Money And Buy In

If you’re an artist and you have professionals on your team (agent, label, manager, publisher, business manager) and you stop doing things that generate money, they will likely not work with you for very long.

It’s not that they don’t like your new clarinet Gregorian chant album…but your pop rock album was a lot easier to plan for and execute and make money and support everyone’s families with.

Part of doing music as a career is getting buy in from your team. It’s not that they have to be in love with every song…it’s that they have to see a way for themselves to succeed with you. They have dreams and desires professionally and personally and they hope working with you can take them closer to those.

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The Big Fish Story

We tell the big fish story over and over. Dinner parties, meetings, family reunions. The big fish story is a winner.

We never tell the stories about catching the other stuff…the pan fish or the seaweed or the carp…even though we were in the same boat with the same hook, eating the same snacks.

We tell the big fish story cause it sells…but it’s the pan fish, seaweed and carp stories that make us fishermen.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

What Makes Gear Special?

It narrows options. And by doing so, it makes decisions for you.

It frees your mind up to use your ears.

That was one of the features when music was made on outboard gear.

You were limited to the gear at the studio and it was gonna be expensive to get more.

If the compressor has a 2:1 ratio setting and then jumps to a ratio of 8:1…looks like 4:1 isn’t even worth thinking about.

These days we all have access to all the same gear…and there’s a lot of it. And it’s cheap.

The glory isn’t in having more gear anymore. It’s in intentionally selecting gear in a way that it makes decisions that further the creative idea, so that we can get back to the creative idea.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

The Fear We Seek

The fear you should have worked on it longer

The fear it should be released already

The fear no one is going to like it

The fear the people we care about won’t get it

The fear you’re too late

The fear that the mix is all wrong

The fear that it was all too easy

The fear you’re going to be found out

That fear you feel is the fear we seek. It’s part of the creative, musician, artist deal. It’s part of the hard part of the overall great thing.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Now We Have Sides

If there’s only two of us…

I’m on my side.

And you’re on yours.

That’s why adding a third to the band is interesting.

Now we have sides. Now we have unevenness and compromise that can’t be kept track of.

That’s what makes it good. No one got their way…and because of that we have magic.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple

Hit Live Show Moments

There aren’t many.

Sure, if you’re a musician there’s a bigger pool of live show moments that you and all your friends reference…

But the general public?

Lots of hit songs, not many hit live show moments.

Whitney’s national anthem.

Freddie at Live Aid.

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

We can all think of more great moments but are they known by twenty year olds and seventy year olds?

There aren’t many hit moments because most live show magic…well, you had to be there. And it isn’t easily captured and reproduced in video.

Maybe that’s the way it should be.

Hum Love on Spotify and Apple