Derek Sivers

Just got an email from a high school student asking if I would recommend Berklee College of Music, as compared to taking a year off to travel the world.

After givng some details about Berklee, I realized it came down to this:

I have some easy rule-of-thumbs to follow

1. whatever excites you, go do it
2. whatever scares you, go do it
3. every time you’re making a choice, one choice is the safe/comfortable choice - and one choice is the risky/uncomfortable choice. the risky/uncomfortable choice is the one that will teach you the most and make you grow the most, so that’s the one you should choose.

So if travelling Europe as a vagabond for a year is what seems more scary and exciting, do that! Though if that feels like slacking or avoiding, and going to music school is more scary and exciting, do that!

The risk/safety choice thing comes from Abraham Maslow, and you should see this page about Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization if you’re interested in that kinda thing.

My friend Mark Fried of Spirit Music had a similar saying: “Whatever you’re thinking, go do it.” - which I also seem to follow almost every day.

I started CD Baby 10 years ago this week - in March 1998.

You probably know that I’m just a musician-geek, not a business-man. Never meant to start a company. I was just selling my own CD, then helped some friends do it, then it accidently turned into CD Baby. (Ooops!)

Now CD Baby has paid over $70 million dollars(!!) directly to musicians. And despite the moaning you hear from the major labels, independent artists are selling better than ever. Even physical CD sales are up 30% over last year!

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Friends will tell you that for the past 10 years I’ve spent most waking hours, 7 days a week, doing nothing but CD Baby. Last year I just slept on the couch at the office for 6 months, usually working from 7am to midnight.

So today seems like a good day to tell you that I don’t work at CD Baby anymore, and haven’t in months.

I’m still the owner, but haven’t been to the office since May. The crew there is running things better than I ever could. They know more than I do, and do a better job.

I’ve made that transition from self-employed to business-owner. (You know you’re a true business-owner when you can leave your business for a year, and come back to find it’s doing much better than when you left.)

WHY AM I TELLING YOU THIS?

Because the reason I freed-up my time is to find more ways to help you.

Helping you develop, create, promote, and sell your music makes me happier than anything. It’s still why I bounce out of bed in the morning.

I love it even more than making my own music. (Weird, huh?) By helping you get your music out to the world, and helping you make a living doing it, I feel that in a way I’m making more music than ever.

There are many ways I can help you, but I’ll email you about those next week.

Today was just a CD Baby birthday announcement. Still, I wanted to let you know there are exciting things to come.

Thinking about the difference between aiming to please a few big clients versus aiming to please lots of little clients.

From a business point of view:
Many small entrepreneurs think, “If we could just land Apple, Google, or the government as a client, we’ll be all set!”

Software companies often do this. They hope to make some technology that a huge company will want to build into every product, or install at every employee’s desk.

But there are many problems with this:

• you have to custom-tailor your product to please very few specific people
• those people may change their mind or leave the company
• who are you really working for? are you self-employed or are they your boss?
• if you do land the big client, they practically own you
• by trying so hard to please the big client, you lose touch with what the rest of the world wants

Instead, imagine if you designed your business to have NO big clients - just lots of little clients.

• you don’t need to change what you do to please one client - only the majority (or yourself)
• if one client needs to leave, it’s OK, you can sincerely wish them well
• because no one client can demand you do what they say, you are your own boss (as long as you keep clients happy in general)
• you hear hundreds of people’s opinions, and stay in touch with what the majority of people want

Now, let’s think of this from a music point of view:

Some musicians think, “If I could just land a deal with Interscope or Warner, I’ll be all set!”

But look at the above lists again. It all applies.

The dangerous thing about the record deal mentality is you start changing what you do to please the one or two people at companies who have shown an interest in your music.It not only hurts your music, but puts you on shaky ground when (not if) that person leaves the company.

By making a plan to only please your fans, labels be damned, then not only do you stay in touch with what people love, but it puts your career on much steadier ground.