Thirty Percent

You walk into the gym, shoot ten free throws and make seven of them. 70% is pretty great.

But here’s the thing…you missed the first three and then made seven in a row.

And now the problem…in a game you never get to shoot more than three free throws in a row. You don’t get three warmup shots…so you’ll never make it to the next seven shots that you’re so good at making.

It would be much better to step up to the line and make three out of ten…but always have those three be the first three attempts.

Sometimes raw ability doesn’t equate to effectiveness. Effectiveness means bringing ability, timing and opportunity together.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Big Hooks

This is the part you’re suppose to remember.

I Will Always Love You. Please Please Me. Walk This Way. My Girl.

Big hooks are the obvious ones. You don’t have to dig deep or pay close attention to figure it out.

But writing songs with big hooks is scary because there’s the whole song right there. The whole song is built around delivering that hook…so if the listener doesn’t like the big hook, it’s over.

On the flip side…

If you tell a fan of a weird indie artist that there aren’t any hooks in the music…the person will either explain that you’re wrong by highlighting the shaker rhythms in the second chorus…or they’ll take the ‘no hooks’ comment as a compliment.

They’re not in it for the big hooks. They’re in it for the layers. They’re in it BECAUSE they’re aren’t big catchy parts. That’s what makes it worthwhile to them.

Important to note…

Big hooks don’t equate to great hooks. So if you’re in the business of big hooks, you gotta dig deep.

And…

The value of a fan who loves your weird indie music is astronomical. They get it. They understand. They’re deeply connected. But this type of person is much more rare.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

At The Time

‘We made the best decision we could given the information we had at the time.’

And it might turn out you made the wrong decision or didn’t choose the best decision of the ones available…but see the opening line…all you had was what you had at the time.

So if ‘at the time’ is a constantly limiting the ability to make the perfect decision, the temptation would just be to delay, gather more intel so the pool of information is bigger at the time of the decision.

But life doesn’t work that way. There’s not enough time and the decisions are too important to keep delaying.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Bad Bands

When someone says, ‘That band is terrible’, it’s usually a statement about the quality. Probably a horrible drummer, bad singer, no hooks…the only thing that’s memorable is that they are terrible. Never to be heard from again.

On the other hand…

When someone says, ‘I hate that band’, now we’re onto something. To draw out an extreme emotion from someone means there’s something happening. Something powerful. Powerful enough to hate…powerful enough to love.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Other Ethic

Most people reading this blog have spent weeks and months and years amplifying and fine tuning their work ethic…and in doing so, the work is really great.

I heard the term ‘rest ethic’ for the first time recently and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.

It’s not the opposite of worth ethic. Rather, they go hand in hand.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Experienced In Public

Are your songs suppose to be experienced in public?

Or maybe a better question…what about your songs is better when experienced in public?

If your answer is Yes to the first one, turn up your answer to the second.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple