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! |
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August 2017
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