On Scale, Systems, and Why Talent Alone Isn’t Enough
Most artists don’t fail globally because of talent.
They fail because the system around them is weak.
This is an uncomfortable truth in creative industries, especially in markets where talent is abundant but infrastructure is fragile. We celebrate breakout moments — viral records, sold-out shows, international co-signs — and call that success. But moments are not systems. And moments, on their own, don’t last.
Culture does not scale on creativity alone.
It scales on planning, partnerships, and accountability.
Artists rarely grow in isolation. What looks like individual success is usually the result of an ecosystem moving quietly in the background: collaborators, touring routes, media pipelines, promoters, venues, logistics, and trust. Scale happens when these elements align — not when talent is left to carry the weight alone.
Narrative matters.
Artists need writers and journalists to contextualise their work.
Journalists need photographers and videographers to translate sound into image.
Visual teams need platforms that distribute consistently and credibly.
Platforms need audiences who trust what they’re seeing.
Break one link in that chain and growth slows — sometimes invisibly, sometimes abruptly.
But even the strongest creative ecosystems collapse if promoters and operators don’t buildproperly.
As stages get bigger, responsibility increases. Crowd control and safety are not operational details; they are cultural contracts. When logistics fail, when venues are ill-equipped, when safety is treated as an afterthought, it doesn’t just damage a single event — it erodes trust across the entire scene.
This is where many creative economies stall.
Artists are encouraged to “go global,” while the foundations at home remain unstable. Touring routes are fragmented. Venues are inconsistent. Infrastructure is expected to catch up after success, instead of being built to sustain it.
Yet history shows us something clear.
Touring builds audiences.
Collaboration builds leverage.
Infrastructure turns moments into movements.
The artists who scale most effectively are rarely doing it alone. They are surrounded by systems that work — promoters who plan responsibly, media ecosystems that amplify strategically, and partnerships that compound over time.
The same is true for cities and institutions that succeed culturally. They understand that venues, safety standards, logistics, media pipelines, and cross-border partnerships are not optional extras. They are the economy.
If global impact is the goal, the work must move beyond ego and towards ecosystem. Beyond moments and towards continuity. Beyond talent and towards structure.
No one scales alone.
And no serious creative economy is built without responsibility.
The question, then, is not whether the talent exists.
It is whether the system is ready to carry it.
Dr. King SMADE
Journal Entry
Accra, December
