Making It Worth It
It’s unlikely that your next song is going to be a hit…but it might surprise you…because all hits are surprises.
But even if this one doesn’t hit, this one will be part of the rabbit hole someone will go down when they discover you five songs from now.
And when they do, they’re hoping to find that you were making good stuff all along. Stuff that is worthy of attention and discovery and sharing and feeling good about.
So either way, It’s worth it to make this one worth it.
Leg Tattoos
I recently saw a girl with lots of leg tattoos.
You know what her friend had…lots of leg tattoos.
Chances are you aren’t the only one of your pals who has your same brand of shoes, or wears hats, or listens to the same podcasts, or frequents the same short list of restaurants.
We do what our friends do. Our friends do what we do.
But we choose the friends and the things.
Leading and Singing
If you’re already a decent singer you will go much further if you focus more on the ‘lead’ part than the ‘singer’ part.
And not just leading the audience.
Leading the band (and not just on stage), leading the team, leading the vibe, leading the charge.
The lead singer sets the tone in so many ways…and it comes from the leading much more than the singing. So if you’re the lead singer…lead.
Magnetic Pull
There’s a mysterious magnetic pull to bands who have been around…The Rolling Stones, U2, Coldplay…the vibe and energy of those particular humans together at the same time does something special to the world around them wherever they go.
I think the reason for the magnetic pull is akin to this…
I’ve played some wedding gigs over the years. They’re fun gigs…hit songs, snappy attire and everyone shows up hoping to have a good time…so they usually do.
I especially like the anniversary dance. The lead singer invites all the married couples onto the dance floor. After a verse and chorus of How Sweet It Is, everyone who has been married less than ten years is told to leave the dance floor…then another verse, maybe a sax solo, and now everyone who has been married twenty years or less has to leave the dance floor…
This keeps going for a while until there’s one couple remaining. They’re old. This isn’t their first dance. They’re happy. They love each other and everyone can see it and feel it. They embrace the joy of the moment but they’re not the ones with tears in their eyes…everyone else is.
Because see, there’s something about a sixty-five year marriage. A magnetic pull. A mystery. Like they know a secret. We feel reverence even though we’ve never met them. We know that sixty-five years means a lot of highs and lows. Lots of life, lots of difficulty. And yet somehow here they are…after all the pain they’ve undoubtedly caused each through over the years, they’re on a dance floor together. Smiling. Looking at one another. Giving all of us a thrill.
It’s redemption.
Redemption has a powerful pull. It’s hard to see it with our eyes but we are drawn to it when it’s there. Our hearts can’t help but respond.
Whether its U2 walking on stage or the old married couple walking onto the dance floor…they walk up there WITH each other despite all the (many) shortfalls. It doesn’t make any sense and yet it clicks with all of us as a deep, worthwhile and rich way to live in relationships.
The One That Offers The Deal...
Contracts in the music business are notoriously weighted against the artist.
And artists hate it but go along with it.
A big reason for the uneven-ness of the contract is that the business entity is always the one offering the contract…not the artist.
The starting point is everything. Everything is negotiated in proximity to the starting point. So if you don’t like the deal you’re getting, change the starting point.
I’ve never heard of an unsigned artist going around to record labels with a job description and a list of requirements in order for the artist to hire the label.
The one that offers the deal usually wins. That could be you.