Nothing says ‘I’m glad you’re here’ like a sign on the wall that says ‘I’m glad you’re here’.
Nothing says ‘You’re a valued customer’ like the robot voice while you’re on hold saying ‘You’re a valued customer’.
Nothing says ‘New hit song’ like the voice on the advertisement saying ‘Check out this new hit song from…’
The medium says a lot about the message.
The song, the album, the project is almost done and the late complainer decides to speak up. Picking apart the whole thing. Listing all reasons why it isn’t good enough and doesn’t measure up to their (unspecified) standard.
Being a late complainer has it’s advantages…
The project is going to go out the door without all the complaints satisfied. And that’s the goal of the late complainer. Because it means that if the project fails, the late complainer gets to say those beloved words, ‘I told you so.’
On the other hand, doing all the criticism early on means you get to redefine what the project is going to be in plenty of time to satisfy the vision.
This is much scarier than being the late complainer because now you’ve built something that checks all your boxes…and now you’re going to see if the list of boxes you checked is going to work.
As a young artist you want to perform really well so you’ll get more fans.
You’re playing this show so the next one will be bigger.
And then at the next gig there ARE more people. It worked.
Rinse and repeat, right?
Maybe for a while.
If the purpose of this show is always to make the next show bigger, a couple things are inevitable…
-The joy of the show will eventually get lost.
-You will come to the crossroads of bigger and better…realizing they are not the same road.
Upon the advent of popular music...
It used to be that music promoted lifestyle.
Then marketers realized how powerful lifestyle was, so it flipped…lifestyle started promoting the music.
And now it ebbs and flows between the chicken and the egg depending on culture, technology, where the artist is in their career, and the characteristics of their audience.
What lifestyle does your art promote?
And does that lifestyle, in turn, promote your art?
‘Let’s shake up the soda cans before they’re delivered to the grocery store…that way when they’re opened it’ll go all over the place and everyone will be talking about our product.’
It’s a great way to spread the product but a terrible way to spread the word.
Word spreads because taste aligns…not because of wild interruption.