When people buy art, or respond with appreciation to a piece of art, music or writing, what are the factors in play that make that art resonate?

It's a connection, or rather an appeal that leads to a connection.

The art first piques the interest of the viewer/listener/reader and that artistic content -- the visuals/the melody/the words used to describe something -- appeals to that audience's own emotional biases; their own sense of self-expression (how they see themselves and/or how they want to be seen).

There is a lot wrapped up on those emotional biases. A big one is nostalgia -- when the art reminds the audience of a positive or heart-warming past experience. This makes the appeal "stickier" (aka harder to resist) for those whom the nostalgic content (aka the positive memories the art invokes) resonates most.

The point is, for art to effectively connect with an audience to motivate that audience to some sort of action -- share on social promoting the art, click through to learn more, or to buy something -- it needs to appeal to the audience's emotional biases and resonate enough to motivate that action.

How do you actually motivate the kind of action you want your audience to take?

You have to do some research to find out what emotional biases your art appeals to most, and for which people.  This is the hardest part of marketing and promoting anything -- art, a product, a business.

In an over simplified business perspective, this kind of research is called product/market fit. That is, regarding the product you make, who are the people your product could help most? Meaning, that audience has the most demand for and willingness to pay for your product and the solution it provides.

Huh, the solution it provides...that's something to explore in art. What solution does art (visual, music, writing) provide?

Usually, art is providing some sort of emotional connection to motivate action. The art is the product. The emotional connection it creates for the audience is the solution it provides. The outcome to that solution could be to motivate an individual to listen to the song again, to escape into a fantasy world, often to buy the art or a product that is using the art to help sell it.

Art is a communication vehicle. A very powerful and effective one when used well. Art alone, however, leaves that vehicle motionless. That vehicle wants to go somewhere. It wants to drive to pick up some friends. It longs for the attention of others who understand it. That's why art is not only a communication vehicle, but a community cultivator.

As humans -- whether introverted or extroverted -- we long for some amount of community. That could be with one other person or thousands of people (think of a bunch of fans just like you at a concert of your favorite musical act). 

Art communicates to the emotional biases of individuals, but it has far more power and arguably more appeal when those individuals with similar emotional biases stoked by the art that resonates similarly to them, find one another and form a community -- a shared reason for coming together.

When community forms like this, more communication between the art and the community audience exists. The art becomes the connection point or ongoing communication vehicle between the artist and their audience. This is where/when co-creation of the art via communication with the audience gives way to new ideas and possibilities. At this point, the human connectedness is at a critical mass enough to allow the art and the community around it to become something new entirely, but based on the shared emotional bias and appeal from which things started.

The best art is made for the artist, because the artist felt compelled to explore an idea that they fleshed out further into more of a complete work or finished creative thought.

The reason that’s the best art is because it comes from a pure and authentic frame of mind with no hidden agenda (like to sell). However, once it’s created because of its genuine authenticity it is more relatable and tends to resonate better with others (not everyone, mind you, but those who identify with what the art represents and how it makes them feel).

That’s the art that often ends up gaining a following (a community) because it was born out of true, authentic intentions from the artist.

Art that is made for the sole intention to sell often lacks depth — the art’s soul is missing, and people notice that.

That is not to say that people who make art to make their living end up, making soulless art, the true professional artists, typically are able to make money from it because they get into the mindset where they’re creating the art for themselves to scratch the itch of a curiosity that they're compelled to explore to realize an expression that is inside of them first, and then once it's out there, are able to attract an audience for whom that resonates, and that’s why it sells.

There are about as many movies, TV shows, ads and video games out there as there are interests that people have.

That’s good for musician’s because all those TV shows, films, ads, and video games need music to help their stories come alive to convey and connect the emotion of what’s on screen with the viewer.

All that is to say, there is plenty of opportunity for musicians to get their music (really whatever kind of music you create in whatever genre) into various moving visual media projects. That’s because so many TV and film projects have such a variety of scenes and stories being told that require the right music to help it all gel and emote the way the director wants.

This is why music supervisors (those who typically help identify the right songs for each scene of a movie, ad, game, or show) comb through tons of music searching for the right fit, with the right tempo, lyric, instrumentation, vibe, and feel to help drive the scene forward.

As exciting as it is to hear your song as part of a TV show or movie, the promotional boost for your music and brand along with the licensing fee payout, and ongoing (backend) royalty payments is why sync licensing of music is a desirable part of musician entrepreneurship.

Sync provides music creators with a substantial revenue stream among the many revenue streams a musician has to piece together to make up their entire income.
Most musicians have several income streams that when cobbled together make up their entire annual earnings (what might be an annual salary for others in a regular consistent job). 

Because musicians’ income streams often vary in terms of when they pay and how much they pay, sync licensing deals can provide some income stability compared to other music-related income streams. 

This is often due to upfront licensing fees paid for permission to use your music in a film or on a TV show as well as the backend royalties that your Performing Rights Organization (PRO), like ASCAP or BMI, will collect from streaming. 

These streaming royalties often increase when your song is placed in TV or film because most productions like a movie will create streaming playlists of the music in the movie to help with the film’s promotional campaign to market the movie. 

This marketing boost, which is simply a byproduct of your song being licensed, helps promote your music to a much larger audience than you might have been able to reach on your own. That leads to many more people discovering your music and streaming it, which adds to your backend royalty revenue.

Want to get even more in-depth knowledge about how sync licensing works? 

Apply to enroll in Ari’s Take Academy’s Sync Licensing course. (affiliate link)

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I was reading a post today on Medium by Mark Schaefer, the renowned marketing author. 

In the post, Schaefer was explaining marketing for the arts, and specifically musicians, in five minutes.

I love this as it is really a combination of what I love about being a creative entrepreneur and marketer. 

The post describes why brand marketing -- the feeling that you expect from what a company or musician/band represents -- is so important, and how attracting one's ideal audience to your brand (that is, finding people who emotionally connect to what you create, or rather not you individually, but what the brand creates and represents) is the basis for cultivating loyal fans, or in corporate business setting you might call them customer advocates. 

It's only when you've garnered the attention of those people (across social or the like) who sense something in you that they can potentially connect to emotionally that you can capitalize on the invitation to deepen your respective relationship and truly harvest a loyal fan willing to help financially support your creative endeavors that bring them value.

The reason this works is because from a tactical standpoint, when you uncover a potential fan -- someone sees one of your reels on social media, etc. -- and you capture their attention, if there is a potential for an emotional connection while you have their attention, driving them to your website or email list provides that next step to deepen the relationship.

​That's where you, as a brand, can build a deeper connection and introduce that potential fan to a whole community of fans surrounding your brand. This allows them to further deepen their connection with your brand by helping them foster an emotional connection not only to you, but to others with a shared interest or purpose related to the brand at large. Now, that fan is a fan for more than just you as their singular interest in the brand, now they're part of a community where they can make friends.