We’re midway through the Amsterdam Dance Event, and completely hungover I’ve compiled yesterday’s notes of the conference into a few bullet points. Happy reading!
Create cross-border content:
Nowadays you don’t have to go on holiday or to niche events to discover new music. You don’t even need to leave the comforts of your home. Streaming platforms, algorithms and social media have opened up musical borders. But how do artists connect with these far away fans, if they don’t speak the same language?Subtitle your content. The boys from Kris Kross Amsterdam constantly chat Dutch in their videos, and although it should have been a global language, it’s not. Since they started subtitling their content they’v seen an uprise in engagement.
Try to learn a few more languages. It’s one of the reasons David Guetta is so popular, he speaks French, Spanish and English.
Keep in mind timezones, national holidays etc. By mentioning this, fans in those specific regions feel more connected.
Consistency and guts can help the brand become bigger than the artist
Marshmello is a great example of this. When he first started people thought the cover-up was a gimmick. However, because they’ve been so consistent throughout the years, the branding is so thorough AND they’ve very smartly cross-branded him with artists from different genres - it’s now a very strong brand. It’s giving him a wide fanbase. He’s not just a musical artist, ‘he’ has a weekly cooking show and just participated in Ninja Warrior - Marshmello is the brand < no matter who’s under the mask.
Artists can ‘growth hack’ their tracks
Growth hacking is all the rage, but I never realized creators do this too. Everyone is moving away from long production cycles, towards more aqile and realtime. And so are artists, the CEO of Soundcloud, Kerry Trainor, explained. Using for example Soundcloud they put our work in progress tracks, ask fans for feedback and then improve on it. It’s liberating, and it stimulates dialogue between artist and fans.
A hit is all about timing
Quick iterative cycles are needed these days to produce a hit, as it is all about timing. Just like tech, the pace in which culture changes or evolves nowadays takes your breath away. (Sub)Genres come and go a lot faster then a decade ago. A hot track today, can (will) sound outdated in three months.
Releasing a hit on the wrong day can be funest. Kris Kross Amsterdam once release a track on Christmas Day. Because the streaming service playlist-editors weren’t working that day, it didn’t get picked up.
But also the weather, political tension, natural disasters can all help make or break a track.