“We’re gonna try this, and if it works we’ll keep doing it, if not we won’t”
Think about your last show…
What’s something that worked?
If you’re having a hard time answering the question, it’s probably because you haven’t defined what something that ‘works’ looks like.
Is it a feeling you have? A cheer from the audience? A post show compliment? Experiencing joy or unity or revolution?
In order to know if an idea works, it’s important to discuss and define what ‘working’ looks like in relation to the idea. Then you’ll know if it worked.
You could certainly put up a pretty good song once a week.
But you don’t because instead of doing that you’re waiting to put out a really great song or two or ten at a certain, coordinated time.
So if you’re not putting out pretty good songs every week in the name of putting out great songs later. Great.
Or if you’re putting out pretty good songs every week (on a regular basis), that’s a great way to do it. Because there’s always going to be another one soon, another chance soon…and you and your fans know that.
But if you’re not putting out pretty good songs every week (on a regular basis) in the name of putting out a whole group of pretty good songs later…
You’ll develop…or rather…you are developing your ‘unfair advantage’ by something you’re doing everyday.
“I got really good at Z because I did things every day that had to do with getting really good at Z”. We’ve heard this a million times about a million different things one can be really good at.
So what’s your constant? What’s your day in and day out? What are you doing everyday that maybe you don’t even notice, maybe it’s in-between the lines of what you think you’re doing?
I’ve been doing this everyday for three days…that’s a great place to start (and I think it’s close to a Michael Scott quote)
I’ve been doing this everyday for three years, five years, ten years…now you have something that not many people have.
In 1998 you didn’t have to promote the idea of CD’s and then in turn get people to buy your CD specifically. By then CD’s we’re the only game in town. All you had to do was promote your CD and that made perfect sense to everyone…the people were already trained in what to do with that information.
And the training of that information was very lucrative for lots of people.
Now it’s different.
Streaming.
It’s funny, perhaps the best thing artists can do for the long-term is not to promote their own music but to promote streaming as a medium, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.
Artists need more people subscribing to streaming. Once they’re there…once everyone is there, it will mean more money for everyone for a lot longer.
You will make more money when 100 million more people join streaming. If WE can make that happen, everyone wins.
Streaming revenue is forever (or at least for our lifetime). We need more customers subscribing to forever.
Too often what is seen as the right choice coincides with the choice that is easy to get out of when we need to.
We survey the options and are drawn to the one that we can commit to, get the most out of, but if something comes along and we want out, we can.
Whether its a label deal, song choices, band member choices, touring partners…we want to commit to a REALLY GOOD option…that we can get out of.
If it’s a REALLY GOOD option, but we can’t (easily) get out of it once we’ve committed, all of a sudden, perhaps without even noticing it, it becomes much less of a really good option.
We’re hyper aware of the possibility of being ‘too tied down’.
We want great, fruitful commitments, the BEST committed plans, decisions and relationships…as long as we know there’s an out.
So we make the guitars a little less overdriven so we don’t have to fully commit to the rock genre. We commit to the opening act until another cooler opening act bullies their way on instead. We soften the lyric so we can’t be pinned down to the meaning. We tell he producer we’re gonna make three records with him but never get around to signing the paper work. We set rehearsal for 4pm, but show up at 5:30pm because…
Now…change is good, and I’m a fan of adjusting the plan…but let’s just face it for a second…musicians and music people are notoriously flakey, and the love of keeping options open and seeing the best option as the ‘one I can wiggle out of’ is a major contributor.
Ironically, said another way, music people are fiercely committed to keeping their options open even when they ‘commit’ to something.
So there’s two things I really want to hammer home. They’re separate but were built right alongside each other:
1. We hate giving up options
2. So we prioritize and elevate the options that will keep our options open
But truly committing IS, by nature, giving up other options. And commitment is worth A LOT, so spend it wisely, but spend it truly.
Every time I walk into a coffee shop and order a coffee, they always give it to me how I don’t like it: black.
At this point it’s up to me to make something I don’t like into something I do like…by walking to the table across the room with the half & half (no sugar in my coffee anymore…it’s been a long process).
I willingly sign up for the coffee. The coffee is never what I dreamed it would be. I, every day, have to make it into what I dreamed it would be.
