Where you stand in your scene

Two contradictions from last week become a two-axis grid

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Let’s dive into today’s topic:

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Where you stand in your scene

Last week I wrote about branding by contradiction: pick two extremes, decide which one you are, and repeat at least four times. After publishing, I kept returning to this idea. Here’s a simple yet valuable extension.

Why it matters

When they introduced their concept of brand positioning, Ries and Trout argued that a brand exists in the minds of audiences relative to alternatives, not in isolation (Ries & Trout, 1981).

For emerging artists, the relevant alternatives are those doing something similar in their scenes: Other acts playing the same venues, pitching the same curators, feeding the same algorithms, and competing for the same audience.

Last week I said that five extremes make a brand. Today we’ll narrow it down. Two of last week’s contradictions, on their own, describe a brand. Cross them, and you can map a scene and your position within it.

Generated with Gemini.

How it works

This is a lightweight, by-hand, from-memory version of a positioning map that plots how an audience perceives competing brands along two attributes rather than one.

1. Pick two contradictions from separate categories. Not two versions of the same question.

2. Draw the cross: One pair on the x-axis, one on the y-axis.

3. List every ‘brand competitor’: Other acts within the same scene.

4. Plot each act by gut feel.

5. Plot yourself last.

A pop artist crossing the mainstream/niche divide with an approachable/mysterious approach may find one quadrant crowded (mainstream and approachable) and another nearly empty: niche and mysterious. That empty space is an opportunity, a position nobody nearby has claimed yet.

Yes, but..

The value is debatable. It’s not survey data, so it mostly confirms what artists already believed before starting. However, it’s a useful exercise that helps to understand where artists stand in their scene.

Take action now

Pick two contradictions, list five to eight competitors, plot them by gut feel and place yourself last.

Your thoughts

Further reading

• Ries, A., & Trout, J. (1981). Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. McGraw-Hill.

• Branding by contradiction (The Fanbase Builder)

• Navigating the music industry’s gatekeepers with stakeholder mapping (The Fanbase Builder)