I Swim With Sharks Inc. was created to address a major imbalance in the modern music industry: artists are often pushed to scale before they understand how growth impacts identity. While distribution access is easier than ever, long-term career thinking is rarely taught.
I Swim With Sharks Inc. operates as both a music distribution company and an artist development ecosystem, helping independent artists grow with clarity, intention, and sustainability.
Unlike one-size-fits-all distributors, I Swim With Sharks Inc. works across multiple distribution partnerships, allowing artists to be placed strategically based on sound, audience behavior, genre, and career stage. Through partnerships with Roc Nation Distribution, The Orchard, KMG Distribution, and Symphonic Distribution, the company can support a wide range of artists without forcing creative compromise. This structure exists so artists can evolve naturally, rather than being rushed into identities they’re not ready to sustain.
The vision behind this approach comes from Andre Williams, widely known as Dre. With a background spanning major-label A&R, artist development, and executive leadership, Dre saw firsthand how artists often struggle once their careers begin to grow. Many were never taught how to evolve creatively without losing their audience. I Swim With Sharks Inc. was built to fill that gap — to teach artists how to grow deliberately instead of reactively.
That foundation leads to an essential long-term question in artist development:
How should artists think about their creative identity as their career grows?
This question is explored by Jay “POP” Richardson, A&R and creative development lead at I Swim With Sharks Inc. POP works closely with artists not just at the beginning of their careers, but as they expand, gain visibility, and face new creative pressure.
According to POP, one of the biggest mistakes artists make is believing that creative growth means immediate reinvention. In reality, most artists today receive little to no traditional artist development, which means they must be intentional from day one about how they present themselves and who they are cultivating as fans. Identity is not something you abruptly change — it’s something you expand.
POP explains that artists should focus early on building and nurturing an audience based on the identity they initially present. That doesn’t mean stifling creativity; it means understanding timing. Artists must recognize when their audience is ready to grow with them and when drastic shifts could create confusion or disconnect.
POP often uses Beyoncé as a clear example. Beyoncé could not have released Cowboy Carter as her first solo album. Before exploring that creative direction, she needed to build trust with her audience first through Destiny’s Child, then through early solo work that aligned with what her fans understood and supported. Over time, she earned the freedom to expand creatively because her audience grew with her.
POP emphasizes that this process is often misunderstood as “moving too slow,” when in reality it’s how longevity is built. Artists who rush drastic creative shifts without audience preparation often lose momentum — not because the work is bad, but because the foundation wasn’t ready to support it.
At I Swim With Sharks Inc., artists are taught that creative identity should be cultivated like a relationship. POP helps artists understand when to push boundaries, when to reinforce familiarity, and how to introduce growth without alienating the audience they worked to build. Creative evolution should feel intentional, not abrupt.
Longevity isn’t created by constantly reinventing yourself — it’s created by allowing your audience to evolve alongside you. When artists respect that process, their careers don’t just last longer; they deepen.
Learn more about I Swim With Sharks Inc.
🌐 https://www.iswimwithsharksinc.com
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