Wednesday 22nd February, 2023
Told myself I was gonna write this in the mornin… but then I fell back asleep, & the day has been a wonderful whirlwind of folks ever since.
So we’re doing it at night, on the couch, in my bathrobe.
One of my dearest folks (Anie Valentine if you’re interested) mentioned something to me today… they told me about a plan of theirs to get some vinyl printed up. Why would they do that though? Will they be able to sell them? Can they afford the upfront cost? Are they willing to wait 6 to 12 months for the prints to come back? You get what I mean… it’s a completely painful & difficult undertaking for someone at our level. Vinyl is really for record labels & much much bigger artists to deal with.
So, did I advise them against it? Not at all…
Here’s the thing… is it an objectively crazy idea? Yes. But SUBJECTIVELY speaking, it’d be such a boost to morale. It’s the same way I made Learning Curve. Was that a smart decision? No… well kinda… I often tell people that it was a commercial disaster, but an artistic masterpiece. I love that film, & love that we actually managed to pull it of like we did. This film was ‘my darling’. The whole Arthur Quiller-Couch idea that, as writers (& creatives broadly) we should clean away any ideas we love that don’t benefit what we’re trying to achieve. When it comes to songwriting & music production, this lesson is particularly essential.
But it applies to our career strategy too. My dearest Anie probably shouldn’t invest a tonne of money into vinyl records that will be hard to shift in the numbers needed to make a semblance of profit. But I probably shouldn’t have invested 10,000 into 30 minutes of magic… I think the whole point of these passion projects… vanity projects… morale boosters… call em whatever ya like, but the whole point of these decisions that artists make… they’re for us.
It can be tough to make things. It’s a long process that involves a lot of insecurity. We need gigs, & little wins along the way to just keep our spirits up. Our careers are so intertwined with our lives, our sense of selves, our stories. & if there’s one thing you know about me, it’s that I love a good story… especially if it’s my own story. I think a lot of us are like that though. We see the great stories of our heroes being woven & told in front of us. We want a story like that. So we make decisions that seem silly from a business strategy perspective, but they make sense to our sense of selves.
What’s the point of all this? What are we supposed to glean from this weeks ramblings… I dunno.
For those of you that aren’t creators, maybe it gives you an insight into the mind of an artist. If you’re an artist, maybe you’ll see that you’re not alone… or that your silly business decisions actually make more sense. Hopefully you can keep your ‘brand defining projects’ as cheap as possible. Also, if you’re working or living with an artist, maybe you can have a lil more patience with them.
Anyways, I’ll talk to ya’ll soon. This month I’ll have both the song & vlog ready on time for ya!
Until then, love ya.
Nathan
