Did You Know? with Gorick is the weekly newsletter by Gorick Ng, Harvard career adviser and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules, where we deconstruct the untold paths to success — of people (or things) you know!
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Did You Know? Distribution of your work might matter more than the quality of your work
(1) A story from the past
Did you know? Puerto Rican performer Bad Bunny has been the No. 1 streamed Spotify artist in the world for 3 consecutive years—all while keeping his lyrics in Spanish.
In 2022, Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) became Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the year for the third time in a row at a total of 36 billion streams.
But did you know that just six years prior, Benito was bagging groceries at a local supermarket in Puerto Rico to pay for college?
How did Benito reach such superstar heights—and as someone who “defies the conventional wisdom of American pop” with his Spanish-only lyrics? Here’s Bad Bunny’s timeline:
- 1999: 5-year-old Benito is living with his family in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. He is gifted “a CD of Vico-C, ‘Aquel Que Había Muerto’” and later recalls that he “only dreamed of music and that someone would listen to my music.”
- 2016: Benito’s song “Diles” hits 1 million plays on Soundcloud (the music streaming platform for aspiring artists) in two weeks. Benito, then studying at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo and working at the local supermarket, begins receiving calls from producers. One such call is from Noah Asaad, founder of indie record label Rimas Entertainment. Together, they decide to push Benito’s music across YouTube.
- …But, despite many artists testing "crossover strategies" and carefully combining different styles or genres to appeal to a wider audience, the duo "never concocted an elaborate crossover strategy. Instead, they just flooded the internet with content and watched as demand grew.” Indeed, they released "dozens of dozens of singles in quick succession, always with a video attached."
- 2017: Benito’s YouTube distribution strategy starts showing results. He collaborates with artists Ozuna and Nicky Jam, earning him his first No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs Billboard chart. (I’ve written about the “collab” technique before with Ed Sheeran, which you can read more about here.)
- 2018: Benito collaborates with artists Cardi B and J Balvin for “I Like It”, which lands at the No.1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. The “collab” becomes Bad Bunny’s first No. 1 Billboard appearance, thrusting him into the mainstream spotlight just in time for his debut album “X100pre” 7 months later.
- 2020: Benito becomes the guest performer for the Super Bowl’s halftime show alongside singers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez. He releases his second album (“YHLQMDLG”, ”the highest-charting all-Spanish language album on the [US Billboard 200]”) and his third album (“El Último Tour Del Mundo”, the “highest-grossing tour by a Latin artist in Billboard Boxscore history”). He’s also named Spotify’s top-streamed artist of the year at 8.3 billion streams—Spotify’s first non-English performer in history to lead the list.
- 2021: Bad Bunny earns his first Grammy for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album, is named on the Time 100 Most Influential list, and stays Spotify’s No. 1 streamed artist in the world for 2021 at 9.1 billion streams—without even releasing a new album (No. 2 was Taylor Swift, whom I profile here).
- 2022: “Un Verano Sin Ti”, Bad Bunny’s fourth album, is Billboard’s No. 1 Top 200 album. He takes home Artist of the Year at MTV’s Video Music Awards, earns Apple Music’s Top Artist award, and wraps up 2022 as Spotify’s top artist for the third time in a row with 18.5 billion streams worldwide.
- 2023: Bad Bunny headlines the music festival Coachella (the festival’s first non-English headliner in history). His fifth album (“Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana”) is “Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2023 so far.”
Will Bad Bunny top Spotify’s charts for all of 2023? Time will tell. But, the next time you’re listening to music (or when your Spotify Wrapped comes out), remember Benito, who not only made music—but also strategically distributed his music.
(2) A strategy for your future
Did you know? It's not about the quality of your work but the distribution of your work.
In the workplace, so many people (and no doubt many of you) do quality work… but no one knows about it! This is like a talented musical artist singing in the shower.
What does distribution look like in the workplace? Sharing what you do and what you’re capable of by…
1. Presenting your work (or at least being in the room)
- How? Try saying, “I’d love to see how the conversation unfolds. Would you be open to me joining?” Or, “I was reflecting on your feedback about _______ (e.g., speaking up more) and would love to put it into practice. What would it take for me to do the voiceover?”
2. Being the sender of the email (or at least being on the email thread)
- How? Try saying, “I’m happy to send it out! Would it be helpful for me to draft the email and run it by you to save you a step?”
3. Sending team status updates about your work (or at least speaking about it one-on-one)
- How? Try saying, “I wanted to give you a heads up that on _______ (project), I just finished _______. As a next step, I will _______. Does this all work for you?”
4. Slipping in what you do into your intro when you introduce yourself
- How? Try saying, “Hi! I’m _______ and I am a _______ on _______ team. My focus is on _______. Prior to _______, I was at _______ where I _______. Nice to meet you all!”
You may not dream of headlining Coachella, but you do deserve to have your hard work recognized—and rewarded. The problem is, this recognition can’t happen if people don't even know that your work exists.
I know it because I’ve experienced it: To this day I’m surprised by how writing is only a fraction of an author's work. The rest? Sales and marketing! I still find it uncomfortable talking about myself. So, if talking about yourself feels weird, please know that you’re not alone.
Spread the word about your hard work!
Gorick
