Musicians and brands have a lot in common. At WORLDZ on Thursday, alongside the dance duo Krewella and their esteemed manager, Jake Udell, Nue lead a master class on what brands can learn from musicians. We discussed the artist “roadmap,” how to achieve market share, and the ways in which these ideas converge around the traditional business cycle and brand growth. We call it the “Rockstar Business Plan.”
The Rockstar Business plan consists of:
1) Product – Whether it’s a great track or a gorgeous piece of merch, everything starts with a solid product that delivers against its promises, is beautifully packaged, and is highly marketable.
2) Vision & Personality – Aside from having raw talent that can be marketed, you need someone who has a clear vision of where they want to end up, who understands how their identity and personality can develop over time, and who is genuinely in touch with the purpose of their product.
3) Team – Who you surround yourself with is a difference maker in terms of degrees of success. Identify what you don’t know and what you’re not good at, and find people who can not only fill those voids but who have done so in the past and can apply their experience to your project or product.
4) Audience – Maybe you have three friends that show up to every show, or 100 fans that watch every video you post online. You have to pinpoint who else can be targeted and interact with them to bring more people into the fold.
5) Distribution – Once you have a scalable audience, you need distribution. You start with what I call “smart exposure”: getting your art in front of the right people, on the right playlists and channels.
6) Partnerships – Once you have distribution in the bag, you can align yourself with the best partners to open up doors to new audiences and crossover opportunities. Be strategic. Be ambitious. Always deliver.
7) Global – You want to be global in this day in age, but it takes time. Once you’ve locked down your market, you can start to expand, to think globally, and lay down broader markers for success.
At the event, everyone had the opportunity to display their knowledge as we broke into groups with an activity called Matcha Fizz (also a delicious cocktail, by the way).
Back in New York, it’s a new week with Fast Company’s Innovation in town and Halloween activities ramping up. I’m going as the festival highlight of my summer: David Byrne.
