The best businesses always seek to reinvent themselves. They build up a lasting audience and fanbase that makes repeat business a breeze. Far too often, however, businesses think too much within the box when they should really be taking inspiration from artists.
Musicians, in particular, mostly work through the same processes any business needs to grow, gain fame, and establish a successful business.
The difference? They use creativity. They use human connection.
Almost every artist’s beginning starts with struggle. Just follow UK dancehall artist Dertee and his journey and you will see many of the same characteristics all businesses need to adopt.
1. Reinvention
Every artist’s first reinvention is with their brand. Born Narada Rose, Dertee has been making music since he was 14, and even today, he has refused to give up. This phase of reinvention is something many artists know they need to do, but most don’t have the courage. It takes true bravery to reinvent oneself and to try new approaches, new songs, and new strategies to make your dream come true.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
2. Perseverance
It can take artists years, if not decades, to build up a decent following. It takes true perseverance to continue creating, collaborating, and performing before you make your big break, and it is this sort of perseverance that businesses can learn from artists like Dertee.
With his first album not seeing the success necessary to break him onto the national stage, he immediately moved on and began to collaborate with another artist. This perseverance paid off and earned him 1 million hits on their single.
It is perseverance that has led Dertee to not only create more music since his last step up in success, but to release another single during lockdown. Your business might not always look the same, but so long as you push through and continue to work in what you believe, you will find a strategy that works for you.
3. Connection
All artists have a leg-up on their competition in the business world, and that is because art is made for the people. People connect with it in ways they don’t wait with a business proposition, and even if that art doesn’t become a commercial success, it will still succeed in ways that many businesses cannot.
By using the same strategies artists use to build their own community and use their art to connect with their audience, businesses can build better foundations on their own.
4. Recognition
Dertee is a triple award winner of the Best Male Artist at the REYAC awards in Birmingham. He has played at events throughout the UK. He has even released music that has reached the #1 spot on iTunes.
Using these social signals, he has established himself better as a musician and built on his personal brand to expand his business model. Use similar social signals to boost your reputation and build better connections in your industry.
Up-and-coming artists go through the same struggles as any business, which is why there is so much to learn from them. Take inspiration from artists like Dertee — try to adopt the same characteristics that have enabled him to push from no-name artist to an emerging name in the reggae scene — and you will be on the right track to building your own business’ success.
