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The Rihanna Challenge

In this guest post, Kyle Bylin goes beyond his recent interview with Primal Branding author Patrick Hanlon and explores the importance of going beyond the quest for more fans (music crowds) to build a base of truly committed fans (music tribes).

It’s easy to say, No one will care about Rihanna in five years."  But it’s important to note that this isn’t about Rhianna’s career, it’s about the careers of many. 

It’s the difference between the support of crowds and tribes.  It’s the difference between blind faith and something to believe in.  Do you truly believe that if piracy ended and your CD had an end-cap display that your career would magically be different?  Or do you believe if you keep making remarkable music, engaging your audience, and building your tribe that over time you can make a change?
Rihanna

Four questions illustrate this reality:

  • If Rihanna left her major label, could she sustain her career in The Musical Middle Class?
  • If radio stations slowly quit playing her singles, how long would it take for you to notice?
  • If Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart quit selling her CD’s, could she rely on digital distribution?
  • If she had to rely solely on the support of her fans, would their relationship be able to last?

When you take away three pillars that a major artist’s career is build on, it’s hard to imagine…

their place without major label budgets, massive radio play, and big-box retail distribution.  The reality is that major labels are in the same economic storm as the rest of us, radio is slowly losing it’s audience, and that music floor space is shrinking everyday in favor of more profitable items.  If you think about it, five years is a long time in music.

It’s hard to destroy the status quo; if that’s what you are.  If no one cared when you weren’t being played on radio, if no one noticed your CD wasn’t on display, then it’s not clear that you have a tribe.  In The Musical Middle Class, it’s hard to rely on crowds, because they come and go with passing trends as they get older, but the the followers of a tribe grow together.  Rhianna is great with the members of music crowds, but with music tribes it’s unclear if she resonates. 

Two general examples of a much larger segmentation:   

The members of music crowds:

  • Still consume major label music
  • Still hear about new music on the radio
  • Still buy music off the end caps at Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart

The members of music tribes:

  • Develop complex tastes and has a hard time digesting mainstream
  • Hears about new music  through friends, recommendations like Amazon, and music blogs
  • Buy music from Indie stores, iTunes, Amazon, CD-Baby, or TuneCorner      

The  crossover members of music crowds who do use iTunes don’t know what to do when they can’t buy your single.  They heard Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” on the radio, went online to buy it, and didn’t know what to do.  The Hit Masters provided an answer to that demand, overtook the original on The Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at #19.  The publicity from refusing to be a part of iTunes and leading a strong music tribe allowed him to take Rock N Roll Jesus 2X Platinum, but it took 19 years and 9 albums to do it.  Five years from now, people will still care about Kid Rock because despite his mainstream success, he still connects and leads a music tribe.

The Rihanna Challenge:

  • What artists do you think won’t be around in five years?
  • What artists could survive on their audience without the three pillars ? (larger budgets, radio play, and store distribution)

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11 Comments

  1. Kyle-
    You made some great points.
    Soulja Boy is the OBVIOUS example to me. His stuff will resonate @ parties 15 years from now, but he’ll never be able to draw @ a typical venue. I imagine he’ll be playing the fraternity scene until he can’t no mo..
    Jam Bands are the epitome of bands that can survive without big time exposure. They’ve been doing it for years.
    In general, the big labels have catered to the crowds, while the smaller ones have built tribes…that’s what you call real “artist development”.
    Prediction: The majors will begin to shy away from the “crowd” artists and start focusing on acts that will be selling out arenas for years to come (i.e. ROCK bands)

  2. Artists that will not be around in 5 years (hopefully): Fall Out Boy, New Kids On the Block, Ciera…To tell you the truth I don’t listen to enough low quality music to make a comprehensive list.
    Artists that can survive off their fanbases alone: Flaming Lips, Wilco, TV on the Radio, Sigur Ros, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead…and yes jambands are a good example here. Those hippies are dedicated folk:)

  3. First off, I just wanted to apologize for the spelling of Rihanna. It was late when I sent the post in. I’m my own editor just like Bruce. I saw the misspell the minute the post went up, but change can’t happen as fast through email.
    Adam, thank you for the comment. I believe to many extents your correct about Soulja Boy, but you have to get him credit for going viral and getting signed like he did. Coming up with a dance that the world wants to mimic is certainly no challenge I could succeed at.
    Definitely, you look at Phish, Dave Matthews, and plenty of others succeed in that genre. People forget that it took 5 albums before Prince did Purple Rain. You look at many artists, their big hit needed to develop over time.
    Tooth, thanks for the comment. *laughs* It’s hard to list, because so many artists already are no where to be found. Your list is definitely accurate as well.

  4. First, an apology for the misspelling of Rihanna’s name its now corrected.
    One question I’m always left with in these kind of discussions it – does the artist have a choice? Are they just who they are and the audience connects with it or not. I know Pop artists have tribes. Not all, but many of Beyonce’s fans a loyal engaged music tribe. Is that because of her music or because she works so hard and succeeds at being so multi-dimensional?
    For those of us that guide artists careers – what do we tell them? “Be yourself” or “be yourself but pay attention to what they think of you”?

  5. True indeed, this article has hit the “nail on the head” so-to-speak. I’ve been telling every artist I produce who ISN’T considered a ROCK BAND, that you have 2 choices…
    1. Go for a record deal or
    2. Go for a CAREER
    ROCK BANDS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN SELL OUT STADIUMS OR HAVE LONG CAREERS!! Some artists use the platform of commercialism to take the “crowd” people and turn them into “tribes,”….like Beyonce, Kid Rock (who some people act as though he didn’t use the “machine” to create his tribe), Kanye West, Prince, Frankie Beverly & Maze….NONE of these artists took the TRUE grass roots approach to building a tribe…yet they succeeded in doing so.
    So IF an artist comes into the music business with the intentions of having a career and NOT just getting a record deal…like Rihanna….then that particular artist or band will see longterm tribal success. Bottom line is….YOU EITHER WANT A RECORD DEAL….OR YOU WANT A CAREER!!
    To answer Bruce Houghton’s question….BE YOURSELF, BUT PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY THINK OF YOU. Because if you don’t think about what “they” meaning the fans, think of you, you’ll most likely end up unheard of. Be yourself by not getting caught up in music politics, maintain the views of your core audience (tribe), and screw the thoughts of whoever doesn’t support your music.

  6. Since I cannot answer the questions in the “challenge”, I’ll have a try at the 4 contained in the text:
    * If Rihanna left her major label, could she sustain her career in The Musical Middle Class?
    Her producers certainly could, because they know how to get that sound and groove, whereas she is merely the poster girl and voice. So the questions are rather: Will she still be able to pay her producers salary or percentage? Will the producers rather aim another singer at the Musical Middle Class audience instead? Based on popularity alone, she surely could do it, but by indies being shut out of promotional channels dominated by majors, like say corporate radio, popularity can decrease quickly.
    * If radio stations slowly quit playing her singles, how long would it take for you to notice?
    I don’t listen to radio much anymore, so I wouldn’t notice.
    * If Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart quit selling her CD’s, could she rely on digital distribution?
    That is possible. You don’t need to be in the supermarket to sell CDs. Online and indie retailers would do.
    * If she had to rely solely on the support of her fans, would their relationship be able to last?
    Since she’s been aimed at the teenage market, and those people are known to be easy to influence, they might easily migrate away to the next fad (I don’t mean to be discriminating by the choice of that word).
    But I question if this are really her fans or merely people who regularly succumb to certain marketing methods, and who will move on rather sooner than later, when another product is marketed in the same way.

  7. Bruce—I don’t believe an artist can choose their following, but I believe there’s something to be said about the choices made along the way. If I remember right, Godin stated, “You can’t choose your tribe.” You simply can’t predict human psychology and connection, because who relates to your music, has nothing to do with related artists, and everything to do with life experiences or world view.
    What should you tell artists in relation to listening to their fans? I believe the most important part is listening, followed very close by truly caring about them. Being approachable and answering your emails, I don’t follow any artists at the moment where I feel like I could email them and connect about a topic or song.
    Sensi—Thanks for commenting and I’m glad to hear you liked the post. I didn’t mean to allude to the idea that Kid Rock could’ve done all this without record labels, it’s just that he isn’t a prisoner of it. 95% of his music, you’d have to be in his following to want to hear. We’ve come a long way since Cowboy and Only God Knows Why.
    Yannik—Thanks for answering the other questions. The Dream, the person responsible for Umbrella’s catchy hook, will definitely have a career. You right about radio, I listen to Pandora if anything. It’s possible that she’d be able to rely on other means of distribution, but I believe what I’m implicating is that she couldn’t do the same quantity of music sold that way. Great assessment of the teen market. Thanks for commenting.

  8. People, People
    It too Rihanna some time to get to where she is at, she is not overnight success, she did three albums, and really four, because the last album was put out twice, with what two more number one singles on it, she could kept them songs and released another album, she is the DEF JAM cash cow right now, and she has LA REID behind her, he knows hits, he is the guy that gave you the careers of people like Boyz II Men, Tony Braxton, and others with the soft side of R&B when Diddy made the popular choice to change the singers into thugs ala Jodeci, she will be okay
    She has more videos than i could think of, there is no other artist that has put out an album like Rihanna in years, whats the last album to have the total number of hits like she has had, with this album, and it started out the gate with Umbrella and rumors of a Jay Z romance (helped her alot with the gossip hounds, an artist can made on page six these days)
    Lets see if this makes a career, first single went to #2 on billboard, and first album sales about 2 million around the world, already the seed is planed to become international sensation, next album comes months later (why the rush) she hits with SOS #1 song, and with Unfaithful (another top 10) she took a strangle hold on MTV, and trivia (who is the female artist with the most #1 this decade) you got it Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad has spawned hit after hit
    So please use a less accomplished artist next time you want to say someone who does not have fans that will stick around
    Just the Facts People

  9. Mic,
    I’m familiar with her status and background, but that’s not the issue at hand. It’s the fact that we’re in a time where it isn’t clear that the ‘big’ will or can keep getting bigger. It’s easy to highlight one of her many career successes, but the issue at hand is how much economic momentum it took to get her to where she is today.
    Your probably right that Rihanna is a large stream of revenue for Def Jam, but do you personally know if it’s been enough to recoup the expenses? The biggest points were that it would be difficult to sustain that growth curve had the three pillars (label budget, radio, & distribution) of a major label deal not been in place.
    The reality is that major label budgets aren’t getting bigger, certainly not as big as they were 5-10 years ago. Big Box retailers are trimming back their music floor space in favor of more profitable items and radio hasn’t really adapted to the evolving marketplace.
    Your right, I could’ve used a less accomplished artist… But, it’s easy to take account of the billboard charts and look at other artists who’ve shared successes like hers that either aren’t around anymore or as predominate as they used to be.
    This is more of an exploration piece, not a career analysis, otherwise I would have brought more data into consideration. She has 1.4 million fans on MySpace, but it’s unclear if it resonates with the concept of a tribe or if there’s enough die-hards to support her career’s longevity.
    The economic momentum that record labels bring to the table has both made artists careers and broke them substantially. Thank you for commenting, you made great points.
    -Kyle Bylin

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