How Top Artists Build Their Audiences Thru Branding

and if you're thinking about the brand

as a movie you should be looking at

social media as the scenes in this

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movie neighborhood

neighborhood hard Supply Supply

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often one of the main issues I see from

artists is that they're trying to show

the audience all of themselves every

side instead of the sides that are

authentic to their brand we as people

are complex human beings sometimes we're

funny sometimes we want to explore

sometimes we want to create sometimes we

want to rebel but to the audience it's

confusing when things are inconsistent

the strongest brands have a specific

point of view associations references

consistent motivations and are easily

understood but what is brand really the

way I like to think about brand is it's

a movie that the audience is watching

who are the characters what's the story

what do the characters care about what

motivates them once an audience clearly

understands what the movie is about and

who the characters are involved in the

movie then they can decide if that movie

is for them or not is this a comedy

movie is it a horror is it a drama is it

a drama what kind of movie is this

consistencies within the movie and good

storytelling is what it's all about

people use movies art and music to

Define their own identities movies with

strong associations references and

themes make it easy for the audience to

know if they care about what the brand

represents for example if somebody who's

wearing a shirt from the band Rage

Against the Machine there's a lot of

things that they're saying about

themselves outside of I'm a fan of Rage

Against the Machine the band they may be

saying that they're following what's

going on in modern politics or movements

having to do with social injustices

because rage through their music and

through their brand and through their

art has let the audience know what they

represent and what they care about so

then by being a fan of that band you are

a fan of the music but you're also a fan

of what the band represents and how they

think another good example Childish

Gambino Donald Glover he's using the

Childish Gambino project to be

expressive but he's also showing his

point of view his opinions the metaphors

that he has in his music videos and

music show what his point of view is

show what his opinions are and it makes

it really easy for the audience to

either identify with what he's saying or

not the stories or brands of these two

artists are really clear in what they

represent so for the audience it's

either for you or it's not but either

way it's clear so while I think

understanding this concept is pretty

simple how do you actually create a

compelling Story how does the audience

understand your story so currently most

artists are telling their story through

social media and if you're thinking

about the brand as a movie you should be

looking at social media as the scenes in

this movie and in your movie you

wouldn't post a viral dance or a

breakdown of how you made a track if

that's not the brand if the movie was

more cool dark and Moody it wouldn't

make sense to have a viral dance as part

of the brand this is something I see all

the time with artists because often the

artists are seeking engagement instead

of seeking good storytelling and these

are artists with great music they just

might not know yet who they are or what

the movie is about think about how

quickly whenever you're watching a movie

that you can lose interest in that movie

that maybe there's a scene that a boring

scene and all of a sudden all the work

that's been done to get you into this

movie and get you into the story you

start to check your phone you start

thinking about what you're going to have

for dinner and that one scene that one

boring scene can throw you from even

finishing the movie That's why nothing

that's shown in movies is shown by

accident it's all to drive the story

forward and keep you interested what's

going on with the story and the

characters so the sooner that you see

Brands as movies and the social posts as

scenes you'll start to see how really

good movies engage audiences and while

we're on the movie analogy thing what

are the best movies what are the most

memorable movies I know that everybody's

going to have a different opinion on

this but to me the most memorable movies

and the best movies are the weird ones

they're the ones that have unique

Concepts where they're referencing

different things but they're creating a

new recipe that's never been seen by

audiences before and what about a movie

with a great story great characters

there's some sort of lesson or something

for the audience to take away or learn

about the opinion of the artist that

made that movie often to me I feel like

some of the best movies or the movies

that leave me curious afterwards that

leave me wanting to research and learn

more about whatever the topic was of the

movie that I just watched and so then if

those are the best movies what are the

worst movies and again this is just my

opinion but to me the worst movies are

the movies that take pre-existing IP

thinking that the audience just wants to

see a recycled thing again makes exactly

that same thing puts it out and then

hopes that it performs well but it's

more of a money driven Endeavor than it

is an artistic Endeavor and those movies

are rarely box office hits Oscar winners

cult classics because it's about the

money and the business it's called the

movie business movie is first business

is second the music business or the

music industry music is first and

business and industry is second so

you've got to have a great movie you've

got to have great music before the

business part of it even starts and this

is what many artists are doing without

even realizing it they're looking at

other brands that are performing well

and they just copy what they're doing

this will never work because it's not

authentic to them and that other brand

already exists that movie's already been

done art isn't a competition it's a

unique offering of your point of view

your opinions and your taste that's what

the audience cares about that's what the

audience wants to see and hear your

taste your opinions not how well you can

mimic another artist so how can you

craft your brand and your movie a great

way to come up with ideas for your

script is to look at your own life

remember your past think about the

things that you remember from your past

that stick out in your mind

and are unique to you and your

experience in life what are those things

what are the first memories that come up

from childhood from teenage years from

high school from Early College days

those memories make up you and your

unique experience no one else has lived

the life that you've lived and that's

what the audience wants to understand

that's what they want to see that's

what's interesting to them is your

experience and then you take that

experience

and you put it into your art because

you've formed opinions through the

different things that have happened in

your life and those opinions May relate

to another person they may identify with

your point of view and the art that

you've made so then when you begin

writing your script you're answering

these questions what do you like what

are you trying to say what do you care

about what is this movie actually about

and then that starts to inform who the

characters are what does the set look

like which is the visual language that

goes along with your brand if you can

answer these questions you can begin to