Art - Is -IQ

Lessons From Failures

Finding Your Niche as an Independent artist...

Finding your niches is critical to building a brand. It’s easy to just sit whatever with no direction, no center point of focus hoping to please everybody , but what happens , so many people have different interest that you find yourself trying to please everybody ultimately losing more people than you can gain… somebody in the mix…. The key is finding those individuals with similar interest in a particular niche…..

I’m What is a niche ?

a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.

Passion versus problem solving

As an artist we are passionate about our craft and many times we believe that’s what’s going to get us over the hump….get us to the point of progress , but while finding our niche the passion can only jump start the journey. What we really need to do is utilize the passion to solve some sort of problem …. Of fact when I write a song , I ask myself how will this help a person ? What type of problems can o solve revolving around the energy of this song ?  

Some create our art to change the world in a positive way …. Others create art for selfish reasons …..

Selfishness surrounds the industry …greedy egos that damage the quality of music….when building your niche, you have to consider the people you are going to connect to….the idea to make a piece of art only for you to admire seems counter intuitive …..building a business you want to provide others with an experience you can uniquely consistently offer time and time again….this reinforces your necessity within this space…. You want to Provide extremely high value to an extremely specific group of people.

It don’t make sense shooting bullets in the dark …..it’s a skill to find a niche and do research to build the business of your art around it….

First ask yourself  geographically, where are the people who admire your type of art?

Where do they congregate and meet regularly?

Where do they spend their time online ?

Who are the people they admire and why do they admire them…

That’s all I have for this week….it’s 2023 and we back with more information to inspire and educate ourselves on this journey to a more free life…..the best version of ourselves ….free to express who we really are under the constructs of society….next week we on the scale up our business , downsize and when to up scale ….

This is art is iq I’m ike Ellis … and today we want to dive into the subject of packaging and presentation….Many days as a human being we find ourselves identity searching and deciding how to present ourself to the world 🌎 ….

What does the presentation of you art mean to you ? How is the package delivered? Being an artist holds true to those who put their efforts in their presentation . Creating a image worth following . The credibility starts with your presentation.

If a workout trainer had a beer belly would you believe they are a work out trainer ? The beauty about being an artist, is acceptance of your true self is encouraged. The artistic value in being original is unlimited .

I think writing everything down is the first step …

How much is it going to cost you to get to looking and feeling how you want it?

Where to get the products ?

Where are you going to complete your work?

Who you going to sell to ?

Are you even going to sell it at all …

How are you going to get it to them when it’s done ?

Why do they need it from you ?

Just posing questions for you as you consider your framework to complete your masterpiece … we will go in detail in the coming weeks…. But for now let’s just focus on these basic concepts….

After that it’s the doing….the being of an artist …. Putting your all into it every time you attempt to complete your work…where is your passion for your art…….

It’s not always pretty,

but it’s always worth it baby

Artist IQ

Even when they call you old, and your uninspired,

keep going, keep creating, keep owning the responsibility to give the world a masterpiece…….

2023 Staying Motivated with Distractions

The Art of Song Writing

The Art of Song writing

Today we wanted to talk about the art of song writing . For a long time, I would write songs and let people hear it and the response would always be the same.

So I began diving into the art of song writing. I could not really capture why my songs would not resonate with the listener . I thought all my songs was trash . The dj would not spin them because they were not club songs . The family would not really listen to them. Then one day I took a trip to New York and performed one of my classics “lovin you” . After the show   a guy came up to me and recited one of my lyrics and told me how much he felt those words . At that moment I understood exactly what I needed to do in my songs to help the listener connect with the words ..

Sometimes as artist we get that feeling that we want to give up when we can’t resonate with the listeners .  I’m here to tell you four ways you can connect more to your listeners through song writing ……

Always remember it’s equally important to have the song sonically correct …it does no good to have a nicely written song and the words can’t be heard because the mix is poor…

Is my topic focused?

Is it concept

Is it time sensitive, time specific

Will it resonate 10 years from now?

Is my topic sufficiently interesting?

Is it compelling

Is it shocking

Is it fascinated and to who will be fascinated

Have I used words that someone would use in casual conversation?

Will the words be used in a conversation .

I would make rhymes and just because the words rhyme I felt like it was hot….but really would use the words talking to the homies ….

Jay z is the best at using  words that would be in a casual conversation but still would rhyme and fit inside the rhythm ….

Does it move back and forth between descriptions of events and people, to an emotional release?

What emotions are connected to what you are saying ? Is it anger, is fear, is it love ? How to you want the listener to feel when your song is played ….

5 Responsibilities of An Artist

Use your voice to fight against.

exploitation, marginalization, powerless- ness, cultural imperialism, and violence.

How though?  Many revolutions require awareness before they can ever begin. Many times we lose sight of freedom, because of the oppressive systems in place. The seeds can be planted in the sounds to inflict change in the thought process of the youth. My point is, remain conscious of the message delivered in the recordings.

Responsibility of an artist  Have you ever thought about the responsibility of an artist? What do we actually owe to the community of people we are looking to create for?  Some would say “I don’t owe you nothing “, however I tend to disagree with the notion we as artist are not responsible for anything?

Art is essential to a culture's identity.

1. Responsible to other creatives who came before us and who are coming after us. What type of inspiration can be drawn from your sounds, from your words, from your thoughts, from your emotions ?

2. Responsible to consumers who require motivation each day. Many days artist such as Tupac help me get through life.

3. Responsible for your self . How does the creation of art help provide therapy for your own internal emotions . Writing for me is like sitting on a couch with a therapist expressing my problems . It only feel bad when it feels like nobody is listening.

4. Responsible for your legacy. When we are dead and gone what will we be remember for? How will your legacy be cemented in the art created ?

5. Responsible to search for truth? It’s our own responsibility to search for our own truth? We have to spend time searching for answers ? The creativity helps with this path . The constricts of society stunts the elevation toward identifying our own truth. Each human being was born to be who they are on this earth .

It’s a fine line of moral that’s constantly crossed  between right and wrong, between good and bad, between pretty and ugly…. An artist who creates art depicts the self worth within the community from which they are from each time they create a composition.

Did we miss any other responsibilities? Comment below and let us know .

The culture is connected to the artistic freedom of humanity.  The ability to critique the social systems in place when others don’t have a voice is a major power possessed by the artist and should never be taken lightly. Each time a consumer works and McDonald’s, for minimum wage and spend their 1.29 on a song, they deserve something greater than a surface level message.

The social responsibility to push thought provoking topics, encouraging conversations in a quiet room, and opening up historical scars on our culture so we can heal.