I think Frank Edwards needs to hire a team to do major work…

I love Frank Edwards, his songs form a huge part of my morning worship routine. But for the past two weeks, I've been looking for a song that I used to play a lot in my first/second year of uni and couldn't find it until I searched a random part of the lyrics and went as far as..

The 6th page on Google search. Yes, that's how badly I wanted it.

Even when I found the name of the song, the song was available as a lyric video on YouTube and published by someone entirely different from who I wanted to give streaming dollars to, that's if it counts for much.

Hit another bump. I want to subscribe, and I realise there's over 11 Frank Edwards on YouTube. Each with huge and growing subscriber numbers, that was worrying.

It was not until this morning I found one with 250k subscribers and I thought... Ah this has to be him.

I search on Google for Frank Edwards and his entire discography isn't listed on Google and it in fact worried me.

Now I am moving to upset because this is someone I love deeply and hate to see how there's so much low hanging fruit that he isn't taking advantage of.

Recently I've been thinking about how badly we want it. I was quite intrigued to know that DJ neptune's Nobody has multiple versions across streaming platforms, the same for Old Town Road.

Everyone is taking advantage of digital opportunities, why not you dear creative? Why not?

How can you upload a cover of a video, beautiful voice, and you tag the video on YouTube like you don't care if your effort gets any traction. Open description and it's just the artiste's name and song title as hashtag?

People are searching with the lyrics? Why not embed the...

Lyrics in the description? Would it take anything from you. When you create stuff, you need to ask "how would I typically be searching for this kind of content, and how would I and others want to discover it?" Then do just that, make it easier for people to find your creation.

Stop spreading yourself 30 miles wide and 1 mile deep, be super intentional. Go beast on it, leave nothing, take no chances with pushing your work.

You create an album as a Christian creative or not, there are lyrics platform, update your lyrics on as many as you can find.

When creatives work with me or anyone for that matter, they are always shocked when I give them a to do list item that says "find 50 platforms we can upload a sample to" and now they are distraught because omo, why do I need to make samples? Whyyyyy????

It's the laziness for me.

I am a junkie for knowing how things spread and no, it's not magic, there's no magic wand for success, you just need to apply yourself.

Do you know how many song discoveries are happening every second on Tiktok?

You danced to Duduke, Don't Rush and Bop Daddy, but Tiktok was

The viral engine that grew discovery for these songs. Even my personal favorite by Ladipoe and Simi "know you". These songs grew as viral tik tok challenges.

I bet a number of people discovered "up in my maserati" after @SwitOpe put up her birthday video. Unintentionally but hey

Nothing is going to fall on your laps dear (christian) creative.

Sometimes your miracles and answered prayers is in the SEO that you missed.

Work the sound mind of Christ in you, it's just there fam, stop being slothful in this business, there's more if you'd stop sleeping.

Have you repurposed that content across platforms? Is your song's beat available for people who want to freestyle on it? If you look hard enough, there are platforms and opportunities you too can take advantage of.

Stop doing this creative thing as "we thank God o" there's more.

If Party Scatter by Joeboy wasn't an anthem, I bet FIFA21 wouldn't want it. But hey, he is unlocking another set of streams once people cross border hear during game play and shazam it. Heyyyy

I listened to Nigerian American a lot when Eldee still had our time. There was an...

Episode he called Payola, a practice of tipping radio stations and streaming platforms to add your songs on countdowns and lists. See, world people are not sleeping, don't expect you will outplay them by sleeping. Get to the business of your talent, stop leaving opportunities...

On the table. Recently someone got featured internationally for a product that wasn't even the first time it was being created and I was humbled by the fact thatnIf you don't go beast on giving visibility on what you have, someone else will and you'd be saying "I had this idea"

Nothing throws me off than hearing a creative say "I had this idea once o" in the euphoria of seeing someone else pull it off. Oga take your L and move on in silence.

The youtube recommendation algorithms are crazy. You see those beautiful songs you discover in curated playlists

These platforms trust the items you ticked when uploading the song and what others think of your creation to recommend it on auto generated playlists sometimes.

So you can set yourself back 5 times over if you don't get it right from the get go.

Stop sleeping.

I watch Dark on Netflix. The opening sequence is a beautiful song by Apparat called Goodbye. I play it a lot. But I recently discovered that someone made a 3hour loop on youtube for the song and I didn't think I wanted it until I did.

Stop leaving opportunities on the table.

I read an article 6 years ago, my former boss Samson Aligba sent it to me and it's probably my best article of all time, I can't tell.

It is titled Bible App: Getting 100 Million Downloads is More Psychology Than Miracles by @nireyal

Quartz reposted it https://t.co/Nj13qfMF0k

These article about a success became such a success that it has been reshared across several blogs over 50 times. Yes everyone wants to be associated with it once it spreads, so why not make it spread?

I was recently in a conversation with @boluakindele and my wife @Yemisi_Ajeojo over Sinach's recent incremental success with Way Maker.

We analysed the ingredients that made this happen, but my thoughts are not fully formed and I would hate for it to come off as reductive.

Mercy Chinwo is building on this premise, the same with Nathaniel Bassey and a number of others, Frank Edwards did the same when he latched on to Don Moen's audience to further get his song to a new and global audience.

The parable of the talents do a good job telling this story

Does*

I really love the band "For King and Country". It's the beauty of the songs, it is the visuals as well, and how intentional they are about their message and getting the songs heard.

When they win awards in categories that are not even gospel, I am not surprised at all.

We are not of this world, is not a call to seperatism. Something Pastor @jessedanyusuf said once in Church about Paul teaching the Greeks with their "unknown God". He introduced them to his own by using their own as the in road.

It's the same strategy today, nothing has changed.

One of Airbnb's greatest growth marketing hits was cross publishing their listings on Craigslist using a script, this increased discovery to their new platform at the time.

"Let this mindset be in you". That nothing is out of the list when it comes to spreading your creations.

The work of your hands is blessed. God delights in blessing you.

We all love the Maverick City band, but why? Is it because it's a young group of souled out believers?

You need to steward your gifts as well, and that would mean making 1 talent into 10. And guess what...

I always found it unfair, but my marketing and growth background has taught me better.

For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. — Matthew 25:29, RSV.

This has plagued me for years.

Did you know that Lecrae and Hillsong and a number of other gospel artistes create devotionals out of their albums on the Bible app just to drive discovery for their albums?

Yes, that's how badly they want it. It feels little, but why not just do it? That will always compound

It will always be on the Bible app, and it will always point to their albums for life. So why not?

Even for King and Country promoted their priceless movie by also having a devotional on Chivalry on the Bible app.

You have to spot opportunities to keep getting eyes on your work

This correlates with how stars maintain stardom, they've built an audience and it get easier to win when you already have a rich network of believers.

Same way it's easier to scale a product when there are already believers in the product, it's not unfair, it's the way of things

10% of 1million will always be bigger than 100% of 10k. Success will always compound and you need to keep building and taking advantage of opportunities that scale.

I'd never stop talking about excellence and that the spirit of God in today's marketplace is excellence. God is still in the business of building excellent marketplace creatives and leaders.

I think of Joseph a number of times and how he economically transformed Egypt in 14yrs.

Through slavery, to jail to palace, he applied himself. And built a structure that even got pharoah to own all of the lands in Egypt. (Read your Bible).

There's a book I love, it's called "called to create" by @JordanRaynor I should invite him to an instagram live with me.

I've also enjoyed this book by Derek Thompson called "Hit Makers, the science of popularity in an age of distraction"

I think everyone should read it. Especially creatives.

I think my little rant ends now, I have a full day ahead of me.

🌺🌺

Let me add this and hope you see the correlation.

Elisha asked "What do you have in your house?"

It's the same thing, God keeps asking for the more you can do with what you have and dear creatives, it's in platforms, it's in borrowing people's platforms as vessels for his work.