Your Music and People: creative and considerate fame
My notes
“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.”
Whatever excited you, do it, whatever drains you, stop doing it
“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.”
Listen to advices but implement only those that make you energetic, not drain you, because those are not your dreams
“Are your fans telling their friends? If not, then don’t waste time promoting it yet”
When to promote
“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.””
How would you describe what you do in this style?
“Extreme talent requires extreme practice — training like an Olympic athlete. Extreme success requires extreme focus — saying no to distractions and leisure. Extreme fame requires extreme ambition — taking the spotlight and its pressure.”
Extraordinary results require extraordinary actions. You can’t expect great results by doing normal actions.
“Make one plan that depends on nobody else. No record deal. No investors. No lucky break. Your profits may be small but sustainable. Grow your audience. Develop your skills. Build your reputation. You can happily continue this way indefinitely. Make another plan that uses the music industry. Build your team. Pursue a record deal. Find investors. Increase your odds of a lucky break.”
Make two plans, one that is prepared for the worst (or at least the slow path), and one prepared for the best (or intense, fast path). If you lack opportunities you just do the slow path, and it’s ok, you were prepared for it, if you so some fast sprints it’s also ok, because you were prepared for it.
“Lack of security? Living this way is like learning wilderness survival skills. Being able to fend for yourself is real security.”
Lack of security is actually something good
“When you hire someone to help you, write down absolutely everything you need them to do. Include every detail of every step, and your philosophy too.”
When you hire someone to help you, write down absolutely everything you need then to do. Be as specific as possible
“Your ability to be resourceful diminishes over time. You get older and feel you’ve earned the comforts. So especially early in your career, be as resourceful as possible. It shows you can survive.”
Be as resourceful as possible, especially early in your live
“Great music isn’t enough. Losing money can’t last. For a career to be sustainable, it has to be profitable. Don’t impress people with how much you spend. Impress people with how little you spend.”
For carrier to be sustainable it needs to be profitable
“It means being creative, rebellious, determined, and unstoppable. It means asking for help, but not waiting for help.”
Be creative, rebellious, determined, unstoppable, ask for help but not wait for help
“You have to make your own success first, before you ask the industry for help. Show that you’re going to be successful without their help. Show that you have momentum. If they want to accelerate or amplify your success, they will have to pay to ride your train.”
People want to see that you are capable to achieve success by yourself. It’s worth more than talent. And I fully agree with that. If you ask people about thier
““I can’t listen to everyone, so I can’t know who’s got the best music. But the ones who follow-up show they’ve got the tenacity and drive to succeed. As long as their music is also good, then those are the ones I want to work with.””
Repeat your prompts, it shows your tenacity
“Ask them what’s the hardest part about their job. People love to complain. And each complaint gives you an idea about how you could help.”
Ask people what’s the hardest part of thier job, people live to complain
“Even if it starts professional, get personal as soon as possible. Be a friend. That’s how things are done.”
Even if things start professional, gets personal as soon as possible
“When things aren’t working, be smarter, not louder.”
Stop barking, people avoid people who yells that need help or want to sell you something
“Life is like high school. It’s all about how you come across, how social you are, what scene you’re in, being likeable, and being cool.”
Life is not a college, it’s rather high school, so you need to be popular.
“The essence of marketing is looking at everything from the other person’s point of view.”
Essence of marketing is looking from different point of view. That’s why empathy is so vital.
“Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you. Marketing means listening for what people need, and creating something surprisingly tailored for them. Marketing means getting to know people, making a deeper connection, and keeping in touch.”
“The way you communicate with people is part of your art.”
Communication is an art
“Once people start wondering, they can’t stand not knowing”
Once people start wondering, they can’t stand not knowing
“It’s kind of sad to have everything so transparent. Once something is explained, it stops captivating your curiosity.”
Your communication should be like a shirt, short enough to keep your interest, but long enough to cover what’s interesting.
“Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones said he tries to write lyrics that are like listening in to someone else’s phone conversation — where you don’t know the context and don’t get the references, so it draws you in deeper, trying to understand. To do this, he first writes down everything he wants to say, then he crosses out every other line, and writes the song using only what’s left.”
To make people curious, you can hide some context. People are very curious to listening someone else talking on phone. They instinctually tries to grab the context. Emotions only increase this effect.
“It’s actually impossible to fail if your only mission was to see what happens!”
You can’t lose if you just want to test what happens
“Everything usually feels so serious — like if you make one mistake, it’ll all end in disaster. But really everything you do is just a test: an experiment to see what happens . My favorite times in life started with a “see what happens” approach.”
Don’t take life too serious. Experiment. Use the non determinism of life on your favor. Randomness help solving NP hard peoblems. Leverage this fact in real life too. State some thesis, and then test it on people. If it fails, so be it, it’s just a test.
“Whatever scares you, go do it.”
“Money is just a neutral representation of value. Be valuable to others — not just yourself. People like to pay.”
“Be extreme and sharply defined. Target a niche. Proudly exclude most people.”
“Be resourceful. Ask for help, but never wait for help. Call the destination and ask for directions. Get specific about what you want.”
“Marketing is an extension of your art. Business is just as creative as music.”