Why the Best Artists Collaborate
Thoughts on Jay-Z, rap music, and why all content marketers should be collaborators
Jay-Z is the greatest rapper alive, or that seems to be the general sentiment.
While I love rap music, my depth of knowledge is so shallow I can’t confidently make an educated assessment of his standing. However, “the greatest” is an honor bestowed on the 44 year old rapper so often, it’s almost as if it is part of his official title.
Whether you agree with the distinction or not, it’s impossible to deny the success Jay-Z has seen throughout his career. 11 consecutive number one albums and a net worth of over $500 million are impressive credentials. While this success is obviously the result of a Herculean individual effort, it can also be attributed to a staggering number of collaborations throughout his career.
Three of his number one albums were collaborations. For his last album alone, he collaborated with 8 other artists. In a Samsung commercial highlighting the making of the album, you can see the studio full of different artists and producers, all adding their unique style and vision to the album.
And this level of collaboration is far from unusual in the rap world.
As Lil Wayne was establishing himself in 2007, he was featured on 85 songs. As he blew up in 2008, he was featured on 117 songs. 117! That’s nearly one song every three days! For a year!
More than any other form of art, rap artists look to collaborate with their peers as often as possible. This allows them to introduce a new musical style, tap into a new audience, and create something completely new and one of a kind quicker and more cost effectively than any other musical genre.
Imagine if every content marketer in the world shared this mindset. Think of what we could create.
The Impact of Content Collaboration
In content marketing, Buffer is the proverbial “Lil Wayne.” As they were just starting out, the social sharing start-up had content everywhere, and to a lesser extent, they still do. Their co-founders Leo and Joel took an incredibly aggressive approach to guest blogging. For months it seemed like their content was popping up everywhere, infusing a variety of different sites with their unique style. This period is very reminiscent of lil wayne’s 2007-2008 onslaught, and had a similar effect.
Today Buffer is a start-up darling, boasting over a million members. There is clearly something to this strategy, but also something holding marketers back from tapping into it.
Open Yourself Up
At the strange intersection of creativity and business that is content marketing, content creators have a hard time opening themselves up to outside collaborators. Content feels simultaneously very personal, as it is the direct product of their own creativity, and very proprietary, as it belongs to their brand and their company. Content creators need to work to open their minds to the idea of collaboration.
Tapping into the creative mind of another content marketer gives you a fresh perspective on not only the project at hand, but the content profession. Everyone approaches content differently, which means collaborating opens the door to a whole new set of insights, processes, tactics, and beliefs.
In addition, much like rap music, production times are low, investment is limited, and opportunities and collaboration partners abound. The risk is minimal. Shake of the territorial instincts that make you want to hoard your ideas for yourself. That instinct is selfish when the idea could be so much better with the right collaborators.
Connect to the Process
This concept might be hard to understand until you experience it, but there is something exciting about the collaboration process. You start with a blank slate and create something entirely new and exciting that wasn’t there before. You create it together in a way that incorporates the influence of both the contributing artists, making it impossible for either of you to have ever created it separately.
Finding a collaborator that you work well with is an incredible feeling. It strips away the stress, the pressure, and the turmoil of creating as a profession and allows you to connect with the part of the job that we all love the most: the creation.
I was incredibly fortunate to find my go-to collaborator early on in Heike Young. She’s precise where I’m vague. She’s articulate where I’m unintelligible. But most importantly, when we work together, we are able to create content that is often greater than the sum of its parts. Finding people that I can achieve that feat with is one of my greatest joys in the content profession. Anne Murphy and Jesse Noyes at Kapost are two newer additions to that list as well.
Start Building Your Label
The more you collaborate, the stronger your relationships with your collaborators will become. As these relationships strengthen, you’ll start to form a network almost reminiscent of a record label. You are all your own artists, representing your own brands, running your own businesses, but you are also tied together creatively in a way that is impossible to ignore. Your success is tied to the success of your collaborators. Your opportunities are their opportunities, and your collective influence, production, and success is far greater than the sum of your parts.
Collaboration opens doors and creates opportunities for both you and your company, with the added benefit of also creating something that you could have never achieved on your own. Put in the work on an extra project, take the time to give additional advice or insight. Give liberally with your talents and you’ll never regret it.
If you’ve been blessed with great collaborators as I have, take a second to let them know how much you appreciate them and start brainstorming your next project.
