Mindsets: Consumability VS Creativity

If you're a content creator, whether it's music, streaming, blogging or etc, you'll be faced with the hardest questions to answer, "How consumable do I want to be? or" How creative do I want to be?" 

If you are not sure what I mean, let me explain. Consumability is creating content that typically fits the social norms of what people expect to see. Being consumable has its advantages and disadvantages. Your content becomes food for an audience swimming in a big pond that loves the style of content you create and is hungry for more. Being at the forefront of an audience this big leads to endless opportunities for a successful entertainment career! Seems like the obvious choice, right? The reality of an audience with infinite potential is that every creator can see it and wants it. You're one creator in a crowd of millions that look just like you. I'm sure you've heard of the term generic before, and it's the worse label to be stuck with when it comes to entertainment. 

At the other end of the spectrum, you have people that may only want to focus on creativity as a content creator. Whether you're going into it with the idea that you're going to make the most "original" content in the world or the mindset, "I don't care what people think," you'll face the same amount of advantages and disadvantages as people who focus on being consumable. I know this is coming off strong, but try not to take it the wrong way. My primary goal for the longest time was to create music that I'd never heard before. I wanted to erase the idea of "pop structure." So I started my own pond, threw some food in the pond, and waited for someone to bite. Do you see the problem yet? I was feeding an empty pond. The only thing I could do was re-strategize, but that's where things get tricky. The reality of the full creativity approach is that nothing about finding a target audience and marketing to the targeted audience will be conventional. It's 100% possible to focus only on creativity, but you'll be putting in the work!

It's time to make my point. Suppose you genuinely want an easy path to success as a content creator. In that case, you need a balanced mix of creativity and consumability. Aim for multiple small target audiences instead of big ones, make your content stand out but still fit in with competing creators, then repeat. It's a straightforward process when you're not placing unnecessary restrictions on yourself.