The Beatles: Eight Days A Week- The Touring Years came out last year but I watched it for the first time last night.
It streams on Hulu but you can rent it at all the other places…do what you need to do and watch it.
It’s frantic and slow at the same time.
But here’s one of the main things…
It’s not that you’re too busy, it’s that you don’t write enough…and thereby you’re songs aren’t good enough.
Beatlemania was happening and their release schedule was one single every three months and an album every six months.
Now in all caps.
BEATLEMANIA WAS HAPPENING AND THEIR RELEASE SCHEDULE WAS ONE SINGLE EVERY THREE MONTHS AND AN ALBUM EVERY SIX MONTHS.
Oh and by the way those (original) singles every three months were songs like Can’t Buy Me Love, All My Loving, Please Please Me, From Me To You…the list goes on.
And the albums (which for the most part DID NOT have the previous singles on them) were albums like Meet The Beatles, Hard Days Night, and Help.
I can’t stress this enough…they were experiencing the busiest schedule ever known to a band and never ever ever let the writing fall to the wayside…never didn’t make time for it.
They just loved writing (listen to Jerry Seinfeld on Howard Stern and Jerry tells his Paul McCartney story that ends with Paul saying “we just loved to write”)
Watch the documentary. There’s a million things to learn and remember…and the performance of the song Help is maybe the best I’ve ever heard them ‘live’.
Dive in. It’s all there.
(Here’s a link to the full discography and release schedule. It’s mind blowing. Now let’s get back to work.)
Some people are already back to work. The holiday(s) is seen as something to get through, something to bear while the motto of “there’s so much work to be done” is still at the top of the priority list.
Others use December as an excuse to take a whole month off of work. Well, not actually. Some in the music business merely say “the music business closes down during December” as a means to only selectively respond to email the feel like responding to. And letting the rest wait till after the New Year.
Which segues into the idea of life-balance.
Balance of work, life, holidays, friends, family, goals, kids, spouse, yard work, paying bills. The list goes on.
I’d like to offer up a different twist. Perhaps it’s just different language to say the same thing…but it says something different to me so here goes.
Life imbalance…pointed in certain directions at certain times.
I think of it like on a teeter-totter. It’s REALLY hard to get both people up in the air equal heights off the ground. You’re in balance and then a little out of balance…in balance for a few seconds and then way off.
Balance is an elusive (perhaps undefinable) point.
So I’m shooting for imbalance. Where I put all the weight on one end of the teeter totter and then simply point my vision where it needs to be at different times.
I.E….When I’m working, I’m all in. I’m not thinking about “am I working too hard, should I be working less hard in order to have balance somewhere else…how much work time is too much work time”.
When it’s time for vacation mode, it’s vacation mode. I’m not doing work or fixing things. I’m not searching for balance whatsoever…I’m fully IMBALANCED toward vacation.
And that’s really it, rather than searching for some perfect metric of balance its…how can I be FULLY IMBALANCED toward the thing I’m currently doing?
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t arrived. I’m still being transformed by this idea. But I’m way better at it than I was ten years ago.
And I’m not against finding “balance” either. But flipping the semantics has been helpful to me.
So enjoy today. Enjoy tonight. Fully. What would it look like to be completely imbalanced toward tonight, to be completely partial and biased toward the now?
Lot’s of us traveling this weekend…so here’s some stuff to keep you entertained, informed and educated.
I made a playlist of music I’ve been listening to lately. I don’t think it’s all from 2017 but probably most of it. I put it together on both Apple Music and Spotify for the sake of inclusion and generosity.
Training your fans to either come to your show or not. Not dependent on day of the week, price, time, opener, venue, etc.
Weekend shows are great. People go out more on Fridays and Saturdays.
But if you’re going to make a living on the road, you need to be able to play more than two shows a week.
The goal is for the day of the week not determine whether or not someone will buy a ticket.
Certainly when Paul McCartney or The Killers come to town I don’t think I even look at the calendar, I just buy.
“Are you going to see Paul McCartney?”
The answer is simply yes or no…not “if it’s a Thursday yes, Wednesday no”.
Starting down this path is scary for young artists.
Because you start off just touring weekends. You build up some markets but now you want to add some new markets. You want to go from Fri/Sat shows to Thurs/Fri/Sat shows.
So you put the new market in the Saturday slot…and a city you usually play on a Friday night you have to book for Thursday night.
Ahhhh! But people in that city are used to seeing you on Fridays. You have a great draw in that city. You don’t want to let the promoter down. You want to have MORE people at the show, not less. Fridays are convenient for people. Fridays are better than Thursdays! We must play all our shows on Fridays!!
Slow down. You’re training your fans. And it’s good for both you and them. It ups their commitment and strengthens your bond.
Eventually you’ll be able to play your ‘best markets’ on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and maybe even Sundays.
And wah-lah you can make money any day of the week.
It takes time and a plan. This is part of your plan.
When I find an album I like (and I probably listen to more full albums now than ever before), I don’t want it to end.
I want to be inside the songs longer. I want to hear another chorus, maybe a second bridge and then another chorus, and then an extended outro. I want it all to keep going.
And I doubt I’m the only one.
So what if you came out with a long version of your album?
Where 3 minute songs are 4 and a half, and 4 minute songs are 6.
This album wouldn’t be for everyone and it would be near impossible to market…it would even be a tough sell to existing fans…except for the ones who would dive in immediately, without you having to say very much about it at all.
The interesting thing about making this product is that some people would FOR SURE want it.
We toss around the idea all the time about focusing on the die hard fans and making sure they get taken care of no matter what. The whole 1,000 hardcore fans thing.
So you are welcome to use this idea. I don’t think anyone has done it before and it would mean a lot to the people who love your music.
