The Six Letter, Four Letter Word

Hey Heroes!

This week let's take a look at "Change", and what it really means.

Last week we looked at some of the negative influences that pushed us into our current mindsets and I issued a little bit of homework. Did you really look at what you consider "Success" to be?

The first step of course is to figure out what success is to you. Some Indies I've talked with are happy if they get a decent cut of the door and have a floor to crash on before heading out to the next gig. Some still see that multi-Million dollar contract with a Major Label, complete with the private jets and diamond watches. Then there is, of course, everything in between.

What if I told you that any of it could be achieved? What if I told you that you were the only thing stopping you from achieving anything you want?

I know that some folks would say that I'm delusional. OK. One thing I know for a fact though is that everything that I have ever truly wanted, and refused to let anything or anyone interfere with, has happened. If you have in your head that the best you'll ever do is drag ass from club date to club date for a low guarantee and maybe a meal, then my friend, that is all you'll ever accomplish.

The other side of it's true as well. The Major Labels are full of acts that, talent wise, are nowhere near the caliber of a lot of Indie bands I've seen, but they got exactly where they were going, because they believed that they could and refused to hear anything to the contrary. Think I'm full of shit? OK. Take a look at the next MTV music awards though and tell me how much true talent you see there. What you're seeing isn't the best that music has to offer, what you're seeing are the ones that were the most driven to succeed.

What I'm saying is that only you have the ability to dream your dreams. Only you have the power to achieve those dreams. In contrast, only YOU have the power to kill those dreams, it's up to you.

In Quantum Physics there are two Laws that apply themselves to this situation.

First is the Law Of Relativity. The Law Of Relativity says that your situation is only what it is, as compared to something else. Meaning that, you are only poor as compared to that guy that has thousands of dollars in his account, and likewise, you are rich compared to the guy whose sleeping in a cardboard box under the overpass. Remember this when you're evaluating your situation. Too often we only look at how bad off we are and seldom do we look at our successes.

Second is the Law Of Attraction. The Law Of Attraction says that what you think about most you attract to yourself. This means that if you worry about your money problems, you're attracting more money problems. Likewise, if you're focused in on, and constantly visualizing the success you want, you will start attracting that success to you.

I know, this is where you check out and say "what a bunch of airy-fairy bullshit!". I hear ya, just hear me out.

Let me explain how this works. Have you ever focused on something so hard that you realize that that object suddenly appears everywhere? Example. You've always wanted a goldtop Les Paul. You think about them every day. You can see yourself on stage wailing away on one. It's your greatest goal and your biggest dream. Have you noticed that they keep popping up at shows, in magazines, hanging on the wall at the pawn shop or guitar store you run into a couple of times a week looking? It's not that they've become more plentiful, it's that by focusing so much on them you've retrained your subconscious mind to seek them out.

It works that way for anything, so use it to your advantage. Get a clear mental picture of where you want to go in your musical career. Picture it down to the shirt on your back and sweat on your nose. Hold that image. Visualize it. Love it. Let it go. Don't think about it, just wait for the opportunities to get you heading in the right direction to start appearing and take advantage of them. Repeat the process every morning.

Most importantly, be clear about what you want, and don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. Once you let doubt in, you've got to regroup and get back on track.

It's all on you. It's you're responsibility. Only you can decide to change your mind.

It's a new frontier for the Music World. Almost daily we're seeing new innovations, issues, technologies, and lawsuits in the digital music world. The funny thing though, is we're also seeing greater and greater sales figures there as well.

I'm starting to think the long life arc of the CD is going to be cut short for this ever growing, and always controversial medium. We're seeing a larger number of artists being thrust into the spotlight by more unconventional methods. Whether it's my "favorite" Disney creations like Miley or the Jonas Bros and their TV shows, or Fiest and her huge iPod ad, or MTV's Making the Band series, we're seeing the new music moguls always reaching ahead for the new technologies, the new marketing ideas, and the next best way to stand out and at the same time lower their costs.

Face it, more can go into promotion and marketing if you don't have to pump said money into duplication and production. It's a different world now, and we've got to roll with the waves or be drowned in the surf.


http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/mp3-compatible-music-campaign-unveiled-481711

It's a matter of Auditude

Here's an interesting file sharing idea. Auditude has developed a plan that would decriminalize file sharing by turning each file into an advertisement for the publisher. Now granted, I'm not familiar with all the fine print of this thing, but it appears that both MTV and MySpace think it has some merit, as they have both signed on.

Now, as I looked over the blog that I've linked below, I got to thinking about how something like this might work.

How would the artist have to innovate to still be able to make money under a business plan such as this? Even with the ad embedded in the file, the song is now totally free. Would it then mean that you'd go with a lesser quality file and then offer an "ad free" higher quality file for a download fee? Would it be advertising for your CD, a medium I see fading fast? Would it throw the artist into having to rely on merch and live performance monies to survive? Would it lead to an over saturation of music availability making it that much harder for people to find you?

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, and it certainly demands more looking into.


Read more here, http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4160