The 20% Rule

Adventures with the algorithm and an explanation for all the information

You might be wondering why I’ve been writing so much about my album. Shouldn’t I leave a little mystery? Let the music speak for itself? Being an artist in today’s internet era makes that pretty much impossible. Every social media platform is designed to create more friction and distance between us. The same apps that talk about “bringing people closer together” end up being used on a massive scale to stoke division, manipulate elections and keep us disoriented. I started this newsletter because I wanted to develop a stronger link with my audience where I could communicate directly with them without a buffer. I wanted to take matters into my own hands and not have to bend to the whims of the algorithm.

I hoped to further elaborate on the process of making Parallel World in an intimate way that isn’t really possible elsewhere on social media. Both Facebook and Instagram adhere to the 20% rule: images made up of over 20% text are significantly reduced in reach by the algorithm. Facebook has “found that images with less than 20% text perform better” as ads and has based the functionality of their apps on this principle. To me, it sounds like they want to deprioritize reading to keep you scrolling and potentially buying.

Ducking and dodging these algorithms requires almost as much creativity as making the music. Let me be transparent about how I came to the conclusion about what I wanted to do with promoting this record.

After the paywall, read on to learn my methods for breaking through the algorithm when promoting my albums as well as the full syllabus of media that inspired my Polaris Prize-winning album Parallel World.