sold these movies. And you may have heard of a few of these studios. There was Carl Laemmle with Universal, Adolph Zukor and Paramount Pictures, William Fox and the Fox Film Corporation, Louis B. Mayer and MGM, and then there were three brothers known as the Warner Brothers. The job of these studio owners was to produce and distribute content audiences wanted to see. That's how they made money, grew their companies, and became successful.
Now, I know you might be thinking, "Chris, I'm not trying to start a movie studio. I want to make music and perform." And I hear that. But what if by stealing the thought process of running a small movie studio, you might also find a multitude of ways for people to hear your music and see the artist that you are? Could thinking like a small studio owner and looking at the various platforms as free channels where you could distribute the shows that you're creating be the key to unlocking it all?
MTV was originally a single channel as a music-based offering, but then came MTV 2, MTV Brasil, MTV UK, MTV Hits, VH1, and at its peak, MTV had over 60 channels. The MTV programmers had to choose shows that they thought would resonate with their audience around the specific offerings of each of these channels. This is also similar to how cable TV and the rise of the various channels and offerings spawned all kinds of niche channels specific to one topic. The Cooking Channel, all shows having to do with cooking. ESPN, all sports. Comedy Central, all comedy. The Sci-Fi Channel, all sci-fi. The viewer may not know exactly what they were going to get with a specific show on a given channel, but if you were watching Comedy Central, you knew it would have something to do with comedy.
In the past, what many music artists would do is they would show the full scope of themselves and their content in one place on one or two platforms. They may dabble in the different platforms, but likely they focused on a couple. Part of what I'm suggesting here is instead of putting all of your content and all the styles in one place to switch the way that you're thinking about distribution.
So, let's look at this as an example. Maybe right now you're putting up live clips, you in the studio, you showcasing new music, your rants about life, your skits, if you have any, music video clips. All of this is going on one page. But what if you were to hone in on a few of these, but then give them separate pages? These subpages could be built much faster because the algorithm would know exactly what to do with the content. And then here's the kicker. If someone sees one of these subpages and then watches or engages with some of the content on it, the next time that they come on the platform, they'll likely be served from another one of your channels. And very often this is your main page.
So, let me say this again. I don't love that this is where we are with content music promotion now. But this is the new setup and it's up to you if you want to get in the game. And this doesn't mean that you're turning into a one-trick pony that only does one thing. It means rethinking the distribution model on the content that you're making and the ideas that you have. You need to make things and distribute things that don't confuse the algorithm. You want to set it up in the way where millions of people have the opportunity to see your brand. And here's the best news of all. You don't need to have dozens of different kinds of content. You can find your core formats and unique angles and make those as high-quality and valuable as possible. This doesn't mean necessarily that the content needs to be expensive or costly in terms of money, but what it may mean is that you're spending more time ideating, editing, and refining the content that you do have so it's as good as you can possibly make it. The reason they call it organic content is it organically starts finding its way to a wider audience because people are engaging with it, sharing it, and finding value in it. There's definitely an algorithm to consider, but in the end, it's still people. And in order to cut through the noise and the oversaturated world of content, you need to make intentional, unique, and well-made content from a specific point of view. This is how complete strangers will connect with you and your taste. We have a few clients that have been able to grow new channels by 10 to 20,000 new real followers with less than 50 posts in just a couple of months by using this hyper-curated strategy and specific formats.
So to actually see what I'm talking about in practice, let's look at these four accounts. The first one is called Vinyl Nights. So the concept is cinematic style record listening sessions. The subject pulls out a record, puts it on, sits back, and listens. The format and shots are specific and used over and over, changing the song each time. When you look at the feed for the brand, it's the same thing again and again. The algo knows exactly what it is, who to serve it to, and who has liked it in the past. Currently, this account is almost 700,000 followers in just a few months of posting.
So, the next one is one of our clients, Wookie. Wookie has a series he's been doing called Beats I Can't Release. So, in this series, he plays two different roles, and it feels more like skit-oriented content, but he brought it into the music producer world. One version of him sits at a desk making music, while the other version walks by hearing the song. The version walking by isn't sure if he likes the song or not at first, but then eventually he loves what he's hearing. Beats I Can't Release is the same format every time. What changes is the song he's remixed or the song he sampled. If you like what he's done in the past, you will likely give the new remix a listen.
So then the next artist is Emma who with her format. She's just filming herself on her phone making music. Her setup, composition, and framing is the same almost every time. If you've seen one of her videos before and liked it, you may give the new one a shot. You're familiar with her, her format, and her channel.
So then for a larger artist, let's look at Sage Brand Charlie Puth. He's using the same selfie video format of teaching the audience how music is made, music theory and music psychology. It feels real and authentic to Charlie and he displays his mastery in terms of his understanding of the music making process. The audience would be curious as to what kind of music the person making these videos may make himself. A quick note on the style though. What can happen if you slide too much into a zone of a teacher? You may change how the audience views you. If you're only doing tutorials, the audience may only come to you for that and then not your music. But with all these accounts, they have a short form series and ongoing repeatable formats. It's the same format, setup, and style, but the subject matter changes for each video. The algorithm knows what the channel is about, and because of the consistency, who to show it to. Just like a TV show, same sets, same characters, same style, different valuable story each time. And this same type of approach can also be used for long form.
And as an obvious call out here, none of this works if the content isn't good. Period. You may get lucky with one or two, but it won't be consistent. And listen, I get it. In my past life, I was a music producer and performer for many years, just like you. And I know the main motivation of why you got in the game is to make music and then play that music out to people. But if you can figure out this content thing with good storytelling, branding, and positioning, you won't have to worry about where your next gig is or the next opportunity that you'll have. You'll be more worried about what opportunities you're saying no to. Looking for the exact right ones to say yes to that are in perfect alignment with you and your mission. And again, this doesn't mean that you're only going to do one thing. It means that you may need to rethink the quality of what you're making, how you make your own unique formats, and how to take those ideas and distribute them. The more people that are aware of you, the better the shot you have of them hearing your tunes, coming to your shows, or bonding with them over the like-minded things that you both share. Because you likely already have great music. If you made it this far into a video like this, it shows how much you want to learn. You just need to combine your great music with strong storytelling and understand how to distribute the content that you've made. If done correctly, you can build an empire just like the movie studio founders we just spoke about. But creating good content isn't as easy as successful creators make it look. So now let's look at how to create memorable standout content.
Section three, how to build content that actually creates fans. So if you haven't seen it yet, after this video, go check out the one that's about storytelling and archetypes. And then there's this one about creating your brand's beliefs and forming your own cult. Pun intended. Those are both good deep dives on what I'm going to talk about next around how you can create real fans with content.
At a high level, how you create real fans is by standing for something and having a point of view that's consistent and comes from the deepest parts of your tastes. You make and distribute content that showcases the creative choices that you've made and reflects your opinions on what you believe. Now, that may sound philosophical and maybe confusing, but it just means be yourself. And if you're in a group, be yourselves. There are many exercises in the different Neighborhood Art Supply videos that can help you go deeper and fully flesh out who you are and exactly what your tastes are. But ultimately, that's what people want. They want to spend time, even if it's digitally, with like-minded people. Most of the real friends that I have in my life were bonded by some sort of shared interest or taste. We like the same kind of movies or music. We enjoy talking about similar subjects. We grew up in a similar time or place and have shared experiences that bond us. Or our morals and world views are aligned. Some people like having friends who are always in opposition to them, but that's rare. The more you make it known what you like, what you believe in, what your point of view is through your art, it's easier for other people to align with you and your taste. Put simply, a person may subconsciously think, "We like a lot of the same things. You seem to be consistent in your taste. I'll continue to engage with you." Where so many artists go wrong is they look at other artists for what they should do and then they mimic them. It's easier just to do what everyone else is doing. It's harder to define and be confident in your own taste. But every legacy music act, big corporate brand, household name live streamer, or well-known movie director. Have a distinct point of view, consistency, vibe, and strict principles.
Okay, so I'll get off my soapbox about being yourself, but it is the most important part. But the next most important part is how you approach actually building these series type shows that I'm talking about. I'm not going to get into the technical side of executing a specific kind of show as everyone will do something different. But here are some high-level steps and questions to consider as you create your series.
Step one, lay out objectives and mission. What do you want the content to do? How does it help tell the story of the brand? This is where you can plan how to attack your goals. Some of my clients are trying to go from being a known mid-tier artist to being a top-tier festival headliner. The goal is simple and clear. I have other clients that are trying to take the success that they've had and then build additional properties and products around the business and the content would influence those objectives. We have some artists that are more towards the beginning of their journey and they're just trying to break through and solidify themselves in the scene. And then we have some artists who don't care about any of these things, but they are solely in the game of challenging themselves to make the best art that they possibly can. It's important to know what the mission is because that will define the content.
Step two, define the brand. Most of the videos on the Neighbor Arts Supply channel are about this topic. But no matter what, you need to be clear on what the foundation of the brand is before you start building any of the elements. Have you spent the time to properly flesh this out? Or are you just shooting in the dark with content, hoping that it's going to land? Defining the brand will inform everything you do going forward.
Step three, define the content buckets. So once you have the brand and story, you'll want to lay out exactly how that story may be told across the different platforms. A hero brand versus a rebel brand versus an everyman or everywoman brand. They're all going to have completely different content buckets. And by content buckets, I mean the style of content and the formats that you're going to use to show the audience your movie. So for example, a hero brand should be telling stories and creating content around challenge and then failing or overcoming adversity. A rebel should have content buckets that have to do with chasing freedom and doing things your own way despite what the status quo says. An everyman or everywoman brand should be telling relatable stories and creating relatable content. I'm just like you, just a regular person, but living the life of a music artist.
So once you have the buckets, you'll need to then ideate on the potential series that could go into these different buckets. And then once you have those series ideas, you'll need to think about where they may go, meaning which platform. You'll then assign each series idea of where its home will be. And keep in mind that the new algorithm paired with the type of audience that you're trying to grow will define where you place the content. Different kinds of people interested in different kinds of things hang out on the different platforms. A big part of our process at Colt is discussing demographics when it comes to audience building and how that can be applied to the marketing efforts. Demographics basically mean what kind of people and where they are. This is part of what I was talking about before about finding like-minded people. Where and how you distribute could play into where your kind of audience may be hanging out. Where is your audience spending its digital time? There's all kinds of information out there about how age ranges, interests, and culture affects where people are digitally hanging out. For example, if you want to build with a younger audience, go to where they are and then present them your content.
Step four, deep research. Once you know the type of things that you want to make, why you want to make it, and where it may go, you can then begin researching and collecting references. There's so many ways to do this. You can, of course, look at modern-day social platforms to see what inspires you and what formats are working. But you can also watch old movies, study old shows like sitcoms, dramas, game shows, reality shows, talk shows, challenge or fear-based shows to get inspiration to make something new. The more diverse you make your taste and references, and the more knowledge you have, the more unique your art will be. We as human beings aren't that different than we were decades ago. We just have new technology. It's why new iterations of a similar concept or brand work with new generations. The packaging just may be slightly altered. For example, The Weeknd isn't Michael Jackson, but for Gen Z, he occupies that spot. And for many of them, he is their Michael Jackson. Or same with Lady Gaga for millennials versus Madonna for Gen X. Same archetype, similar position, but for a new generation. Different, but the same. The research phase around what to make is skipped by so many artists, they usually just dive into making content blindly, or they just do what everyone else is doing. But blocking time for proper research and study is a huge part of the process.
Step five, make the content. For this step, if you're treating it like a show, you'll need to have your format, script, shot list, editing style, and visual language all laid out before you actually make anything. There are countless videos online that can teach you how to do all these different elements, but make sure that you're doing the pre-production and setting yourself up for success. At Colt, we don't shoot a single frame of video or photo that doesn't have these elements defined beforehand in pre-production. And once you have all these elements laid out, all that's left to do is make it.
Step six, analysis. Okay, so now you've made some of the content. Does that content feel real? Does it feel like it's coming from an authentic place? This doesn't mean it needs to look real or candid like shot on an iPhone. It means does it feel real? The best art in the world has deep authenticity in it in some capacity. There's a truth to it. You can feel that it came from the artist. It doesn't matter the genre or medium. People can feel when something's real. This may sound vague or confusing, but when you watch it, do you feel it? And if you sent it to people whose opinion that you value, what did they think? You're also asking yourself, is it unique? Is this an exact copy of something you've seen a bunch of other artists do? An exact copy could work, but usually the best artist made when you combine multiple cool things into one new thing. Think of your favorite artists. Isn't that what they're doing? They're referencing things that they liked from their life, but they're putting a new spin on it in their own way. Do you think that the greats just do exact copies of things and stay great? Not normally.
So once you've done all these steps and you're happy with your shows, let's look at how you might distribute the content.
Section four, distribution. So now you have the content and you have a plan of how you're going to distribute. The key is to have people hang out with you and your brand. The more time they spend with you, the more bonded they become. This is why artists who have had one or two big viral moments or hits would still struggle to sell hard tickets. A viral short form clip is only a couple minutes tops. Imagine spending 30 seconds with someone you've never met. That 30 seconds was awesome, but how likely are you to remember them? But what if you spent time with people in bursts? You hung out with them 10 times, but for 20 minutes each time. Now you spent over 3 hours with this person. If you enjoyed your time with both people, who do you think you'd be more bonded to? Your brain doesn't really know the difference between hanging out with someone digitally or hanging out with them in real life. It's why my brother can game with his friends for hours and they all feel like they hung out together. It's why sometimes people will cry when their favorite show comes to an end. They feel like they're losing a long-standing relationship with somebody that they care about. They can watch reruns, but new conversations or new hangouts won't be had.
So, where I'm going with all this is the power of time and consistency. If you show up authentically and make things so people can spend time with you in your art, over time, they will bond to you. The more time they spend with you, the more bonded they are. There's research out there that shows that young generations feel more bonded to their favorite live streamer far more than their favorite movie actor. Why? Because likely they've spent more time with them and the streamer feels real to them. Watching them on stream, they feel like they know them. They may have never met in real life, but their brain subconsciously sees them as a familiar friend. This is why it may be valuable to make and have long-form content offerings alongside the short form stuff. In my mind, short form is really only there so that you can get to long form unless you have a ton of short form stuff. You want your like-minded friends to have options to hang out with you for longer stretches of time. Some of the deepest relationships I have in my own life are people that I've known the longest. Time equals bond.
So, while many of the other artists out there may be chasing clout and viral moments, spend your time thinking, "How can I truly bond to like-minded people? How can you get to know each other?" You're building a community, and you are the community leader, but the best leaders know their people.
So, here's the high-level recap on everything we've touched on today. There's a new algorithm across all platforms that dictates what's being shown and what isn't. Make it easy for the platforms to understand your content. Artists should consider creating shows instead of clips. Artists should think of themselves like channel managers programming exactly where their content should go and on what channels. Without a proper brand and identity, it'll be hard to grow a fan base on good music alone. The difference between good content and great content is defining one's taste, researching, planning, and adjusting through analysis and feedback. Real fans come from people who feel as though they see the world that you've created and have similar taste to you. Show them what you stand for. The more time fans can hang out with you, the more bonded they'll become. Consider long-form offerings as well as short form offerings.
So, that's it. I hope today's discussion has you thinking differently and has you inspired about creating content and how you're going to distribute it. Like I said at the top, I feel like this isn't common knowledge for most music artists out there. So, I thought I'd share and make it as clear as possible what I'm seeing. And if you need help with any of the things that I talked about today regarding branding, storytelling, or content strategy, you know where we are. All things The Cole Creatives, thecolcreatives.com. But until next time, good luck in all your creative pursuits and I'll see you soon. Peace.