Turning Up The Spotlight

You’re a new act selling out the local club.

So they give you a shot at the theater…can you handle that?

The spotlight gets turned up brighter, do you have the guts?

Then an amphitheater, then a tv spot, then an a-list collaboration, then a sold out European tour.

The business is designed to see what you’ve got, how much stress can this thing take, how much self control do you have over your thing…to see what the breaking point is.

You can be great on while sitting on the edge of your bed…but what kind of foundation do you have to build so that you can keep on being magical as you take the ride?

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Only Game In Town

How many streams

How many likes

How many followers

How many viewers

How many dm’s

How many listeners

How many verified listeners

How many emails

How many click throughs

You might not be trying to win the game…very few claim to be trying to win it. You might not even admit you’re playing the game at all. But you sure don’t want to lose the game. But it feels like the only game in town and you certainly don’t want to feel left out of it.

What would it look like to play a different game all together? Maybe a game that didn’t have minute by minute ups and downs. Maybe a game that wasn’t so easily confused with your identity. Maybe a game where, if you win, everyone wins.

»» It's entirely possible to be paying some attention to these metrics but playing a completely different game.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Above The Threshold

You might be at the point where you don’t need to get any better. You’re above the threshold.

So while you don’t have to get any better, you do have to keep being that good.

And the best way to do that is to keep getting better.

»» And if you’re above the threshold and still not getting the desired results, focus on connection, taking responsibility, and coming through for people.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Cool Enough...

to just stand there.

I’ve seen it done. And I’ve seen it tried to be done.

The latter is painful, annoying and forgettable. While the former is mesmerizing.

Presence is powerful. And not everyone can have the same kind just by wanting it.

»» Presence, in part, comes from the way you connect to others and the way they feel connected to you.

»» Shout out to my guy Julio for our text exchange on this.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Anticipation

Zeppelin II

Star Wars Empire Strikes Back

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Perhaps the best ingredient to all of these was the gap between the first one and the second one. After the first one was heard or seen or read, the wondering began.

How is it going to start? What is it going to feel like? Who is involved? How similar is it going be to the first one? What happens next?

Now we can consume all the volumes all at once. We don’t wait nine months after listening to Zeppelin I before listening to II just because that’s what people had to do in 1969. But the fact that they did have to wait for it is part of what made it stick (and opening with Whole Lotta Love didn’t hurt).

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

What You're Trading On

When you’re playing a show, if you don’t have anything else to trade on, you trade on correctness (with a goal of perfection).

The correct words and notes and breaks and rhythms and chords. Easy to measure.

And boring

Trading on correctness is safe because if you play all the right notes no one can say it wasn’t good.

But if that’s all you have, you’re ignoring the main element that got you into music in the first place…emotional connection.

It’s a lot harder to measure but it’s the thing that can levitate a room. It’s the foundation for the magic. It’s the thing that makes all of us remember.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple