“Listen To My Music”

If your whole advertising strategy is ‘listen to my music’…you’re being shortsighted and selfish.

It has to be better. It has to be service oriented.

In fact, I would argue that a good advertising strategy for music these days would actually never ever say ‘listen to my music’.

The job of the music marketer is to induce attention for the artist.

Induce attention rather than demand or expect it.

‘Listen to my music’ = Look at me

Inducing attention comes from ‘Here I am’…and being very clear about who you are and where you are and why you’re speaking up in the first place.


p.s. One of the definitions of induce is to “give rise to”.  If I may paraphrase…to awaken something that is already there but needs some cold water thrown on it.

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

Compelling Performance

Every artist wants to put on a compelling performance.

But very few are bent on becoming exceedingly compelling people…ie. understanding the ways in which they are compelling and cranking those knobs up to 11 when performing.

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

Changing The Story

Don’t forget that your fans don’t read your story as often as you do. You might be tired of reading it and want to make a drastic change, when they’re just now getting the joke.

Keep playing the good songs.

Keep sharing the message.

The thing you’re becoming known for…yes, you already know that thing about yourself. You’ve known it for a long time. But they haven’t.  That’s why the ‘thing’ has to be so deep a part of who you are as a person and as an artist…because you’re going to have to stick with that ‘thing’ for a long time.

If the story you’re telling isn’t foundational to who you are, you’re much more likely to get tired of it quicker and get bored and want to change it before your audience has had time to attach to it.

Slow down. Breathe. Keep sharing the story. (If it’s clearly defined and already focused) Let it evolve but be slow to change it.

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

Consistency

There are a couple way to define how consistency works to everyone’s benefit.

The first is the consistency of a rollercoaster ride, a gas pump, or a good coffee maker.  It’s the same every time.  We need it to be.  That’s why we like it.  It’s consistent…ie. safe and expectations are met. (You can argue about whether or not the rollercoaster ride is good or not…but you can’t argue about it being different from one person to another)

The other type of consistency is that of the emergency room, the counseling office, or a personal trainer.  In this case the consistency we seek out is one with a lot of variance…we don’t seek to have the same experience as the person before us.  We need the consistency to be in treating everyone differently.


So as an artist it’s both, right?

We need you to play the chords mostly right and hit most of the notes every night.  We need you to hit the stage reasonably on time and remember the lyrics.  We need you to be a professional…or if you’re not, at least act like one.  Every night, consistently, we need you to entertain…

…which means you need to leave room for and plan for spontaneity.  Conscious spontaneity.  We need you to know how and not be afraid of veering from the ‘consistency’ of the show in order to consistently entertain…ie. treating this moment differently because that’s what it needs right now.

The goal is that professional consistency, over time, will give way to consistently entertaining, which is the bringing together of both types of consistency night after night…never in the same amounts ;) 

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

Learn With People

Learn with people. 

Dig in front of people. 

Sometimes you can’t make it on your own. 

You need to figure it out…with others. 

What does it look like to do this as an artist? As a producer? As a manager?

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

My Cross Country Days

When I was in middle school and high school I ran on a cross country running team that won 7 out of 8 state championships during those years.

Now I’ll be very clear about one thing up front…I was never good enough to run as one of the top seven varsity runners.  I was on the team, but I wasn’t one of the best on the team.

We were a very small town with an amazing coach.

We did lots of different types of workouts throughout the year but three of the days each week were solely dedicated to miles. Miles and miles and miles of running. In the summer 15-20 miles a day.

I still can hardly believe I did that back then.

At one of the cross country meets I remember someone asking my coach how he had such an elite varsity team.

And I haven’t forgotten his reply…”These kids love to run”.

(Another important note: I never loved running. I loved the way I felt after a race or when we were winning the meets…but the running in and of itself, nah…even though I was a full participant in practice :)

Those varsity guys man, they loved it.  That’s why they could put in the miles year in and year out and win those championships.

It turns out if you’re going to run cross country and succeed, it really helps if you like it. 


The same thing can be said for what you’re doing.

Do you actually like it? Do you like the work? Or do you just like the result?

If you truly enjoy the work, that’s going to be a key factor and even an ‘unfair’ advantage as you move along your journey of success.

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