One thing that cannot be denied is that the world is continually evolving. It does not pause to allow anyone time to prepare. We are living in the twenty-first century, an era in which visibility has become a dominant form of capital—largely driven by social media, the greatest public stage humanity has ever built. As a result, art has quietly transformed into content.
Creators no longer pause to ask the essential questions when making work: Is this mine? Is this necessary? Instead, the dominant concern has become whether the work will perform well, whether it will trend, whether it will be rewarded by the calculations. Yet art cannot come alive without substance. An artist must live, observe, and experience in order to create meaningful work. In an age that demands constant visibility and daily performance, one must ask: can an artist truly live while perpetually chasing virality?
Technology and social media have undoubtedly made certain aspects of life easier. They have provided artists with powerful tools to create, distribute, and penetrate audiences. However, they have also pushed artists into a dangerous realm. Historically, the artist’s primary responsibility was creation. Marketing, branding, and commercial strategy were handled by professionals whose talents lay in those fields. This division of labour created balance, longevity, and sustainability.
Today, that balance has largely collapsed. Artists are expected to be creators, marketers, brand managers, and strategists simultaneously. While it is important for artists to understand the fundamentals of business, it is equally important to assess oneself honestly—to recognise one’s strengths and deficiencies. Those who are more gifted in certain areas should be allowed to carry that responsibility, because it is their craft, their discipline, and their purpose.
As an artist, I can never be as brilliant at marketing as Lebo Lion, nor will I pretend otherwise. My brilliance lies in creating art. Lebo wakes each morning eager to help businesses, creators, and individuals identify their unique value and transform it into sustainable income. This does not exhaust her because it aligns with her purpose. In the same way, I wake up eager to create. Other tasks do not excite me and therefore do not deserve the majority of my energy input. Collaboration, when rooted in mutual respect for distinct gifts, produces excellence.
Whitney Houston once said, “I know how to sing, and Arista knows how to sell records.” This statement is profound in its simplicity. She understood her role and honoured the roles of others. Together, they created legacy.
A great deal of talent is lost because we live in a society that believes everyone must know everything. Artists are burnt out because they are pressured to remain relevant and chase visibility. They are constantly visible, yet internally depleted. They spend their energy on tasks that do not align with their purpose, slowly drifting away from the very thing that made them artists in the first place. Marketers, on the other hand, are trained to pursue virality, and it does not exhaust them. For them, it is a challenge, strategy, and growth. Work that aligns with their skill and discipline.
Many have abandoned their paths and narrowed their imaginations in pursuit of what already exists—what they are told works. Visibility has replaced art. Virality has replaced legacy. In doing so, artists shrink themselves, unaware that what they possess is valuable not only creatively, but economically.
There is no longer time to evolve. No time to retreat, reflect, seek mentorship, or grow in silence. The culture of instant expertise has eroded humility and patience. Yet art that is created in depth and discomfort does not beg to be seen; people beg to see it. Such work carries authority. It has a soul. It tells stories, captures feelings, and leaves the audience transformed—more aware, more awake.
I divide my capacity deliberately. Ninety-eight per cent belongs to my purpose; two per cent to everything else. Brenda Fassie possessed many talents beyond singing—acting, fashion, performance—yet she is remembered for her voice. That is where ninety-eight per cent of her lived. She could have pursued countless other disciplines, but none would have carried the same authority. They would have remained peripheral.
Artists chase virality because they are uncertain of their own greatness. They have not yet tapped into the ninety-eight per cent of their capacity. Once that threshold is crossed, mediocrity can no longer survive.
Creativity requires distance from the crowd. Execution requires the crowd. Black Coffee does not livestream the recording of his albums. Creation is sacred and vulnerable. The world is invited in only after the work is complete. Documentation follows creation—never the other way around.
The artist is not a content creator. Art is exploration, expression, and uncertainty. Content is structured, strategic, and designed to entertain or inform. While it is every artist’s dream to reach many people and impact lives through their work, art and commerce have always existed in tension—particularly within the African context.
Artists who succeed understand that they need people who are better than they are in business—individuals who can translate vision into commercial reality. Equally, there are creatives whose primary strength lies in commerce; they give ninety-eight per cent to business and only two per cent to art. They succeed without marketers because marketing is their art.
Virality is not the enemy. It brings attention and, at times, commercial success—and it is powerful to witness artists earn a living from their work. But virality should follow creation, not dictate it. The greatest artists make work without conforming, and only afterwards do skilled professionals shape how that work enters the world. Marketing responds to culture; art reflects the state of society. For this reason, marketers may advise on what will work within a particular cultural moment in terms of reach and audience—but never on the kind of art that should be made. That responsibility belongs to the artist alone.
In these times of visibility, the greatest act of artistic resistance may be to step back, go quiet, and choose profundity over everything. Art created with intention does not demand attention—it commands remembrance. Yet creating social media, engaging with one’s audience and community, participating in challenges, remains part of the artist’s responsibility, not as performance, but as a relationship and building a legacy. When visibility serves the work rather than replaces it, legacy is no longer measured by reach alone, but by resonance, integrity, and the lasting impact of work. Be the best at creating art and partner with the best marketing team—people who understand culture, audience and community, not just visibility and virality.
Traditional institutions have not collapsed. They continue to operate, fund, and influence culture. However, their monopoly on meaning, legitimacy, and attention has eroded. Power now resides increasingly with audiences and communities, who decide what matters, what circulates, and what endures.
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