Revisiting my portfolio and can’t help but wax nostalgic on the common themes across all my projects. For every success, there is a departure from the formula met with harsh reprimands from traditional management. Breaking through the barriers bled through the art, soaking through in a way it could never be extracted or reused. The struggle was embedded in the style and every marketing graphic, website, EPK, PR, and social media post was designed to both embrace and empower it.
Before revamping the Camper Van Beethoven website, guitarist, vocalist, and mathematician David Lowery hosted a profound breakdown of the adoption of style by pop culture that still resonates with me today. (I’ve even emailed Lowery to ask if he would put it back online.) While most look to the artist as the catalyst of influence, it is the supporting team of managers, designers, and fans that invest in the style and syndicated it into wide-spread adoption. The organizational flow reveals more about the nature of the organic syndication than the art that will later be defined by it in retrospect.
Lowery identified a linear hierarchy consisting of The Visionary, The Pioneer, and the Tool of Man.
The Visionary inspires the Pioneer. The Pioneer is copied and becomes the “Tool of Man.” While the last type profits firsts because that is their only goal, it is the first two that spend their lives happy and stable in their careers. Keep inspiring. Don’t copy what others do.
Examples of the progression can be seen during the grunge era with Mudhoney (Visionary) inspiring the teams supporting Pearl Jam (pioneer), later to be commercialize by Creed (Tool of Man). Even further back, you have The Byrds, The Beetles, and the highly commercialized boy band and TV series, The Monkeys.
You can see the cycle repeat with new artists entering the NFT space, each judged and labeled much the same as when we first shaped the 2.0 paradigm at the turn of the century. As soon as someone else – someone with nothing to lose – proves the concept, those that feared stepping into the unknown are the first to adopt, clone, and monetize.
While you can replicate the model, you’ll never retroactively inject the sound, look, or feel of perseverance into the body of work and, ultimately, connect with those need it to feel alive. All new models are met with resistance until they are proven successful. To succeed in building a universe that redefines culture, you have to embrace being a little crazy, being labeled “difficult to work with,” or even being fired.
Be rebellious. Be profound. Be a visionary.
No pressure.