Features And Iterations

Apple will come out with the iPhone 8 in the fall.  I’ll probably get it…they still do a pretty good job of convincing me I need the new one.

The reason I’ll need it is because of all the new features it will have.  They’ll be new and exciting and make the technological part of my life much better.

Here’s the thing…I don’t think the Apple development team showed up at the office the day after the iPhone 7 came out and asked “Ok, anybody got any ideas for the 8?”

Sure, a brand new amazing idea is always welcome…but there is a highly detailed plan at Apple about which features each iteration of the iPhone will have.  They’ve known what the 8 would be all about for quite a while. 

They could have put lots of the iPhone 8 features in the 7 but the didn’t.  It’s a loooooong roll out. Years long. It’s incremental. It’s planned. I would surmise that the brand new ideas that are being worked on right now, we won’t see them for years…like the 10 or 11.


I’m not telling you to parcel out your best songs or anything like that, but to consider the roll out of your career. What features are being revealed now? What features will be revealed next year and the year after?  What’s the flow of the rollout…your songs, content, story, personality, aesthetic, tour, artwork?

What does the next couple iterations of your career look like?

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

Hmmm, Our Set Could Use A...

What kind of song does your live show need?

I know I know, you just need lots of smash hits.  But you’ve played a bunch of shows maybe with similar setlists, you know the flow, where the best parts are, where the lulls are.

What does your show need now?

A fist pumper. A ballad. A coaster. A song with a big build. A song with a long intro. An acoustic something. A guest vocalist. A cover. A call and response.

Sometimes (in a live situation) it’s not all about having smash hits…it’s also about having the right material at the right time to create a great show.

So if you needed to add one TYPE of song to your set in order to make the show better, what would it be right now?

Go get it.

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

Tired vs. Burned Out

If you’re willing to be tired (and rest) you’ll avoid burn out.

If you’re willing to learn to rest, the byproduct will be getting re-energized.

If you’re working as hard as you think you are, you’re going to get tired.

If you’re not getting tired, you’re not working as hard as you think you are.

If you’re not working as hard as you think you are, it’s time to max it out.

If you max it out, you will get tired.

If you’re willing to be tired, and learn how to rest, you’ll avoid burn out.

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

The Best Way To Show Your Audience Gratitude

The best way to show your audience gratitude is to put on a great show.

Often times artists go on and on in between each song about how thankful they are to the audience for being there, for buying a ticket, for listening to the music, for sticking with them from year to year…and then proceed to put on a lackluster, underwhelming show.

If you never said “thank you” one time during your show but put on a GREAT show, your audience wouldn’t think a thing about it.  And if they did think a thing about it, they would have just experienced how much you care, as opposed to simply hearing how much you care.

The final spoken words at a show are too often some version of “Thank you SOOOO much, it means the WORLD to us”. 

That’s great. And if you’ve decided that’s how you’d like to end your show, it can be an excellent way. But it’s not required. Or even needed.

What’s needed is for you to put on a great show.

That’s the real thank you.

p.s. I wrote this on Friday and meant to send it out but I got distracted. So if you needed this post on Friday, I’m sorry.  I hope it’s not too late.

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

One Million

It’s still impressive, but getting less so.

Because we all know that it’s a cumulative number.

Whether it’s song streams or video plays…the content is online forever.

And if you have forever to get one million, you and everyone else will probably get there.

A million is still important, and you can do a LOT with that if you’re smart. But the longer that Spotify exists, the longer that people still go to YouTube everyday, the more things will have one million.

If you’re going to play the numbers game you’re always going to need more in order to set yourself apart, and then set yourself apart again and again.  And remember while you’re getting more, everyone else is getting more too. 

I hope you get one million. I hope you have a million.

I hope you have millions more.

But even more, I hope you understand what it means and what it doesn’t.

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

How It Went vs. What Did We Learn

Instead of asking yourself and rehashing ‘how it went’, you might consider asking and uncovering ‘what did we learn’.

Just going over how it went keeps you stuck inside the event…the show, the meeting, the interview, the phone call.  Things like “It went badly and here’s why” or “It went well and here’s why” limits the full vision for what transpired.  It’s being treated as an isolated event rather than a fluid piece of the overall story.

‘What did we learn’ causes you to gain new perspective, to move forward, to grow from the event into the future.  It makes the event an open box rather than a closed, independent occurrence. 

Coincidentally it’s also a much more optimistic approach than the simple re-hash of events.

When we ask what we learned as opposed to how it went, we are much more likely to take the deepest parts of how it went with us.

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