25: Finding Your Voice
with Andrew Ousley
Andrew, earlier you mentioned the importance of an artist figuring out what is their story to tell and how do they find an authentic voice online. So there's a lot of artists that share a great deal of themselves online these days, and there are so many different ways to present yourself to the world. So how can an artist begin to find their voice in how they present themselves?
Yeah, I think you have to start with social media, with the idea of your story and your voice, and so you have to understand, What, what are you trying to tell about yourself? What are the story points? And this is-- sort of goes into branding and publicity as well, but it's very important for every artist to have an understanding of five, six points that differentiate them, that are their most compelling differentiators in both musical, extra musical, and everything in between.But the things that are most unique to their story. And I think understanding those and the higher-level impression that they want to make on people is very important to understand before you start to think about social media, because that will refine the kinds of content and the way that you talk about that content. So thinking about that I think is just an important first step.
And then in terms of the voice, to me, it is important to have the voice be authentic. You should sound online the way that you sound in life. And you should use the words you use, the phrases you use, the energy that you have.
Trying to adapt a different voice, like, like we were saying with TwoSet, it's going to come across as false ultimately and it's going to be exhausting, because you're going to have to be somebody else half the time.
So I think that said, it's important to solicit feedback in that regard and ask your friends, your colleagues, people who you trust, who are invested in your career from time to time. Just check in and say, Hey, just want to get your temperature. Like, how does my social media sound? Like, how do, do you hear me in these posts?
And that kind of occasional gut check is very valuable, and it's something that I think artists don't do enough, because, 'cause that getting a little bit of feedback can go a long way.
Kellogg:
Going back to like the points that one would identify as defining a story to tell. What are some examples of the kinds of things you've seen?
Ousley:
I mean, there are so many and it's really, it ranges from artist to artist. But for instance, do you only perform in your programs, have your programs be extremely sort of thought out with a narrative throughline and a relation to present social justice issues? Do you have an incredibly intense performance style that's extends out of the fact that you're an avid, transcendental meditation practitioner?
I mean, all like, it's, it's what, what differentiates what you do. Because the problem, especially with young musicians, is that they often just say, I'm not unique and I'm just another violinist, or I'm just another soprano. And when you pull it, those threads enough, everybody has a unique story and a compelling story, but it's taking the time to do that and to dig those points out and elucidate them and express them in concise, compelling ways and figure out ideally, is there a narrative thread through, through that, that links some of them and ties them together? So that, again, to me, is, before you look at publicity, at social media, even at your marketing assets, understanding those story points is the most important thing and artists can do at the start of their career.
Kellogg:
So authenticity has come up a couple of times. And you also talked about how if you're trying to mimic somebody, you're trying to do something that's inauthentic, it will be exhausting. I think that's probably a great starting point.
Ousley:
Yeah.
Kellogg:
Does it in the gut feel natural? Is it the kind of content you're interested to continue to produce?
Ousley:
Absolutely. I think-- and, and what I tell artists always is take 2 hours, and probably a glass of wine or scotch, and just go down the rabbit hole of your colleagues' social media. The people who are, you know, the people who are on your level and at your level of sort of experience and career growth. People you the-- people you look up to, people who you don't look up to, and don't think do a good job, and look through their feeds, look through their content and see h-- and go down the rabbit hole of who they follow, who they engage with. The goal being to build an internal barometer of what good content and bad content is to you, and also what resonates with you. Because what resonates with you is going to resonate with your community, because that's, I mean, that's the nature of artistry, is taking, internalizing what moves you and using it to move other people and expressing it to other people. So social media is a similar tuning fork just with a different, different apparatus.
And so understanding what you think is good and bad content and learning how to parse the numbers and say, well, that's an interesting piece of content, but didn't perform well for them. All of that will, will tune you to look at social media, not simply as a, as a distraction or an entertainment source, but as an extension of your professional career and a tool that you use for your career. And then when you're scrolling through your feed, you'll see something and say, Oh, that--Not only like, oh, like, but also, oh my gosh, that's, that's a whole strain of content that I could totally do in my way. And I wouldn't, I should totally do that. And so thinking about it in that practical way, i-- that's a matter of training yourself to do that.
Kellogg:
So finding your voice, getting started looking for authenticity, a great way to, to engage with it is just to be a consumer. To find the stuff you like--
Ousley:
A consumer, but a consumer with the purpose of being a--
Kellogg:
Of learning?
Ousley:
an ex-- an executor, a doer of it.
Kellogg:
Ok.
Ousley:
Because the second that you become an artist and try to become a public figure, social media is no longer-- your social media that is public facing is no longer purely for your own entertainment. It is to facilitate the success of your career. And so to that end, that's where that personal versus professional divide becomes so important, because if, if, even if you just love sharing cat videos all the time, if all you do is share cat videos, no presenter on Earth has said, Well, he's terrible at the piano, but boy does he have great cat videos. So let's get him in this. Let's get him on stage. So you have to understand that you cannot use social media purely as a source of entertainment. And so understanding what entertains you and what is compelling, but also what of that you can use to support and drive your career growth, is important.