“Everything is an Experiment”

I'm quoting Seth Godin, who makes this statement during Episode 5 of his "Startup School" podcast called "Permission and Trust". If you've read his book, Permission Marketing, you may find much of this familiar, but my specific takeaway from this podcast had more to do with how to go about starting things.

In business, and especially in the music business, everything is an experiment. You don't know how things will turn out, so you have to try them and see. And to do this, sometimes you just have to get started.  

Godin's claim that our desire to make things "perfect" actually prevents us from making anything "good" could not be more true. Think about that a little and release yourself from the need to make everything perfect. Make it good enough and go from there. The great thing is that you will always have the chance to make it better.

There's also some great information in the podcast that relates to musicians and their relationships with fans. Check it out and let me know what you think.

On becoming an artist manager.

The first line of my bio reads: "I've made a career out of helping musicians execute their creative vision."

I consider myself lucky to have found a job in the record business where I could do that. Ever since first getting a taste of the business in college, I've been drawn to it, and while no longer a performer, I've always been driven to use my skills to further the careers of others.

There should be no surprise that the record business--in fact, the entire music business--is changing. That is all too evident at major labels. (This is not about reports of their so-called death however--I truly believe that they will always serve a need through their ability to leverage mass marketing techniques on a gigantic scale.)

For me, one of the biggest changes I see is that there is no longer a set path for artists to follow in building their career. The many tools now available for record production, publicity, marketing, promotion and distribution mean that artists can find or build bespoke solutions to the kinds of problems they once relied on record labels to solve.

What this means for artists is that they are now free to find their own path and create their own business based on their own needs and wants.

What that means for me is that new opportunities to help have emerged, but outside the construct of a major record label.

To navigate this landscape, artists will still rely on management, but that management will partner with them in new ways, ways that will help them innovate and meet the demands of the new music business.

There certainly is no shortage of talented artists, and there are plenty of opportunities to help them build successful, life-long careers.

It's time for me to do just that.