Longing for the day ...

Breaking an act ...

Just read this post from Mike McCready. I like the way Mike thinks about a bunch of things, but I think he's on slightly the wrong track with this one.

To start with, the whole notion of "breaking" and act (not in a physical sense) is a little outmoded. Mike may be right about what's needed to break an act if that's what the act wants to do - but there's no need to "break" most acts in the modern context. There's a pretty good living by playing to your core audience without attempting to go stratospheric in the mass market. A lot of acts have burned up a lot of cash trying to go stratospheric and still failed.

Of Mike's four points, I most take issue with point 2 - professionally record your music. Again, if you want to impress people who are plugged into a mass audience, Mike's right. Those guys only want highly polished, totally market-ready product - and make no mistake, that's how they think about it. It's not music and they don't care about the artist. Radio programmers care only about whether their market segment will want to hear this recording again.

My advice to Indies is to record everything as often and as cheaply as possible. Record your rehearsals. Record your live shows. Make demos with different arrangements and substitute verses. Release them all. Give them to your subscribers as "fan-only" welcome MP3s. Let your fans see your process of artistic development and seek their feedback. Most importantly, LISTEN to the recordings and find out what works and what doesn't. Use them to improve your writing, arranging, recording and performing skills.

Then, when you think the product is ready to go to a mass audience (IF you ever get to that point), get a professional recording made ... That's the only way you're gonna get close to Point 4: get the right people to hear your music.

But don't fall for the dream factory line that your act needs to be "broken" or you might find that your love of your music and you will to continue get broken first.

Things Indies can learn from Idol ...

Found this article via Bob Baker. It's pitched at writers but it's also very true for Independent musos.

No matter what people think of American Idol, or any other variant of the Idol franchise, the performers on it are coached to excel at their craft. I haven't watched the show for a while but I recall being struck by the way you can can see the people grow from nervous auditioners to full-on pop stars. Their style of music may not be everyone's cup of tea (I don't have a single Idol alumnus in the collection or on my iPod other then in compilations) but the they're coached like because it WORKS. Especially on TV.

I was particularly struck by these entries:

2. Know yourself and be yourself – that’s why people watch – let your uniqueness shine through

3. Figure out who your fans really are and dedicate yourself to them, they are going to be the ones who go the distance for you, tell others about you, and cheer you forward

4. Take in and learn from the critiques, they come with the territory

5. Push yourself to keep growing, nothing else inspires others more

All of those apply to any successful human endeavour but especially tin Independent creators of music. You must know who you are and what you have to give your fans. You must also be open to critiques of your efforts, or you WILL fail to connect. You must also be willing to push yourself in response to the feedback you get, or you'll just become a cookie-cutter - churning out the same old music every time ...

Too many Indies who are technically gifted and well-intentioned fail because they don't know what they're saying, or who they're talking to, or how to respond to criticism. Put that together and there's no possibility of growth.

To further complicate things, too many Indies insist that it's all about them and forget to address their audience. They look at their instruments or their feet or each other rather than connecting the the people they expect to support them ...

That's never gonna work - on Idol or for any Indies.