First Shows Back

When you get back on the road after having a bunch of time off, no one will blame you for having a rusty, somewhat lack luster show. But why lean on that?

The accepted assumption is that since you haven’t done a show in a while that your next shows will be a little worse than normal…as opposed to a little better than normal.

Why do you have to be rusty? Why do the first shows back have to be worse than normal? Are you going to use the time off to get better and to push your creativity…or are you utilizing the time off as a good excuse for not getting better?

Artists tend to believe that the show only gets better by playing shows. Not true. The show gets better by making a better show. By building a better show. By rehearsing a better show.

If you’re an artist chances are you don’t have a big tour coming up. Use the time now to make your next shows better, not rusty.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Maybe It's Time To Get A New Car

When you’re driving down the road and hear a couple pops and subsequent rattle coming from under the hood it’s easy and tempting to get wound up and go down the metaphorical road of ‘maybe it’s time to get a new car’.

You get home, open the hood. You take a look as though you know something about cars. It all looks fine. Drive it again, same thing. This happens a few more times with the rattle getting a little worse each time. At this point you’re scouring CarMax and Craigslist. You’ve got a full page of car buying apps on your phone. Even the weird Carvana vending machine is starting to look like a solid option.

But in a last ditch effort, beaten and bruised, you take your car to the mechanic to see if there is anything that can save this horrible wretch of a vehicle.

Upon fifteen seconds of inspection it’s discovered that the lid of the air filter wasn’t put back on properly and simply needs to be snapped back into place, correctly.

You didn’t have a horrible car. You didn’t need a new car. You just needed clarity about what the problem was. Making the solution simple.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Decrescendo Songs

There aren’t any decrescendo songs. I’ve never heard a hit (or any other song) start really huge and then get smaller and smaller until the end.

Yes, some songs are a bit more static than others but there’s always a trend…wherever the song starts, by the end it’s at its biggest.

So make yours get bigger. The last chorus should sound elevated from the first. I should be able to tell it’s the last chorus and not the first.

All your favorite songs crescendo. So make sure yours do too.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into

It’s easy to want to avoid situations that could end up in a ‘what have we gotten ourselves into’.

BUT…Most of my best stories and moments of greatest progress (and probably yours too) are the ones that have a ‘what have we gotten ourselves into’.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

I Like This

New Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple.

Your buddy comes out with a new song so you might post something like ‘Check out my buddy’s song’. Maybe it’s not a great song, but it’s your buddy so you lend a digital hand. Or maybe you’re the booking agent or on the management team or a family member. You want to support so you say ‘check this out’.

And that’s great. We’ve all posted something like that a thousand times.

But…

‘Check this out’ gives a certain degree of deniability. You’re happy to post but it doesn’t necessarily tie you to the quality of the song, “I only said to check it out, I didn’t say it was my taste or anything about it being good’.

vs.

‘I like this’. Going on the digital record stating what you truly like is much more scary and valuable.

So yes, Hum Love music is music I like. It’s my taste. It’s a ton of fun putting it together each month and a ton of fun listening. 

»» Check out all the past playlists in the archive Spotify Apple

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Growing The Network

It’s tough to be good at networking if you’re unwilling to initiate conversation.

It’s tough to be good at networking if you don’t actually care about the other person. And to go along with that…It’s tough to be good at networking if you spend the entire time talking.

And ultimately it’s tough to be good at networking if you don’t come through on the promises you make during the conversation.

On the other hand…If you initiate, care and follow through, your network can’t help but grow.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple