This blog post is part two about discovering and practising your core values. They truly are the closest thing we all have as real superpowers. In part one, I discussed why your values matter and how you can discover your core values. In this article, now that you have formulated your core values, how do you let these values do their magic? How do you integrate them into your music and career? How do you activate your very own superpowers? Let’s find out by together analyzing two real-world artists: Pharoah Sanders and Vulfpeck.
A Value-driven Performance
One of the giants of the saxophone is tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. An artist heavily inspired by the avant-garde of the ’60s and spiritual artists such as his mentors Sun Ra and John Coltrane. If you are not familiar with the music of Pharoah, I recommend listening to his album Karma (1969). That says it all.
Now that I got you to listen to his music, which values come to mind? Which themes fuel it? Listen and feel the music. Let it speak to you and take a moment to write five words down that embody the spirit of the music. … Got them?
Secondly, you can read this great article for a deeper understanding of who Pharoah Sanders is. Does this article change some of the values you wrote down?
All right, it’s time to share my personal analysis of what Pharoah represents in his core. In my humble opinion, the five core values of Pharoah are Spirituality, Freedom, Love, Openness and Healing. Do some of them match yours? If yes, then we’re on to something.
A Spiritual Performance
The next question is: how do you infuse your art (what you do) with your values? Pharoah did this beautifully in a performance I witnessed some years ago at Le Guess Who? Festival in 2017.
Pharoah believes in our cosmic unity, in how we are all connected by our shared humanity. Pharoah integrated his core spirituality (faith) on stage in his interaction with the audience. He asked all of us to sing a chant with him and the band: “The creator has a master plan/ Peace and happiness to all the land,”. Another time it was “The power of God.” Here is a video with a short impression of that performance. We all sang it together, like a mantra, and for a powerful moment, we were all one. One single entity connected through this shared experience. We all felt loved and healed by this transformative experience. An inspiring example of how to infuse your performance and interaction with your audience with more of you.
Thank you, Pharoah.
One final remark on this. This is a prime example of the difference between being authentic and using a gimmick. A gimmick is simply copying a technique you’ve seen someone else execute. It is ‘outer-based’ and not grounded on our own distinct worldview. If I would copy Pharoah on stage, it would be a gimmick, when Pharoah does this it is authentic. Why? Because it truly reflects who he is and what he believes in.
We all have to find our own ways of expressing ourselves. Let Pharoah inspire you to dig deeper and be creative in finding yours.
Value-driven Branding
Humans are complex. It is truly impossible to express your full personality to another person. Ask yourself, does your partner after 6 years of relationship truly know everything there is to know about you? Of course not. What does that mean for your promotion and other communications as a professional artist? It requires you to focus on the essentials. What are the core elements of who you are, your artistic vision and what you stand for? What fuels your music and all other communication with people? This is where your core values serve as a beacon of light. They create a greater sense of self as an artist. That is what authentic branding is: an infusing of your true self in all your communication with others. Easier said then done, you might think at this point. Time to analyse the second artist in a more broad manner: Vulfpeck. With Pharoah the focus was on his music (album Karma) and his performance. With Vulfpeck we’ll dive into promotion: sharing/spreading your music.
Vulfpeck: authentic branding done right
Please take time to analyse the below three media. Based upon this, what do you think the five core values of Vulfpeck are? Try to not read further, it is important that you start seeing how everything is connected yourself.
- Video for their song 1612
- Their website at https://vulfpeck.com/
- A short biography
Branding is communicating your identity through words (cg. language – biography, song titles, newsletters) and image (cg. photo, video, artwork, style). All these aspects tell your audience a story about who your are. Let’s find out together what fuels Vulpecks story.
The Cory Values Of Vulfpeck
In the video, several elements come forward. You see them play live, the lyrics are – in my personal view of course – funny (humour), the video is retro, it is all of them together and you can sense they enjoy hanging-out (friendship, community) and, most importantly, the music is funky. Now check the other videos. Do you see how they are all connected? Or, as a marketeer would say, on brand?
Next up, their website. I laughed (humour) the first time I saw it! Perfect. Such a daring concept in these hyper-visual times: a purely text-based, old-school (retro) and minimal design. Minimal in a way, just like their music, that it only features the essentials. Does that make it funky too? You tell me. And what is the first content featured on the website? Correct, a live video.
You Are What You Write
And, finally, their biography on Allmusic. Humour is a subtle and personal thing, but I see it in the first sentence “Vulfpeck is a primarily instrumental, Los Angeles-based band inspired by the classic R&B rhythms recorded by the Funk Brothers, the Meters, and quite possibly Booker T. & the MG’s.” Of course, it also fueled their concept for Sleepify and track names as ‘Zzzzzzzzzz’. Personality and purpose infused marketing was seldom done better. How does your personality impact your language? How do your core values influence your ‘tone-of-voice’ and the words you use? What is your artistic vocabulary?
All Communication Is An Opportunity For Authentic Self-Expression
Below one more example of how they are truly authentic and business savvy in their communication. Check their Facebook Page for a second.
Do you see how the artwork/photo is again retro and funny? And did you notice that “Live Shows” is right next to their “Startpagina”? When your core values are crystal clear so become these kinds of decisions. When “Live” is what you are all about, then you will use every opportunity available to express that. The same with your other four values. It starts a natural process that will organically grow into a more distinct identity in everything you do.
Furthermore, besides it being consistent with them wanting to present themselves as a great live-act, it is also strategically smart. Why? Because most artists earn their income, and merchandise sales for that matter, with performing live. So the savvy artist finds a way to build their brand around being an amazing live-artist. Did you notice how all of their videos, photos and artwork inhabit these core values? It becomes a system, a way of doing things, that flows naturally out of you. All it needs to do that is clarity on your concept of Self.
Really? Can I infuse my values in Everything I Do?
For those doubters that still separate ‘the business side of music’ from their creativity and purpose, a final gift. And, by whom greater then Sun Ra himself as a extraterrestial example of making even the most mundane of all ‘business’ tools distinctly yours. Below Sun Ra’s business card. Who else then Sun Ra could have possibly come up with this and pull it off with credibility? If interested, read more on it here.
Hopefully, this article inspires you to implement your own values with more purpose in everything you do. They can be a force of creativity and more personal expression if you let them. It’s all up to you.
Pieter Schoonderwoerd
Your Jazz Career
A great resource on branding for artists, and everybody else that wants to create work that matters, is: Purple Cow – by Seth Godin. A book on how to be remarkable. Are you worth making a remark about?
Find an empowering ebook on developing your artistic vision and writing a compelling artist biography here.
I’ve been coaching and educating jazz artists for years to achieve their creative and professional ambitions. If you are a high-performing artist and interested in transformative career coaching, you can read more about it here.
Be More Of You. Be Creative!