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Remember when being called a “sellout” was a serious problem?
If you’re a Gen Xer, you know exactly what I mean. “Selling out” is commonly defined as someone betraying their values and principles for financial gain.
When it comes to digital marketing and business, you can think of it as using unethical tactics or sleazy strategies to separate people from their money. And then there are those poor souls who feel like even ethical marketing is somehow beneath them.
But that’s not what I’m talking about. I see people selling out in a different way constantly online, and it’s a huge problem that needs to be fixed.
First, let’s take a quick look at the history of the term “sellout” to understand what we’re dealing with.
Selling Out Used to Get You Paid
Is it true that you have sold your soul?
I say, “Hey man, I don’t know
Lend me a quarter, won’t you
I’ll call my accountant”
~ Cracker
The use of the term “sellout” as someone who betrays a cause or their allies for personal gain first emerged in the mid-1800s, specifically in labor and political contexts. Union organizers accused colleagues of selling out to management, while politicians accused each other of selling out constituents to moneyed interests.
The core idea at first was betrayal of a group’s interests for a payoff, not yet about artistic integrity. That use emerged in the first half of the 20th century, when Black musicians who left more challenging or “authentic” styles to play crowd-pleasing, commercially viable music were accused of selling out.
The counterculture movement of the late 1950s and 1960s saw the term jump to white artists as well. Anyone who abandoned bohemian or radical values to join mainstream, corporate, or “square” society was a sellout.
For Generation X, though, it was the period beginning with 70s punk and extending through the 90s alternative music revolution that made the concept a potent form of Kryptonite. Punk and alternative turned the term “sellout” into genre-defining anxieties.
A band signing to a major label, cleaning up its sound for radio, or licensing a song for a commercial made them pariahs to early fans even as (or because) they earned greater mainstream success:
Metallica’s 1991 “Black Album” was their crossover hit, sparking sell-out claims due to a perceived radio-friendly shift from the band’s previous thrash metal sound.
Nirvana’s Nevermind was considered by some to be a sellout of the band’s punk ideals because they left indie label Sup Pop, signed with Geffen, and delivered an album with much more compelling hooks than the band’s first album.
MC Hammer faced backlash from traditional rap fans for heavy product endorsements and mainstream pop crossover appeal, even as his business model paved the way for modern hip-hop branding.
The term also applied to creative work outside of music. Practices ranging from product placement in television and film to stand-up comedians toning down their language and subject matter to attract larger audiences were considered acts of selling out.
Remember the product placement scene in Wayne’s World? It was funny, but it also provided an early signal of what was to come.
These days, I don’t think my Gen Z kids even have a concept of what “selling out” means. A band getting their song used in a commercial or TV show is now something to be celebrated, as well as a financial necessity. Celebrities of all kinds now pimp products relentlessly on social media, often developing their own product brands.
And this still isn’t the kind of selling out I see among aspiring solopreneurs. It’s something worse, because these people are selling out and not even getting paid.
Selling Out for Nothing at All
You’re gonna find out
Everything you need to give for free to be a sellout
~ Jack White
The people most commonly selling out with their content and their marketing are indeed betraying their values and principles. But sadly, they are receiving no financial compensation for their compromised integrity.
In fact, they’re completely ignored. They are struggling to gain attention, email subscribers, and money, but failing miserably.
These people betray their values by hiding them in an effort to please everyone. They create bland, generic content that ruffles no feathers and connects with no one.
In an effort to cast the widest net possible, these people catch zero metaphorical fish. They refuse to stand for anything out of fear of rejection, and this is the saddest form of selling out there is.
We all believe things. We all have opinions about how things should be. These ideals stem from values, and your values aren’t a risk to manage. They’re the attraction spell.
The people succeeding with digital marketing stand for something. They don’t appeal to everyone, but they do appeal to the right people.
That’s why taking a stand works like a filter and a magnet at the same time.
The people who disagree with you self-select out before they waste your time. The people who agree with you lean in … because you just said the thing they’ve been thinking and nobody else would say out loud.
Don’t think of it as a smaller audience. Think of it as a real one. The kind that opens your emails, buys what you sell, and tells other people about you without being asked.
Look, I know this is tough love. But it’s too important to leave unsaid.
You’re not being ignored because you’re not good enough. You’re being ignored because you haven’t said anything yet.
Keep going-
P.S. If you’re trying to place those Cracker lyrics, check the Flashback below.
further: flashback
🎶 Cracker - Get Off This, Kerosene Hat, 1993 🎶
