In Daniel Quinn’s “The Holy”, he states:

“The true secrets are the ones you can post on billboards.”

This has everything to do with your music, and the promotion of it.  Let’s look at that statement through the lens of another, more familiar adage:

“90% of business is execution“

Does that make more sense to you?  I thought so.  There are hundreds of millions of people in this country, and I’m willing to bet each and every one of them has had hundreds upon hundreds of killer ideas.  It might be a business idea or a personal aspiration of one kind or another.  It could be something as simple as “I am going to be nicer to my spouse.”  Often starting as a simple flash of brilliance out of nowhere, the idea is the easy part.  Putting it into action is, for some reason, the hard part.  Maybe it’s because we are creatures of habit; any new idea will inherently take us out of our daily routine.  Or perhaps the reason why most ideas do not come to fruition is the first moment after the idea is thought all the way through it becomes work.

I am as guilty of this as anyone else out there.

Take gym memberships as an example.  I have one.  At $15/month, it is blatantly obvious that the economics of the gym’s profitability are banking on the fact that a very large percentage of its customers will not use their membership.  We could do the math, but hopefully you get the point without all that rather uninteresting arithmetical fodder.

Starting now I want to coach and encourage you and me into mobilization.  I have spent the past 9 years in the local scene in some form or another, and much of what I have learned is by watching other people’s mistakes, not by making them myself.  I don’t claim to be infallible, mind you, I have made countless mistakes myself.  It’s just how I learn.  I tend to be an observer and thinker, but I think I’ve thought through all I can think through now without doing.  So let’s get to it!

If you’ve read Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, then you know the true meaning of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song “Give it Away.”  It’s a lovely tale, and I don’t remember the exact details, but there was a casual female acquaintance of Anthony’s who he had met only once and owned a very expensive and extravagant jacket.  It was one of her prized possessions.  Anthony commented on how incredible he thought it was, and she gave it to him.  He was floored, but she explained to him that it’s one of the most powerful things you can do to give away something that is dear to you.

I hope you can see where I’m going with this.  How does Baskin Robbins get you to buy ice cream?  How does Safeway cajole you into purchasing a new flavor in their line of soups?  They give it away!  A small taste of the experience in hopes that you fork over the dough for the whole thing.  And it works.  How do I know?  Because they do it.  It’s a simple chicken and egg conundrum: if it didn’t work they wouldn’t do it.  Don’t reinvent the wheel, it’s a waste of time.  Do what works.

“But isn’t my music the product?  Aren’t I giving away the whole thing so they have no reason to come back and buy it ever again?  Can I really hope to make money/be successful this way?”

No, no, and yes.  I hope that first “no” made your head spin.  Mental surgery, remember?  We’ll tackle that question in my next post, so stay tuned!

MuseZu… and Be Heard!

Ryan

Share on Facebook