I just finished reading Seth Godin’s new book Tribes. It’s an extremely motivational book about leadership. It’s also extremely short and to the point. I read the entire book in four hours, and the only reason it took me so long (it didn’t take me long at all!) is because I paused to take time to carry out my daily responsibilities.

This book is practically written for the music industry (Musicians, do you realize that your fans are your tribe?). I recommend every entrepreneur read this book (hint: everyone is an entrepreneur). I think this book should be a requirement for all leaders-and record producers and audio engineers are all leaders (hint: if you are reading this blog, you are a leader). If I were teaching a college course-any college course-I would make it a requirement to read this book, so needless to say I think all college students should read this book immediately.

Go read this book. Don’t waste time coming up with reasons why you can’t read this book, just get it done. We are all busy. We all have way too much stuff to be doing (Yeah, I know you have that presentation to prepare, or that test to study for, or that guitar to record, or that vocal to comp, or that checkbook to balance), but by the time you’re done thinking through all the chores you have to complete, you could be 50 pages in, and halfway to that brilliant epiphany that is going to set new things in motion for you.

Do this: take one week, and plan to work just a tiny bit harder. Put in just a little extra time by forgoing your regular relaxation time, and trade it for just a little time reading Tribes. It’s an extremely small investment for a potentially enormous return. And because you’re a faster reader than me, it won’t even take you four hours. Then you will be a heretic, the term Seth uses in the book to describe a person who does not accept the status quo, but instead evokes change (i.e. a leader). To make it almost effortless, the book is offered in multiple formats (even a free version). When you are finished with the book, give your copy to a friend.

One last thing: look for my buddy, Jonathan Harms, on the inside cover.

I’d love to hear about your epiphanies in the comments!

I was away in Florida all weekend for a wedding, so I am a little late to the party about the Walter Yetnikoff interview. If you have not already seen it, you should watch it. [Walter Yetnikoff Interview]

I first learned about Walter Yetnikoff a few years back when I picked up a copy of the book [Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business] by Fredric Dannen.

This interview is awesome. Yetnikoff has some great insight on how major labels are run today as opposed to when he was head of CBS Records. He also rails a bit on Hit Men.

I have been posting a lot more than usual lately. This is party because there is more to talk about, and partly because I’m contemplating increasing the frequency of my posts. It’s kind of a hard decision to make. On one hand I feel that I would be stretching myself way too thin, as I have so much going on right now. On the other hand, I feel that if I stick to my current schedule, which is to post every Monday, that I miss out on talking about a lot of things because they are no longer current. I feel I would be doing my blog and my audience a disservice if I tried to post too often, and the quality of my blog suffered. In any case I wanted to talk about something now, and not wait another four days, as I feel it won’t be as relevant then.

Nine Inch Nails has been coming up with some awesome ideas to connect with their audience. They recently have released a collection titled Ghosts, with different options for downloading or buying physical copies. Now they are taking the Ghosts project and enhancing it by doing a collaboration with their fans through YouTube. It’s really inspiring to me, and I plan to copy some of their ideas. Check out Trent Reznor’s latest blog post [www.nin.com]

photo credit: fiddi1
I was talking on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine, Jacquire King [www.jacquireking.com], and we began discussing the idea of community in the music industry. The whole conversation kind of coincides with my post from a month ago, The People Business. We concluded that most successful music happened when a group of people came together to form a community. The resulting sum was immensely more powerful than what the individual parts could have been on their own. There have been several of these key movements in the history of recorded music that are tied to a decade, a group of musicians/bands, a few key producers, a few key engineers, a few key record labels and/or publishing companies and a geographical location.

Examples include:

photo credit: tpholland

• The 50’s era American rock music in Memphis with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Sam Phillips, Sun Records, etc.
• The 60’s era British Invasion with the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Who, Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick, George Martin, Andrew Loog Oldham, Gus Skinas, EMI, Decca, etc.
• The 70’s Punk era with The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Sire Records, Seymour Stein, Richard Gottehrer, etc.
• The 80’s Hair Bands era in America with Motley Crue, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc, and New Wave/Post Punk era in Manchester, England with Joy Division, The Church, Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Factory Records, 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Geoff Travis, Tony Wilson, Ivo Watts Russell, Peter Kent, etc.
• The 90’s Seattle grunge with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Sub Pop Records, Butch Vig, Brendan O’Brien, Terry Date, etc.
• Recently in Nashville with the Muzik Mafia, Movement Nashville, The Music Society Nashville, Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Chance, Cowboy Troy, Luna Halo, AutoVaughn, Kings of Leon, The Pink Spiders, etc.

photo credit: nichcollins

Jacquire also brought up Stax Records [www.soulsvilleusa.com], Muscle Shoals Sound Studio [www.muscleshoalssound.org], and Daptone Records [www.daptonerecords.com]. Each one of these companies is unique in that not only are they a part of a community as described above, but they also are companies that take an “all in house” approach. In the case of Stax and Muscle Shoals (both of which are no longer around), a house rhythm section was provided on recording sessions. These companies are also unique in that they have never tried to be all things to all people. Instead they have excelled in offering the best quality content to a niche who are interested in that content.

The point in all of this is that people want a community. People want to feel like they belong to something special. The people in these examples came together because they all had a common interest, and they wanted an outlet to express what they were passionate about. They began playing together, and as a natural occurrence attention was brought to what they were doing.

People as fans also want to feel like they belong to something special. They get attached to a story. They want to be able to retell the story of how a certain musical movement came into existence. People feel compelled to be the first on the scene. They want to be the authority in their social circle for this information.

Now with the internet and social media, this community has taken a whole new shape in the 21st century. As you continue to build your career as an artist or producer, think about your community and how you can actively become involved in it. There are infinitely new ways to propagate a community online built around your music. Pursue your dream purely for the sake of achieving your deepest desires. Focus on forming a social bond with fellow musicians, engineers, producers and other music industry people in your area. Focus on sharing a connection with fans. Create a story.

What do you think? What are some other musical communities/time periods that I didn’t mention here? What ways could you team up with other members of your community, or use social media to help each other gain exposure? Leave comments with your thoughts.

Note: All photos are Licensed Under Creative Commons

At The End of Week One
Last week I briefly recapped 2007 and some motivation/inspiration I experienced throughout the year. I also alluded to some goals that I have in mind for 2008. This week I would like to expound on that topic a little bit by briefly discussing productivity, and goal setting/planning. The first seven days of this year have already been very productive for me, as I have been able to check off some accomplished goals right away. The stage has been set for success in 2008, and I believe my motivation is going to exponentially increase this year.

Light A Fire
I recently read some blog posts from two of my favorite motivators, and they really got me fired up. David Hooper and Bob Baker chose perfect timing to write about goal setting, as my mind is constantly preoccupied with the topic. Realistically this is no coincidence considering it is the tip top of 2008. In any case, you should read their posts on setting goals and being productive.

You will find David’s post at www.musicmarketing.com/2008/01/goal_setting_fo.html
You will find Bob’s post at www.bob-baker.com/musicpromotionblog/2008/01/5-steps-to-setting-music-goals-you-will.html

Bob also mentioned, in his post 2008: Jump-Start Your Music Career, a book that I am currently finishing up, and planned to talk about in the near future. The book is called, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress—Free Productivity by David Allen. This is a book that my friend and Nashville songwriter/performing artist, Aron Wright [makeoutmusiccompany.wordpress.com] recommended to me a couple of years ago. I had it on my “to—read” list ever since then, but I finally got around to cracking it open about ten days ago.

In the book Allen, a career coach and management consultant, discusses his system for constant up—to—date organization that is far more efficient than the typical to—do list and calendar items you would find most people tracking. It takes a couple of days blocked out and totally uninterrupted to set up the system. I have scheduled my time for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Good organizational skills are a big challenge, and since I am setting out to accomplish more in 2008 than I ever have before, I figured now was the best time to finally read this book.

More
Additionally, Freelance Folder, a blog that I frequent geared for bloggers, writers, publishers, designers, artists, small business owners, entrepreneurs and (you guessed it) freelancers, have run an article on goal setting and productivity called How To Unleash the Productivity Beast. The author, Ritu, asked readers to share some productivity tips. Since my post this week ties in, I would like to share a few tips:

• Schedule some time in advance to implement a system of organization, and clean out your workspace
• Set long term, medium term and short term goals, and map out a plan of action to attain these goals. Within those different plans of action list high and low priorities
• Find and read good books related to this topic. I have a rather long reading list myself. Stay current on this blog, and I’ll share my thoughts on what I read

You can catch Ritu’s article here: freelancefolder.com/unleash-the-productivity-beast/

Let’s Begin to Make This Apply
This blog is mainly for people who are either getting started, or looking for growth in the music industry. It does not matter what facet of the music industry seems attractive to you, to get where you want to go in this business you are going to need a plan, and a whole lot of motivation/inspiration. I would like to know: Do you have a plan? What could you do this month, this week or today that would be a big step towards attaining your goal this year?

I’ll close this week by quoting David Hooper:

“An important part of attaining your goals, or one that at least makes getting them easier, is having other people on board to help you.”

I’ll add that it’s also important to have motivational outlets in place to light a fire under you. I recommend David Hooper’s, Bob Baker’s and the Freelance Folder blogs at the links posted above to get you started. Alright, and I recommend producer notes too…