Nash Severe Wx

There’s a Twitter account run by a few people here in Nashville called Nash Severe Wx. They do an accurate and awesome job of keeping people updated about weather conditions in a very conversational and funny way.

This past week with all the crazy weather here, they’ve really been on top of their game. 

So much so that they even got a shout out on the weather channel for the continued coverage of the Nashville “SnowDome”.  

That’s like a band getting their video on mtv…probably not as cool as it once was, but still an achievement.

How did they do this?

-SnowDome is a mythical (but quite possibly real) force around Nashville that has kept out snow accumulation of once-inch or more on a single day since 2010.  SnowDome is a great term, and hashtag.

-Nash Severe Wx created a year/month/day/hour/minute/second ticker of how long it’s been since the SnowDome was pierced (back in 2010)

-Even though there’s no such thing as a SnowDome, there was a little bit of Santa Clause type belief that Nashville was somehow immune from significant snow fall. SnowDome was something to believe in.

-They’d already done the hard part of becoming really good at what they do.

All this to say, SnowDome was a STORY.  A story lots of people could grab on to. 

Nash Severe Wx made weather cool this week.  Cool and hip terms aren’t often associated with weather, but people love cool and hip terms.  Countdowns (or in this case, a count-up) aren’t often associated with weather, but people LOVE them.

This coupled with the fact that since 2009, Nash Severe Wx has been doing a really good job of letting everyone know what’s going on with the weather, especially when it’s needed most.

Little tweaks, words, moments all backed up by long-term GREAT work.  That’s how they’ve gained 40,000 twitter followers and a coveted pat on the back from the Weather Channel.

We could all learn a thing or two from NashSevereWx…including tonights forecast.

Bands: You Are The CEO's

The business side of music groomed artists to be idiots from the beginning by making the business complex enough to have to hire lawyers early and often,  making it expensive, putting more layers between the artist and the truth whenever possible.

The big wigs prefer that artists are creative morons, because the biz people know how to take what they want. They have a plan, and know how to access all of the revenue streams.

Artists weren’t interested and the higher ups weren’t interested in telling them.

This is one of the big reasons the music business is still the wild wild west. There’s no freaking rules because you’ve got the core, the foundation, the pillars, (i.e. the ARTISTS making the MUSIC) in the dark about most everything else outside of their main task.

This is not good business. When the CEO (the artist) doesn’t have trust, transparency and a general knowledge (not micromanaging) of what’s going on with their team, things are going to fall apart.

The information is there.  We can video chat with people on the other side of the planet…do you really think your label can’t give you a transparent, detailed breakdown of revenue? Or is it that they won’t? 

If they won’t, they’re a bad team member and either need to be fired or re-aquainted with your expectations are and how success is defined in the relationship.

If they can’t, if they’re not capable, same conversation but a different tone.

Or maybe you don’t know how your label deal works because you’ve never bothered to ask or taken the time to learn. Your business starts with you. You make the songs. If the songs go away, the business goes away. Initiate. Lead.  

Transparency has to start with the artists. Lead with it, give it, err on the side of it. And in return, expect it and demand it from your team. 

This is what’s going to turn this crazy music business into something sustainable for artists and teams.

Artists have romanticized the idea of being the dumb and flakey (hey man, I just wanna play music man and eat some barbecue), where they don’t have to lead or know how to do anything else. And if you want that, you’re welcome to go after it.  If you find it, you’ll hate it.

But if you’re willing to let go of all the rock doc fantasies you’ve seen and embrace how the future is going to work, transparency and leading very very well are going to have to be the main tools for YOU first, and then your team.

The wild west didn’t tame itself. 

Why You Need A Mechanical Lion

The context and expectations an audience is likely to have at your show will dictate the effectiveness of your live-show ideas.

When people see or experience things in a place where they didn’t think it was possible, or likely, they receive it as though they’ve never experienced at all, EVER. It blows their minds.

For example, I’ve been to the circus and I’ve seen humans ride on elephants and other animals. I’ve also seen this sort of thing happen in movies, tv shows and parades. But, when Katy Perry rides into the Super Bowl on a mechanical lion (on tv), I’m blown away and it feels like something I’ve never seen before. Even though I have.

Another example is the way people freak out when Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen get off the stage and get nose to nose with fans. People lose their minds. Why? Because in an arena or stadium, that sort of intimacy is not expected.  At a club, bar or theater, that sort of thing is somewhat expected, and not quite as big of a deal.

It’s the same idea that makes virtually any attempt by bands playing in small clubs to do something special, or create a moment, come off so well. Because no one goes for it in a tiny club. Expectations are pretty bleh, the context of the room is bleh, the taste of the beer is bleh…so a little tweak, a little special moment will go a long way.  

Like everyone wearing white, climbing on top of the bar, singing a song acoustic and no mics, paying to have a lighting guy, just telling a great story.  You don’t need an actual mechanical lion to blow people away in a club. (But I wouldn’t discourage it.)

It’s not necessarily about doing something that no one has ever done before (although that’s encouraged too). It’s about doing something that your audience has never experienced before, or isn’t used to seeing, within the setting and context you’re providing.

Confetti at an arena? Cool
Confetti at a club? Mind blowing

Catwalk at an arena? Every arena show ever
Catwalk at a club? Only seen it twice.

Laser lights at an arena? Expected
Laser lights at a club? They hurt people’s eyes, but people will still rejoice

Lead singer looking you in eye at an arena? If it happens, you remember it for the rest of your life
Lead singer looking you in the eye at a club? It should happen, or come close to happening, or feel like it happened every time.

You get it. Juxtaposition. Big and small. Expectations and delivery.

Believe it or not, the people who come to your show have expectations and a story they’re telling themselves of how they see the night going.  

Use that to your advantage….and ultimately, their advantage. 

Singer VS Lead Singer

Who is a great singer? Pavarotti, Susan Boyle, vintage Whitney Houston, and probably most of the students majoring in Commercial Voice at Belmont.

Who is a great lead singer? Beyonce, Mick Jagger, Chris Martin, Cheryl Crow, Bono, Steven Tyler, Paul McCartney, Freddie, Ben Folds, Haley Williams

Our mind fires up a different set of expectations for each one of these questions.  When you think of singer, you think of notes, pitch, clarity, tone, vibrato.  Those are all things that are worth taking time to become better at.

When you think of lead singer, the word “lead” really shapes who we put into that category. 

Great lead singers…

miss more notes that singers, but they tell a better story.

have bad posture during lots of moments of the show, but their adrenaline makes up for it.

don’t always have a wide range of notes, like singers do, but working with what they have is endearing to the audience.

know how to keep the show going and get paid even when their voice is completely worn out.

speak to all of the senses.

can make the crowd react by merely raising an eye brow.

at the end of the day are more concerned with connection than perfection.

Great leadership while being a great singer.  

That is the concept that makes us levitate, changes our hearts and our minds, makes people turn it up instead of off, makes money, makes a career, and makes people feel THAT feeling.

If you front a band (or are a solo artist), you’re going to have to grow both aspects if you really want to make a go of it.

And honestly, if you have to be 51% on one side and 49% on the other…

People are much more likely to follow a leader than a singer.

Nashville Ice Storm

I was up in Minnesota last week. The first night it rained for a while, froze and then snowed on top of that.  By 9am the next day when it was time to get out and get going, the driveway was a pure sheet of ice…the roads weren’t. They were completely safe.

Minnesota is prepared to this type of thing.  They know if they didn’t follow a certain procedure of salting, scraping and plowing (even on the nice days), there would be countless days each winter that people couldn’t go to work or school or wherever.

Nashville, not so much. At this very moment in time, there is freezing rain happening, everything will freeze later, and then it will snow.  And ain’t no one goin anywhere for a while.

Nashville chooses not to prepare for this type thing. It doesn’t happen super often, maybe once every handful of years.  And the city shuts down “unexpectedly” for a few days.

Minnesota prepares well and life goes on as usual. Nashville doesn’t prepare well and everything gets messed up.

It’s all about preparing, planning and choices. 

Your road manager booked nasty hotels last tour…how much extra time are you going to spend hiring the right road manager for the next tour? If you are ok with the consequences of a bad road manager, don’t take any extra time. Devote time preparing for things that you’re concerned with the outcomes of.

When your drummer can’t stay with the click, is it important he get better or you find a new drummer? If you don’t mind your music being loose or sloppy, don’t bother with this type of preparation.

Do you save money in a company/band account for when things go wrong? (Notice I said “when” not “if”) If you’re ok being stranded in Idaho for a couple extra days while the bass player tries to convince his mom to pay for the van getting fixed, don’t save extra money.

You’ve been dying to work with that certain producer.  So you finally work really hard and get in a room with him.  But did you remember to write a great song?

If all your gear gets stolen, will that paralyze your organization, or did you buy gear insurance beforehand?  

You can’t prepare for everything, and it’s ok to be ok (for a while) with some mild consequences for not being prepared.

But having the vision, the ability to forecast the ice storm before it comes, preparing the streets, owning snow plows, turns the ferocious ice storm into barely a blip on everyones radar.

Meanwhile in Nashville, we are all stranded at home.

Send food.

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough and...

Doggone it, people like me.

I’m watching the SNL 40 special and there’s one thing I keep thinking.  People like these people.  

Nice matters. 

Successful people are nice.  You don’t make it far being a jerk.  The nice ones sniff them out and get rid of the jerks.

Sure, there’s a few jerks, and they’re the ones that the media loves talking about, they make good TV headlines.  But most successful people I’ve met are nice.  That’s part of the equation. That’s a vital tool in the march to the top.

Being nice won’t make you successful (so don’t waste your time faking it. It will tire you out and it will tire everyone else out), but if you’re successful you’re probably nice.  

Just a Sunday reminder. Now you choose.

You might be sitting there thinking, how do I do this?

You know that person you recognized at the show, mall, grocery store, and maybe you’ve even met before, or hung out with a bazillion times?

Well, they saw you too.

Say hello. Be the first to say hello. 

I’m guilty. You’re guilty. Let’s get better at being nice.