A Tale of Two Musicians 3
Musician #1
You’re in L.A., mostly to meet with your team at your label. You walk into the downtown skyscraper where their office is, check in on the ground floor with security, then take the elevator up to the 47th floor. You walk through two glass doors and check-in with the office’s secretary.
You take a seat and wait for a few minutes until a cheery, young executive assistant walks up and greets you. She takes you to the conference room where your team is waiting.
You walk into the conference room and see 8 people sitting at the table. You recognize 3 of them. They excitedly greet you while you take in the room. It has floor to ceiling windows with stunning views of the city skyline. You can’t believe you’re here, at a company where some of the biggest musicians also are.
You take your seat and they dive into their presentation. A well-dressed 30-something gives you a broad overview of the music industry of today, fluently sputtering words like “socials, views, and engagement” in a flurry of manic excitement.
You listen intently. You want to show them you’re serious because you want their support.
But as the meeting goes on, it sounds like from the way they’re talking, that you need to achieve certain milestones before earning more support from them.
It sounds like they’re looking to you to up your engagement and views and the only way they’re prepared to help at this time is by informing you of current online trends and giving you a pep talk.
You look around at clean office workers smiling at you. You realize in that moment you’re an asset. One of many. A brand whose value is determined by follower count, sales and streams.
It dawns on you they probably have this meeting all the time with other budding artists. You’re probably one of a hundred ongoing projects they have and they only need a few to pop off.
The contract you signed with them was the same that every label offered you when you went viral. Some cash and resources upfront with clauses that all but guaranteed the label made back their investment. If you continued to grow from there, great. Everyone wins. If you don’t, well…
That’s the elephant in the conference room. The implicit threat that if you don’t improve your metrics, they’ll drop you and their smiling faces will smile at someone else.
They end the meeting by inviting you to an exclusive, industry party taking place in a hotel courtyard that night.
At the party, you see a few people from your label there. They politely small talk with you for a bit but then make their way to more famous, powerful people. Everyone is there to network and you don’t know anyone. You don’t live there either.
You fly home the next day and continue grinding.
Musician #2
It’s been 6 months (1 season) since your last meeting with the your squad facilitator.
Everyone at Incubator’s in a squad of 6 people and every season, each squad sets a collective goal together. If they achieve that goal, everyone in the squad gets a bonus.
You’ve been in the landscaping squad for 3 seasons now. The 6 of you work together to plan and maintain the landscaping in all communal areas of Incubator Village.
You’ve been on other squads before: the cafe squad, mental wellness squad and even the transportation squad.
Now as a new season begins, your squad facilitator has come to look back at the season that’s ending and facilitate a discussion around goal setting and individual roles for the upcoming season.
Last season, you spent 5-8 hours a week planting, pruning, shearing, watering and gardening with your squadmates. But now is the times when you all have a chance to switch up your duties (or even change squads).
Over that time, you’ve collected some ideas about how the landscaping can change. You’re ready to try your hand at planning and gathering materials now that you spent a couple seasons doing mostly manual labor. Your squad blind votes on your new role and it’s approved.
To achieve some objectively and emotional distance in these important seasonal decisions, your squad facilitator is from a neighboring Incubator Village about 80 miles away. You see them a few times a season for check ins. You’ve also run into them at shows and other events at Incubator Villages in the region.
The day after your squad facilitation concludes, you celebrate at Squad-a-thon, an outdoor festival where all 20 squads in your village compete with each other in physical and mental games and challenges, culminating in the Squad Cup, where the top 2 squads of the day compete to hold onto the elusive and coveted Squad Cup trophy for the next 6 months.
After the games are complete, the winning squad sits at the elevated table in the Eating Hall as everyone feasts and parties into the night.
