Seth Godin says that everything you do is marketing. I think he’s right. So if that’s true, then how you interface with people throughout the record making process is everything as far as your career is concerned.

Everything you do-every reaction you have to a good or bad situation, how relaxed you seem, how focused you seem, they way you respond to people, the way you listen to people, they way you respond when your ideas aren’t used, the way you respond when your ideas are used-shapes your reputation and personality as a record maker. Through this reputation and personality you’re inadvertently “branding” yourself.

You can learn all the information in the text books, and regurgitate that information verbatim. You can learn everything about the circuitry of all the most popular equipment, and even build a lot of it yourself. You can know everything there is to know about gain staging, acoustics, phase, mic placement, or gear components. You can even know all there is to know about harmony, key changes, scales, tempo, or time signatures. But if you don’t have people skills you won’t be making records with people.

I’ve seen people who knew more than anyone else about all of the above and beyond, get passed over for people who did not know as much but were very creative and had great people skills.

The trouble with the people who know everything is that they get hung on the verbatim part. If it does not look and feel exactly like what they know it’s supposed to, exactly what the science says it’s supposed to look and feel like, then it’s wrong.

Text on pages and what you “know” are just a tiny spec of dust in the universe of record making. You have to have people skills. You have to be able to speak the language of creativity. You have to open your mind to other perspectives. You have to throw out the legalistic thinking of what is “right” and what is “wrong.” You have to be able to sympathize and empathize with people.

So how are your people skills?

What if you simply organized a few people? What if you took the remarkable idea you have, and instead of going out with intentions of marketing to the masses, you focused on the extremists-your biggest fans? What if you simply empowered these people to do your marketing for you? If instead of putting all your focus on ways to get new fans, deciding how your fans will be fans, and how to convince more people to buy your music instead of trading it for free, you focused only on the fans who care about you the most? The fans who will buy your music no matter what. The fans whose lifestyle is built around your music-empowering them-giving them control. Giving them everything they need to promote you. What if you gave your biggest fans the privilege to be a leader who organizes others around your music, converting them to the lifestyle?

Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone put forth the effort organize a group of people around your music without getting paid, or necessarily getting any recognition? Because to them it is a privilege. Just like it’s a privilege for Mac geeks to build a website all about Mac rumors, NIN fans to participate in the band’s online remix community, or for German car enthusiasts to create a message board where they can meet and talk about their cars. You and I do this everyday within the communities we’re privileged to be a part of.

One of the communities I’m privileged to be a part of is one that organizes itself around the ideas Seth Godin shares, and as usual Seth himself articulates this idea of “empowering others to spread your message” best. [Seth Godin on the tribes we lead.]

What action can you take in your career in music to position yourself so that your biggest fans are empowered with the privilege of organizing others? What do you think would happen if you gave them this privilege?

Well I left out a point. In my haste to get my previous post published and then run out the door, I forgot to call your attention to something specific David Armano says in his video. I wanted to tell you to pay attention about 3/4 the way in when David says, “learn by doing.” This struck a chord with me because I am often preaching that sermon. You read about it all day long. You can have all the text book knowledge on any given topic in the world. But you don’t really have a clue what you are doing until you get your hands dirty. It gives you perspective…

Why do I spend so much time talking about marketing/promotional ideas when my blog is supposed to be about music production? Well possibly the main reason is because I’m really interested in the subject, especially internet marketing/promotion. I get really excited about the opportunities the internet creates every day.

The bigger picture is because I believe that if you are starting out as a producer or engineer, it is important to know how to market yourself in today’s music industry. Learning the trade of recording is the obvious stuff to know. Learning how to market and promote yourself is, on the other hand, kind of grey. If you want to become a great producer or engineer, of course you will want to develop the skill of capturing music perfectly. But do you think of yourself as a business? Do you know how to manage that business?

But what if you are in the music industry because you are employed by someone else? Perhaps you are the house engineer at a recording studio. Do you still need to think of yourself as a business when you already are employed by one? Absolutely. I have held staff positions at recording studios myself, and I have the inside perspective on what it means to be “employed” by someone in the music industry. The music industry requires you to be a self-starter. It takes a person who has an entrepreneurial mind set.

I believe that in 2008 this entrepreneurial mind set has actually leaked into pretty much every industry. In the 21st century, getting paid means being an entrepreneur and being on the internet.

This morning I came across a new (to me) marketing blog called Logic + Emotion run by a guy named David Armano [darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion]. The only reason I found it was because I recently signed up for Twitter. One of my longtime friends from high school found me on Twitter, and when I took a look at his list of people he follows, I found David. Not to get off topic, but this proves social media works (perhaps I should talk about that in future post). Anyway, the whole point of this post was to leave you with a video on David’s blog that inspired me.

Follow Up
Hope you enjoyed/got inspired by/learned from David’s video. I want to read your opinions. How do you see blogs and the internet playing a role in the future of the music industry? Leave your comments.