I’m posting a link to this Untemplater video interview of Seth Godin on all my blogs today for two reasons. And since my first reason is the same for all three postings, it’s at the bottom. So reason number 2, my “Specific to Why I Failed” reason is this:
2.) The music and entertainment industry is the most visibly and powerfully affected business segment in the world. If you’re not yet convinced that it is also an area of tremendous opportunity, this video will convince you. If not? Pray for faith and watch it again. Then go out and build the career of your dreams following your passion.
1.) It’s brilliant and I’m not exaggerating. If you are wondering what’s going on the world today – financially, socially, etc., etc., – this interview covers most all of it thoroughly and insight-FULLY in ways you will not find anywhere else. Not only does Seth see the big pictures, but he puts them in dead-simple terms that will impact your life. At least I hope they will. Two quotes:
- “The future will not be like the past only shinier”
- The current economic template “was invented by people who owned factories”
I cannot oversell the importance of watching this video and paying attention to what’s said.
Enjoy
I got to take my daughter to the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009 stop in Nashville last night and have been thinking about it all day long. Mostly I’ve been thinking about how great the show was. Really. No it wasn’t the most indescribable musical event in the history of the world, but it was thoroughly engaging, professional, high quality and entertaining.
And isn’t that what it’s about
For a period of time in my younger years in the music business, I toured with Charlie McClain. Her husband, Wayne Massey – himself a star, toured with us as manager and as part of the band. One night on the bus, we were all sitting around lamenting the prior year’s success of Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart” (look it up, he’s the dad of Miley Cyrus and this silly song was a HUGE HIT!).
After many comments and laughs, Wayne stopped us and said something I’ll never forget. He said “boys, never forget it’s the entertainment industry. You can talk about music, talent and creativity all day long, but that song caused millions and millions of people to lay down their hard earned money to buy a copy.”
And he’s right.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to do whatever it takes to get millions and millions of people to buy your stuff. What it DOES mean is that no one will do ANYTHING unless they see value in doing it. And in the case of music and the arts, the value is in the entertainment.
And the Jonas Brothers were hugely entertaining. They sang and played very well, their band rocked and the stage/lights were nothing short of amazing: 30 foot rising platforms, rotating stages, four different elevator platforms for the band, multiple floating screens with complete video coverage, flying light trusses and lasers galore.Oh, and two water cannons and rain.
Yes, it rained on stage. Beautifully I might add.
Check out the stage here.
One more thing: the guys did a fantastic job of connecting with the audience. They spread themselves out all over the stage, sang TO THE PEOPLE, and bantered back and forth like pros. Which is saying something when the overall response to everything was SCREAMING! They also tackled topics like Nick’s Diabetes and life in general with a message of hope. Nice.
They were entertaining.
I’ve sworn off linking to posts on sites that I encourage you to read, but this one is simply to significant not to. So, go read this if you’re at all serious about understanding and pursuing a career in today’s entertainment industry:
Terry McBride at Berklee | Future Of Music
A small teaser:
“As music returns to its emotional and social roots, McBride predicts a rapid change as we move from what he calls the “Digital 1.0” era into the “Digital 2.0” era where the accessibility of music and social media has grown legs and is now traveling with us on the train and down the street in the form of smartphones such as the iPhone”
Enjoy.
Eloquently stating something I’ve been saying for years, Seth Godin brings his take on the current state of affairs in the music business. Here’s a quote:
“The music industry is really focused on the ‘industry’ part and not so much on the ‘music’ part. This is the greatest moment in the history of music if your dream is to distribute as much music as possible to as many people as possible, or if your goal is to make it as easy as possible to become heard as a musician. There’s never been a time like this before. So if your focus is on music, it’s great. If your focus is on the industry part and the limos, the advances, the lawyers, polycarbonate and vinyl, it’s horrible.”
And that’s not even the good part. If you are serious about a career in the arts, go read the rest. In fact, subscribe to his blog.
Just in case you didn’t catch this on my Facebook or my delicious links, if you have ANY interest to have a career in the arts GO READ Music Think Tank’s 10 Mistakes Bands and Musicians Make. It’s dead on, full of truth and honesty, and covers it all. I especially like reason #4 ’cause it’s what I’ve been saying since 2005:
4. Thinking The Key to Success is Musical Talent, Money, or Looks
Yes, if we’re talking about pop music, MTV, or the major label
system, a certain amount of a contrived “image” probably helps sell
records.
Obviously, money helps things. And it’s always good if you can sing.
But it’s not “image” that gets somebody on MTV, it’s marketing.
It’s not good songs that get people on the radio, it’s marketing. And
it’s not money, although it helps. It’s marketing.
You can play well, have money, and look like a model, but if you don’t have the marketing to back you up, none of it matters.
You know what? If you do have a good, solid marketing plan in place
(and you’re using it), everything else doesn’t matter so much.
Um. Well said.
The reasons I’m not in the music business anymore:
1994 was the beginning of the end. A few short months after winning the Academy of Country Music New Group of the Year award, the Gibson/Miller Band was done. Though I did work for several more years in the music business, my career never recovered.
Because I hadn’t been the “a-team session” drummer before the band and the band had never been a top selling act, I was left in an ambiguous middle ground. I thought that I’d quickly find work, but half the people in Nashville had forgotten about me while I was touring and the other half didn’t know the band had broken up. The result? Not much work.
I was in my late 30’s and at a crossroads. Down one path was building/rebuilding a music career and down the other was a BIG question mark. It took over two years of wrestling with myself and God until I realized it was time to move on. Though I had succeeded at working as a musician, I had ultimately failed to build a music business career.
More in my series on who I am. This time it’s pieces of my former life as a musician.
I worked as a drummer for 20 years and although I failed to reach my ultimate goals, I played in almost every state and several countries, worked TV/radio jingles, records and live shows and even won two awards (see below). I lived the life of a working musician and it was a dream come true.
I banged on everything I could from the time I walked and got my first set of drums when I was five. There was never anything else I did as well and never a question about whether I would pursue music as a career. It didn’t hurt that both my parents were musicians – trained music teachers in fact – and I took advantage of every opportunity to practice and play.
I attended the University of North Texas to put myself against the best in the country and graduated with a Bachelors in Jazz Performance in 1984. After a couple of years playing in top-40 bands in Dallas, my wife and I moved to Nashville when I got the gig with Russ Taff in 1986. This led to a long series of country, rock and christian gigs which kept me on and off the road for nearly all my career.
In the early 90’s while playing with the Sweethearts of the Rodeo, I had the opportunity to join a band called Twang Town. Lead by two successful writers, they were on the verge of being signed to Sony/Epic. I jumped at the chance to join this band that had amazing songs, killer players and a rock-n-roll attitude. A band that later became The Gibson/Miller band.
I say that The Gibson/Miller Band was an “almost famous” act. We had numorous top 20 songs, but never cracked the top 10. We toured all over, but never headlined arenas (opened for lots of acts though). What we DID do though was establish a loyal following of people who wanted rock-n-roll country about 2 years before it really took off. This led to our winning the 1994 Academy of Country Music New Group of the Year award – a crowning achievement for the band and myself.
Recording:
- Out of the Grey – Out of the Grey
- Gibson/Miller Band – Where There’s Smoke
- Gibson/Miller Band – Red, White and Blue Collar
- Kick In The Asphalt Band – No Bull
- Blue Miller – Blue
- John Cox – Sunny Day
- Eli – And Now The News
- India Arie – Acoustic Soul
- India Arie – Voyage to India
Awards:
- 1993 Academy Of Country Music New
- Group Of The Year — Gibson/Miller Band
- 2001 – 7 Grammy Award Nominations for
- India Arie’s Acoustic Soul
- 2002 Grammy Award Winner – Best
- Urban Contemporary Album for India
- Arie’s Voyage to India
Touring:
- Russ Taff
- Kim Boyce
- Paul Smith
- Cody
- Sweethearts of the Rodeo
- Gibson/Miller Band
- Kick In The Asphalt Band
- Trisha Yearwood (for about 5 minutes…)
- Sisters Wade
- Charlie McClain
- Shelby Lynne
I’ve had a day full of encouragement. Encouragement of dreams, purpose, direction. Of simply being me.
Here’s one of the encouragements from a post from Spence Smith:
” Teaching someone about Twitter
is not about convincing someone that twitter works. It’s about
convincing them to try it to see how it works. Once you see how it
works, you learn how to make it work for yourself. That’s the beauty of
learning. The process…”
I needed that reminder of why I’m a teacher. I needed today.
At the risk of appearing to pandering to my son and his band, I’m encouraging you to check out this post from Mashable.
Radiohead has released a pure data, you can play with it and create your own, video for House of Cards. Only it isn’t the video for the song, it’s a gift to the world to interact with Radiohead. From Mashable:
“No cameras were used to create it – only pure data. But the really
interesting thing about the video you’ve just seen is that it’s not the video for House of Cards; it’s a video. It was created through complex data visualization which you can see and manipulate over here
. Want to save a copy? Download the necessary tools and knock yourself out!
Of course, if you think you’ve done the song justice or perhaps even topped the original video, you can share it over at the House of Cards YouTube group.
OK, I admit, seeing too much of this stuff might render you slightly
insane after an hour or two, but Radiohead has opened a door here that
will probably be followed by many bands to come. Can you say “Video
2.0?””
The video is stunning and it is a brilliant move from a band that is exploring and taking full advantage of the connected world of today. Good for them.
Let me know what you think of my son’s band too. Last November is a great song to start with.
I’m somewhat encouraged by EMI’s continued path of bringing in non-music people to lead their change. Guy Hands is intent on bringing in people who understand consumer marketing.
A quote from Leoni-Sceti jumped out at me though: “Creating brands and the values associated with those brands will be a possible value adder I could bring to this industry”
“A possible value adder I could bring…” doesn’t exactly exude confidence.
While your contemplating whether he’s hedging his bets against failure, examine the words you use. Do you talk ‘like you’re kinda sure you might be an okay’ musician, artist, person, whatever? Or do you confidently state the reasons you’re the right person for the job?
Which way will get you what you want?
