Be the Change You Want To See

How do you label success? What does that word mean to you? Is it the diamond encrusted Rolex? Is it the Bentley in the driveway? Maybe you're not that Material. Maybe success for you is having Power or Prestige or Acclaim.

Maybe you're like a lot of Indies who have a really hard time picturing anything more than a van that doesn't leave you stranded on I-70 halfway across Kansas, or even enough money from your gig to put gas is said van.

There are virtually thousands of resources out there that can give you every tip you would ever need to reach the success you want, but they won't help one bit. Why? It's not because it's not good, or even Great advice. It's not because you're too dumb to get it. It's not even because you sleep in too late and drink too much to do the work (my personal, former excuse).

The reason that all that great advice won't help you is because it's incomplete. That's right, it's missing a step. What none of it shows you is how to leap the biggest hurtle in your path to success, yourself.

You see, from an early age we're all programmed with default settings. These settings are programmed into us from sources such as Parents, Teachers, Friends, and that weird uncle you really don't like but who scores pot for you. You get accustomed/programmed to make a certain amount of money, to drive a certain quality of car, to eat a certain type of food (I lived for many years on the Ramen diet). The conditions that you're raised in, and the people you associate with help shape your comfort level/programming.

What does this mean? Well what it means is that all the good intentions, and all the willingness, and all the wanting to change your condition are blocked by you and your own comfort level.

It's not enough to change your mind, you have to change your habits. They say that if you can do something for two weeks straight, then it becomes a habit. So, where do you start? Sorry, there's no one magic change you can make to turn you into a Multi-Million dollar recording artist, but if you take a nice hard look at how you're approaching things daily, and decide daily to change a habit that's leading you nowhere, then daily you will be getting closer to your end goal.

But wait! That's not enough. Before you can do any of that, you have to have a CLEAR goal in mind. Start with the end in mind and work back. Wanting change is a great first step, but it's a daily practice to keep it going and you have to make that commitment to yourself to put in the effort.

In the end it's worth any effort, but keep in mind that, as with all things in life, at the very core is personal responsibility. No one will do the work for you. No one will hand you your dreams. You have to be the agent for your own desires. You have to be the change you want to see.

Nameless faceless masses, or your very own evangelists?

Before I jump in, I would like to thank Tony Van Veen of Discmakers/CD Baby for his words regarding Discmaker's recent acquisition of CD Baby. Here at Serious Vanity Music we are not only users of CD Baby, but part of the Discmaker's Studio Partners program as well, and plan to stay that way. I know that, for our part anyway, we are looking forward to seeing what new benefits this change in ownership will bring to the CD Baby family.



So, let's talk Evangelism. I'm not referring to the Fire and Brimstone type, I'm talking about your fan base/customers/clients.

Are you content with having people like what you do, or are you ready to have them start spreading the word about you? There is a difference, you know. It's one thing to have the regulars show up at your weekly gig at the local club, but are they following you to that show 100 miles away? Are they on the Internet for weeks leading up to that show telling everyone they can about you and what they can expect if they show up?

People don't preach your message unless you give them a reason to. What benefits do you offer that will make people stand on the mountain tops and scream your name?

In this situation "benefit" is the operative word. People don't do anything is this world without a perceived benefit. They want to feel that they are getting something with enough value that it makes it worth their time to tell others about it.

New operative word "value". The American Heritage Dictionary (sorry, I couldn't find my copy of Websters) says Value is "an amount considered to be a suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return for goods or services". This doesn't have to be a monetary or even a physical investment on your part. Often times it comes down to just simply making a person feel that they are are a part of your team.

I know, Street Teams are nothing new, but that's not exactly what I'm getting at. I'm talking about community. To give an example; If you do a Google search for Duran Duran fan communities you will find that there are hundreds of them online. These are communities where it's a major pastime for the participants to just share their love for their favorite band. This may be a rather large example, with a couple of decades head start, but I think it's still the ideal example of what can be accomplished by making people feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, and believe it or not, it's the quickest way to get your news spread about.

What are you willing to do to add value to your fan/customer/clients experience?

Only a matter of time?

Discmakers isn't wasting any time. Within a week of announcing their purchase of CD Baby, they're now in the process of launching Elite Artist Services, a nice little place where established acts can go when their tired of playing the Major Label game.

Offering services like Duplication, Merchandising, and DISTRIBUTION, it may well be just a matter of time before, like MP3.com, the Indie artists at CD Baby are completely overshadowed by the likes of NIN and Radiohead.

What could this "potentially" mean for Indie artists? The Worlds only Indie distribution company being flooded with the NEW Indies, former Major label acts that want to have more say in their music? Well, it could mean that, as Indies, we'll have to start stepping up our game. Or, it could also mean that the playing field just got leveled. I guess it depends on how you approach your music.

I'm not trying to hate on any artist who wants to have more control over their work, in fact I think that it'd be awesome if all artists had complete creative control, it would do away with the "Disney Creation" acts like Miley Cyrus and Vannessa Hudgens. We could stand to weed out the fodder a little bit.

The wheels of progress never stop.

Really CD Baby?.................Really?

So, the big news today is the surprising sell of CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/) to Disc Makers.

This comes as quite a shock to a lot of people in the Indie world, as founder, Derek Sivers had once proudly stated that he would "NEVER" sell CD Baby.

I understand that all things in life change, and seeing as Derek says he's not even been involved in the day to day operations of CD Baby since 2002, it's probably a good thing that he's passing it on to someone who can give it the attention needs for it to grow to new levels of success.

My only question is why Disc Makers? They hardly have the best reputation for customer service and reliability, so how are they going to improve upon the existing system? Besides the Face lift they've already given the CD Baby page, what are they going to do to increase sales for their artists?

Ahhh, the times, they are a changing.

Read more about it here:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/081508disc