You're probably here because you want your band to become MEGA FAMOUS and SUPER SUCCESSFUL.
I can't tell you HOW to do that, but what I CAN do is show you some signs you might! So don't hang up that guitar for a 9-5 job just yet! I'm here to give you hope! I read an amazing book by Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams (That you really need to buy) called:
The chapter that stood out to me the most is called "Recognizing your Talents and Knowing When to Quit"
Personally, I think introducing this concept to my friends as "knowing when to quit" is a risky approach beacuse it almost sounds pessimistic. However, his blog post on the same topic was smartly titled "How To Know Your Product Will Succeed" In the book, Adams says "overcoming obstacles is normally an unavoidable part of the process. But you also need to know when to quit. Persistence is useful, but there's no point being an idiot about it." The biggest thing he said was: "Look for unexpected positive physical action from potential customers." He went on to list some of his personal examples. But he says that if there is no sign of those actions, its time to find a different approach That made me think back on if i found any instances of this with my own band Doziac, and I realized, there were a few! So Below is a list of 5 instances where I found Unexpected Positive Physical Action from potential fans. 1- Customer at fast food asks about music When I worked at a vegan food spot, they had a little mp3 player that played the music out of the jukebox. Customers would come in and out and inadvertently hear the music that was playing at the time. One day their mp3 player broke. While they were scrambling around to replace it, I told the manager that before it broke, I actually had copied all of their music to my ipod. So they agreed to use my ipod. Little did they know that I had snuck my band's music onto the playlist as well. Now one day my bands song appeared on the playlist while i was working. Suddenly a customer looked up, came to me and asked "Hey, what band is this on the radio? I like their sound" I was floored. customers usually IGNORED the music. they NEVER asked who was on. I also heard the same thing happened again during someone else's shift with MY BAND again! The Unexpected Positive Physical Action was the customer putting down his food and going out of his way to ask about the music because he just HAD to know. 2- Sound Guy Gives Me a Lecture I played a show at The Delancey in downtown NYC. We played a good set, and when we were getting off stage, the sound guy came up to me. he said "I can see what you're aiming for, and you're going to be very good!" He went on to talk to me for like TEN minutes. and after that conversation, another guy who knew the sound guy told me "Yeah man he was REALLY impressed!" I was shocked. I'm used to getting the regular "nice set" from people at the gig, but for the sound guy, who sees countless bands every day to go out of his way to talk to me for TEN minutes about how great we're going to be sounds like an Unexpected Positive Physical Action to me. 3- Man Writes a Video Review I released a video of my band playing one of our songs in our practice space. It was shared onto Facebook in hopes that some people would enjoy. And they did, we got good comments about it. However, someone also sent us a link to a video. I checked it out, and to my surprise it was of him reviewing our music and going on about how it caught his attention and how much he enjoyed it! I know quite a bit about making videos and they can be VERY tedious, so I know this is DEFINITELY an Unexpected Positive Physical Action! 4- My Band inspires a fan to start a blog One day I was checking my band emails when I got one from a random person in Texas saying he reviewed my band's album. I was confused because I didn't remember sending him anything. I checked it out and He wrote a whole post about how much he loved the songs and the potential we had! Apparently listening to our band inspired him to start a whole blog of indie bands music. sounds like another Unexpected Positive Physical Action! Sadly, He was unable to find any more inspiring music from local bands and he ended the blog shortly after. See the blog post here 5 - Fan interrupts meeting at Apollo Theater
I was minding my own business one day when all of a sudden I get a message on Facebook. An acquaintance who we briefly met at one of our shows comes to us and basically says "Guys, I just got you booked for a show at The Apollo Theater!"
He went on to tell us how he risked his job there by interrupting a meeting the higher ups were having to tell them we HAD to be on that bill. And they agreed! He knew many other bands he could have picked, but out of all of them he chose us. We never asked him to put us onto the show. We didn't even know it was happening! That was one whopper of an Unexpected Positive Physical action! __ These 5 instances are definitely good signs that I'm headed in the right direction, and it makes me optimistic! Look back on your own band. (or any project) do you see any of these signs and see whether you should keep steaming ahead, or if maybe it's time to try a different approach? Let me know! __ You should watch our new lyric video because music is awesome Purchase Scott Adam's book below!There are some harsh realities it comes to making it out there in the big bad world! You may be wondering what is going on? Well I'm here to give you a few tips as to some possible problems you might be having! Check them out below. 1. Being an introvert You go to an event. A lot of people are there. Suddenly you can't take the environment anymore and just need to get home. You go home, feel better. Then a few days later you feel lonely and like you barely have any friends. Is this you? Well you're probably an introvert! So am I. Our brains are wired a little differently than our more lucky extrovert counterparts. I'm in an elevator with a next door neighbor. She says hi. I think you know what? Let's engage in some small talk. I now think of how I am being perceived. I say Hi back. Ask her how her day was. Now I'm wondering how I just said that. Did I say it in an emotionally enthusiastic way? Maybe not. Let's try and gather all my energy for the next sentence. Did it work? Maybe? I wish her a good night, go into my apartment, and feel extremely relieved. That felt so stressing, and it was just small talk!! Do you realize how many friends and extra favors I could get were I not too introverted to just casually chat it up with some people? Ever heard of the story of that one introverted dude who would try so hard to be an extrovert that he'd say hi to everybody in school and show up to as many parties as he could to really fit in, only to go back home to collapse from all of that hard work?? For us introverts it's extremely strenuous and uncomfortable work just to say hi, because of all the thinking and brain power involved. However for extroverts, This is how they get their energy and happiness!!! Connections happen, you meet more people and BOOM. You're Donald Trump's wife! In American society, extroversion wins! 2. Being an average looking guy You go to a party. People stand around with drinks. No one really says hi to you. You are an introvert. You have to make the first move. Making the first move is incredibly difficult because of all the stress you get from having to think and show enthusiasm in a conversation that naturally comes for extroverts. You try anyway. You see two girls standing with party cups having a conversation with each other. You attempt to join in. They kind of let you at first by answering a few of your questions you forced yourself to ask, but then you find yourself bumped out as they continue to carry on their conversation with each other as if you weren't there standing in front of them. You give up, sit down and scroll through random Facebook posts on your phone. No one else talks to you for the rest of the party. You go home. Wonder why you have no friends. Here's my cure. Next time, be born a cute girl with tits. Maybe then they'll save you the work and say hello first. They'll force themselves to keep the conversation going just so they can keep talking to you and pretend to care about something besides your tits while you talk about your passions. 3. You are depressed. "You feel down? Come on man cheer up, it'll pass. Stop being depressed." Yeah....depression works more like this: You love playing volleyball on your team. Suddenly it's not fun anymore. So you stop going. I mean they bench you all the time anyway. Whatever. You like your French class and are learning some cool phrases. Suddenly you wonder what's the point and stop really trying or showing up to class anymore. You like watching movies. Suddenly, you're too lazy to watch movies anymore and can't get past the first 5 minutes of any movie you do try to watch. You love video games. Suddenly they're not as engaging as they were before. Now you do nothing at all but sleep. You realize that you no longer really do a ton of things you used to, because they just don't feel like they matter. Nothing feels like it matters. Two years go by. You now do nothing with your life when you once had a lot going for you. Does this sound like you? You're probably depressed. It keeps you from going out. It keeps you from really trying to get anything done. It eats away at you and you simply feel okay with sleeping and never waking up. Sounds productive? No, it doesn't. I don't really have anything to suggest on what to do except read up about it. Find people to talk to. People who will listen. People who will not say "Don't be depressed." People who won't simply dismiss how you're feeling. People who will be there for you. 4. You don't drink or do drugs "Sorry, I didn't think you'd have fun" - your friend after you ask them why they didn't invite you to their party. Yep. This is the reality in the United States of America. Most people between 15-30 will be partying it up, getting wasted, and doing drugs together! What an escape it is! drink/smoke/ingest all your troubles away! Life is stressful, no? All the friends you make. All the crazy times you have! All the stories you can tell from all the fuckups you or your friend had that one night! All the music you supposedly can write when on a higher plane of thought. Everyone is doing it! Forget all those "don't do drugs" commercials and seminars you've seen. Yeah right. They're just uptight people who can't have fun. Well guess what? If you're one of the few who don't regularly engage in alcohol or substances, no one will want to be around you. Yep. They will wonder why you're so uptight. Why can't you loosen up like the rest? They will not want to hang out with you. They will not invite you to any parties where you could have made friends (if you weren't too introverted to begin with). They will feel awkward having you being the only one not smoking it up, popping pills or chugging with them. I mean all those bonding opportunities over a drink or a blunt you could have had? What's wrong with you? "But who needs them anyway?" you ask while you sit alone in your room (or restaurant, or park, depending your mood). Yeah. You with your band who wanted people to come to your show. Where are they now? Oh? They're going to the show of that other dude's band. Why? Oh right. His band does have some cool songs. But so do you! But wait. He also loves to get high and drunk every day and gives out free weed to his friends at parties. And he happens to be having an after-party after this show, and you're not invited! Why? Because no one thinks you would enjoy it!
So What do we do? We are a 3 piece band and we want to express ourselves!!!
We've been rehearsing weekly at in Williamsburg and are looking to start recording and playing shows soon!!! |
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