One thing that we can learn from history is that the strategies that worked the last time around are unlikely to be the strategies that are going to work this time around. And yet still, so many of us get caught up “fighting the last war.”
Want to make a debut album?
Maybe the best approach right now isn’t to find someone to fund it, work on it in secret over the course of a year and then present it to the world like a hot steaming lump, backed by a megabucks marketing campaign.
Maybe the best approach isn’t to book the big fancy studio for the whole project on your very first time out. Maybe that’s for later. For when it makes sense. For when you’ve proved you’re worth it by making things that are so good that they just can’t ignore you.
Maybe the heaviest phase of marketing your music isn’t so supposed to come after the release anymore. Maybe it’s supposed to come before. And maybe a few free songs aren’t lost revenue. Maybe they’re extremely cost-effective marketing.
A lot of “get” this by now. But what we tend to forget is that this won’t work forever either. The world will just change again.
People will get bored of free music. They’ll get bored of cheap-sounding debuts. They’ll get bored of thinking of their artists as the boy or girl next door. And then some day, they’ll get bored of whatever comes next.
Years ago, whenever someone said the words “free music” to me, my reaction was “alright!” Now it’s “ugh.” I know that I’m not alone. So that’s one trend.
But the beautiful thing about both commerce and art is that so many different worlds and so many different trends can exist all at once. Especially now.
Maybe some kinds of artists can pull a Beyoncé, drop an album into the middle of the room like it’s a heaping pile of sequined formal-wear and say: “You sort it out. It’ll be more fun that way.”
Maybe some artists can release their work bit-by-bit on video sites and blogs and through constant shows until they’ve built built up a reservoir of people who care. And then they can release the big one.
Maybe there are some artists who can say: “Here it is, it’s all yours. Just take it. You tell me what it’s worth.”
And maybe some of them can say: “This is what we’ve done. We think it’s valuable. If you want to be part of it, you have to show us that you value it too.”
Most of us will probably benefit from finding a blend between these strategies. A few of us can benefit from going hard one way or the other. And maybe changes in the culture or the economy will point us more squarely in one direction or the other from time to time.
But what I can say is that the tactics and strategies that worked best five years ago are unlikely to be the ones that will work best five years from now. Only the underlying principles will remain constant:
- Make it great. (And remember that it will never be perfect.)
- Make it often. (But not so often that it suffers.)
- Put it out there. (And remember that you get to decide on the terms.)
- Balance your checkbook. (But don’t be a cheapskate.)
- Be generous. (And don’t forget to demand what you’re worth.)
- And never stop practicing or learning new things about the world. (Ever.)