For Those Going To SXSW

If you’ve gone before, you may already know but you may have forgotten. If you haven’t gone before, you probably don’t have any clue.

For a bunch of the good parties and shows that happen at SXSW, you need to rsvp in order to get in.  You’ll either be put on the list at the door or they’ll send you a confirmation email and you’ll show that at the door. Then you’ll be in. Then you will have fun getting out of your comfort zone and meeting people.

The rsvp'ing starts now! If you wait until you get down there, it’s going to be too late and plus cell service is horrible so it’s tough to do any of this work on your phone while in Austin.

Doing this work now will make your time at SXSW much better and you won’t be left on the street, literally.  You want to get in to some cool parties.

Here’s some resources to get you started, but don’t stop with just these.

Eventbrite- download this free app, search SXSW at start signing up for parties. You’ll get confirm emails, reminders and a schedule within the app. This is a no brainer.

RSVPster- costs $30 and is absolutely worth it.  They have curated a ton of good events, parties and shows, you simply click the ones you want them to rsvp you for and thats it.  Don’t let the $30 hold you back. Don’t buy coffee this week and sign up for this instead.

Do512.com- a free Austin resource/app that helps you rsvp to some parties and is pretty up to speed throughout the festival for the most recent updates

Twitter- here’s some good ones to start following now and during SXSW

@coolinaustin

@Do512

@LucidRoutes

@SXSWPartyList

@SxSWParty

@ChronSXSW

@SPINsxsw

@360sxsw

Just do this. Take a couple hours and knock it out.  Do this boring stuff now so you can have more fun and opportunities later.

If you’ve been to SXSW before, hit me with some of your tips and tricks and I’ll put together a post with all of them in the next few weeks.

What Is An Idea Worth?

On it’s own a good idea is worth about ten dollars. If it took you a minute to come up with the idea, that means you’re making $600 an hour.  Maybe you think your time is worth more than that, but that seems about right to me. Ten dollars for a good idea.

An idea is only really worth more when you DO something with it.  Good ideas become great ideas when there’s action, inspiration and movement.    

That’s what most people mean when they say “I’ve got this great idea…”.

Maybe it is a great idea. But at that moment it’s only a ten dollar good idea.

There have been many not so good ideas, that with LOTS of energy, innovation, trust and persistence have turned into great ideas.  Like Google (their original mission was to get you off their site as quickly as possible), indoor plumbing (that could get stinky) and rock bands going on tour in January.

The Nike swoosh wasn’t a good idea (it was bought, fairly, for $35)…it was barely an idea at all, until Nike built a story and lots of loyalty around it. 

So if you have a good idea, it isn’t worth nothing. It’s a starting place.

Go DO something with it. Or I’ll give you $10 for it and do it myself.

J.K. Simmons Oscar Speech

I’ve written a couple times lately about awards shows and speeches.  But there was a beautiful and completely professional moment tonight on the Oscars when J.K. Simmons won an award.

It didn’t seem as though he had prepared his speech, but when the heat was on, when he was under the magnifying glass, his instincts took over and he said something meaningful.

He thanked his wife, he praised his wife, he gave her all the credit in the world, without a stutter, stammer or second thought.  And judging by his wife’s reaction (she was not at all freaking out)…this was not the first time she’s heard these lavish words.  He just took the opportunity to say them in front of lots of people. 

He then went on to give a practical challenge to everyone watching….call your parents. Don’t text, don’t email, call.  He didn’t even direct what to talk about, but just get on the phone if you have parents who are alive.

Wow, do people say meaningful things on tv anymore?

J.K. Simmons may or may not have prepared this speech, but clearly this isn’t the first time he’d said any of these things. It was so clearly honest. Almost as though the words meant something to him, like he wasn’t just wasting breath and time.

When the heat is on, when the mic is in your face and your faced with millions of listeners…what would kick in for you?

Starting The Conversation

It’s hard identifying yourself as a leader when you’re in a band. It requires you to single yourself out within a group of equals. Should I say this out loud? What would I say? How would I say it? Will they think I’m stuck up? Will they make snide comments behind my back? Should there even be a leader? Maybe I’m not even a leader to begin with?

The band is the leader of the team, but before that, a leader of the band emerges.

Step up and identify yourself as such. Out loud. Tonight. In front of your band. Talk about your personality, why you’re a leader, apologize for moments of confusion and seasons of not leading well. Talk about all the personalities in the group and how each is valuable and vital.

A lot of good bands have a general understanding of this, but the great bands actually TALK about it. They don’t leave it unspoken as in “yeah, everyone just kinda knows whats up”.  They know 100% for sure what’s up because they’ve used words to discuss it with one another.

Such a novel concept, I know.

But for all your bus/van/plane rides and all the stupid crap that gets talked about, take an hour and talk about this stuff. It will begin to change the course. Toward the light.

If you literally don’t know what to say, I will tell you, literally, how to start the conversation. Ready?

“I’m beginning to identify myself as a leader in this band. It makes me a little uncomfortable to talk about it out loud, but tell me how you guys feel about that…”

If you will have courage enough to open with that, I guarantee you will have a meaningful night.

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.