Show up with a little something. An idea, a story, a spark, a sneaky grin.
Whether it’s a writing session, recording session, big meeting, small meeting…have something up your sleeve.
It doesn’t take that much extra prep but it makes a huge difference for both you and the others.
It’s not hard to have an idea worth sharing…the obstacle is getting in the habit of doing it.
So show up on time. Show up with a little something.
When you go out and do things, things happen.
And when things happen it opens the door for the unexpected, the new, the random, the surprises…which will make you think new things. Things you would have never thought if you hadn’t gotten out there and done something.
As simple as going on a walk, as lavish as a road trip across the country.
When you do things, things happen and then you think new things.
So if you’re stuck (creatively, mentally, relationally)…move.
It’s always feels beneficial to talk about your current task as though it’s difficult.
That way if you succeed you get the glory of achieving something you talked up as difficult.
And if you don’t succeed you’ve already laid the path for your excuse. No one can blame you for falling short of something difficult.
(This is why sports teams always talk publicly about how great their opponents are. That way if they win, they beat a great team. If they lose, they lost to a great team.)
On the flip side…If you talk about your current task as though it’s easy…then if you succeed, there’s not a whole lot of glory for achieving something easy. And if you fail, now you look even worse because you failed at something easy. So people rarely talk about their job, projects, tasks, duties, or plans this way. There’s just not enough pay off for acting like and talking like ‘This is gonna be easy for me’.
The more valuable alternative is talking about your current task as, ‘This is my thing, I’ll take care of it’…and then just taking care of it. No crazy emotion. No talking it up or down. No excuses. No drama.
An artist releases a song, hopes to get fifty thousand streams the first day and GETS fifty thousand streams the first day…
‘Oh man, it feels really great. But it’s just an arbitrary number. Numbers don’t matter to me, it’s about connection with the fans and the difference the music makes to them. It’s just such an honor that anyone listens to my music.’
The next time around the artist releases a song, hopes to get fifty thousand streams the first day but gets seven thousand streams the first day…
‘This is awful. Why are the streams so low? I am a nobody. Why doesn’t anyone care?’
What was all that connection talk?!
It’s easy to act like we prioritize connection when the numbers are on our side…when the truth is in both cases it’s the number-prize that clearly sits atop the priority list, not connection.
The questions you ask, how you word them and your delivery sets the table for the range of likely responses.
Your questions don’t get better by making them longer.
Before you start the interview know what the interview is is for…is it to be informative, entertaining, inspiring, controversial, affirming, promotional?
How might an interview with you be fitting in to the artist’s overall career and agenda?
If you don’t like the music, there are lots of ways to still be positive and encouraging without saying that you like the music.
You are the guide, let the artist be the hero.
A good question isn’t necessarily a question that stumps the artist. A good question isn’t necessarily a softball for the artist. A good question opens the door for an artist to go somewhere they have energy and excitement for…and is often a little unexpected.
If you want to be the type of interviewer who asks how they got the band name, it’s not the worst question in the world but there are already plenty of other people already asking that. Why not try something else?
First Monday of the month, new Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple.
With the extreme way technology has changed the way music is made, it’s easy to think music is made by technology. But it’s not. It’s made WITH technology.
All the decisions and production choices…those are all made by real people. Making music looks a lot different in the current era but it’s still a lot of work. Thankless work, long nights, insecure decision making, sifting through options, taking risks, making the call, no guarantees.
Odds are the songs on this playlist weren’t made via hours of kick drum mic placement or loading twenty vintage synths into the studio…but the work is just as hard and meaningful and important.
»» If you wanna check out previous playlists, visit the archive here.