Derek Sivers

What should I do when someone says, “Let me know what you think!” of their music?

I love listening to music, but the minute someone says “let me know what you think” it becomes work.

See - I’m still a musician/producer at heart, so if someone REALLY wants to know what I think, my real thoughts are usually, “Rearrange the structure to put the bridge into the intro,” or “Drop out all instrumentation there in the 3rd verse to give it more sonic variety,” or “Tell the drummer to lay off the cymbals a bit.”

But if it’s a finished manufactured CD, what’s there to say? It’s too late to change anything, so who cares what I think? Whether I like it or not shouldn’t change anything they’re doing. Better for me to just enjoy it and not tell them what I think, unless I’m the producer.

On the other hand, I *LOVE* real constructive critiquing like songwriting workshops.

So, it’s really two different kinds of questions:

UNFINISHED WORK-IN-PROGRESS?
Say what I really think.
Hope they’re tough enough to ignore me if they disagree.

FINISHED RECORDING?
They don’t want to know what I really think.
They just want to know if I’ll help promote it by telling others.
So find something positive to compliment to lift spirits a bit, maybe give a bit of marketing advice, and wish them the best.

Or… am I thinking about this all wrong?

A wise man said, “Never have a limit on your income.”

Example he gave:

If you sell pens for a living and someone orders a million pens, no problem! You just place an order with your manufacturer for a million pens, get them to the customer, and celebrate.

But if you do hands-on massage for a living and a recent spot on Oprah gets you a waiting list of 10,000 people, “you’ll wish you were in the pen business.”

Point being : if you make a living only providing an in-person (hands-on) service, you are limiting your income. If you were in a “while you sleep” business, there is no limit to how much you can make.

So… what about musicians?

For the last few years, many people have suggested that the products (CDs, even downloads) are now just the free giveaways to get people to go to the show - that musicians are only in a hands-on service-provider business now.

Of course I disagree because I watch CD Baby pay more and more to musicians every month (while they sleep).

Musicians MUST NOT buy into that “only earn by performing” belief because it limits your income.

I spend a LOT of money on music, but haven’t been to a live concert in years. The recorded music has great value to me, whether MP3s, CDs, or even subscription services.

What other ways can music be a “while you sleep” income-earner for musicians? (STUPID BRAINSTORM WARNING:)

• write songs for others to perform
• creating commercial-use music (that businesses will use in advertising, for example)
• getting your music into film/tv
• paid-area access to your web-archive with all your music, even works-in-progress
• make it easy for fans to donate
• create a recognizable brand once, then license the name or model to others (like “Chicken Soup for the Soul”)
• franchise your band: train multiple bands how to sound just like you, then all can go tour, while you get royalty when they do
• creating music-education programs used by many schools
• release your unmixed tracks for fans to remix, letting them sell the remixes on a 50/50 split

WHAT ELSE? (Please “Leave a Reply” in Comments.)

Andrew Dubber has just written the best article on piracy for musicians, called “Should I be worried about piracy?”

The other best article about piracy in general is “Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution” by Tim O’Reilly, which is the origin of the idea that the real enemy is obscurity, not piracy.

Actually, the New Music Strategies blog is really on a roll, lately. Check out these new articles:

• How Do I Get On the Radio?
• Can I avoid the internet and just stick to what I know?