The Two Content Questions I Would Be Asking

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Enjoying this? Forward it to a music friend you’d like to be closer to and start a discussion!

Before we get started, I want to do some self-promo that you can be a part of. At 2 PM PST at NAMM, My Point 4 Cents is doing a meetup where you can ask us questions in the courtyard. Then we will be in Nashville at OurVinyl and Here BK in Brooklyn. You can RSVP and get more info here.

So this week is going to be a very simple but important newsletter. The smartest of my consulting clients often ask me how they come up with good ideas for what to make, whether it's music videos, short-form videos, tweets, or a photo shoot. I have talked to many smart musicians and their teams about how they come up with ideas that get a lot of traction and spread online. When I am asked what is the most effective way to spend time, writing a great song will always be first but for most artists this is likely to be second.

What Gets Shares?

The single thing that is most likely to spread on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube is what gets shares. Musicians constantly stare at how many likes they got, but shares determine what goes in the algorithm more than anything else. If you reverse engineer what you make, asking “what would a friend send to another?” you are more likely to make something that goes on to users’ feeds. To study what gets shares, it's easy to see on TikTok by clicking the popular tab for any artist who regularly gets on the FYP page.

How Can You Surprise Fans?

A pattern I see with artists who build fast and those who are popular is they are often asking how they can surprise fans? This is, of course, downstream from what gets shares since when your surprise fans, they see what you did and send it to other friends who are fans and say, “Wow, can you believe this?” This also creates conversations and word-of-mouth, which is the most effective way to spread things. Surprise can also be “what the hell is going on. I see this being perfectly done with Mitski’s impending album rollout. The surprise also fueled so much of Brat summer which I discussed previously.

How Would You Flip This?

After you have considered those two concepts, if you are still feeling uninspired, the best way to get ideas is to roll your FYP and watch what other musicians do, and ask yourself how you would do what they were doing with your own artistry in mind. Take it back to both of those concepts and generate ideas. The answer will often be you wouldn’t do what they are doing, but if you keep considering what they did and consider how you can put your own artistry and style on it, you can often get to great ideas. 

If you are looking to change the trajectory of your music getting heard and make your dreams come true, the time that will most likely accelerate growth is spent thinking about these concepts. If you study them and take the time to conceive them you are likely to see a lot more growth.