November 23, 2011

This is why recorded music is in a hole

Video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 “established an new five-day sell-through record of more than $US775 million” worldwide according to a report in the Fairfax media. Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick says global franchise sales now exceed $US6 billion.

Recorded music is no longer the compelling entertainment proposition it once was. It’s really sad, but it’s also the truth. It has become such a commodity, so commercialised and whatever other -ise you’d like to add to the mix, that it is mostly valueless to most people.

Except of course for the art.

Importantly though recorded music is having its proverbial ass kicked by other entertainment ‘properties’. To repeat the lead, a video game generated sales of $755 million in five days!

The only thing for recording artists to do now is create great, compelling, life-changing art. If money can be made in the process then that’s great. Making music is once again a calling, not a career.

And believe or not I’m rather hopeful about the future of tunes. Happy days :-)
November 18, 2011

Using technical proficiency as an excuse for not shipping

In another exemplary post today (Self truth (and the best violinist in the world)) Seth Godin today considered a frequent failing of many who use technical proficiency, or lack thereof, as an excuse for not shipping. He wrote:

The quest for technical best is a form of hiding. You can hide from the marketplace because you’re still practicing your technique. And you can hide from the hard work of real art and real connection because you decide that success lies in being the best technically.

Sadly Seth’s post resonated and I know exactly what he’s talking about. What I have learned is that for those of us who hide behind perfectionism, if we can build something to even 70% of what we consider acceptable, it’s probably so far ahead of what most people consider okay that it’s quite safe to let go.
November 16, 2011

To stream tunes, or to buy?

… and never the twain shall meet. According to a report today on Digital Music News, users of Spotify tend not to purchase music. This is hardly surprising: streaming is a substitute product to a CD. With the exception of aggregated rights owners streaming is a revenue killer. It’s bad news for recording artists.

You’ve gotta respect a band known for pyrotechnic displays so dramatic that lighting gantries have been seen to glow red-hot from repeated fireball hits, with a front man who spends some of the show on fire, who’ve been arrested for indecency, who yet are cool with serving up a 60s surf video. Unsurprisingly there’s a little nudity at the wrap—this is Rammstein.
November 14, 2011

In search of perfection

We find perfection when we accept flaws as an integral part of being. Accepting this is much harder than it sounds, particularly when many children are socialised (often by the education system) to eliminate mistakes. Great art never comes without flaws. Nor do great artists.
November 9, 2011

Expectations

Two posts on expectations in the past week or so interested me. One from Seth Godin, The paradox of expectations, and the other from soprano and author Lisa Bell, 1% expectation.

Godin argues:

Low expectations are often a self-fulfilling prophecy… High expectations, on the other hand, will inevitably lead to disappointment… Perhaps it’s worth considering no expectations. Intense effort followed by an acceptance of what you get in return.

Bell writes:

Imagine if we only expected one per cent change in effort from our children daily. Only one per cent change in effort from our partners when they walk through the door at the end of a hard day… Would it immediately take away the unnecessary, unrealistic stress that we place on our family life to expect 110% from everyone on everything 365 days of the year?

Godin suggests that in our work we abandon expectations entirely to focus on the work itself, entirely. While Bell, taking a view on interpersonal relationships, asks us to change our expectations of others, which invariably means we need to change the expectations we place upon ourselves.

Would freeing ourselves from expectation, working hard and accepting that things are as they are, profoundly and positively impact most people’s lives?

The dichotomy, if there is one, is that this doesn’t mean we abandon planning or move through our life without a vision. But there is clearly a difference between living life in the present and not.
November 8, 2011

Can you handle the truth?

In a recent post titled Can you handle the truth?, Neil Patel blogged about the need to be able to openly receive the ‘truth’ (whatever that actually means) if we’re to grow a business.

He wrote:

Do you know what separates good entrepreneurs from great ones? Some say it’s the ability to learn from mistakes, but I think it’s the ability to handle the truth.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how good you are at executing, if you can’t handle the truth you’re in for a treat. At the end of the day, would you rather have someone sugar coat things to you…

or…

Would you want someone to be straight up with you?

What matters is not what we say, but how we say it. Many people mistakenly believe that being direct means they are allowed to be (or have to be) an asshole. To be blunt (because we’re dealing with the ‘truth’ here), that’s straight up laziness or in a business environment corporate sociopathy.

The ‘truth’ and compassion are not mutually exclusive.