Diving into and figuring out what the purpose of your band is is not being over analytical or self indulgent. Putting ‘defining your purpose’ on the top of the priority list is not taking yourself too seriously, it’s not hocus-pocus new age fluff.
And it’s not something that will figure itself out.
What’s the point?
So many bands. So many artists. And yet very little definition out there.
Believe it or not, you are already in a box.
The goal isn’t to get out of it…but to figure out exactly what it’s made of, and what you can do and are willing to do inside of it.
3 page brochures. They’re everywhere. And that’s the size.
How come all the necessary info about so many things can fit so nicely into a 3 page brochure?
Trick question. It can’t.
There’s way more information that should be there, but 3 page brochures are normal and consumable, so the information gets shrunk in order to fit.
Can you imagine a 7 page brochure? Exhausting…too exhausting to even start reading.
3…3 is the right number.
You need a great single (and you need that single to have a great intro).
I know you have so much more to offer, so many songs, but the single is the normal, consumable, 3 page brochure version that makes the people ask for more.
Positive, unplanned and sudden things are incredibly exciting.
Also, positive things that seem unattainable or far away are incredibly exciting.
The idea of playing for 50,000 people sounds incredibly exciting. If someone came to your house right now with a plane ticket to a private jet and that jet was set to take you to LA where you were going to play for a sold out Rose Bowl…what an emotional overload. A miracle. A shock to the brain.
The impossibility of it gives an electric charge when you think about it.
But the only actual way to play for 50,000 people is to plan for it, to believe it to be, in fact, possible. And then more you plan for it, and the closer you get, the less of a miracle it becomes and more just ‘the next thing in the story’.
And the ‘next thing in the story’ isn’t as crazy cool as the hypothetical amazing thing that it once was.
When it’s planned for, instead of a huge WOW factor, it feels natural…like yeah, this is exactly what’s suppose to be happening now.
So the goal becomes less exciting but more possible.
It’s the letdown of getting what you hoped (and planned) for.
You should absolutely feel the freedom to celebrate and be excited about the bench marks you achieve…but you’ll probably recognize a certain degree of ‘eh, no big deal’ to go along with it.
That just means you did a great job planning and executing, instead of just being handed the keys to the kingdom at no charge.
Dream big. Plan specifically. Take Action. Enjoy the results. And appreciate the non excitement.
You don’t have to wait for permission. You don’t have to wait for anyone.
If you want to be the person who follows through…the position is open.
That person is rare and that person is considered highly valuable.
If you talk about getting together, making a call, sending an email, making a promise, connecting two parties…and you don’t, no one will mention it. Because this type of dropping the ball happens ALL the time in the music business. People not following through in these simple ways is “just the way it is”.
So you’re off the hook, you don’t have to follow through. And no one will notice or think of you as a bad person.
BUT on the other hand, if you follow through on these simple things, you have the rare honor of becoming known as someone who follows through (on these simple things). And over time people WILL notice, and think of you as an exceptional player in the business.
That reliable, credible identity is there for the taking.
Sorry about the one yesterday. The first word in the subject line…I do know the difference between you’re and your…but it was kind of embarrassing.
Actually, only those who got it sent to their email witnessed the grammatical error. I corrected it by the time it went up on the actual blog, Facebook and Twitter.
My wife tells me I need to let her proof read each post before I send it. I should act on her wisdom more.
But alas, I sent it. And that’s the most important thing to me. That it gets sent.
I don’t spend too much time proof reading or even rewriting. If I comb through it for too long, that can be a black hole for me. I can easily get hyper analytical and stall myself.
And then there’s lots of posts where the second it goes up I think of changes I’d like to make, a better way to say what I said, a better flip of the words.
So I send it quickly. Sometimes there’s grammatical errors, probably every time there’s a better way I could have said something.
Sending out a 98% good post is better than not sending one at all.
