When you watch the musicians you love on social media, it can sometimes be easy to slip into the trap of thinking there's 10 people making their posts for them. Because it often seems like way too much for one person to be this smart, brilliant, and funny all the damn time — Okay, maybe “brilliance” is pushing it with some of these artists…

And while it can be true that for some artists a few people might be working on their social media presence, that isn't usually what makes it so great. Instead, it's some simple philosophies and exercises that make what they post so much better than the stuff that you do.

In this newsletter, I'm going to show you how to develop content that can compete with your favorite artists, whether it's short-form videos or music videos.

Effective Content Development Strategies

What I do with this channel is pass on the knowledge I've learned from being in the room with much bigger artists and understanding what makes them tick. I bring these insights to smaller artists because I believe it makes the world a better place. We haven't explored this topic in a while, so I want to dive in.

Musicians frequently ask me about the most effective content for short-form videos. This is an important question because everyone wants their work to have maximum impact. If you've been creating content for some time, you've likely noticed certain approaches work better than others. Focusing on the right improvements makes a big difference in your results.

Philosophy Behind Content Creation

Let's first talk about the philosophy you should consider when developing content. I want to share a quote from Scott Galloway, the podcast tech guy who hosts the Prof G Show and Pivot. He teaches at NYU and does a ton of investments and podcasts and all this other stuff. But there's a particularly interesting quote he did that really hit me hard.

"If you think about it, all strategy comes down to one question: What can we do that is really hard? … What can we do that is so hard, everyone else has a tough time doing it."

Strategy In High-Level Marketing Meetings

When I've been in meetings with artists who have top management and labels and big teams that are brainstorming what we should do to market an artist, this is exactly what the people who really make waves do and think about. This is the jumping off point for the most effective content we can make. In these meetings, we set aside time to try to get inspired by this exact thought by asking the room this question “What can we do that is so hard, everyone else has a tough time doing .” and spitballing ideas.

We then try to get inspired by watching other people's content and try to think about what we see in other people and how the artists we're working with can authentically do it better than them by exploiting their strengths.

The LAMES Analysis Approach

And the way we reflect on those ideas is to look at the artist's LAMES analysis. Now, if you aren't familiar with why I'm talking about something that sounds well, lame… Well, this is a technique I use so artists can get to know themselves and the content, art and really anything they do and what they should be doing.

A LAMES analysis gives clear direction. If we have four ideas for a music video, the LAMES analysis tells us which one to pursue. Many of you struggle with decisions because you don't know who you are or what you're trying to achieve. Some of you tell me you want artist development - the LAMES analysis is the necessary first step in that process.

Why LAMES Analysis Works When Nothing Else Does

Don't start creating content until you complete this analysis. It guides every career decision and makes them easier to make. Instead of poorly imitating others, we find good ideas and take them further using the LAMES framework.

If you feel lost about developing short-form videos and great content, it's probably because you haven't done this foundational work. When we examine why certain artists blow up on social media while you wonder why nothing works, the answer becomes clear.

Successful artists understand their LAMES analysis - their aspirations, strengths, exploits, and misconceptions about them. They create content that moves them toward their aspirations.

But the key difference is they do something extreme that their competition won't do, just like Mr. Galloway said. That's what captures people's attention.

The MEER Concept

Minimum Expected Effort Required

Now, if you've been keeping up with this newsletter, you've probably heard me talk about this concept I call the MEER, which stands for “Minimum Expected Effort Required”. Yes. And one more time for the mouth breathers:

Minimum: is the least amount.

Expected: how much you think you need to put in.

Effort: the thing most musicians don't put in at all.

Required: how much you think you will need to do.

You Don’t Want to Be THAT Person…

Here's a real-world example of the MEER: If you're making a music video, you may say, “We're going to put one day into filming, maybe 5 hours of editing, tops.” since you think that's what you need to make a passable video.

Instead of paying attention to what I just said before, which is using the strategy of trying to do what your competition will not do, you adhere to the MEER and barely get a remarkable result. It doesn't get people excited about what you do or do you any favors when you put it out in the world.

MEER vs. Minimum Viable Videos

Now, I should say, because a lot of you are probably getting very confused right now if you've watched my video on “minimum viable videos,” because I said 6 hours is great to put in for that.

But that's if we're trying to do something that just gets the job done for the broken brains of the Internet. If we're trying to make something that really turns heads and gets you noticed, well, that's not a minimum viable video…

Different Content for Different Purposes

There's a difference between some of the content we're getting out there to keep the broken brains of the Internet stimulated and the content we make that is meant to spread as far as possible and get as much attention as possible. Rather than just being a vessel so the attention span-broken potential fans keep watching your videos, we won't waste time overdoing those minimum viable videos.

Real-World Examples of Exceeding the MEER

But here's an example of what a video that really exceeds the MEER looks like. My buddy Brian texted me the other day this video from the band Superheaven. It's this claymation video that goes beyond the MEER and perfectly encapsulates a weird vibe to the song that will easily get shared by their fans — Just like Brian shared for me to see it.

Now you can see bigger results just by working harder and outdoing people in the effort department and that goes with the “S’” in LAMES, which stands for “strengths” and the “E” which stands for “exploits”, which are resources you have access to that most other artists don't have.

Hemlock Springs: Leveraging Strengths and Exploits

If you want a really good example of this, I think a lot about hemlocke springs' video for “girlfriend” — which launched them from obscurity into having a big buzz in the pop world.

If you look at the video’s credits, it shows her using exploits like knowing someone who makes cool dolls and knowing an animator. It's a great use of resources and it plays on her strengths. You watch how naturally funny her comedic timing is throughout the video and it plays up the ridiculousness of the lyrics overbearing aggressive nature toward entering a relationship.

And looking at the numbers of how well this video is done, it sure spread a lot for a song that launched an artist from obscurity. Also, it's probably the only song I could think of where the bridge is what went viral on TikTok because it's well above the MEER of what people are normally doing on a bridge… Just saying.

Quality Is Not More Quantity.

And yes, there are exceptions. Just deciding to do 10 layers of harmonies misses the point. With music, you're trying to make songs as emotionally resonant as possible, not just beat someone in a numbers game like you are sometimes in videos.

That's not how it works. We have to remember you have to know what game you are playing and music isn't a numbers game. But hell, social media can be just about putting in effort and making a spectacle from a damn good idea. And that often just takes time to get to by asking the right questions.

Content Creation vs. Songwriting

But back to what we were discussing, videos and marketing. Making content is a different game than songwriting. Look at Mr. Beast, the biggest YouTuber. He really is often just throwing more thought and effort and going way above the MEER at his videos, figuring out what will be the most effective thing to make people wowed.

House of Protection: Masters of Low-Budget Impact

Here are some examples of musicians going beyond the competition and exceeding the MEER right now. Few groups make sicker videos on a small budget these days than House of Protection.

They constantly exceed the MEER and harness their exploits in videos like "Fire." They keep people amused by making cardboard box heads and performing ridiculous tasks with them. The end of the video even shows how they did it.

Coincidentally, right about the time that Hanumankind did a video showing the wall of death, so did House of Protection, which also exceeded the MEER.

They consistently exceed expectations in every video and go viral from it, getting tons of shares that drive their growth. They are a masterclass right now in low-budget videos that make you want to send them to a friend, which is really how you can get your music to spread fast.

Quadeca: Leveraging Natural Talents

A simple way of exceeding the MEER I think of all the time is from Quadeca's appropriately named track "I Make It Look Effortless," where they make trick shots with a ball look effortless.

Since in his past life, Quadeca was a sick soccer player, he had this exploit that made this simple but engaging video possible. I don't know if he looked at a LAMES analysis to figure this out, but it's exactly the kind of thing a LAMES analysis helps you discover. When you go past the MEER and think of a great idea that leverages your unique talents, well, the video numbers go burr.

Le Sserafim: Persistent Innovation

Le Sserafim has over a dozen videos promoting their song "Crazy." They kept pushing it in different ways after seeing the song was connecting with people, constantly reinventing ways to give fans conversation pieces around it.

From overly produced dance videos, to reacting to people saying those dance videos were all CGI and they were faking it, to then making really raw dance videos - this sparked a whole conversation around the song that helped promote it even more.

That all exceeds the MEER. And I know some of you are thinking, "I'm not good at anything but music!" Or missing some skill like color correction to make videos really great.

The Blue Sky Period

Replicating Success

Okay, on to our second technique. Some of you may have had success already and have done things that have worked, but have had a rough time replicating that success and are wondering how on earth do artists you love repeat that success over and over again.

And a lot of times you are all trying to break out of a rut or algorithmic jail and ask me about hashtags and posting time. But one of the biggest things you can do to get out of these periods where you're not doing as well is to use the MEER and go beyond what other people do so you make something really exceptional that people share and really do care about. This is the best way out of that algorithmic jail hell.

The Magdalena Bay Example

I think of a group like Magdalena Bay who regularly does this and they don't show up going past the MEER in every video, but when they do it, well, it usually goes really well for them.

@magdalenabaymusic

Meet 🤝your 🫵brand 🆕 image😁🤖👺

How the Blue Sky Period Works:

But I should say, the first thing all these people do, is they actually spend time getting inspired and really thinking about ideas. This means oftentimes brainstorming for an hour or more as you scroll through other artist feeds and write down ideas. But the key to doing this is to have a “Blue Sky period” and listen up because this really is the secret of your favorite artists, movies, and TV shows.

I learned this technique from the writing room of the show The Office, and they use this technique to come up with the really insane ideas you see all throughout the show.

The “Blue Sky period” is where you call out ideas and no one is allowed to call them dumb. Instead, you're only allowed to either move past the idea or build upon it and make it as imaginative and beyond what the competition would do as possible. This means you can take the idea further, but there's no negative commentary allowed at all during this period.

We want creativity rewarded, not discouraged. And as a record producer, I know most of the dumbest ideas lead to good ideas since they often inspire something that can be built on or for someone to go the exact opposite way as the bad idea. It's one of the reasons you try every idea, even when it sounds dumb when someone describes it, since the idea is often just the jumping-off point to something better.

The fact is, discussion in a positive building way really helps you get to better ideas, particularly encouraging the most adventurous ideas and going too far and then pulling back is how often the best material has been made. I've seen it over and over again.

And hey, sometimes you don't even pull back since the extreme ideas, will often go beyond the competition and exceed the MEER. But after you feel you have an excess of insane ideas, you then rein them in and vet and critique them to make sure they're as good as possible after the “Blue Sky period” ends.

Truly, TV shows will often start their season with a “Blue Sky period” for a whole damn month before really getting into the writing of the season since they know this is the crucial framing for what comes next.

The Snowman Technique

Building Off Success

Now we go on to our third idea: There's a structure to building off your social media posts that have worked and is extremely helpful for getting good ideas in the future.

I like to call this the “Snowman Technique” — but I've seen other people call it much stupider things… which is saying a lot since the “Snowman Technique” is pretty silly if I do say so myself.

Julia Wolf Case Study

For this example, I'm going to use the artist Julia Wolf, since she's currently high up on the viral chart with her breakout viral hit "In My Room" and she's doing smart social media stuff so she makes for a great example. So here's how I would think of replicating her most viral post, a slide deck of Ashley Greene.

Now, for those of you not fluent in millennial, allow me to explain what "lethal face card no one talks about enough" means. It's well, the person is underrated hot, and then it's a slideshow of some serious looks from this person.

How The Snowman Technique Works

So with the snowman technique, we think about how to replicate success by not just repeating the same template, but branching off into content your audience may also appreciate. Let's use Julia Wolf's viral video as an example.

At the top of the snowman for its head, we have the original viral hit - that slideshow of Ashley Greene that worked really well. In the body, we have directly similar content - doing this format for other Twilight actors, which Julia smartly tried. The Kristen Stewart version didn't hit as hard, and neither did the one with that weirdo dude from the movie. So they moved on.

The arms of the snowman are where you make slight divergences from the original format. One arm could be doing similar slideshows but with other millennial cultural touchstones that appeal to fans of heavy rock artists like Julia Wolf - maybe characters from Hunger Games or Divergent. The other arm could be applying the same format to music groups with similar cultural appeal - My Chemical Romance seems like an obvious choice here.

The legs represent larger deviations from the original. This could be a format like "when you see this MF come on screen, you know he's going to say some wild stuff" with a picture of Robert Pattinson in Twilight. Or another leg could be "lethal face card don’t talk about enough" with a slideshow of Megan Fox stills from the movie “Jennifer’s Body” looking bad af as she did in that role.

South Arcade: Masters of the Technique

If you want to study artists who excel at this technique, South Arcade are the undisputed kings of short-form video. They constantly iterate on templates that work, using Y2K cultural touchstones and hitting similar but different notes that resonate with their audience.

All these variations relate to your original successful idea. As new variations succeed, you create new snowmen based on those hits, slowly building a network of content that feels seamless and authentic to your audience.

Every successful video becomes the head of a new snowman, allowing you to evolve and grow your audience organically.

Failing Is The Process

Embrace Mediocrity and Iterate

I have more than a few friends with more than a million followers on social media — I know, clearly I'm very cool and I get to hang out with people who are obsessed with being on their phones while hanging out instead of enjoying each other's company and talking to me. No really, it's a glamorous life.

But what my oh-so-cool friends with millions of followers will tell you, is that not enough people seem to say out loud that it's okay to make mediocre stuff from time to time and not have every single post be a hit.

Learn From Successful Creators

They will always tell you don’t be so precious about what you post and when something doesn't hit, try it again since you never know if you've done it well enough or if there was just something off.

On my members’ channel, when we study the artists who go viral the most, we see they often try the same idea multiple times until they refine it and when it hits, they repeat it over and over until it stops working.

The Formula For Success

The formula here remains:

acting fast + asking yourself what can outdo the competition using freeform brainstorming + reiterating past success + not getting discouraged when you fail = how people win at social media.

The big takeaway here is that artists just try to improve upon an idea until it works.