A Quick Response to Byron’s Query; Some Thoughts on Competition Between Bands
by ryan
Hello out there, ever growing mass of MuseZu-ers!
For those of you who read How To Get Anybody To Try On Your Socks (Part I), you may have noticed we have our first perennial blog commentator, in the person of Mr. Byron Shirley.
A little about Byron: I have known Byron personally for, gosh, nine years now… In a nutshell: French, twin of MuseZu’s own Perry (yes ladies, French twins!), Sailor, Salesman, ever-ready recipient of my curve-ball crushing “MLB 08 The Show” performances, good friend, and soundboard for many of my new musical creations. Here is his comment, for those of you who haven’t read it:
THE Byron Shirley
I thought this was going to be an article on how to convince people to try on my dirty socks. Imagine my surprise.
There’s a saying about how “a product is only worth what people are willing to pay for it”. That’s a bit harsh when you’re talking about a living, breathing product like a band and the art it produced, music, but then again, you should be thinking about how much you are worth. It’s OK to think about it, there’s no shame in it as you point out.
Ryan, I’m OK with thinking of my (imaginary) band as a product, but how do I get people to buy that product, especially when there is these big bands with their big labels and their 15% going into advertising, generating airplay, etc…how do I compete against that?
Byron, first of all I wish you and your (imaginary) band all the (imaginary) success you deserve. This is a lovely question, one that I was going to tackle in the near future, but I will amend my blog schedule especially for you.
On the money side, there are two types of expenditures: discretionary and non discretionary. I’m sure you’ve all heard these two terms before. Continuing right along with my metaphor, socks are non discretionary items. You need to buy socks, and you need to buy a certain amount of socks given a certain amount of time. Have you ever found yourself lusting after a pair of socks when your sock quota is already fulfilled? This doesn’t include fun, frilly, argyle, knee-high socks, ladies, those are discretionary items. I’m talking about socks you need to have so your shoes don’t get stinky; the boring old plain white ones. As you can see, manufacturers of that type of socks are in direct competition with each other. x amount of socks are purchased every year, each company wants to have the biggest piece of that pie as possible.
Music is very close to being the exact opposite; the pie is (for all intents and purposes) infinite. Have you ever said to yourself, “Eh, I’m not going to buy that CD because I have enough music. My brain is full. I will not crave any more music at all, EVER.” Of course not! Maybe you didn’t have enough money at the time, but then you got your paycheck and went out to buy more music. Or maybe you had a friend burn you a CD, or used bit-torrent to procure the mp3’s “illegally” (this is a topic for yet another blog – so inherently ridiculous…). The point is there is plenty of mental room out there in the collective brain for everyone’s music. Once you realize this you can begin to identify the things you can do to get people to listen to yours!
On the emotional side (music is mostly emotional, this would be the most logical place to look for competition in another form), it has been said that life is 1% what happens and 99% your reaction to it. To all the bands out there, I want you to shift your thinking right now. You’re in a band, you’re making music. That is cool, meaningful, important, vital even! That’s the 1% we need to focus on, (what is actually happening) then we can begin to change the other 99% (your reaction to what is actually happening). The study of what is actually happening is of endless fascination to me, just like the study of what things actually are. I’m not trying to be all “life-coachy” here, but I truly want you to succeed, and a negative outlook on what is actually happening can be crippling to your cause.
You’re not in competition with other bands, you are all fighting the same fight, and it’s better to have friends in this fight than enemies. The Secret, a lovely DVD authored by many high level thinkers, teaches us to celebrate others’ success, because by doing so as if it is your own you are bringing yourself closer to success. It’s a simple phenomenon: when you feel good about what you’re doing you are more likely to feel good in the future, and to do even cooler things. Stop thinking about all the endless bounds of resources major labels have. Just stop. That’s worrying about step #197 when we’re still back on step three. There’s no reason to, it’s a waste of time that detracts from completing step three to the best of our abilities.
This is important: Your homework assignment this week is to take note of the moments you feel in competition with another band (or a co-worker, family member, neighbor with a nicer garden…), and consciously make yourself celebrate what it is you are envious of. It’s not easy at first, but if you try every single time it will soon become second nature. I, myself, remember a time when I would get all riled up if another band had a major breakthrough, I know where you are coming from.
MuseZu.. and Be Heard!
Ryan
Comments
Ryan,
Thank you for the lovely intro–I am now semi-famous (Right? Right?).
I think you are spot-on. For me, as a future yacht salesman I have to remind myself that those big, beautiful boats are discretionary items, and for these expenses it often plays out on emotions; you don’t NEED a boat, you don’t NEED music, but it really really feels like you do. So if you like Oasis (Perry), or Marilyn Manson (me), you’ll feel compelled for maybe no justifiable reason to buy every single new record these sometime poor, sometimes very good bands release.
One more point: It’s much easier when the band is established. Bands like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead can give away their records now because in the past they sold so many and can count on selling out their concerts, in, oh, 2/3rds of a second. But what about the little guys? Frankly, when somebody gives you a CD of their band, or a CD of someone else’s band they “just saw, it was so good”, do you have the same reaction? I often don’t. And the key for me is getting an emotional reaction to build that connection with said new band. If i see them live first, I’m more likely to want their cd because if it’s a memorable show, I’m going to listen to that cd and recall that. That’s also why I often make CD compilations and include perfectly unknown bands (Recently, The Dodos, Dizzy Baloons or White Rabbits). If they know me and like the music that’s around it, they’ll like those tracks and seek out more.
You are thinking in the right direction, Byron, with this comment as well. Three blogs from now I plan on exploring the question, “what is a fan?” and will address these issues
Stay tuned for that!