Childish Attention

Toddlers want their moms’ attention, desperately saying ‘mommy, mommy, mommy’ a million times. And when they finally get the attention they were calling for, it’s only then that they start thinking of why they wanted it and what to do with it.

And this sequence is perfectly ok and wonderful from a toddler.

But as artists and businesses and companies and brands, this sequence is just plain childish.

Attention can be so difficult to come by, so be ready with why you’re working for it in the first place.

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We Came Here To...

New Hum Love playlist on Spotify and Apple

‘We came here to meet girls and dance and we can’t meet girls until we dance!’- the heckler from That Thing You Do

The Wonders had the benefit of their audience telling them exactly why they showed up to the venue.

Most artists aren’t quite so lucky.

But if you want them to dance and they’re not, you’re playing the wrong music.

If they came do dance and they’re not, you’re playing the wrong music…or you booked the wrong gig.

Why does your audience show up?

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Forced Listening

Ever since music was a popular thing, forced listening was a staple. i.e. You can’t listen to what you want when you want. To a certain extent you’re stuck with what ya got. We’ve decided what will be played next and you don’t really have a choice.

Payola and musical politics ensued, then came Napster, then Spotify…and it turns out people seem pretty satisfied with picking whatever music they want whenever they want it.

Perhaps forced listening will find a way to reinvent itself…because the beauty of forced listening was that when you heard a song you didn’t really like, it was very likely you were going to hear it again. And again. And maybe by the fourth listen you started liking it a little bit and by the seventh you were hooked. Your relationship to a song and artist where it took a bunch of listens rather than just one is a really different, interesting dynamic.

These days we don’t take time to listen to music we don’t really like. Why would we when we can just tell Siri to play a different song? Even the thought of it seems strange. But songs we don’t really like can turn into songs we love when we’re ‘forced’ into hearing them a few more times.

Leaving room for things to grow on us is becoming a lost practice. No need to return to the way things were but hopefully there’s a way to carry with us the best things from the old days of forced listening.

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Selling Your Stuff

Not all of a comedians jokes are funny…but the great comedians know how to sell all the jokes as funny.

Same thing for musicians. Not all the songs an artist plays connect…but the great artists know how to sell all the songs through connection.

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Pursuit Of...

Whatever it is we’re pursuing, what we really want is control of the timeline of the pursuit.

We, appropriately, don’t think we’ll achieve the big thing all at once or in the next day or week. But frustration mounts when the timeline isn’t what we hoped for. When the plan isn’t going as planned. When the incremental achievements are taking years instead of months.

We want results but even more than that we’re in the pursuit of controlling when and how we get the results.

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Affirm and Reward

Your fans think they’re really smart for liking what you do.

They believe they have good taste and have discovered an oasis in the crowded streets of content.

They know it’s unlikely you’ll hit a home run every time but they also like being the kind of people who are along for the ride, the kind of people who give another chance, the kind of people who are curious and loyal and gracious enough to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Keep finding ways to affirm and reward these people.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple