What A Penny Could Be Worth

Life on the road can be pretty blurry, literally and figuratively. The groundhogs day effect, the same ol’ same ol.

Here’s something that might be exciting and meaningful for you on the road.

After each show you give out a penny…to one person, in front of everyone on the road with you.

You say why that person is getting the penny that day. Maybe they had an exceptional performance, maybe they screwed up but recovered well, maybe they’re wearing some new awesome jeans, hit some great lighting cues, or made friends with the ugly nasty bar tender.  

The penny ceremony will go through some phases: it’ll start off a little strange but special, then get really special, then get cheesy, and then find its right place in life on the road.

But through all of these phases, the person who receives the penny, while they’re only one cent richer for the day, will absolutely feel valued and appreciated even if they play it off as no big deal.

A penny becomes worth a lot more than a penny.

Try it. What do you have to lose…It’s just a few pennies.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Getting That Manager

I remember first starting getting into the business, playing in bands, starting a band…longing for that manager, the Brian Epstein.

How is this mysterious miracle worker found.

I asked around. The consensus? You don’t find them, they find you.

I hated that answer so much.  Partially because, in life, I prefer and seek out control, and partially because I came to find out years later that that answer wasn’t necessarily true.

Here’s the truth…

You don’t need to wait for them to find you. 

The trick is coming to them as the wise owner of your career…and not as their potential, desperate employee. 

If you’re looking to be their employee, then yes, you have to wait for them.

If you go to them acting like the owner but actually deep down want to be their employee (hoping they’ll “work their magic” while you relax a little), they’ll be able to tell.  And that’s not exciting.

When you truly own your career, when you know what your product is and deliver it in a way that’s exciting and inspiring, go out and find and pursue whoever you want to manage it.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Best In Class

What are you best at?

This question is feels frustrating and limiting because you want to tell about ALL the things you can do well.  The hope is to somehow squeeze as many elements as possible into the answer…to diversify, to hedge risk, avoid perceived limitation.

But we all know you can do more than one thing.

That’s why we’re curious to know what you’re best at.  

And you should be curious about what you’re best at too.

Practically speaking, almost no one will ever ask you that question.

But if you know the answer, they’ll know the answer before they even think of the question.

Oh, if you’ve been reading on here for a while, go ahead and sign up on the right side of the page.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

What Makes The Great Artists Great

I’ve had separate conversations with three very different people over the last two days about what makes the great artists great. Particularly in a live setting.

Although I’m not claiming to have cracked the code, I thought it interesting the two main ideas that came up quickly and strongly in each conversation.  And wanted to pass them along…

-The first is “know thyself” or “the inner work” or “personal and spiritual development”.  You get it.  The thinking, reading, listening, introspection, sorting through the voices, wrestling with “who am I” type stuff.  And it’s not something anyone can knock out in a weekend.  It’s a long road.

-The second is knowing what the world wants from you.  I know Dave Grohl, Bono, Lady GaGa, Garth Brooks, Katy Perry, Chris Martin are all very dynamic people, but they understand what the world desires from them when they’re on a stage.  

Yes, the audience desires the entire vibe/aura/energy of the artist (see the first bullet point), but on top of that, they desire one or two of their personality knobs cranked up.

All those artists listed above know exactly which personality knobs to crank up and when.

And the reason why it connects is it’s not fake.  Again, if you do the inner work described in the first bullet point then you know what true, genuine tools you have to choose from, which knobs you can adjust up or down depending on the situation, depending on the vibe of the crowd, the size, the demographic.

It’s just so amazing when an artist walks on stage when they’ve done the work of both points one and two.  It’s immediately noticeable.  Immediately enjoyable.

What do you think?

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The More Time Spent Unfamous

A handful of years ago when two bands, Kings Of Leon and NeedToBreathe, were arriving at their respective pinnacles of their careers…some interesting chatter was happening around Nashville.

Namely….EVERYONE was subtly (and not so subtly) taking responsibility for being the one who blew up the band.

Every publisher was the publisher who discovered them first. Every manager had helped them get their first breaks.  Every label person had been there for the deal.  Every PR rep was the rep who did the tour that ended up being the tipping point.

It was super annoying.

BUT…there was some truth there.  And obviously these people felt proud and connected.

And what’s more, is it’s a real testament to those bands’ willingness to trust and work with a lot of different people while being unfamous.  All that time spent under the radar was time spent making other people feel connected to them.  Making others feel special for having worked with them.

If you get wildly successful but no one has helped you get there, then nobody is walking around telling stories about helping/being connected to you in that way.

Believe me, you want people telling the stories about you, believing their contribution was meaningful in your accent.

The more time spent unfamous is more time for you to plant more seeds so that when the rain comes, more people can take responsibility for the harvest.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Have Some Business Friends

Hey Artists…

Have some friends on the business side. Some real friends, some buddies.

It’s a whole different perspective on what’s going on in the business.

Things stay pretty crazy inside the artist bubble…so when you get outside of it for a second and connect with someone on the business side, the things they say will sound weird…like they don’t know what’s going on.

But they probably do.

Fight hard to see it from their perspective, even for a few moments.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com