in case you need more proof that we’re not in Kansas anymore, Radio and Records is calling it quits this week. this is yet another sign that artists had better get busy re-creating an industry that’s becoming more and more desperate.
the old model is dead. done. it’s time to accept it and move on. if you’re holding on to the way things were, you’re going to go down with the ship.
build your own BrAND…
know WHO your fans are…
be authentic, do your thing, and create your own model.
so here’s my take on it…
there’s no such thing as giving “constructive” criticism. you can only receive it that way. meaning if you receive criticism and do something with it, THEN it can be considered constructive.
The one criticizing is doing just that.
So, I try to only criticize when asked… and then it’s still just opinion. If I am receiving it, I do my best to make it worth while.
Although… sometimes, it’s just best to let it go and move on down the road.
no fear. period.
just as tom hanks said in a league of their own, “there’s no crying in baseball”, there’s no fear in business. there isn’t time for it. if you are operating out of fear, you might as well go ahead and raise the flag of surrender.
if you are a creator, then create what you feel compelled to create. be proud of it! people will either like it or they won’t. there’s absolutely nothing you can do to change that. sure you can practice, get better, and hit the same person over the head time and time again to try and get their approval… OR you can practice, get better, and move on down the road and find new people.
there are more than enough people in this world for you to find and build your own group of followers. seth godin calls it your tribe. don’t waste your time with fear. it’s not healthy for you. it’s not healthy for your art. it’s not healthy period.
do what you do. build your personal brand. develop your tribe. communicate with them often and give them the tools they need to win and influence new members… rinse. repeat.
imagine waking up one day to a world where every artist… every pr professional… every marketer… every brand builder… actually had the chance to really make something of something. imagine having oogles and googles of passionate companies and brands bringing real meat and ingenuity to the table. just think of all that could be accomplished… a dream come true!
but alas… instead, we live in a world where our lack of creativity and ingenuity, our desire to make a quick buck, forces the artists and pr professionals and marketers and brand builders to spend the lion share of their time having to magically jump through hoops to make something… of nothing.
want to stand out from the crowd? its actually a lot easier than you think.
turns out you just need to have something that is noise worthy… and… be passionate about it.
i know. actually making something out of something…
what a novel concept.
Another great blog by Seth today got me thinking about the spreading of ideas. I think he makes a great point in saying that if you can’t find 10 people who love your idea, you need to think of another. However, I also think that really great ideas take time to spread.
Think of some of the greatest ideas of our time. Any really great idea or invention is typically something that meets a need, but also has some type of “outside of the box” thinking attached. Let’s face it… The world we live in doesn’t like it outside of the box. The world likes to be IN the box where it’s nice and warm and outcomes are predictable.
“Out of the Box” ideas are like Kudzu. They spread slowly, don’t die because the very best ideas can’t be killed unless your intentional about doing it, and before long, you look up and the idea is everywhere! People adopt the idea and run with it.
What the idea-ators have to be careful to remember is this… When people venture out of the box to take your idea and run with it… They run straight back INTO the box with it! Once widely accepted, your brand new, world changing idea, becomes common place. Ultimately it will get replaced by the next “Out of the Box” idea.
So spread the word about your idea one person at a time. Give it time to spread!
Oh, and get started thinking about your next one.
I read an article this weekend where someone was quoted as saying “Apple has taught us what a song is worth.”
I couldn’t DISagree more! Apple may have “decided” what a song is worth, but who’s to say they got it right? Personally, I don’t think they did. A song only costing $0.99 is partly what got us into this mess as an industry.
Apple doesn’t care about selling songs. They LIKE selling them because it makes the company a lot of money, but they really want to sell iPods – and lots of them! So they turned our music into their loss leader… a song only costs $0.99 which really doesn’t carry much of a profit margin, especially once everyone gets their few pennies. To play them away from your computer you need an iPod which costs a lot, and carries a huge profit margin.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a HUGE fan of Apple and it’s products. They break the sound barrier every day. I just don’t agree with where they set the bar for the price of a song.
The truth is, artists and labels have never sold music. They’ve sold vinyl records… 8-tracks… cassette tapes… CDs…. each one containing a recorded copy of the music. There’s a definite cost associated with the manufacturing of these products, allowing for a healthy profit margin when they are sold. That margin is all but gone now and everyone is being forced to try and make it on a profit $0.20 or even less. No company or industry can go from making $13.00+ per product sold to $0.20 and continue doing business the same way. It’s too big a hit. Then you factor in the ILLEGAL downloading and it’s a wonder there are any labels left.
volumMonster is addressing this issue one fan, one artist, one download at a time. We’re helping make a real connection between fans and artists. One that benefits both sides of the equation.
The truth is that every individual song is worth something different to every individual. The one you choose as “your song”… the one you listen to in order to escape from the world for 3.5 minutes… the one you pick for your wedding day and first dance… your granddaddy’s favorite. You can’t put a price on any of these.
That’s because each of them represents a relationship of some sort. In my book, whether you’re an artist or fan, relationships are priceless.
On your next P&L Statement, a great vM equation might look like this…
volumMonster + Fans + Artists + Great FREE Content = A Match Made in Heaven!
Think about it.
In baseball, there is an area of the bat that is referred to as the “sweet spot”. This is where the batter wants to try and hit the ball… It’s where the pitcher doesn’t want to throw it. A bad pitch, hit by a batter in the sweet spot, can often ignite the crowd with a long-ball out over the center-field fence!
Have you ever thought about whether or not you have a “sweet spot”? Sure you do! WE ALL DO! For me, it’s when I’m effortlessly working hard and getting it done. I think the greatest thing I’ve learned, and possibly the most important, is that knowing where my sweet spots are has also taught me where they aren’t!
For me, sweet spots include music and songwriting, volumMonster and new media marketing, leadership development, coaching and consulting… When I get to do those types of things, the days go by so quickly because I love doing them! Alternatively, I KNOW when I’m not in a sweet spot because those places tend to feel more like a trip to the dentist!
I don’t think there has ever been a better time than right now to focus on where your sweet spots are and begin working within them. I think too many people have just lost jobs they really didn’t like. That’s because they never were, and weren’t ever going to be, in their sweet spot. They didn’t know that when they took the job. If anything, when they got hired they thought they hit it out of the park. However, somewhere down the line they realized that first, it wasn’t the right fit, and second, they were stuck.
So, instead of jumping right back in to another job that doesn’t fit, be grateful and make the most of this chance to begin writing a new chapter in your career and seize the opportunity to start loving your job again.
It’s MISERABLE to be out of work and not have the money needed to support your family.
Getting up every day and heading to a job you hate… well, that’s even worse.
Seth Godin made a great post today and I wasn’t surprised at all that his first simple example had to do with the music industry.
In my opinion Seth hit the nail on the head. However, there was something else I also thought about in regard to industy “norms”. How does an industry re-define its norm AFTER fully embracing technology? What I mean by that question is that once you begin to rely on technology a HUGE percentage of the time, can there ever be a “norm” again? Technology gives birth to new technology every single day! As soon as you’re up and running on the newest, latest and greatest… it’s no longer the newest… latest… or the greatest. So how then, as an industry, do you ever truly re-define the “norm”?
I don’t think you do.
I think that is part of what Seth is saying… once you break free of the norms and begin flexing those pivot points, there’s no going back. So adapt. Find the pivot point that makes the most sense and keep on trucking. That is until it’s time to adapt again.
I think there are two groups in the music industry that probably already “get” this more than some others… songwriters and producers. Let me explain.
If you made your living writing hit songs in the 1980’s, and you still, today, write songs like you did back then, you’re probably not getting many cuts. Why? It’s not the 1980’s anymore. We don’t talk the same… what was cool back then isn’t anymore… the world around us is different. My parachute pants just don’t fit like they did back then!
Same thing in regard to the production of a song. It doesn’t take a great ear to hear an 80’s song come on the radio. There’s a certain sound that defines so much of 80’s music. Same things can be said of any decade. The music industry has always been the music industry, but it’s most basic product, music, had to change in order to stay relevant.
Now, it’s not the music that has to change, but rather the way we brand and monetize it moving forward.
If there is one thing I take comfort in, it’s that music will always be music. Whether it’s recorded, performed live, given away, sold, streamed over the internet, downloaded or beamed through the air from one satellite to another, there will ALWAYS be a need for GREAT music!
