Build A Cult Following: Become A Master Storyteller For Your Music Project

today we're going to talk about the top

1% of music artists the main difference

between music artists that are at the

top and everyone else is storytelling

this is the biggest secret weapon used

by all of your favorite music artists

This Is How They Live the Life they live

of touring all over the world creative

and Financial Freedom and the fun toys

they get to have along the way if you

want to play in the pros of the music

world you have to become a master story

teller with your compelling story people

would notice you and your music in a

completely different way human beings

have been conditioned to listen and keep

up with great stories for centuries it's

part of our DNA and if you want people

all over the world to hear the music

you've worked so hard on you're going to

need a great story to go alongside

it having a brand that's just music with

no story is like having a soundtrack

with no movie The Modern audience

expects there to be a full movie it's

like when movies back in the day went

from Silent black and white films to

color and sound once color and sound are

arrived the audience expected that going

forward this is the same thing for

modern-day music artists the audience

expects the full picture so who am I to

even talk about this topic I have a

longer video that dives deeper into my

story on the neighborhood Art Supply

Channel 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 have worked with some of the world's

top music artists artists like Chris

lake side piece James hype isoxo and knu

Sullivan King and many many more as well

as has luxury fashion brands like otomar

PK and Fortune 500 companies like Puma

the cult creative's core competency is

creating the stories and Brands behind

the world's biggest artists DJs and

fashion brands today I'm going to give

you all the tricks and tools that you

need to craft a great Brand Story for

your music project so let's jump in and

before we get into the weeds of all the

different pieces let me first explain at

a high level all the sections that we're

going to cover and what it really takes

to have a memorable and engaging Brand

Story the anatomy of a good story is

like building a house so how do we at

cult build a house as brand builders and

storytellers the first question we ask

is where do we want to build the house

next we look at the foundation that the

house will sit on then we work on the

framing and the framework of the house

the characters setting plot and

structure and then we get into the

design and details and the style of the

house and finally we have the finishing

work where we look at everything as a

whole to see if it's a cohesive

intentional and beautifully built home

so now that you understand the framework

for this video let's get into all the

steps step one where are you building

the house for this component you need to

find the land where you're going to

build for story this is like choosing

the style of the story you want to

create in movie terms this would be

genre based like action drama romcom

buddy comedy horror future sci-fi before

you start creating the story you need to

know what Universe you're playing in the

best way to make this decision is to

listen to your music and then think of

your tastes if you you look back at your

life what are the stories movies and

shows that you loved growing up it's

helpful to make a list of those stories

and then mix and match the different

references from that list that would go

along with your current music think of

it as a movie and a story and that movie

and story is meeting the soundtrack of

your music they should go together

seamlessly and both align to what you

love and your taste step two creating

the foundation once you know where

you're building you'll now need to set

where the house will actually sit and

what kind of view you'll have from the

different parts of the house this is

figuring out how the story will be

unique by mixing and matching different

story and genre elements if it's an

action movie what makes the action movie

unique maybe this action movie is all

about cars and street race culture like

Joy Ride maybe it's a comedy movie but

this comedy movie is set in the future

and in space Maybe This is a hero's

journey story about an artist chasing

their dreams but it's shot and feels

more like a modern-day reality show

maybe it's a horror movie that's a

tragedy about consistantly facing one's

ego and losing and again the best way to

find this is to look at your list of

things that you love and loved growing

up and when you feel like you found

something a unique idea or a unique

blend line it up with your music does

the soundtrack match the movie and if

you can nail this you're in a great

space but without the next part the

house might be kind of shaky step three

designing the blueprints okay so now you

have the foundational elements of the

story so you can start to define the

rules of the universe when does the

story take place is it modern day the

past the future generally where does the

story take place is it in a city or a

certain part of the world this was huge

in the era of hip-hop so many of those

Brands were created on the backbone of

places where the rappers came from since

they were rapping about real things it

should be about where they were really

from for example Jay-Z has a New York

City brand position in perspective where

Kendrick Lamar has a West Coast Compton

point of view but your brand doesn't

necessarily need to have a real world

setting depending on the brand it could

be completely made up but either way

once you know where the story will take

place then you can Define the rules of

the universe so inside of the universe

what can happen what can't happen this

is important as it further defines the

story's uniqueness for example in enimo

Brand Story he has highly produced 3D

robotic characters and futuristic

environments where the characters use

performance movement and scenarios to

convey the feelings and emotions being

played during the show where Fran's

brand couldn't be more different his

brand is built on the authenticity of

his life and the real things that are

happening around him so he would never

present synthetic visuals for his brand

everything has to always feel real and

there's no right or wrong answers here

the right answer for you is what aligns

to you your beliefs your values and most

of all your taste if it feels deeply

authentic to you and your music you're

in the right place and let's quickly

Define authentic my definition of

authentic is that it genuinely comes

from you your life experience your taste

real opinions this is authenticity but

in the next section I'm going to talk

about character which is the reason that

people watch the movie and listen to the

story this next part is vital step four

framing the House characters who are the

characters inside of the story for some

artists this will be easy as they will

be the main character but for some

brands that are more built in a universe

this might not necessarily be the case

we have a saying at Colt that you either

play the brand or you play the man or

woman a brand like Tiesto has Tiesto as

the main character so all the

forward-facing brand elements and story

is about testo

it's his likeness on everything but

Brands like Eric prids or the gorillas

or excision for example these brands are

more about the universes that they exist

in many fans actually don't know what

Eric prids or excision even look like

but they can tell you all about the

visuals for the prids hollow show or the

metallic dinosaurs or evil Shrek visuals