The Thing About The Blog

Here’s the thing about the blog.  I want it to be back and forth, me and you.  I want to initiate conversations and then field your responses, questions, challenges, support, contempt.  And then probably respond back to you, personally.  I think the best way to do this is to have the blog emailed to you (it will still be posted on the website), then all you have to do is hit Reply and we’re in business.

So if you’re into something like that, there’s an easy one-time email sign up on the right side of the page, or if you’re on mobile, just click the Menu and the Subscribe button.

I will continue to write posts about artist/band issues, the entertainment business, leadership, entrepreneurship and even throw some humor or general pop culture from time to time.  I hope you’ll join me.

If there are others who you think might like to join the conversation, pass my website along, it’d be great to have them.

There’s one more tweak for the blog I’m working on, so when that happens there might be another one of these invitation type posts.  But I wanted to get things rolling now, rather than later.

It’s all happening.

gabe

Gift Cards Are Fun To Open Again

Gift cards have pretty much come full circle.  When they first started getting really popular, I don’t know maybe 10 or 15 years ago, it was really exciting to get one because it meant the possibilities were wide open to purchase whatever you wanted from that particular store.

It was just a little piece of plastic, nothing flashy, usually taped inside of a generic Christmas card, but it was truly a gift. Freedom. A new, fresh kind of freedom.

Then you got the same thing the next year. And then you started getting more gift cards, and more gift cards, and the excitement started wearing down a little, cause it wasn’t new anymore.  Yeah, it’s cool being able to spend money on what you want, but it wasn’t exciting to get a gift card.

And that’s really what we want, the excitement.

But a couple years ago, and definitely this past Christmas, companies have purposefully gone out of there way to make gift cards exciting again.

Have you seen the packaging on them? It’s beautiful and inviting.

Now the gift card comes in a box of some sort. It’s elaborate. It’s thought out.  The gift card is situated just so, usually with two little finger tabs that are begging for us to reach in and touch the treasure.

Cause that’s the excitement of real gifts. The reaching in!!

And the boxes are nice too. It’s all marketing, but it truly makes for a better experience.  

I’m telling you, there were meetings at GAP, Target, WholeFoods, Macy’s, everywhere about how to make gift cards exciting again.

And now this brings be to the grand finale, the reason I’ve been thinking about the gift card business all day.

The same thing needs to happen with album/song art or packaging.

It used to be awesome and people got excited by it.

Now they don’t.

How could we bring it back around?

It’s still all about the song (just like it’s all about the actual fact that the gift card means I have money to spend), but I think we need to wake up to the thought that there’s an opportunity to bring music packaging/art back around.

Or maybe it’s playlists on Spotify or Beats. Playlists are boring to make, boring to send, boring to receive.  How could we make them exciting to receive? 

There’s your billion dollar idea for the day.

The Complaint I've Never Heard

You know what complaint I’ve never heard before…

I make music that tons and tons of people want to hear and hear again and they’re telling all their friends, but there’s just no money to be made in the music business.

Lots of artists say they can’t make money on music…but have they ever backed up and looked at what they’re pedaling? What songs they’re pedaling?

The most played song on Spotify is Avicii’s song Wake Me Up. As of today it has 318 million plays, which would net the Avicii empire (not necessarily himself, depending on the deals he’s signed) anywhere from $1.2 million to $2 million.  So streaming revenue off of that one song more than payed for the cost of making the entire album, the marketing plan, a radio push, and probably some new sneakers for the artist.  

With those costs covered, if he’s smart, a much larger percentage of the other revenue streams will be net profit.  He ain’t complaining about making money in the music business.

Yep, I used the most extreme example possible, the highest played song on Spotify to make my point. But what’s your counter point?

Take away terrestrial radio (which is still important) and the playing field gets very even, very quickly.  Sure, those with deep pockets will still try and pay off the gate keepers, but there are less and less gate keepers today than ever before.

By the way, there are lots of songs on Spotify’s Most Played All-Time list that you haven’t heard before. Songs with over a hundred million plays. 

If the opening complaint is where you find yourself (and if you’re honest with yourself, I don’t think you could make that complaint), then there’s a breakdown in the equation somewhere that you’re not noticing. So I’ll give you a brief plan to remedy the situation.

Spend half your time writing songs. Will you start here? Or did you already decided you’re going to “play the business”, or try to “get some syncs” and go from there?

Spend the other half relentlessly building a quality team. A team with sharp edges but put all together will round out the entity as a whole.

That’s your job. Admit you’re a leader. Be a leader.  

You Can Unfollow Me

I don’t think people feel better after looking at any of their social media feeds.  If you’re in a band, you’re probably following other bands, you see what they’re up to and wonder why they got those opportunities and you didn’t. It’s infuriating. Insert your passion/interest into the band scenario. 

Really the only thing that would make for a satisfactory scrolling of the feeds would be seeing everyone posting that they are just sitting on their couch, bored, boring and depressed.  Then I would be satisfied.  Then I would feel interesting and superior.

Let’s be honest, there’s even people that you really enjoy in real life that drive you up the wall when it comes to Instagram. Right?

So I’m going to give you (and me) a free pass this year.  Any friend, band, organization, family member, neighbor that triggers resentment, depression or envy…don’t follow them anymore. 

You don’t have time this year.

And it will give freedom to both sides.

Give yourself some credit, you probably get along with those people just fine in REAL LIFE, so why let their online billboard persuade you differently.

When I think about the best days and moments of 2014 and what I hope for 2015, none of them involve scrolling friends/bands/companies social media.  There’s just not much life there.

Stop being addicted to the emotional pops of jealousy that we’ve all come to secretly love every day.

Do it differently this year. Or, here’s a thought: for every friend who pisses you off on social media, ask them over for dinner.  You have more grace, understanding and kindness in you than you might think (and more than the internet wants you to believe).

Write It Down

By the close of business on Sunday, do one thing. Write something down. A list of goals with an attached timeline.  Write it down with a real pen on real paper.

There’s a difference when it’s your own hand writing verses Times New Roman font.  Dig up a pen and find an old notebook.

Writing it down will make you more likely to do it. It’s a fact. There are books, lecture series, classes, articles, websites and sermons (and blog posts) dedicated to this one idea.  So save yourself having to hear, see, read one or all of those and just write down a list.  

If you feel like you need more guidance than this you’re already losing the plot and probably won’t do it anyway.

If you already write things down at the beginning of the year, then you probably don’t need me to encourage you. You already know the high value of this practice.

But for those who needed a slight push into this exercise, consider this the shove-off.

Happy 2015.

Opportunities Are Like Appetites

Everyone’s always freaking out about opportunities.  I hope I don’t miss one.  How did she get that one?  What if I ruin this one? How do it get a bigger one? And the scariest one of all…when are the opportunities going to run out?

I have good news.  They’re not going to run out.  

Just like appetites.  When you ruin one or miss one, there’s another one coming right around the corner in three or three and a half hours.  Every time.

So you’re free to eat a cinnamon roll at 4pm, ruining your dinner.  Another appetite will come right when you’re good and ready. No sooner. Right on time.  And you’ll have another opportunity to make the best of it.

This short bit by Jerry Seinfeld is one of my favorites.