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13d (edited) • General discussion
winning in 2026...
Artists, Managers, and Labels that understand how influence and parasocial relationships function at both a psychological and economic level are the players who will win in 2026.
Since the beginning of the 20’s, hundreds of thousands of new songs have been hitting Spotify every single week. Millions of social media posts are uploaded every single day. There has never been more noise on the market. If we look at this in basic economic terms- supply has never been higher. It’s also never been easier or cheaper to cut high quality records- or put yourself out there in the market on social media. This homogenizes every release, every artist, every new song into more noise.
There is not a high demand for more noise.
Two things BREAK this paradigm- and successful artists and teams are executing with these principles in mind:
1 - The relationship impact (influence) the artist exerts over the audience is the actual product.
Influence has tangible impact. It is substantially easier to market and sell tangibles vs intangibles.
If it is clear that an artist makes art that is relevant for xyz reason, and it will change my life in xyz way, then its easier for the artist to sell that art. Life changing experiences are tangible. Ask anyone who’s ever seen Tony Robbins talk.
Most artists are selling on intangible emotion. “Listen to this if you’re going through heartbreak!”Poor value prop. What does this do for my life? No way to know. Scroll.
You can’t sell a feeling or a vibe easily. Building gap is basically impossible. Even if you do form connections with an audience, buy in on emotional resonance is low- you are going to get shallow conversions if any.
If we sell and market on the impact and influence of the artist, it is more likely we drive deep conversions because real life change is really tangible. We can get people to exchange time, money, and energy for something that measurably improves their life. Influence can and does serve this function well.
2 - The carrier wave for this influence is depth, vulnerability, and real connection.
The people really winning right now understand that the job description of an artist is not making music. The job description is being seen, and the best way to be seen is to be fully seen.
Artists who are embracing their truest selves, telling real stories, being completely truthful, creative, open, and raw, form stronger connections than artists who try to hide behind the music.
Many artists won’t share more of themselves than just the art they make- because they “want to be about the music” but the critical miss here is that music isn’t about music. Music is about people and stories. Events. Experience. Events and what we learn from those events change lives. Stories that feel real and art that feels real changes lives. If we optimize our artists’ careers towards that deep connection and impact, our ARTISTS’ lives will change.
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winning in 2026...
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