I used to write a bunch for tv and film with some pals of mine.
The sync company would send out a brief explaining what the show or movie was looking for…some abstract, weird, unhelpful description. But then they would also give a BPM range and some links to other songs for reference, which was very helpful.
And oh yeah, at the end of the email they would state how soon they needed the master recording turned in by.
The norm? 36 hours. Sometimes a full 48 hours. Sometimes 24 hours.
And we never missed a deadline.
Musicians, who take weeks, months, years to finish songs, agree on anything, decide something is finished…hitting deadlines. Imagine that.
Why?
Because we took the sync company’s deadlines seriously. It’s impossible to write a brand new (very awesome) song, track it, mix and master it in 36 hours…until you have to.
If the deadline would have been two weeks, we would have taken two weeks. But the end product would be exactly the same as the 36 hour end product.
The problem isn’t that we have too little time, it’s that we have too much time.
We tend to use every bit of time we believe we have.
The trick is to learn how to create and take your self-imposed impossibly short deadlines seriously enough to actually carry them out.
thought $100 was legit money to drive to Cincinnati for a gig
accepted payment from the venue in the form of deer steaks and deer jerky
thought getting a manager would solve all the problems
thought it would be ok if the drummer was just so-so
didn’t have gear insurance because $12/month was just too spendy
kept doing the same things we had always done for way too long instead of identifying how an artist career evolves, matures and shifts, and therefore changing how time and energy got spent.
Before we knew better we would brush off good advice from experienced people because we thought we knew better.
If you stop what you’re doing, get out a pen and paper and list the things that you’re putting off because you’re afraid, then this post will have been a great value to you.
If you don’t, then this is probably the most boring, un-beneficial blog post ever.
But that’s not the point. And it’s not what you think either.
A bunch of years ago I worked for a brief time for Dolly Parton and her management. I learned a bunch of things, not the least of which was this…
Dolly and the gang were getting ready to go on a European tour. She hadn’t done Europe in a long time so this was a pretty big deal.
The day of departure I was responsible for hauling a car load of stuff to the plane.
The private plane.
Jon Bon Jovi’s private plane…that Dolly was renting to go to Europe.
It turns out he owns quite a fleet, so this was just one of many.
I delivered my batch of suitcases and boxes to the plane (because private planes have private airports with private entrances and I was cleared to drive my 94’ Olds right up to that bird).
I took a stroll through the plane too.
Good not great.
I left the airport before Dolly and the entourage were due to arrive a few hours later.
Problem…as everyone was boarding the plane, a lady on the management team realized she’d forgotten to pack an important birthday gift for someone else on the management team who was having their birthday during the tour.
So she called me and said, “I need you to get that gift to Denmark by Thursday. Do what you need to do, you have the company card, make it happen”.
Another problem…it was already Monday night.
Ok, Denmark in two days. Here we go.
Another problem…when I go pick up the gift, I find out the gift is giant. Boxed up about 4ft tall x 3ft wide x 1ft deep. It’s also heavy.
I start calling shipping places. I have unlimited funds to make this happen. I’m feeling powerful and confident and I also bought a latte on the company card because it was getting late and I needed fuel.
I called UPS, I called Fedex, I called that company with the yellow and red logo, I called the airlines themselves, I called everyone. I told everyone I will pay whatever astronomical price they charge, I just need this giant box in Denmark on Thursday.
(An important note for my egos sake here: I never dropped Dolly’s name)
These people won’t cooperate, they have nothing for me. I reiterate my position of unlimited money. Still nothing.
Everyone says they can ship the giant package to Denmark, but can’t get it there by Thursday.
I can’t accept that answer. If a human can mathematically get to Denmark by Thursday, then this box can too.
It’s getting late at night now. I’m visibly sweating and fussy at the FedEx/Kinkos I’d been sitting at for hours.
I call FedEx International back again for the millionth time. I go deep. Each person I get on the phone I ask them to transfer me to their superior. This is my only hope. I need someone to dive into the fray with me. Someone who’s willing to get it done even though they don’t immediately know HOW they’re going to do it.
I find the person to help me. I spend thousands. The birthday party is saved. No one knew of my struggle.
That’s a fun story. And I learned a lot about getting things done…
I learned that unlimited money to get something done doesn’t get the thing done. Money is pretty meaningless unless you have cooperation and know-how, people who are willing to figure things out with you, people who are willing to get in the dirt with you and dig.
Does Nike know why they sell so many of their Nike Free shoes in Nashville?
It’s not because Nashville has more runners than other cities, they don’t. And the few running connoisseur’s I know certainly aren’t sporting the Frees. So it’s not a “this is the best running shoe so you should get it” thing.
Nike Free shoes are wildly popular here in Nashville…why? Because skinny jeans are wildly popular here.
See…people in Nashville wear skinny jeans and boots. Skinny jeans and high tops. But mostly skinny jeans and boots.
Especially in musician world. 99% of artists walk on stage with some variation of this uniform.
BUT, boots hurt your feet after a while. Unless you go the gel-insole rout (which almost no one does), long days with boots get old and painful after a few years.
So you want to take your boots off and switch to something more comfy.
The problem is most running shoes are much more bulky and look awful with skinny jeans. And you’re definitely not in the business if changing your pants style just because your feet hurt.
So roll out the Nike Frees. The skinniest of all running/comfy/supportive shoes. And they come in black.
Artists need a comfortable shoe to wear with their skinny jeans when they’re not wearing boots with their skinny jeans.
That’s why they sell so well here in Nashville.
Does Nike know this? No. Or yes, but they haven’t done anything about it yet.
How do I know? Because they haven’t come out with something even skinnier that looks even better with skinny jeans.
It’s worth it to find out why you’re doing well in a certain city or a certain platform or radio station or playlist. The analytics available to artists are better than ever.
Why do you get the most streams on Wednesdays? Why is France your second most popular country? Why did you have that one day where you had thousands more streams than any other day? Why did that post get shared so much? Where did the clicks come from? How come Minneapolis is in your top 5 cities and you’ve never played there?
These aren’t things to dwell on, but it’s career limiting to dismiss them.
p.s. If anyone from Nike comes across this…you’re welcome.
When it’s Saturday night, an hour before you walk on stage, you want to have a great show. You want to get the setlist right, warm up your voice, talk through transitions, focus on the show, feel the desire to connect. You’ll do whatever it takes to make the show great. It’s game time.
Yeah yeah yeah.
But what about the Monday before the Saturday show?
What about the month before the Saturday show?
What are you doing then to ensure that the show will be great?
How badly do you want to put on a great show THEN?
Everyone wants to win when it’s game time.
It’s the people who prepare with that same game day focus even when it’s not game day who really deliver. Those are the pros. The artists who understand that people are coming to see a SHOW, and so they prepare (well in advance) a show.
If you always wait till a day or an hour before the show to pay attention to, and act on, your desire to have a great show…you don’t really want it.
And you will constantly be limiting yourself. Which will be frustrating.
So how badly do you want your next show to be great?
You can start getting to work right this moment.
If you need a helping hand to take you further into this (or simply a kick in the tushy), drop me an email. This is an area I’ve really enjoyed helping artists in, and it seems to be making a big difference.
