Share It With The World

“Take what you want, take what you want But, you gotta share it with the world”

– Drake and Beatchild, “Share”

I was at the studio and set to record when my session was bumped. Some guy named Drake needed to come in and finish his mixtape. Back then Drake was Canadian famous – he was known for his role on Degrassi and only starting to become known for his rap skills. He was working with Beatchild and would

spend many days and nights at the studio crafting his early material. One of their collaborations “Share” would be featured on Drake’s breakthrough mixtape Comeback Season.

Part of Drake’s success is due to sharing. At the beginning of his career, his Myspace page (Yep, Myspace) was the biggest indicator that his popularity was on the rise. I admit, at first, I thought he had used the common practice of using a bot to achieve such high numbers of daily plays. He wasn’t selling his music. He was sharing it with the world. Same thing with his mixtape. Drake’s rise was viral. It was backed by word of mouth. You didn’t have to be told to share his music, you did it because it was so outstanding.

At the time, Drake was one of the first artists to use this strategy of giving his music away for free to build your fan base. Now Drake is one of the top-selling artists of all time. I’ve been fortunate to meet and connect with several successful artists before they had their first number one records or Grammy or Juno. One thing that they each had in common was that they possessed a skill so outstanding that I couldn’t keep it to myself – I had to tell someone about them.

Even though I am an artist myself, I didn’t view it as competition. I wasn’t jealous. I just knew that these individuals were doing something undeniable. It wasn’t unsettling, it was inspiring.

But as a veteran of twenty years in the business, I’ve seen artists chase success to the point that they’ve lost tens of thousands of dollars and been crushed by their lack of success.

You can spend money on online ads, hire a playlist promoter, or even pay for views hoping that it spurs interest, but no amount of money can pay for the best advertising tool – word of mouth.

The music industry has changed a lot over the last fifty years, that is one thing that remains the same even though the method is a little different now.

That is why I think that the most powerful button on the internet for creators is the share button. It’s the ultimate co-sign Attention is a valuable commodity especially in this attention-deficit culture. The share button means that someone has taken the time to check out what you are posting. They have listened to your song or watched your video which also means they didn’t just scroll past it. And even if they only listened or watched for a few seconds, it connected with them enough to make them take action.

They want other people to check it out. They are saying to their friends that your post is not only good, but that it is valuable and worth their time. They are also allowing it to be featured on their precious timeline.

For you, it means exposure. It means eyeballs. It means attention which can lead to a new fan and future sales.

And the best part? It’s organic – by far the best marketing tool.

Some people try to hack the share button. They tag you in their posts so that it will show up on your wall. And while that can work, it’s far from the same thing. If it’s a friend or someone that you are a fan of, then maybe you don’t mind that they tagged you. But most of the time it is just annoying. Especially if they are doing it a lot.

Not only have they occupied your precious territory without asking for permission, but now you get annoying notifications when people comment on the post. At first, you think people are responding to something you posted. Nope, it’s about someone else. As a result, the tag results in the opposite effect – you don’t want to check it out, you don’t want your friends to see and you may even consider blocking the friend.

If you don’t get the genuine share, the next best thing is the permission share. It’s when you make a post and ask people if they will share it.

Next level tip? Ask your friends and fans before a post if they mind you tagging them.

I love this strategy because you will often be surprised at who you will see pop up asking to be tagged. It could be a friend or fan that you haven’t heard from in ages. It’s great to see that they are still paying attention. This strategy is also a great way of showing that we are all in this together. Friends, family, and fans want to be on your team. They want to cheer you on when you get the success that they’ve been seeing you work hard at.