Are You Holding Your Brand Back?
No one had ever heard of Beck David Hansen. Now known anonymously as “Beck”, he a completely unknown music artist playing in small coffee houses. He scraped together enough money to record a song he wrote called “Loser”. It was strange song with incoherent lyrics. The music industry gave it three thumbs down. Turns out “Loser” was brilliant and skyrocketed to #1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay. Why? The song was basically a musical blank canvas on which listeners could paint their own meaning to Beck’s words. However, soon it wasn’t Beck’s song anymore. “Loser” belonged to everyone but him.
While the phenomenal success of “Loser” dumbfounded the naysayers it was seen as a one-hit wonder. However, phenomenon gave Beck an idea that was an extension of “Son Reader”. It was an album that contained 20 songs of just sheet music. Eyup, an entire album with no music. Just sheets of Beck’s lyrics. Once again, the music world proclaimed it was a sure flop and once again Beck floored them.
You Can’t Own Alchemy
“Song Reader” allowed people to compose their own music to accompany Beck’s lyrics. Within the first month of “Song Reader’s” release, 32,000 people generated self-recorded videos of themselves singing and playing their renditions of Beck’s sheet music to share on social media. What’s remarkable about the idea behind “Song Reader” isn’t about sheet music. It was about releasing his work into wild and giving people unfettered creative free rein to musically interpret the lyrics any way in which they were inspired.
After the release of “Song Reader”, Beck just sat back and watched the magic unfold. Nearly 3 years went by, and people were still recording, posting, and sharing their compositions. They were also listening to and being inspired by the musical versions of others. Famous artists like Norah Jones, Jeff Tweedy, and Jack Black got onstage and played their own takes on Beck’s sheet music. Even the Portland Cello Project recorded their own version of all 20 sheet music songs called “Portland Cello Project Play Beck Hansen’s Songs”. By letting people take over his songs, Beck’s sheet music has continued to stay relevant because as music continues to evolve, so does the meaning of Becks lyrics.
Let People Take The Lead Vocal
The same goes for brands. Take a page out of Beck Hansen’s Sheet Music Playbook. Give brand fans the freedom to interpret your brand according to the way the see and experience it. Allow them to own it. Flip the conventional thinking of Follow Me to Follow Them. Let brand fans lead the way and who knows? Good chance they will take your brand on a remarkable voyage into new opportunities.
