The Art of Marketing Art

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There’s a ritual that happens nearly every time a major artist is about to drop an album: the Instagram wipe. The grid goes blank, and just like that, anticipation builds. Right now, Lorde’s Instagram is wiped except for one post. A$AP Rocky’s is empty. Lucy Dacus, whose album drops at the end of the month, has just 18 posts up. HAIM’s is wiped, too.

But then there are the exceptions: Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, two of the most image-conscious artists of all time, seem shockingly unbothered by old posts lingering in the digital ether. For them, the past isn’t something to be erased. Maybe they see it as part of their spotless record.

This tension—between curating an image and letting a feed evolve in public—came up in a conversation last week. A friend asked me what he needed to figure out before he could start posting for his brand. Did he need a solid brand identity first? Did his core messaging need to be locked in?

Social media often feels like a branding exercise, but it’s not a brand book, it’s a space where things shift.