Coffee Shop Meetings
There’s a handful of coffee shops in Nashville where if you were spend every day there for a year, you’d run into every Nashvillian you could ever dream of meeting in person.
Those elusive artists and writers and high up music biz execs. If you want to meet them face to face, you can get face to face. That’s not the hard part.
The hard part is…when you finally get those few precious minutes, whether it’s in a coffee shop or in a boardroom or on a phone call, what are you going to do?
Two things…
What do you need? And what can you offer? You need to be clear about these beforehand. You may not need both of them but you need both to be prepared.
»» And don’t get bogged down in super business-y answers to those questions, especially the second one (although they might be true too). Maybe you can offer humor, a light hearted spirit, a caring look, a thoughtful question, a heart felt compliment.
About The Same Time
These days we don’t usually watch something at the same time as our friends…but we often see the same thing at ABOUT the same time.
In time to both have seen it by the next time we hang out.
(I’m surprised (and maybe I shouldn’t be) at how often Have you seen…is met with Yes)
So both of of seeing the same thing at the same time vs. at about the same time usually has the same positive effect…which is that we can connect through it when we talk to each other.
The other good thing about ‘about the same time’ is that if I tell you about something that you just gotta see, there’s a bunch of ways you can go see it. You didn’t have to be there with me. You didn’t miss out. You can catch up. We can be together on this.
»» And this is why live shows are so wonderfully different. You can’t see a live show at about the same time. You’re either there or you aren’t. One night only. Never to be repeated the exact same way again. It’s there and then it’s gone. To be shared only by the people in the room. A different sort of together.
What Are The Numbers
Within the music industry the way an artist is evaluated is, ‘what are the numbers?’
There are just enough numbers to talk about to where that’s the only thing talked about.
Streams, likes, followers, comments, pollstar, click through rates, conversion rates.
But what if you could tell your story without using numbers?
What if you could effectively communicate your connection and effectiveness without metrics?
After all, in the heart of an artist is the desire to make a difference more than talk about numbers.
And numbers are good too. They tell a good story. Perhaps even a true story. But they’ve become a conversational crutch within the industry.
Selling Lots Of Tickets
There are two main ways…
Be famous
Have a great show
People want to see famous people and people want to see something amazing. And sometimes the two elements coexist within the same act.
But
I’ve seen household names put on boring shows in sold out arenas.
I’ve seen non-household names put on great shows in sold out arenas.
The thing with the famous sold out show is that you’ve gotta keep being famous in order to keep selling it out. And fame is a slippery tiger. A moving, fickle target.
On the other hand, if you have a great show, the great show is yours to keep. To build on, to grow. It’s something worth coming back for in and of itself. And you can start working toward it right now, you don’t have to wait for social media numbers to go up or streams to hit a benchmark. You can simply decide to build a show worth seeing.
Special Boots
The special boots or the special jacket or the special necklace…
Don’t just wear them for the special shows. Wear them for all the shows.
After all, you said yes to the gig. And what you’re doing tonight is important. No need to save the special for another show. This is the one you’ve got, dress like it.