You’re at your 4th of July gathering, but it’s not living up to your expectations so you pulled out your phone and prayed for an email so you can justify having pulled out your phone.
You’re welcome.
But seriously, put it down, eat another hot dog, engage in conversation even if it’s awkward, and if you need some entertainment…
…just ask different people you’re with what it is exactly we’re celebrating today. I bet you get some wrong answers, and then you can laugh with superiority…like an American.
Whenever I’m reading an interview of an artist and the question comes up “so how did you write that hit song…”, there’s a part of me that’s hoping that they’re going to finally unlock the secret for me, and then there’s a part of me that would be really disappointed if they had the secret.
Kind of let down that they had the answer, the ticket, the THING that would finally make it all happen for me or someone else.
For as much as we want the answer, the mystery holds the romanticism, the not-knowing is actually the tension that makes us artists in the first place.
Trust me, I’m still looking for the answer most days. I can’t help it.
But the answer only reveals itself a few words or a line of melody at a time. Maybe a song at a time if the spirit is really moving. But then it’s gone, and it’s hard again.
Instead of being constantly disappointed by not having the answer, realize that embracing and living in the not-knowing is right where you need to be….it’s leading to little moments of the answer.
It’s an incredibly long time before the next presidential election, but the coverage has already started.
Even just sweeping through some channels, I catch a snippet of a speech or two from a presidential hopeful.
Politicians hold a mic a specific way, and its completely on purpose.
Politicians know that their face is an important part of the speech. Their mouth, as a visual, is important to gain trust.
So they hold the microphone in ways that, 99% of the time, everyone in the room can see 100% of their face.
That’s what people are connecting with. They don’t hold the mic right up to their mouth. They’re hand isn’t holding the top of the mic as to block part of the face. Politicians usually hold the mic at the bottom and then position the top of the mic just below their chin.
It’s well known in phycology that covering up your mouth is a sign of deception, lying and uncomfortableness.
Great lead singers know that the way you hold the mic is saying something. And usually throughout a show, the greats will use lots of different positions.
Do you have what it takes to let people see your face while you sing?
Or does feel better to hide by letting your hand cling to the top of the mic while you basically eat it?
What if you held the mic delicately at times, like it was about to break if you squeezed too hard?
What if you held it above your head pointing down? What would that say?
What if you sang over the top of the mic instead of into it?
Is your arm out in front of you blocking your face?
Like I said, lead singers use all sorts of positions, but I think you’ll find that the easiest ones are the ones that block parts of the face and mouth, and the other ones where you’re more exposed make you feel a bit uncomfortable or resistant.
There are no rules, but the phycology is real. Don’t be afraid. Relax. Let the people see you, see your lips and your mouth move.
p.s. I know I know, you don’t have vocal compressors and reverbs and delays at your live gigs, and so you have to just eat the mic all night. You could let yourself of the hook with those excuses…or you could dig in, face your discomfort and get better.
Surprise surprise. Taylor Swift 1989 is on the very top of the new Apple Music page on your phone. Front and center. So although she positions herself to be cloaked in nobility via her open letter, she’s also making sure she gets paid for it.
Man, I’d love to see the email exchanges from the Apple/Taylor camps that made this happen.
I’ve had Apple Music for about 15 minutes now. Looks good, works well, haven’t listened to the radio station Beats 1 yet, but that might be fun sometime.
Here’s some things that would be cool in the future:
-When someone listens to an artist more than 10 times, they get sent an email saying when the artist is touring near them and a discount on the ticket
-When someone listens to a particular song more than 50 times, the artist has created unique merchandise for that song that the listener is directed toward.
-In real time, artists can see how many people in a city are listening to their songs. It might look something like a heat map. And it’s all archived for the artist so they can see seasonal, daily, hourly trends.
-Maybe for a premium price, artists can know which artist someone listened to right before them and right after them, specifically.
-Not only national/international charts but state/city charts. With numbers. Numbers that can’t be bought or fudged. And artists can search to see where they stand in each city, as far as streams go.
-Artists start only promoting Apple Music/Spotify etc so that instead of 30 million paid subscribers, there’s 300 million paid subscribers.
You can sit and debate whether or not streaming is good or bad. Have fun with that. You’ll hash it out for a couple hours with a buddy and be no better for it.
Or you can embrace the fact that it’s here to stay and figure out how to work with it and use it for everyone’s benefit.
p.s. As for the ins and outs of the Apple Music software, I’ll need more time with it before I weigh in on it. But I’m sure there will be a bazillion reviews and articles online by this afternoon telling you everything that’s good and bad.
If Apple Music rolls out tomorrow and does at least half as well as Apple is hoping…we’re going to see a change.
Instead of knowing what people are buying, Apple will know what everyone is listening to, in real time, in the city in which you’re listening. And it could be A LOT of people.
The data collection will be incredible. We will see a connection with podcasts too, where bands who have a certain audience on Apple Music will get connected with people doing certain types of Podcasts. And Apple will even make educated recommendations to the Podcast makers as to who’s music goes best with their Podcast content.
Apple will know what artists are big in which cities. Apple could buy venues, book shows and know how to reach the people who listen to those artists. There’s already the iTunes Festival, but I think we better get ready for something much bigger and broader after a year or so of Apple Music.
They’re just going to know so much more about what people like and how to give them more of what they like.
If people are listening to your music, Apple will know, and you will benefit (and so will they).
If you’re an artist, get interested in the data and less interested in the monetary streaming rate. If you could use this data and people were listening to your music, you could easily figure out ways to make lots of money.
