The Artist's Cult
Most musicians think they're selling songs.
But songs are everywhere. Infinite, free, disposable.
What's scarce is belief.
A statistic - "10,000 streams" - is nothing. A story - "this song helped a stranger walk through grief" - is everything.
That's what people remember. That's what spreads.
Hooks, not hype
Attention spans last seconds.
A fan scrolling past your video doesn't owe you a chorus. You need a hook: a laugh, a surprise, a line so sharp they can't look away.
The hook isn't the whole story. It's the invitation.
Conviction is contagious
We're drawn to belief. To someone who looks us in the eye and says: "This matters."
Your audience doesn't need a marketing team. They need you - with conviction, with vulnerability, with a promise to show up.
That promise, repeated, becomes trust.
Find your tribe
You don't need 8 billion listeners. You need the right 8,000.
Speak to the overlap between what you care about and what they already care about.
That overlap is where the movement begins.
Stories beat statistics
Fight story with story. Don't counter criticism with "but my numbers are growing."
Tell a better story: Why you made the song. Who it touched. How it almost didn't exist.
Stories stick. Stats slide off.
The artist as cult leader
Not in the sinister sense.
But in the sense that you're inviting people into a new world. A world where your songs aren't just background noise. A world where following you means being part of something bigger.
That's the leap from music to movement. From playlist filler to cult artist.
The takeaway
Don't just release tracks. Release belief.
Don't just post content. Tell stories.
Don't just market. Build a cult - a group of people who see the world differently because of your music.
That's how art spreads. Not through hype. But through conviction, story, and the courage to say:
"This is what I believe. Come with me.
"