TPS #054: Why Is Your Story a Secret?

Author: Andre Mullen - 4 min Read

March 22, 2025

Good morning. In today’s newsletter, I want to address your secret. I’ll also talk about music startup Ampollo, BMI, and how can we leave out Drake?

Why the secret?

The one thing I believe would transform any artists music business is the one thing 99% of them don’t have.

Not only do they not have it, they don’t think about it.

It’s not capital.

It’s not talent.

It’s not technology.

It’s not even strategy – though that’s in it.

It’s a story.

A story about the music, where it comes from, where it’s going, what it speaks to, why is it create, and what it’s doing in the world.

So why do so many artists neglect to share their story? Why keep it a secret?

While it may seem a bit “meh” in this era of storytelling, it is actually more important and significant than most think.

And those who don’t take it seriously may find themselves continually “behind the eight-ball” of reaching their audience, building fans, and cultivate fandom.

Time to change the narrative.

Reality is shaped by stories.

Stories are powerful.

What most people fail to realize is our entire understanding of what we call reality is shaped by stories. They determine what we pay attention to and what we don’t. How we react in one scenario, and in another.

Reality will bend to a story.

In one of my previous newsletters, “Death to the Artist Bio”, I spoke about how every artist has a back story – one that is compelling enough to share in order for audiences and fans to know who they are as people and how it’s reflected in their music.

When you close your eyes and imagine a successful artist, you’re not imagining one with the most money, the most charismatic, or most attractive. You’re imagining one with a story.

Here is a 3 part framework that makes up your story as an artist:

1. Your Origin Story

2. Your Belief

3. The Compelling Vision

The above framework will help the world see and understand how and why you’re presenting your art – your music to the world and why there is a place for you as a creative.

Here’s the framework, complete with examples, step by step.

Part #1: “Your Origin Story”

Everyone loves a good origin story.

And your origin story is crucial in relating to your audience. Your story gives a framework for understanding what your believe, your values, and you and your creativity’s place in the world.

Your story serves as the foundation to build trust with your audience.

When you share your origin story, it can inspire motivation.

Let me give you an example by sketching this out for myself:

(Origin Story) I spent nearly three decades in artist management and I started to get burned out from working with artists directly. So, I stepped away but I found myself consulting up and coming artist managers. Over time, the truth dawned on me that this wasn’t a “thing” and I was quite disappointed because I thought it was. But then I remembered something…

As you can see, the origin story begins to set the tone for you to know how and why I started my journey.

Now, let’s take a look at your belief.

Part #2: “Your Belief”

In this part, you are experiencing both internal and external struggles created by how you started – your origin story.

Your belief makes up your reason WHY.

For example, an artist manager could be struggling with lack of confidence (internal). For a singer, he/she could be struggling with lack of access to production equipment (external).

This part is very important because when everything looks opposite of how it should, your belief acts as your north star, the compass which keeps you on course.

Here’s my example:

(Introduction of the problem) When I was a young artist manager, I didn’t know anything about the business. There was something about being an artist manager that was “trial-by-error” and if I felt that way then, I knew many new managers felt that way now. Why waste the time, resources, and chip away at the credibility and trust built with an artist client because of this? How could we fix this…

(My Belief) Well, my unfair advantage was I always saw things in simple terms. And this meant I could see something a lot of managers couldn’t – that artist management and business management are the same. So why couldn’t simple business frameworks be given to artist managers? That’s what gave me an idea…

I identified my problem and applied my belief to begin the process of what I call The Compelling Vision.

Part #3: “The Compelling Vision”

The compelling vision of your story is what ties everything together.

A compelling vision is a big, exciting idea of what the future could look like.

For example, an artist manager’s compelling vision for their artist client should consist of long-term planning. For an artist, the compelling vision should consist of the artist’s artistic identity and vision.

Compelling visions are bigger than the person and always involve people en masse behind a purpose. Think of the 46 artists on the song like We Are the World and events like FireAid.

Here’s my example:

(How I’m Going to Overcome the Problem): What if I presented business management as frameworks – in steps and parts – so artist managers and artists alike would understand? I would use simple language, bite-sized pieces, and visuals. Done right, this could make a big difference…

(What This Means for Artist Managers and Artists): For artist managers, they would be able to start making slightly more strategic decisions and build credibility and trust with their artist clients. For artists, they would be able to learn the business to prevent being taken advantage of and grow a team for their career.

(What This Means for the World): And more importantly, this would result in more value within the music business at large. Artist managers would grow their artist client’s business and more artists would have growing careers. Everybody wins.

Your compelling vision has to be bigger than you. It creates meaning in your business. It creates meaning in your creativity. **

While you may not think your story is “exciting” or “important”, I would challenge you with this thought: If you were asked why you do what you do creatively and/or business-wise, what would be your response?

If your response is longer than 5 words, that is the beginning of your story.

And it gives birth to everything else.

Hope this helps.

Related: Building an audience as an indie artist always requires presenting your story and global brands want to hear it. Global Head of Music at WeTransfer Jamal Dauda sat down with Spotify to talk about working with artists with stories worth telling.

THE LATEST – “speaking of stories…”
Start-up Ampollo launches music collaboration service for artists so they can make money from their work.

• “Changing an Old Story”: According to Music Ally, the music start-up Ampollo, an audio platform for artists and musicians to collaborate that just received $3.1M in funding last December, is not another social feed for artists.

• “Sparking a New Story”: Music Business Worldwide reports BMI unveils Spark to increase music creator access to industry tools, educational resources, and health and wellness services.

• “Here’s Their Story”: The Drake-Universal Music Group lawsuit continues with Universal striking back with their story. Music Business Worldwide reports that UMG is attempting to have the case dismissed, claiming “these claimes are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face.”

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING – thoughts on Doechii and industry plants

Some sound advice from various voices within the industry on defining an artists story - brought to you by Audiomack, presented by Tunecore

Find out where you come from and why you’re making music. Intent is important in everything, and understanding who you’re making music for. You tell them who you are, where you’re going and who you wanna be.” – Adam Small, A&R, Saweetie

• “Your artist story is part of your branding, the process of creating a clear and consistent way to express who you are. Explain why you are unique and what fans can expect from you. By making your story relevant and believable, it becomes a promise that builds trust.” – Mark Tavern, Music Business Educator

The narrative or the essence of an artist and who their character is—their ethos… Not every artist is going to have the life experience to where their pure story is the most compelling thing. So, when I think of the story, it’s ‘What is the essence of what you’re trying to speak from?’ Not just lyrics. You can create that story as much as that story is a part of you. How do you want people to listen to your music?” – Karl Fricker, VP of A&R, RCA Records

✋🏾When you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Schedule a 1:1 Growth Strategy Call with me on growth, strategy, content, and monetization.

2. Promote your business to 700+ artists, artist managers, and founders by sponsoring this newsletter.

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