The ‘wow moment’ in music

Can we apply a growth strategy concept to artist brands?

If you are not a subscriber of The Fanbase Builder, join the hundreds of artists, creators, and music industry executives who receive it for free.

Let’s dive into today’s topic:

---

The ‘wow moment’ in music

Finding the precise moment when potential fans first experience an artist's true value.

Why it matters

The "wow moment", or "aha moment", is the point at which users first experience the value of a product or service. It's the moment when the product truly clicks for users. Many businesses, particularly software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, incorporate this concept into their growth strategies.

For Netflix, it could be watching the first 30 seconds of a film. For Tinder, it could be the first match. For Shazam, it could be the first music discovery. For Spotify, it could be the first time creating a playlist.

It's an interesting concept that could provide artists with insights into how potential fans transition from music discovery to becoming engaged fans.

Generated with GPT-4o using the prompt ‘student in library with amazed look, wearing headphones’.

How it works

I thought of how this concept can be applied to artist brands. When do potential fans first experience the value or benefits of the artist? This is what I came up with:

• Discovering a brilliant song and experiencing an emotional response to it.

• Reading an activist social media post by an artist and instantly feeling a sense of bonding and community.

• Attending a show at a festival that exceeded all expectations.

• Having a positive conversation with peers about an artist.

• Working in full concentration while listening to the music.

• Feeling less stressed after listening to the music.

Go deeper

The wow moment can be operationalised into something measurable. Facebook defined it as gaining seven friends within the first ten days. Twitter: following thirty other users. Dropbox: sharing one file.

I’m not sure yet how an artist brand’s wow moment can be operationalised; this would be an interesting area to explore further.

Yes, but..

The concept of wow moments may not perfectly apply to artist brands. Artist brands focus more on the brand than the product itself. Besides, the main product (music) has an emotional foundation rather than a rational one. It's challenging to discuss it purely in terms of value or benefits.

The emotional nature of music consumption means the "wow moment" might be more subjective and complicated to quantify than traditional SaaS metrics.

Take action now

Artists could evaluate what they offer to potential fans as a first impression and assess how that initial experience can be improved. Consider mapping out the typical fan journey and identifying where these powerful connection moments might occur.

Your thoughts

Further reading

• The Ultimate Story of Growth - Part 1 (The Growth Mind)

• How to apply Growth Marketing to Skyrocket your B2B company (Growth Tribe)

• Why strong artist brands matter to fans, not just artists (The Fanbase Builder)

• Converting TikTok users to Spotify listeners (The Fanbase Builder)

• How to use pirate metrics to set up a fan journey (The Fanbase Builder)

• Artists should focus on only two metrics (The Fanbase Builder)

• How artists can find the one metric that matters (The Fanbase Builder)