It is a quote by Marisandra Lizzi, from the book “Lettera a Jeff Bezos“, and it hit me like a slap in the face.
Because in our environment, let’s face it, we often sin of presumption.
❎ We think the artist is an asset to be optimized, a social media profile to be curated or, worse, a marketing department “product”.
❎ We use terms like management that evoke the idea of keeping something under control.
➡️ But the truth is that talent cannot be fenced in.
My gray hair has taught me that when you try to “manage” an artist as if they were an employee, you end up turning them off. You take away that spark that makes them unique and transform them into an executor of someone else’s strategies.
The result is a project without a soul that the audience smells from miles away. Our job is to build an ecosystem where the artist feels safe to take risks. We must be the ones who feed the fire, not those who decide how high the flame should be.
Inspiring means listening even to what the artist doesn’t say and transforming their insights, which are often confused (no offence), into a clear direction.
If the artist shines, it’s because they found someone capable of looking beyond the numbers on a dashboard and aiming straight for their truth.
And – spoiler – the phrase is 100% valid both with artists and with the talents on your team.
#LibriVsMusica
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I am Andrea Corelli, Professional and Advisor to the Music Industry.
From Monday to Friday, I share strategies, backstage insights, or the stories behind a song on LinkedIn. On the weekend, I enjoy the flow.
If you need help with your artist, label, music project or startup, write to me.