Sunday Reads #134: A boring neuroscientist got more views than the Emmys??
How Lil Nas X and others hacked the Internet to succeed. And you can too.
Welcome to the latest edition of Sunday Reads, where we look for cheat codes to life, business, and careers (sometimes we even find them!).
If you’re new here, don’t forget to check out some of my best articles: The best of Jitha.me. I’m sure you’ll find something you like.
And here’s the last edition of my newsletter, in case you missed it: Sunday Reads #133: Can you sell a dollar for 80 cents?.
This week, let’s talk about the creator economy. The current state of play, and more importantly: how you too can use it to achieve success. Along the way, we talk about Joe Rogan, Lil Nas X, and more.
And other golden nuggets and link love, of course: How Beats by Dr. Dre hacked the Olympics, what guerrilla photobombing looks like, and other link love. And don’t miss the image at the bottom of the email. It’s 🤯.
PS. Do subscribe if you haven’t 😊.
1. The rise and rise of the creator economy. And what it means for you.
This tweet from Rich Roll shocked me.
A self-produced podcast about neuroscience got more views than the Emmys??
These kinds of crazy things happen more and more these days.
The a16z podcast - a podcast by a venture firm - is now available to listen on airlines(!).
Veritasium, a science and math channel on YouTube, has 10M+ subscribers.
And the most staggering of all, there’s the story of rapper Lil Nas X.
He started his journey to become an "internet personality" in 2015. Tried Facebook, Instagram, and finally settled on Twitter to build a following. He even ran a Nicki Minaj fan account for a while.
In late 2018, he landed on music as a path to success.
From Wikipedia:
On December 3, 2018, Lil Nas X released the country rap song "Old Town Road".
He bought the beat for the song anonymously on an online store from Dutch producer YoungKio for $30; it also samples Nine Inch Nails' track "34 Ghosts IV" from their sixth studio album Ghosts I–IV (2008). He recorded at a "humble" Atlanta studio, CinCoYo, on their "$20 Tuesdays" taking less than an hour.
Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by short-form video social media TikTok users. Lil Nas X estimated he made about 100 memes to promote it.
The song went viral in early 2019 due to the #Yeehaw Challenge meme on TikTok.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Lil Nas X gets 13 million plays per day for just his top 3 songs.
There's an asymmetry here, and you can exploit it too.
Now, don't get me wrong - it's no walk in the park to succeed as a creator.
And survivorship bias is real. We only hear of the creators who succeed. We never visit the silent graveyard of the also-rans.
But the fact remains: you can now get ready-made distribution through the web.
Whether it's SEO to break into Google's search results, hacking Twitter's algorithm to go viral, or doing it the old-fashioned way: by adding a ton of value.
This means there's an asymmetric option here:
Put in the work. Take as many shots on goal as you want. And learn from each shot to get better.
If you're lucky, you build a loyal community.
If you're not lucky, then you've lost nothing except the hours you spent creating. And you've not lost them either, if you learned something in the process.
Richard Meadows talks about this as the key asymmetry in building social capital:
And the cycle time to success has shrunk!
I wrote about Joe Rogan in Sunday Reads #105. He worked hard for 3 decades to become the massive success he is today.
Sarah Cooper started doing standup in the late 2000s. She went viral with her Trump lip-syncs in 2020 and got a Netflix special “immediately”. Say it’s 12 years.
Lil Nas X just started in 2015!
What does this mean for you and me?
For the first time in history, you have a great opportunity to build a following or a business from scratch. You don't need a benevolent hand on your head to succeed. Just need hard work and a generous helping of hustle.
Whatever your area of interest, whatever your skill, share what you know with others.
There is no barrier preventing you.
Yes, that gate you see is real. But there's no lock on it.
And no one will stop you as you open it and walk out.
As I said in Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!, don't be a "scrub". Don't subject yourself to fake constraints that don't exist.
The cost of creating has never been lower. The prize for creating has never been higher.
There is no gatekeeper anymore. Except yourself, that is.
2. How Dr. Dre hacked the Olympics.
I loved this thread about how Beats by Dr. Dre hacked the 2012 Olympics to become the most visible brand. Without a single dollar on sponsorships.
The trick? They gifted medal-favorite Olympians with Beats headphones, in the nation's colors. That's it!
Amazing example of Guerrilla Marketing.
And keeping with the theme of today's newsletter, Beats didn't pay any gatekeeper to play. They just played.
PS. Another example of Guerrilla marketing, from the beauty industry. This is the advertising equivalent of photobombing 👏👏. What trolls!
3. This blew my mind 🤯.
There are no plants in this photo, only animals.
That's it for this week! Hope you liked today’s edition. Drop me a line (just hit reply or leave a comment through the button below) and let me know what you think.
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Until next time, wish you good health, safety, and sanity.
Jitha