Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame

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Summary

How to market your art (or projects, accomplishments, or anything) to others.

Notes and Quotes

Don't feel bad about marketing - it is something people want.

Marketing is an extension of your art. Business is just as creative as music.

The way you present your art, and what people know about it, completely changes how they perceive it. Therefore, your art doesn’t end at the edge of the canvas. Your creative decisions continue all the way to the end.

The way you communicate with people is part of your art. For people who have never heard your music, it’s the start of your art!

Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you.

How to interact with people

Before I interact with people, I ask myself this question: “What do they really want?” Like if I’m writing someone an email, I ask, “Why are they really reading this email?”

Thinking of everything from the other person’s point of view is one of the best things you can do in life.

As you’re out there in the music business, get personal. Don’t always be selling yourself. That keeps people at a distance from you, because it shows you’re not friends.

Same goes for expensive tools. The audience can’t hear the difference between cheap and expensive equipment. So saying you need a certain tool is just another excuse to avoid the real work. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

A life coach told me that most of his job is just helping people get specific. Once they turn a vague goal into a list of specific steps, it’s easy to take action.

Call the destination, and ask for directions. You’ll get there much faster than walking without a map, hoping you arrive someday.

Yes of course it's smart to always ask your fans and friends for help. Strive to work with the best collaborators, agents, producers, etc. But never count on their help. That's the difference. Then, when someone does help you, it makes it even better.

You can't do what everyone else does. You can't watch 63 hours of everyone's favorite TV show. You can't get two dogs that need you to be home. That's for normal people who want a normal life. That's not for you. The music business is no place to be normal. The more intense, the better. Normal people will think you're insane. But your fellow achievers will welcome you to the exclusive club.

Imagine if you had said, "We sound like the smell of fresh baked bread." Or "We're the soundtrack to the final battle to save the earth." Or "Bob Marley with a Turkish pipe smoking Japanese candy." Then you've got their interest! A creative description also suggests that your music will be creative, too. So make up a curious answer to that common question. You don't have to feel limited by it. Notice that those three examples I gave could sound like anything. And that's the point.

Let's say you've decided that your style of music should be proudly called "power-pop". If you say, "We're power-pop!" in the very first sentence or paragraph of all of your marketing If your email address is "[email protected]" If your album title is "Powerpop Drip and Drop" If the license plate on your band van is "POWRPOP" When someone asks me for a music recommendation and says they like power-pop, guess who I'm going to tell them to buy? Have the confidence to find your niche, define who you are, then declare it again and again and again and again. If you do it persistently enough, you will own that niche. People will not be able to imagine that niche without you.

Imagine the world's attention as a big squishy pile of apathy—so thick you could cut it with a knife. To call attention to your music, you want to cut through that muck. Only problem is, if you're well-rounded, you can't cut through anything. You need to be sharply defined, like a knife.

Push your outer boundaries. Show your weirdness. Bring out all your quirks. The world needs that. Your public persona—the image you show the world—should be an extreme character. It can be a version of yourself, or it can be a mask. (It's easier to be honest behind a mask.)

You can get away with anything in the name of entertainment.

So you need to make a simple automatic system to keep in touch without relying on your memory. Use your database to label everyone in a category like this: A list: Very important people. Contact every three weeks. B list: Important people. Contact every two months. C list: Most people. Contact every six months. D list: Demoted people. Contact once a year, to make sure you still have their correct info. When you contact each person, just find out how they're doing. See if you can help them in any way. This regular contact should be unselfish, and sincerely caring how they are. Don't ask a favor unless you've been in touch recently. It's a little insulting to contact someone you haven't talked with in a long time, just to ask a favor. Most people are so bad at keeping in touch that they will really appreciate you doing it. And when you make this a habit, it's easy to stay in touch with hundreds or thousands of people.

Have a real conversation—something more than text on a screen. Ask questions, get to know them, and make a personal connection. Learn what they're looking for, and how you can help them.

You know the way to be interesting to others is to be interested in them.

Turn to a stranger and say, "Hi. What do you do?" Ask how they got into that. Ask what's hard about it. Figure out how you can help them.

Send them a message immediately, connecting the digital you to the physical you. ("Hi John. Good to meet you today. You were right about the bicycles! Here's a link to that site you asked about. See you at the closing party tomorrow.") Include your full contact info.

People will ask what you do. Don't give a boring answer—it's rude. If you say "I'm a bassist", then they'll say "oh", followed by awkward silence and an excuse about why they need to walk away now. Before the conference, come up with one interesting sentence that says what you do—including a curious bit that will make them ask a follow-up question. For example: "Bassist of the Crunchy Frogs—the worst punk bluegrass band ever. We're headlining the showcase tonight. Our singer is a pirate." See how that would lead to questions? Anyone who hears that will ask you why you are the worst, or why your singer is a pirate. You're helping them engage in a conversation! Also, by quickly mentioning an accolade, you're showing them you're worth knowing.

The only thing worse than a short boring answer is a long boring answer.

Real business is done in the follow-up, not the conference itself.

The unhappiest musicians are the ones who avoided the subject of money, and are now broke or need a draining day job.

The happiest musicians are the ones who develop their value.

Money is nothing more than a neutral exchange of value. If people give you money, it's proof that you're giving them something valuable in return.

One time a college far away in Ohio—about a 12-hour drive—asked what I would charge to do a two-hour show. I said, "$1500". She said, "Oh, that's a bit too much. What would you charge to do just a one-hour show?" I said, "$2000". She said, "No, wait, you'll be performing less, not more!" I said, "Yeah! Exactly! What you're paying me for is to get there! Once I'm there, playing music is the fun part! If you tell me I have to get back in the van and drive home after only an hour, then I'm going to charge you more than if you let me play for a couple hours first." She liked that so much that she came up with the $1500. Point is: Business is creative. You can do things any way you want. There's no need to adhere to norms. Norms are for businesses without personality.

When you're offering something for free, don't forget that there are lots of people that like to pay! Appeal to this side of people, giving them a reason to pay that feels good.

You're going to hear a lot of advice. Listen to it all, but pay close attention to what it does to your energy and focus. If it makes you jump into action, it's good advice. If it makes you feel drained, sad, or lost, then it's not for you.

But nothing is worth losing your enthusiasm. Nothing! Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it. You have to pay close attention to that compass, even in little day-to-day decisions.