Popular in Professional

Leading Figures

Induction of Social Contagion

Yale University Nicholas A. Christakis

Business

The Allegory of the Favela: The Multifaceted Effects of Socioeconomic Mobility

University of Pennsylvania Leandro S. Pongeluppe

Architecture

Connecting Cities and Nature

University of Virginia Timothy Beatley

Human Rights Law

Human Rights and Corruption: Problems and Potential of Individualising a Systemic Problem

Max Planck Institute Anne Peters

Finance

Chinese Exchange Rate Policy: Lessons for Global Investors

University of California San Diego Michael Melvin

Law

A statistical approach to law school citation rankings

University of Virginia Joshua Fischman

Education

Recognition Killed the Radio Star?

View more insights in Professional - Business - Management

View more figures from University of California, Irvine

View the page of Noah Askin

Read the Study

Next in Business

Do Investors Value Workforce Gender Diversity?

David P. Daniels | National University of Singapore

Design of Patient Visit Itineraries in Tandem Systems

Nan Liu | Boston College

Noah Askin highlights how many organizations use group work to foster creativity, but there is no theory on how groups’ responses to creative acknowledgment affect their creative outcomes.

Image courtesy of interviewee. February 2, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video discusses a study focused on musical groups that received or were nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy during the 1980s. The research aimed to understand how collaborations among these groups impact their creative processes and recognition over time. The study was driven by two main timelines: the launch of MTV in 1981, which increased available data, and the eligibility of these groups for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by 2015.

The researchers analyzed a sample of 49 relevant bands and artists, conducting qualitative analyses from multiple sources such as interviews, music critiques, and acoustic data from a company owned by Spotify. The findings revealed three orientations in how groups respond to recognition: absorbing, insulating, and mixed.

1. **Absorbing Orientation**: Groups that absorb recognition, like the Go-Go's, often face challenges such as heightened expectations, increased infighting, and stifled creativity, leading to fewer successful subsequent albums. Their initial success can become a burden as they struggle to meet the expectations that come with recognition.

2. **Insulating Orientation**: In contrast, groups that insulate themselves from external pressures, such as Sade, tend to have longer careers and more successful and varied output. They maintain stronger internal relationships and can better manage the influence of outside expectations.

3. **Mixed Orientation**: Some groups, like A-ha, start by absorbing recognition but later attempt to insulate themselves as they realize the difficulties of their initial approach. This video video can lead to varying degrees of success in balancing external demands with creative freedom.

The study emphasizes the importance of internal relationships and pacing in sustaining creativity over time. It highlights the challenges that external recognition can pose to ongoing collaboration and the balance groups must maintain between internal cohesion and external pressures to thrive creatively in the long term. The implications reach beyond the music industry, relevant to any kind of teamworking in creative settings.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
Here are five key points from the video :

1. **Focus on Bands and the Grammy Research**: The study specifically examines how bands that won or were nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy in the 1980s managed their creative processes and recognition over time. The time frame was chosen due to increased data availability following MTV's launch in 1981 and the eligibility for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by 2015.

2. **Impact of Recognition on Creativity**: The research identifies three orientations that bands adopt in response to recognition: absorbing, insulating, and a mixed approach. Bands that absorb recognition tend to feel pressure to replicate success, which can stifle creativity and lead to internal conflicts. In contrast, bands that insulate themselves from external expectations often maintain better creative output and cohesion.

3. **Methodology and Data Collection**: The study utilized a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative data from interviews and media with quantitative data such as Billboard rankings and music analysis (using the Echo Nest data). This combination allowed for a comprehensive understanding of how the creative dynamics evolve within bands.

4. **Dichotomy Between Band Responses**: The research highlights a dichotomy in how bands manage internal relationships and external pressures following recognition. Bands that internalize recognition experience increased tension and frustrations, whereas those that insulate themselves from outside pressures tend to enjoy longer careers and more varied musical output.

5. **Lessons for Sustaining Creativity**: The findings emphasize the importance of managing internal group relationships and pacing. Properly balancing creative periods with breaks and avoiding pressures from external expectations can foster a healthier and more productive creative environment within teams or organizations, which is valuable not just in the music industry but across various professional settings.

Export as PDF
Here are some key quotes from the video :

1. **Focus on Bands**:
- "We wanted to understand how groups of people who worked together over time deal with the creative process and deal with creative recognition..."

2. **Time Boundaries of Study**:
- "We focused on groups that won or were nominated for the best new artist Grammy in the eighties... from 1980 through 1990."

3. **Importance of MTV**:
- "1980 ish. 81 was when MTV launched. And so there's a lot more data interviews, qualitative information available around these groups."

4. **Data Collection Approach**:
- "We combed through basically as many databases as we could find... and watched a lot of VH1 Behind the Music, a lot of YouTube interview clips."

5. **Creative Process**:
- "The way they came to this was really from looking at a lot of the work on creativity amongst groups."

6. **Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data**:
- "It’s a mixed methods paper."

7. **Group Responses to Recognition**:
- "Bands have orientations that they take towards the recognition... they absorb that recognition, they insulate from that recognition... or they follow kind of a mixed path."

8. **Challenges of Absorbing Recognition**:
- "The absorbing groups... take on all of these expectations... and it becomes very difficult for them to kind of artistically move forward."

9. **Insulating Orientation Benefits**:
- "They say, you know, this recognition actually is our hall pass so that we can now kind of continue to do what we were doing."

10. **Sustained Productivity**:
- "Sustained creative productivity really came from understanding the pacing of the group."

11. **Pacing and Creativity**:
- "Finding the pacing that works well... because when the pacing gets forced, that’s often when creativity sort of dissipates."

These quotes encapsulate the main ideas about group dynamics in creative processes, especially in the convideo of musical bands during the 1980s, the impact of recognition on creativity, and the importance of pacing for sustained productivity.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.025 --> 00:02.005
We focus specifically on bands.

00:02.005 --> 00:04.005
There actually were a number of,

00:04.005 --> 00:05.605
solo artists in the sample initially,

00:06.065 --> 00:07.765
but we found that they all sort of tended

00:07.765 --> 00:09.605
to do roughly similar things as far

00:09.605 --> 00:10.685
as our study was concerned.

00:10.685 --> 00:12.925
And we'll get to what that means in, in a little bit.

00:13.265 --> 00:16.165
But basically, we wanted to understand how groups of people

00:16.265 --> 00:20.565
who worked together over time deal with the creative process

00:20.985 --> 00:22.485
and deal with creative recognition

00:22.505 --> 00:24.645
and what that might do to their process.

00:25.305 --> 00:28.845
Um, and so we focused on, groups that won

00:28.945 --> 00:31.365
or were nominated for the best new artist

00:31.385 --> 00:32.725
Grammy in the eighties.

00:32.725 --> 00:34.325
So basically from 1980 through 1990,

00:34.825 --> 00:38.405
and we used that timeframe for primarily two reasons.

00:38.785 --> 00:42.685
One, 1980 ish. 81 was when MTV launched.

00:42.685 --> 00:45.605
And so there's a lot more data interviews,

00:45.605 --> 00:48.245
qualitative information available around these groups.

00:48.545 --> 00:52.605
Uh, and two by 1990, the groups that started then

00:52.605 --> 00:55.045
or released their first album then were eligible

00:55.065 --> 00:57.605
for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

00:58.065 --> 01:01.565
And so we wanted to see how did creativity get sustained

01:01.565 --> 01:05.565
or not over a life cycle of a group that worked together.

01:05.785 --> 01:09.325
And so that was a good time bounding both to have access

01:09.325 --> 01:11.725
to a lot of information, but also enough of a runway

01:11.725 --> 01:14.525
through the group's histories to be able to,

01:14.585 --> 01:16.925
to really get a sense of what they were doing over time

01:16.985 --> 01:20.485
and how their creative output output waxed and waned.

01:20.785 --> 01:24.165
Um, during, during a career, the way that we came

01:24.185 --> 01:26.805
to this was really from looking at a lot

01:26.805 --> 01:29.765
of the work on creativity amongst groups.

01:29.765 --> 01:31.725
That tends to be done in lab studies.

01:32.025 --> 01:35.365
And obviously you can learn a lot from a lab study about pe,

01:35.425 --> 01:37.365
how people engage with each other, what they're able

01:37.625 --> 01:40.565
to come up with, how quickly they come up with things,

01:40.665 --> 01:42.125
how many ideas they generate.

01:42.625 --> 01:45.005
But the problem is, you know, many groups,

01:45.005 --> 01:48.845
whether in creative industries like music or film,

01:48.945 --> 01:50.565
or in more professional industries,

01:50.565 --> 01:55.285
think about consulting teams or, law firm partnerships

01:55.625 --> 01:59.205
or, you know, you know, pick your team.

01:59.715 --> 02:01.205
Chances are they know each other.

02:01.475 --> 02:03.005
They've worked together for a while

02:03.585 --> 02:05.805
and they're going to continue to work together for a while.

02:05.865 --> 02:09.325
And so in the lab, you don't have any of that history

02:09.345 --> 02:11.045
or projected future together.

02:11.625 --> 02:15.365
And we really wanted to focus on, you know, groups

02:15.395 --> 02:18.525
that were going to have some familiarity, have kind

02:18.525 --> 02:21.085
of worked through the initial stages of, of forming

02:21.195 --> 02:24.605
that group and that we're then going to have to deal

02:24.605 --> 02:26.645
with continuing to work together and,

02:26.785 --> 02:30.845
and confront whatever challenges, whatever new obstacles,

02:31.205 --> 02:32.405
whatever recognition and,

02:32.465 --> 02:35.725
and, whatever spotlight was shown upon them.

02:35.875 --> 02:37.965
Because our, our reading

02:37.965 --> 02:40.365
of literature didn't tell us a whole lot about

02:40.635 --> 02:42.485
what groups did over a life course,

02:42.485 --> 02:45.085
whether it was a few years or 25 plus years.

02:45.585 --> 02:48.525
And, and so, you know, there's a lot about group formation,

02:48.945 --> 02:50.325
and what happens in the beginning

02:50.325 --> 02:51.525
and how groups kind of align,

02:52.065 --> 02:55.125
but then there's not a lot on the creative output over time.

02:55.505 --> 02:57.285
The data set was actually initially

02:57.285 --> 02:58.885
collected by my co-authors,

02:58.885 --> 03:01.805
Spencer Harrison and Lydia Hape, at Boston College,

03:02.105 --> 03:03.445
years ago.

03:04.065 --> 03:08.685
And they, again, they bounded the time, between 1980

03:08.685 --> 03:11.325
and 1990 because of the specifics of,

03:11.325 --> 03:12.365
of what we were looking for.

03:12.945 --> 03:15.765
And so, you know, what was nice about that is there were 52,

03:16.345 --> 03:17.925
nominees and winners,

03:18.185 --> 03:20.965
and basically amongst those 52, there were three

03:21.075 --> 03:23.085
that are kind of not really relevant.

03:23.225 --> 03:24.245
One was Robin Williams,

03:24.565 --> 03:26.485
'cause he was nominated for some comedy album.

03:26.905 --> 03:29.405
Uh, one was the Blues Brothers who were sort

03:29.405 --> 03:31.405
of a comedic duo, who I'm sure you're familiar with.

03:31.625 --> 03:34.045
And then third was, Millie Vanilli, who

03:34.185 --> 03:36.405
for fairly obvious reasons,

03:36.545 --> 03:38.325
didn't quite fit into what we were looking for.

03:38.425 --> 03:43.045
So we kind of put, put them to the side, and we had 49 bands

03:43.145 --> 03:45.285
and artists to look at and,

03:45.905 --> 03:48.125
and combed through basically

03:48.305 --> 03:50.085
as many databases as we could find.

03:50.225 --> 03:52.845
And that's, that was newspapers, magazines.

03:53.065 --> 03:56.445
We, I watched a lot of VH one behind the music, a lot

03:56.445 --> 03:57.925
of YouTube interview clips.

03:58.305 --> 04:01.205
Um, just trying to capture, you know,

04:01.305 --> 04:04.325
how these groups not only were talking about,

04:05.025 --> 04:07.445
in retrospect how they were talking about this phase

04:07.465 --> 04:08.885
and kind of the early days of their career

04:08.985 --> 04:11.205
and what the, what the award meant to them.

04:11.745 --> 04:15.365
But what's amazing about our data access now is you can go

04:15.365 --> 04:17.645
to YouTube and find interviews from that time.

04:18.065 --> 04:20.365
And, you know, we watch how they interact with each other

04:20.385 --> 04:22.405
and what they said to each other, what they didn't say.

04:22.785 --> 04:25.205
Um, you know, one of the bands in, in the dataset

04:25.205 --> 04:29.015
that we actually highlight in in the paper is Aha,

04:29.015 --> 04:30.535
you know, famous for Take on Me.

04:30.595 --> 04:32.375
And, and they're sort of groundbreaking video

04:32.875 --> 04:34.215
and there are early interviews

04:34.215 --> 04:35.935
where they quite literally won't look at

04:35.935 --> 04:37.015
each other while they're talking.

04:37.195 --> 04:39.615
Uh, and this is after having just been nominated for,

04:39.835 --> 04:43.255
for a Grammy award, and it's clear that animosity is high.

04:43.315 --> 04:47.255
So, so a lot of qualitative data collected via interviews

04:47.275 --> 04:50.335
and, and, you know, written video, et cetera.

04:50.675 --> 04:52.695
And then, there's a lot more

04:52.695 --> 04:54.255
quantitative data in here as well.

04:54.285 --> 04:55.455
It's a mixed methods paper.

04:55.675 --> 04:58.895
And so we went and we looked at billboard chart rankings.

04:58.895 --> 05:00.295
We went and looked at,

05:00.975 --> 05:03.255
critical reviews like meta critic and things like that.

05:03.635 --> 05:06.415
And then we have actually data on the music itself.

05:06.915 --> 05:09.455
Um, and so, you know, a lot of the data

05:09.455 --> 05:13.615
that I end up using in my research more generally is data

05:13.845 --> 05:15.855
from a company called the Echo Nest,

05:15.855 --> 05:17.015
which is now owned by Spotify.

05:17.755 --> 05:20.615
And it captures the acoustic features,

05:20.855 --> 05:22.615
acoustic attributes of songs.

05:22.835 --> 05:24.415
Um, and that's everything from sort

05:24.415 --> 05:26.855
of your standard musical logical features.

05:27.125 --> 05:29.135
Like what mode is it, major

05:29.155 --> 05:31.775
or minor, the time signature or the key.

05:32.115 --> 05:34.095
But then they also have features like

05:34.995 --> 05:37.695
how emotionally valent the song is, how

05:38.295 --> 05:42.455
acoustic versus more produced, record is how,

05:42.765 --> 05:46.215
energetic in terms of more like hard rock versus less.

05:46.635 --> 05:48.895
And so we have data on their actual

05:48.895 --> 05:50.135
songs and output as well.

05:50.135 --> 05:52.535
And so we can triangulate what we hear

05:52.555 --> 05:53.695
and see in interviews

05:53.965 --> 05:55.695
with more quantitative data on the

05:55.695 --> 05:56.735
performance of their songs,

05:56.935 --> 05:59.085
Songs, and then the actual content of their songs as well.

05:59.695 --> 06:02.045
Bands Ascent have kind of orientations

06:02.045 --> 06:03.885
that they take towards the recognition,

06:03.905 --> 06:05.245
so towards the nomination

06:05.265 --> 06:07.325
or the winning of this best new artist, Grammy.

06:08.025 --> 06:11.445
And the orientations then determine a lot about

06:11.875 --> 06:13.285
what happens after the fact.

06:13.785 --> 06:17.805
And so using the, the most of the qualitative data,

06:17.985 --> 06:19.245
but then we kind of triangulate

06:19.245 --> 06:20.885
with the more quantitative data.

06:21.545 --> 06:23.765
We, they have this kind of recognition early on,

06:24.065 --> 06:26.285
and then they orient towards it in one of three ways.

06:26.395 --> 06:30.045
It's either they absorb that recognition, they insulate from

06:30.045 --> 06:32.965
that recognition, or they follow kind of a mixed path.

06:33.145 --> 06:36.285
And the mixed path is basically they start off by absorbing,

06:36.545 --> 06:38.565
and then they try to sort of undo that

06:38.565 --> 06:41.445
because that is actually a failure, generally a failure

06:41.625 --> 06:42.725
or a challenging path.

06:42.905 --> 06:44.525
And they try to become more insulating.

06:44.525 --> 06:46.405
And that that's problematic,

06:46.685 --> 06:47.885
although it's certainly better than the groups

06:47.885 --> 06:49.125
that just purely absorbed.

06:49.465 --> 06:53.885
And what that basically means is the absorbing groups kind

06:53.885 --> 06:56.005
of take on all of these expectations

06:56.465 --> 06:58.805
and all of the newfound interests,

06:59.225 --> 07:01.045
and all of the different people that want to kind

07:01.045 --> 07:02.765
of get involved and get a piece of the group.

07:03.155 --> 07:05.565
Once you're recognized for something, you know, you have

07:05.565 --> 07:07.565
that big sort of celebratory moment

07:08.065 --> 07:09.485
and it attracts a lot of attention.

07:10.105 --> 07:13.885
And the, the majority of the groups in the dataset tend

07:13.885 --> 07:18.125
to absorb that meaning they all the expectations for, okay,

07:18.125 --> 07:19.525
now we have to replicate this again,

07:19.525 --> 07:21.445
and we have to do it quickly while we can, you know,

07:21.445 --> 07:22.965
strike while the iron is hot and,

07:22.985 --> 07:24.725
and kind of take advantage of this moment.

07:25.185 --> 07:27.885
Um, and so they really get stuck on

07:27.885 --> 07:29.365
that award-winning album,

07:29.825 --> 07:31.725
and it becomes very difficult for them to kind

07:31.725 --> 07:33.125
of artistically move forward.

07:33.625 --> 07:36.125
Uh, and, and so from a creativity standpoint,

07:36.435 --> 07:38.085
they tended to be more stifled.

07:38.085 --> 07:39.885
They tended to have more frustrations.

07:40.225 --> 07:42.205
It tended to lead to more infighting,

07:42.925 --> 07:44.725
disagreements, more people involved.

07:44.725 --> 07:47.165
They didn't like the process of choosing the song

07:47.265 --> 07:49.405
or what was written or who was writing it

07:49.405 --> 07:51.885
or who was getting the most popularity from the group.

07:52.305 --> 07:55.325
Um, and so these relationships, which prior

07:55.345 --> 07:56.645
to the award tended

07:56.645 --> 07:59.285
to be more con contained in the group itself.

07:59.625 --> 08:00.965
Now all of a sudden there's kind

08:00.965 --> 08:02.245
of relationships coming from everywhere.

08:02.245 --> 08:03.525
So that's, that was one group.

08:04.065 --> 08:06.445
Um, and, and we find then looking at the,

08:06.785 --> 08:09.445
the quantitative data, these groups end up churning

08:09.445 --> 08:10.485
out fewer albums.

08:10.735 --> 08:13.605
Their album, their subsequent albums perform worse.

08:13.835 --> 08:15.725
They're less, varied in terms

08:15.725 --> 08:17.245
of their musical content, right?

08:17.345 --> 08:20.125
So, so that creative process definitely gets harmed

08:20.125 --> 08:22.125
as a function of the way they kind of react

08:22.125 --> 08:23.285
to this recognition.

08:23.665 --> 08:26.645
So that's one. The, the second orientation,

08:26.655 --> 08:28.765
which is a fewer number of groups,

08:29.025 --> 08:31.325
but a handful of them, have

08:31.325 --> 08:33.525
what we call this insulating orientation.

08:33.825 --> 08:34.965
And they kind

08:34.965 --> 08:37.845
of keep their expectations outside of the group.

08:38.115 --> 08:39.245
They're like, this is nice

08:39.385 --> 08:41.325
and this buys us the freedom to continue to do

08:41.325 --> 08:42.525
what we want, right?

08:42.575 --> 08:44.965
We've demonstrated we can do this, that's great.

08:45.025 --> 08:46.965
You all want us to keep doing this last thing.

08:47.265 --> 08:49.965
But we say, you know, this recognition actually is,

08:50.025 --> 08:53.085
is our hall pass so that we can now kind

08:53.085 --> 08:54.445
of continue to do what we were doing.

08:55.025 --> 08:57.725
And, you know, they end up being much more methodical

08:58.025 --> 08:59.085
in terms of their approach.

08:59.475 --> 09:02.045
They take, they have fewer, band breakups.

09:02.115 --> 09:04.965
They do take hiatus, but they never break up as a band.

09:05.265 --> 09:07.285
And so they kind of pace themselves more

09:07.585 --> 09:10.205
and they keep the relationships much more internalized.

09:10.205 --> 09:11.605
It's not that there aren't other people

09:11.705 --> 09:14.325
and producers that wanna have access and,

09:14.345 --> 09:15.725
and may even get access,

09:16.145 --> 09:19.685
but they still focus on the band as kind of the core group.

09:19.685 --> 09:22.405
And they do a really good job of insulating themselves,

09:22.515 --> 09:26.125
thus the name from the expectations from the other people.

09:26.545 --> 09:28.525
And again, we show with the quantitative data,

09:28.655 --> 09:32.965
these bands tend to have a longer careers, fewer breakups,

09:33.035 --> 09:35.365
more successful subsequent albums,

09:35.435 --> 09:37.125
more varied music in the future.

09:37.705 --> 09:40.765
And, and so what you have this really nice, you know,

09:40.915 --> 09:43.605
dichotomy between your response as a group

09:43.705 --> 09:45.125
to this recognition

09:45.345 --> 09:48.485
and then what that means for how you in interact

09:48.485 --> 09:49.845
with each other, and then what that means

09:49.845 --> 09:51.525
for your creative output in the long run.

09:51.945 --> 09:55.565
So the band that, that we use in the paper that we highlight

09:56.315 --> 09:59.165
from a, absorbing orientation perspective, right?

09:59.165 --> 10:01.045
So more infighting was the Go-Go's.

10:01.385 --> 10:04.325
Um, and you know, if you've ever seen History of the Go-Go's

10:04.325 --> 10:07.365
or Behind the Music, you know, that they were quite,

10:07.705 --> 10:09.405
you know, quite the explosive group.

10:09.745 --> 10:11.965
Uh, and so they kind of fit it, fit it to a t.

10:12.305 --> 10:15.285
Um, and you know, what's nice is they still were great.

10:15.385 --> 10:17.205
And, and the point is not like,

10:17.205 --> 10:18.765
you absorbed this recognition

10:18.945 --> 10:20.485
and it caused all this fighting,

10:20.485 --> 10:21.645
therefore you're like, awful.

10:21.945 --> 10:24.125
And that's not the point, but it certainly was a much

10:24.125 --> 10:25.565
harder slog for them.

10:26.225 --> 10:28.645
Um, and you know, they just now,

10:28.835 --> 10:31.565
however many years later got inducted into the Rock

10:31.565 --> 10:33.605
and Roll Hall of Fame like a couple of years ago.

10:33.985 --> 10:35.845
Um, and so, you know,

10:35.905 --> 10:37.765
the point is not this destroys you forever,

10:38.025 --> 10:40.365
but it makes the whole creative process just

10:40.475 --> 10:41.765
that much more challenging.

10:41.835 --> 10:43.805
Obviously there's been a lot of acrimony,

10:43.845 --> 10:46.805
I mean quite literally, like lawsuits amongst band members

10:46.865 --> 10:49.805
and the gogos and, and lots of of dislike.

10:50.225 --> 10:54.245
Uh, so that's the absorbing path, the, insulating path.

10:54.585 --> 10:56.485
We use the band Shaday,

10:56.945 --> 11:00.125
and you know, they've followed a much more, you know,

11:00.245 --> 11:02.845
a little bit more off the radar as far

11:02.845 --> 11:04.565
as like mainstream popularity,

11:04.585 --> 11:06.085
but every time they release an album,

11:06.275 --> 11:08.365
it's an event they end up with top songs

11:08.905 --> 11:11.085
and they have just cultivated this fan base

11:11.085 --> 11:12.485
that has done well over time.

11:12.905 --> 11:15.285
And so maybe like the star never shown quite

11:15.285 --> 11:17.605
as bright on Shaday as it did on the Gogos,

11:17.705 --> 11:19.765
but it's been much more consistent over time

11:19.825 --> 11:23.925
and critically has certainly been been more positive,

11:23.985 --> 11:25.765
as far as like their creativity over time.

11:25.865 --> 11:27.525
And then I mentioned there was kind

11:27.525 --> 11:29.725
of a third path, which is mixed.

11:29.785 --> 11:33.165
And these are the groups that start out as absorbing sort

11:33.165 --> 11:36.245
of like the Gogos, but then realize that this is not,

11:36.345 --> 11:37.965
not necessarily a great way forward.

11:38.225 --> 11:41.565
And they try to, to get put the genie back in the bottle

11:41.825 --> 11:43.485
to varying degrees of success.

11:43.785 --> 11:45.885
And what we found was actually a lot of the, so most

11:45.885 --> 11:49.325
of the solo artists end up having this path, so we kind

11:49.325 --> 11:51.765
of didn't really include them very much in the analyses,

11:51.945 --> 11:52.965
but as far as bands

11:53.005 --> 11:55.525
Are concerned, the band Aha, that I alluded, alluded

11:55.525 --> 11:57.605
to before, they, they were the ones

11:57.605 --> 12:00.245
that followed this path, thinking about this as

12:00.905 --> 12:03.405
if you are going to be in an organization

12:03.705 --> 12:06.445
or as part of a team that's gonna be together over time.

12:06.915 --> 12:10.885
It's really being careful about how you function internally

12:11.065 --> 12:14.965
and what you do with outside voices and resources

12:14.965 --> 12:16.525
and expectations that come in.

12:16.945 --> 12:18.645
Yes, if there's recognition, you know,

12:18.705 --> 12:22.285
you are a scientist team and you win so big award, right?

12:22.285 --> 12:25.005
That's a particular type of intense recognition.

12:25.105 --> 12:26.285
But there are other ways that groups

12:26.305 --> 12:28.405
and teams get recognized for their performance

12:28.425 --> 12:29.485
and, and their creativity.

12:30.265 --> 12:32.965
And I think as you think about teams and,

12:33.065 --> 12:34.285
and within organizations

12:34.285 --> 12:35.965
or in creative industries that are trying

12:35.965 --> 12:37.485
to be creative over time,

12:37.995 --> 12:41.365
it's really being thoughtful about which voices you let in,

12:41.495 --> 12:44.205
which kind of expectations you internalize as far as

12:44.205 --> 12:47.165
what you are going to continue to do as a group,

12:48.025 --> 12:50.725
and how you, how you really interact effectively

12:50.725 --> 12:51.925
internally, right?

12:52.145 --> 12:56.005
So the early stages of, of a group's life are so critical

12:56.025 --> 12:58.085
for establishing the ways of working,

12:58.305 --> 13:00.725
the coordination patterns, the understanding

13:00.725 --> 13:02.405
of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

13:03.025 --> 13:05.045
And, and there's a lot of work that goes into that.

13:05.105 --> 13:08.965
And recognition whether of the big award variety

13:09.105 --> 13:10.165
or just of the, hey,

13:10.165 --> 13:13.005
this group's doing good work can be quite destabilizing.

13:13.385 --> 13:17.205
Uh, and instead of using that as an opportunity to say,

13:17.205 --> 13:19.325
great, let's like take all this in and, and,

13:19.545 --> 13:22.165
and sort of throw out what we've done, it's recognizing

13:22.165 --> 13:24.925
that groups have put in a lot of work already up to

13:24.925 --> 13:26.965
that point and not to just throw that out the window

13:27.465 --> 13:30.925
and to kind of stick with a little bit of what's worked well

13:31.025 --> 13:33.645
and deal with those relationships in a really effective

13:33.645 --> 13:36.965
manner, to continue to be creative over time.

13:37.425 --> 13:39.765
So one is about sort of the relationships internally

13:39.785 --> 13:41.445
and the other is the pacing, right?

13:41.475 --> 13:43.085
What was interesting about this was

13:43.085 --> 13:45.605
that sustained productivity,

13:45.625 --> 13:48.485
and sustained creative productivity really came from

13:48.635 --> 13:50.805
understanding the pacing of the group.

13:51.265 --> 13:53.445
You know, taking breaks when necessary,

13:53.455 --> 13:54.845
going off doing your own thing.

13:55.105 --> 13:57.365
And when the inspiration strikes coming back.

13:57.785 --> 14:00.325
Now music groups may have a little bit more freedom to do

14:00.325 --> 14:03.445
that than if you're, you know, on a consulting team

14:03.585 --> 14:05.125
or a construction team.

14:05.545 --> 14:08.805
Um, but it's really recognizing that creativity

14:09.465 --> 14:10.605
is the muse strikes.

14:10.605 --> 14:13.085
When it strikes, it's not, it's very difficult to just sort

14:13.085 --> 14:14.245
of get in a room

14:14.265 --> 14:16.845
and just hammer it out time and time and time again.

14:17.145 --> 14:19.325
And so finding the pacing that works well

14:19.395 --> 14:21.125
because when the pacing gets forced,

14:21.705 --> 14:25.635
that's often when creativity sort of dissipates

14:25.695 --> 14:27.715
or becomes much more of a slog,

14:27.715 --> 14:29.595
creativity gets reduced, et cetera.

14:29.815 --> 14:32.275
Uh, and so I think, you know, the implications are not just

14:32.375 --> 14:35.035
for groups and teams in the creative industries,

14:35.035 --> 14:37.755
but really for any group that's gonna spend time together

14:37.815 --> 14:39.715
and is trying to be creative, which I think

14:40.755 --> 14:41.995
classifies quite a lot of,

14:41.995 --> 14:44.195
people in their professional lives these days.

Exploring Creativity in Music Bands Over Time

00:00:00 - We focus specifically on bands. There actually were a number of, solo artists in the sample initially, but we found that they all sort of tended to do roughly similar things as far as our study was concerned. And we'll get to what that means in, in a little bit. But basically, we wanted to understand how groups of people who worked together over time deal with the creative process and deal with creative recognition and what that might do to their process. and so we focused on, groups that won or were nominated for the best new artist
00:00:32 - So basically from 1980 through 1990, and we used that timeframe for primarily two reasons. One, 1980 ish. 81 was when MTV launched. And so there's a lot more data interviews, qualitative information available around these groups. and two by 1990, the groups that started then or released their first album then were eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. And so we wanted to see how did creativity get sustained
00:01:05 - And so that was a good time bounding both to have access to a lot of information, but also enough of a runway through the group's histories to be able to, to really get a sense of what they were doing over time and how their creative output output waxed and waned. during, during a career, the way that we came to this was really from looking at a lot of the work on creativity amongst groups. That tends to be done in lab studies.
00:01:35 - how people engage with each other, what they're able to come up with, how quickly they come up with things, how many ideas they generate. But the problem is, you know, many groups, whether in creative industries like music or film, or in more professional industries, think about consulting teams or, law firm partnerships or, you know, you know, pick your team. Chances are they know each other. They've worked together for a while
00:02:05 - And so in the lab, you don't have any of that history or projected future together. And we really wanted to focus on, you know, groups that were going to have some familiarity, have kind of worked through the initial stages of, of forming that group and that we're then going to have to deal with continuing to work together and, and confront whatever challenges, whatever new obstacles, whatever recognition and, and, whatever spotlight was shown upon them.
00:02:37 - of literature didn't tell us a whole lot about what groups did over a life course, whether it was a few years or 25 plus years. And, and so, you know, there's a lot about group formation, and what happens in the beginning and how groups kind of align, but then there's not a lot on the creative output over time. The data set was actually initially collected by my co-authors, Spencer Harrison and Lydia Hape, at Boston College, years ago. And they, again, they bounded the time, between 1980

Analyzing Grammy-Nominated Bands' Creative Processes

00:03:11 - of what we were looking for. And so, you know, what was nice about that is there were 52, nominees and winners, and basically amongst those 52, there were three that are kind of not really relevant. One was Robin Williams, 'cause he was nominated for some comedy album. one was the Blues Brothers who were sort of a comedic duo, who I'm sure you're familiar with. And then third was, Millie Vanilli, who for fairly obvious reasons, didn't quite fit into what we were looking for. So we kind of put, put them to the side, and we had 49 bands
00:03:45 - and combed through basically as many databases as we could find. And that's, that was newspapers, magazines. We, I watched a lot of VH one behind the music, a lot of YouTube interview clips. just trying to capture, you know, how these groups not only were talking about, in retrospect how they were talking about this phase and kind of the early days of their career and what the, what the award meant to them. But what's amazing about our data access now is you can go
00:04:18 - And, you know, we watch how they interact with each other and what they said to each other, what they didn't say. you know, one of the bands in, in the dataset that we actually highlight in in the paper is Aha, you know, famous for Take on Me. And, and they're sort of groundbreaking video and there are early interviews where they quite literally won't look at each other while they're talking. and this is after having just been nominated for, for a Grammy award, and it's clear that animosity is high. So, so a lot of qualitative data collected via interviews
00:04:50 - And then, there's a lot more quantitative data in here as well. It's a mixed methods paper. And so we went and we looked at billboard chart rankings. We went and looked at, critical reviews like meta critic and things like that. And then we have actually data on the music itself. and so, you know, a lot of the data that I end up using in my research more generally is data from a company called the Echo Nest, which is now owned by Spotify.
00:05:20 - acoustic attributes of songs. and that's everything from sort of your standard musical logical features. Like what mode is it, major or minor, the time signature or the key. But then they also have features like how emotionally valent the song is, how acoustic versus more produced, record is how, energetic in terms of more like hard rock versus less. And so we have data on their actual
00:05:50 - And so we can triangulate what we hear and see in interviews with more quantitative data on the performance of their songs, Songs, and then the actual content of their songs as well. Bands Ascent have kind of orientations that they take towards the recognition, so towards the nomination or the winning of this best new artist, Grammy. And the orientations then determine a lot about what happens after the fact. And so using the, the most of the qualitative data, but then we kind of triangulate

Group Recognition: Three Response Orientations

00:06:21 - We, they have this kind of recognition early on, and then they orient towards it in one of three ways. It's either they absorb that recognition, they insulate from that recognition, or they follow kind of a mixed path. And the mixed path is basically they start off by absorbing, and then they try to sort of undo that because that is actually a failure, generally a failure or a challenging path. And they try to become more insulating. And that that's problematic, although it's certainly better than the groups that just purely absorbed.
00:06:53 - of take on all of these expectations and all of the newfound interests, and all of the different people that want to kind of get involved and get a piece of the group. Once you're recognized for something, you know, you have that big sort of celebratory moment and it attracts a lot of attention. And the, the majority of the groups in the dataset tend to absorb that meaning they all the expectations for, okay, now we have to replicate this again,
00:07:21 - strike while the iron is hot and, and kind of take advantage of this moment. and so they really get stuck on that award-winning album, and it becomes very difficult for them to kind of artistically move forward. and, and so from a creativity standpoint, they tended to be more stifled. They tended to have more frustrations. It tended to lead to more infighting, disagreements, more people involved. They didn't like the process of choosing the song or what was written or who was writing it or who was getting the most popularity from the group.
00:07:55 - to the award tended to be more con contained in the group itself. Now all of a sudden there's kind of relationships coming from everywhere. So that's, that was one group. and, and we find then looking at the, the quantitative data, these groups end up churning out fewer albums. Their album, their subsequent albums perform worse. They're less, varied in terms of their musical content, right? So, so that creative process definitely gets harmed as a function of the way they kind of react to this recognition.
00:08:26 - which is a fewer number of groups, but a handful of them, have what we call this insulating orientation. And they kind of keep their expectations outside of the group. They're like, this is nice and this buys us the freedom to continue to do what we want, right? We've demonstrated we can do this, that's great. You all want us to keep doing this last thing. But we say, you know, this recognition actually is, is our hall pass so that we can now kind of continue to do what we were doing.
00:08:58 - in terms of their approach. They take, they have fewer, band breakups. They do take hiatus, but they never break up as a band. And so they kind of pace themselves more and they keep the relationships much more internalized. It's not that there aren't other people and producers that wanna have access and, and may even get access, but they still focus on the band as kind of the core group. And they do a really good job of insulating themselves, thus the name from the expectations from the other people.

Band Dynamics and Creative Recognition Paths

00:09:28 - these bands tend to have a longer careers, fewer breakups, more successful subsequent albums, more varied music in the future. And, and so what you have this really nice, you know, dichotomy between your response as a group to this recognition and then what that means for how you in interact with each other, and then what that means for your creative output in the long run. So the band that, that we use in the paper that we highlight from a, absorbing orientation perspective, right?
00:10:01 - and you know, if you've ever seen History of the Go-Go's or Behind the Music, you know, that they were quite, you know, quite the explosive group. and so they kind of fit it, fit it to a t. and you know, what's nice is they still were great. And, and the point is not like, you absorbed this recognition and it caused all this fighting, therefore you're like, awful. And that's not the point, but it certainly was a much harder slog for them. and you know, they just now, however many years later got inducted into the Rock
00:10:33 - and so, you know, the point is not this destroys you forever, but it makes the whole creative process just that much more challenging. Obviously there's been a lot of acrimony, I mean quite literally, like lawsuits amongst band members and the gogos and, and lots of of dislike. so that's the absorbing path, the, insulating path. We use the band Shaday, and you know, they've followed a much more, you know, a little bit more off the radar as far
00:11:04 - but every time they release an album, it's an event they end up with top songs and they have just cultivated this fan base that has done well over time. And so maybe like the star never shown quite as bright on Shaday as it did on the Gogos, but it's been much more consistent over time and critically has certainly been been more positive, as far as like their creativity over time. And then I mentioned there was kind of a third path, which is mixed. And these are the groups that start out as absorbing sort
00:11:36 - not necessarily a great way forward. And they try to, to get put the genie back in the bottle to varying degrees of success. And what we found was actually a lot of the, so most of the solo artists end up having this path, so we kind of didn't really include them very much in the analyses, but as far as bands Are concerned, the band Aha, that I alluded, alluded to before, they, they were the ones that followed this path, thinking about this as if you are going to be in an organization
00:12:06 - It's really being careful about how you function internally and what you do with outside voices and resources and expectations that come in. Yes, if there's recognition, you know, you are a scientist team and you win so big award, right? That's a particular type of intense recognition. But there are other ways that groups and teams get recognized for their performance and, and their creativity. And I think as you think about teams and, and within organizations

Fostering Creativity Through Group Dynamics

00:12:35 - to be creative over time, it's really being thoughtful about which voices you let in, which kind of expectations you internalize as far as what you are going to continue to do as a group, and how you, how you really interact effectively internally, right? So the early stages of, of a group's life are so critical for establishing the ways of working, the coordination patterns, the understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. And, and there's a lot of work that goes into that.
00:13:09 - or just of the, hey, this group's doing good work can be quite destabilizing. and instead of using that as an opportunity to say, great, let's like take all this in and, and, and sort of throw out what we've done, it's recognizing that groups have put in a lot of work already up to that point and not to just throw that out the window and to kind of stick with a little bit of what's worked well and deal with those relationships in a really effective manner, to continue to be creative over time.
00:13:39 - and the other is the pacing, right? What was interesting about this was that sustained productivity, and sustained creative productivity really came from understanding the pacing of the group. You know, taking breaks when necessary, going off doing your own thing. And when the inspiration strikes coming back. Now music groups may have a little bit more freedom to do that than if you're, you know, on a consulting team or a construction team. but it's really recognizing that creativity
00:14:10 - When it strikes, it's not, it's very difficult to just sort of get in a room and just hammer it out time and time and time again. And so finding the pacing that works well because when the pacing gets forced, that's often when creativity sort of dissipates or becomes much more of a slog, creativity gets reduced, et cetera. and so I think, you know, the implications are not just for groups and teams in the creative industries, but really for any group that's gonna spend time together and is trying to be creative, which I think
00:14:41 - people in their professional lives these days.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis