As a young artist you want to perform really well so you’ll get more fans.
You’re playing this show so the next one will be bigger.
And then at the next gig there ARE more people. It worked.
Rinse and repeat, right?
Maybe for a while.
If the purpose of this show is always to make the next show bigger, a couple things are inevitable…
-The joy of the show will eventually get lost.
-You will come to the crossroads of bigger and better…realizing they are not the same road.
Upon the advent of popular music...
It used to be that music promoted lifestyle.
Then marketers realized how powerful lifestyle was, so it flipped…lifestyle started promoting the music.
And now it ebbs and flows between the chicken and the egg depending on culture, technology, where the artist is in their career, and the characteristics of their audience.
What lifestyle does your art promote?
And does that lifestyle, in turn, promote your art?
‘Let’s shake up the soda cans before they’re delivered to the grocery store…that way when they’re opened it’ll go all over the place and everyone will be talking about our product.’
It’s a great way to spread the product but a terrible way to spread the word.
Word spreads because taste aligns…not because of wild interruption.
The sheet of paper starts out blank.
It’s internal freak out…How is this thing ever going to get filled up?
And then somehow it gets filled up.
You did it. Once again you did it.
How may times do you have to fill up the blank sheet before there’s no internal doubt or hesitation when approaching the next one?
It turns out it’s not a hurdle to overcome, but the hallmark of the sheet itself. Insecurity and uncertainty are the centerpieces of the next blank page.
Odds are you don’t have a perfect plan to get to where you want to go.
Odds are you going to have to change what you’re doing, compromise, and evolve.
The only way your current plan will work exactly as-is is if the market and culture shift in your direction at just the right moment, igniting your perfect rocket ship.
Go with the odds on this one.