Decoding Virality: Navigating the Shift from Niche to Mainstream
Lessons from Music History: The Critical Role of Blending in Achieving Viral Success
Modern society is fast-paced.
Modern poeple want the shortcut, the hack.
My short answer: There is no formula for overnight success or virality.
Some factors boost your chances of popularity, but there is no guarantee. No matter what a guru tells you, a success formula won’t tell you your future.
Simply, no.
Don´t listen to them!
Here’s why there can’t be a universal formula:
- If there is a formula, someone has already discovered it.
- And if it was discovered by one person, it was probably discovered by many more.
- And when many people follow a successful pattern, we call it a norm or a convention.
- And when a formula has become the norm, it can’t create success outside of the norm because it is the standard procedure.
Look at the variables of virality.
In science, a formula comes with fixed variables that don’t change over time. In business and culture, the rules change all the time.
But some underlying structures move the needle of what is trending and what is not.
Trends always move on a scale from weird to mainstream, from a few people to the masses.¹
We can learn from Rock´n Roll and its viral growth
Rock & Roll appeared in the 40s and 50s and was perceived as abnormal and wild. It established itself in the 60s and 70s and was considered old-fashioned in the 80s.²
This is excalty the movement from weird to mainstream.
If we look at the transition from rock’n’roll, we can see a basic structure that could be the foundation for success: Blending.
If you take a well-known recipe and spice it up a bit, you have a better chance of turning it into a hit than if you make it too different.
In this way, rock’n’roll was different from swing, but not as eardrum-cracking as techno.
Techno would have failed at this stage.
Rockń Roll succeeded.
There is no universal answer to virality.
But there are some conceptual movements.
Cited References:
- “Understanding Gartner’s Hype Cycles.” Journal of Technology Research, 2 Apr. 2024, [Understanding Gartner’s Hype Cycles].
- Bielefeldt, Christian. “Rock ’n’ Roll.” Handbuch Popkultur, edited by Thomas Hecken and Marcus S. Kleiner, J.B. Metzler, 2017.
