Why virality, as an artist, shouldn't be the goal.
Hi, I'm Laura Jane. You might remember me from such irritatingly repetitive viral songs as 'It Costs That Much Cos it Takes Me F***ing Hours' and 'We Don't Owe You Affordability.'
First of all... sorry. For all the times you had to listen to either one of those two songs ringing through your cranium while you tried to enjoy a good, ol' fashioned Doom Scroll... I'm sorry.
Back in Spring of 2021 (and for about 8 months afterwards) those songs were everywhere. Small businesses from the creative industries, as well as the brick-laying husband of one of my followers, were using it to express their rage about fair pay, and it accidentally became the anthem for struggling self-employed folks all over the world.
It amassed millions and millions of views online for those who used the sound and the associated hashtag on TikTok has now been used over 660,000,000 times. No, really.
You'd think that, with that kind of virality, I'd have experienced fulfillment, joy and untold riches... but the reality is that it was f*cking awful from start to finish.
Before I talk about my experience, I'd like to call attention to the fact that I do not regret it at all. Like a lot of things in life, the good comes with the bad. I discovered some incredible artists, hand-makers and creative service providers that, in many cases, I now call dear friends. I spread a message that many of us have wanted to scream loudly into the ether since we had our first "HOW MUCH??" comment from a stranger. I helped to build an audience for thousands of other artists through their use of my songs and, if I could go back, I'd do it all over again.
That said... that isn't to say that the initial experience wasn't hurtful, anxiety-inducing and confidence crushing while it was happening. I can look back on it now, from a distance, and feel nothing about the terrible parts of my experience. It's no longer raw or scary, and I can focus on the incredible good that came from it.
Virality or Nothin'.
The idea of "going viral" has dominated the content creation world for a few years now, with most people feeling as if they've failed if their latest post doesn't achieve views in the hundreds of thousands. Amongst artists and handmakers, who spend hours on their artwork only to be met with 400 views and 2 comments (one of which is a bot and the other is a mate from work,) it can be really disheartening to see another creator rack up a tonne of attention. It's even more annoying when it's for crappy content.
But what happens when, one day, your post does go viral? What then?
I received death threats, I was accused of being classist and, at one point, someone signed up for my email newsletter with "ihopeyougetcancer@f*ckyou.com."
It felt like some sort of horrible nightmare and I began experiencing regular panic attacks for the first time since my early 20s.
Back in 2021 when 'It Costs That Much' started to gain traction, I felt myself pulled into the giddy throes of SUCCESS. I checked my view count every 3 minutes and would regularly get updates from my mum about how many thousands of views I was up to now.
It became addictive.
To begin with, it was only really being shown to those in the creative business industry and was met with cries of "this is SO true!!" and "finally someone has said it!" and that crying laughing emoji that us Millennials use like a Batman beacon to find each other in the comment section.
I saw other creative businesses gaining huge swathes of views and comments and followers for using it themselves and it felt amazing... until it started to spiral a little out of control.
Once the song started to spread outside of the supportive, friendly, creative business circle I was in, it stopped being fun and started causing serious emotional damage.
I received death threats, I was accused of being classist and, at one point, someone signed up for my email newsletter with "ihopeyougetcancer@f*ckyou.com."
It felt like some sort of horrible nightmare and I began experiencing regular panic attacks for the first time since my early 20s.
What started as me making a daft song to cheer up my artist friends, quickly turned into a source of anxiety and hurt. I deleted my TikTok account (and the 28,000 followers I had with it) and hid.
The Ugly Side of Viral Content.
Time and time again, I've seen talented creators go viral and deal with an onslaught of cruelty from anonymous children and adults with shrivelled brains and too much time on their hands. I've watched as their confidence is destroyed and they don't even have that many extra sales to soften the blow. Maybe if they dealt with that, but it left them with the funds to buy a vintage Sylvanian Families house boat playset in mint condition, it might have been worth it. Probably not, but still.
Before you aim for 3 million views on your next piece of content, bear these things in mind...
✨ STOCK LEVELS ✨
Going viral when you sell digital products is a bit like hitting the jackpot, provided your content has reached the right audience, because there's no limit on how many sales you can make. That said, when you make your products by hand or even order from an external manufacturer, there is a definite ceiling on how many sales you can make from your newfound popularity. Catching that wave of interest while your views are still multiplying like a primary school vomiting bug can be difficult when you're someone who painstakingly hand-crafts every single order.
✨ THE WRONG AUDIENCE ✨
When you gain followers from a specific piece of content, especially if it's not 100% about your products, it can leave you with an audience full of people who aren't actually very interested in buying anything from you. Your engagement will dip and, over time, those people might unfollow you once they realise that you aren't what they expected.
✨ ONE HIT WONDER SYNDROME ✨
One of the biggest issues with having a piece of viral content, is that you start to feel as if everything that comes after it is a failure or doesn't live up to some sort of standard that you've set for yourself. The reality is that going viral is somewhat down to luck, and often isn't the result of a masterful piece of content that follows a set pattern for success... making it extremely difficult to replicate.
This same problem rears its ugly head in the music industry with artists who most of us know as "one hit wonders" - Gotye, the musician behind the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" said, in an interview with Rolling Stone, "It's been amazing to have so many people connect with the song, but at the same time, it's a little bit of a double-edged sword. People expect you to repeat that success, and it can be hard to break free from that."
Always striving for more, bigger or better leaves you feeling unfulfilled and permanently disappointed in yourself.
✨ POST BUZZ DISAPPOINTMENT ✨
When all is said and done... when the views stop rolling in, your notifications calm down and everything falls back to normal, you begin to realise what little positive effect it truly had on your business... and wonder why you spent so long striving for those views and giving yourself a hard time when you didn't get them.
I should say that, for some creators, going viral has been a true lifeline for their business. It has emptied them of stock and given them the capital to invest in upgrading machinery or bulk ordering their products or finally paying someone to build them a proper website. Virality has power, but those situations are the exception, not the rule.
In the majority of cases, the buzz dies down and we go back to feeling small and unappreciated all over again... so give yourself a break. Make content and have fun, without putting so much pressure on yourself to blow up overnight, because if and when you do... while it happens, it'll probably be absolutely shit.
Before we part ways, I'd like to call attention to the fact that I do not regret it at all. Like a lot of things in life, the good comes with the bad. I discovered some incredible artists, hand-makers and creative service providers that, in many cases, I now call dear friends. I spread a message that many of us have wanted to scream loudly into the ether since we had our first "HOW MUCH??" comment from a stranger. I helped to build an audience for thousands of other artists through their use of my songs and, if I could go back, I'd do it all over again.
That said... that isn't to say that the initial experience wasn't hurtful, anxiety-inducing and confidence crushing while it was happening. I can look back on it now, from a distance, and feel nothing about the terrible parts of my experience.
It's no longer raw or scary, and I can focus on the incredible good that came from it... and there was more than enough of that.
AUTHOR
Laura Jane Barnes
Founder of The Creative Business Association®
Creative business coach, tired parent, organic marketing specialist and dog-obsessed Simpsons superfan with 12 years of independent & corporate marketing experience.
Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved.
The Creative Business Association® and Crappy Hour® are Registered Trademarks and the Intellectual Property of Laura Jane Barnes.
