Big Label Blessings

In a lot of ways it was easier when all it took was a big record label to solve our problems.

It was harder to get studio time, harder to get an album made, harder to get music out to people, impossible to be heard by the masses…but the path was clear and simple…get on a big record label…that’s your job if you want this to be your job.

And then came complaining about the big record label for a handful of decades…and now things are different.

Big labels are A path but not THE path. Now there is more than one path to get to where you want to go. It’s a blessing and a headache.

‘Will someone just tell me what I need to do next?!’…The answer to the question isn’t clear cut anymore. The answer to the question forces creativity and vision and risk and a budget.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Music Connection

The music doesn’t become better when more people listen to it.

But it does become more connective.

And more connected is often better.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

From One Thing To Another

Maturity allows you to see what you can take from your old thing and apply it to your new thing.

And there’s a lot of overlap. More than we often realize.

I’ve had friends decide to leave the music business but get really worried because the music biz is ‘all they know’. It all translates. It all applies.

One of the reasons I started this blog years ago was to help people in the music business see and understand the layers beneath what’s going on so that whether someone is in the business for two weeks or twenty years it’s worthwhile…because the underlying principles and ideas can be applied almost anywhere in our culture.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Problems We're Drawn To

It’s worth considering that taking action on the things we feel pulled toward and the set of problems we choose to engage with…we are aiding in furthering someone else’s dreams and answering someone else’s prayers.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Country Voice

People move to Nashville from all over the country...from all over the world to be the next Garth or Dolly…and when they enter the city limits...it’s nothing short of a miracle.…they get a twang in their sangin voice.

Their country voice appears like magic.

And it’s a good thing. A little southern accent goes a long way when you’re making the type of music where people expect that accent.

Now I admit, it can be a little overdone, a little over the top. But there are plenty of things that we weren’t born with that we adopt and bend towards because of where we want to end up. Choose wisely.

»» I think the thing that many of us don’t like is when we are aware of the change…When the famous pop star decides to make a country album and suddenly this voice that we know and love changes dramatically…or when our friend from Pittsburgh moves to town and suddenly sounds like they grew up in Birmingham…it feels like it’s just for show and not real (there’s a ton of irony there :)

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

A Bad Time For Great Questions

These are important questions and yet it’s not helpful to ask yourself these questions every day…

Am I going to quit pursing this career?

Should I move to a different city?

Should I start a new band?

Questions like this take a huge amount of bandwidth. Way too much for a day to day basis.

When it’s time to ask these questions, dive in. Give them you’re full attention.

But if it’s not time to ask these questions, put them out of your mind completely…keep going, in the city you live in, with the band you’ve got.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple