THINKINGI've been thinking! Dangerous, I know, but I've got to get it out. I think I'm part of this Music Success in Nine Weeks challenge because I need tweaking! But I'm not 100% sure. Doubts float like slowly deflating hot air balloons. I have to work this through. I need an expert's opinion. Have I got a terminal case of the Tweaks? Really, if you haven't heard about it before, it's a bad, infectious condition. Not quite as serious as Twitteritis, but pretty bad. Oh and by the way, don't think these sad, serious cases are isolated. Far from it. When you've been around as long as I have in the music biz, then some day it'll get you for sure! The Tweeks!
But I think I need a second opinion - a kind of cyber pr doctor! And I think I need lists, lots of them, and goals to shoot at! Then maybe a cure for the Tweaks will be at hand. Ariel says:
Keep a few separate lists:
MUSIC GOALS – Next 12 Months.
MUSIC GOALS – In your lifetime.
MONEY GOALS – Next 12 months.
LIFETIME GOALS – What do you want in your whole life.
Lists are good! Honestly! I live by lists. My brain is small, and my memory even smaller. Yep, lists are cool.
Here's some stuff you should know. I'm a great believer in contexts. I'm not starting the blog challenge from scratch. That's the problem, you see. It gives rise to the Tweaks. I've been making albums since 1976. I'm hardly the new kid on the block. But I'm open to learn. So I bought Ariel's book in the hopes that I could understand this terrible Tweak thing better. Are there others out there with this awful affliction? Are you one?
READINGI began to read. I smile. It seems I'm not alone. Ariel Hyatt has got a bad case of the Tweaks, too! No joke. Seriously. Only she has it under control. She has succeeded in somehow breaking the thing into manageable steps. I read Chapter 1, then 2, then 3... I have a good feeling about the book. I've read the reviews, read previous challengers' blogs, and watched some videos where Ariel gives tips and advice. Ariel speaks a bucket-load of sense. I have high hopes that my condition might be cured once and for all. If not cured, then understood better. So I've been getting ready for my music medical with Ariel Hyatt's Cyber PR Blog Challenge, Wave 3, which kicked off on 11th October.
PREPARINGHow am I getting ready? Well, I've been working out, musically speaking. I'm way too old for all that sit-up and press-up nonsense. That's the quickest way to a hernia or serious muscle strain when you reach my age! I think it best if I exercise my vocals cords, (and the dog!) and take stock of a long and winding road thus far travelled.
Week 1: Getting Mentally Prepared
The first week of Ariel's Music Success in Nine Weeks program is all about setting goals, and getting into the right mindset. The music business is not for the lazy or weak-hearted, and you need to be prepared for the long haul. This means getting your head together for success, creating realistic goals that you can work towards. Okay! I'm fired up. Let's do it!
You'd think I'd be happy, right, except for the Tweaks? I have not
one but
two successful Myspace accounts. I have
Facebook,
Youtube,
Twitter,
Last FM,
Reverbnation, ilike, Bebo, Bandcamp, Podsafe, Spotify, and my own website
www.seantwright.com all up and running. A wide social network.
Happy? I should be. Like Ariel says, set goals! Write them down! A must, a big must, and display them where you can see them. I've set hundreds of goals over the years, and achieved many of them. Not all of them, but many of them. Some beyond my wildest dreams. For example, playing live at Trafalgar Square, London, on the 28th July 2007 with Asian pop icon, Najam Sheraz (
left to right: Signe Andersen, Najam Sheraz, and Sean T Wright live at Trafalgar Sq, London). The 18,000+ crowd was the largest at the venue since Nelson Mandela's speech on the Abolition of Child Poverty in February 2005. The Pakistan Festival - which celebrated 60 years of independence - was beamed via satellite to millions worldwide by Geo TV.
So why did I sign up for the Music Success in Nine Weeks Challenge? Apart from seeking a cure for the Tweaks? I'll come to it in a minute.
You see, Ariel's Week 1 talks about being in for the long haul, with day to day successes, short, medium, and long term goals - and she's right. But how long is a long haul? Ariel writes about giving these goals form and substance, in terms of tangible dates and time limits. And, for me, the BIG mental push: write them as if they're already happening! Positive thinking, right? Self belief!
BELIEVINGI have lots of self-belief. My music is an echo that comes from deep inside my soul. It exits from my mouth, my fingertips, my heart like a wave of electric blue emotion. It heals me, and I hope it heals others, too. I've been writing, recording, and releasing songs for over 35 years! In that time, I've been fortunate enough to have collaborated with notables such as Kim Fowley (Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Alice Cooper), Najam Sheraz (multi-million selling Asian singer), Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse), the enigmatic Mark Tinley (Duran Duran, The Dandy Warhols, The Stranglers, Gary Numan, Adamski), and many fine indie songwriters within the interwebs. Over time, I've built up relationships. Lots of them. I think it's worth saying again:
I've built up relationships over time with fans and collaborators. I should be satisfied, right? I've already created a high level of music success in a career that began in 1976. But I also have... well, you know - let's not mention the T word! I need help!
WORKINGI want to backtrack a minute, if I may. Thanks for your patience. Ariel writes about having the right mindset. Again she is spot on. Determination! The music business is certainly not for the mushy-minded or horizontal hippie. But I'd like to add, if I may, that the right mindset borders on...
No, come on let's be truthful here. Actually the right mindset crashes through the barricaded border of the Land of Music Addiction, a driving, focused addiction! It keeps dragging you back to the studio, to your computer, and to the road day after day, year after year! There, I've said it! Phew! Glad I got that one out.
Yes, the Land of Music Addiction is a place I know well. So, as I was about to say, my music is already out there on a rather large internet scale because of that addiction and because of goal-setting. Over 90,000 combined Myspace/Facebook/Twitter/Reverbnation/Last FM/Jamendo fans and friends. Almost a million free downloads via Jamendo, Last FM, Garageband (sadly now defunct), scores of P2P sites, and my own website. Three No#1 singles on Jamendo, and four No. #1 albums on Jamendo - the world's foremost free, legal download site that hosts over 40,000 albums. I think that's some kind of online success. But it took longer than nine weeks. Indeed, my latest single "Beautiful World" is this month's
No.#1 single on Jamendo.
It didn't happen on its own either. Or over night. I've worked hard over the years. Other folk have supported, downloaded, recommended, reviewed, listened, playlisted, and hustled on my behalf. Of course, without them it wouldn't have happened. It's a two way street. And, moreover, I have a TO DO book!
STEPPINGAriel talks about small step, realistic goals that can be worked towards. This, I feel, is
key if you want success beyond a couple of years. Everything you do online (not to mention finding time for writing, recording, releasing your songs) takes time and committment. One step at a time, right? All of those little baby steps eventually form leaps and bounds.
So, I've set myself 6 realistic goals for the near future (the next six months), and of course, one rather massive over-arching goal.
Goal 1: Creativity - write, record, and mix at least 3 new songs every week.
Goal 2: Health - I need more sleep, and I MUST drink more water.
Goal 3: Marketing & PR - get together list of contact information for relevant blogs, industry people, and new collaborators.
Goal 4: Education - Read up on music industry blogs to stay current, inspired, and informed. I know I could do more with bloggers, but just haven't focussed on them enough.
Goal 5: Musicianship - Commit several hours a week for listening to new & old music, learning new music software.
Goal 6: Socializing - Hang out with family & friends, meet new people (online and offline), and communicate on and off-line the newest and coolest things I'm doing as a trail-blazing singer-songwriter.
And the Biggie! Goal 7!Complete my 50 albums in 50 months challenge!
UNDERSTANDINGI'm asking myself a reflective question now. So you might want to skip away for a minute, put the kettle on, multi-task maybe? I feel the need to comprehend. Why did I begin back in April 2007 releasing a new album every month? When I reached 12 albums in 12 months, I thought that I would explode - mentally, emotionally, creatively. A lot of my muscian friends thought I was crazy; many thought it impossible. I agreed with them, but decided to plough on regardless. So much time, so much committment! But when I got to 12 albums in 12 months I didn't explode. The impulse and addiction was still as strong as ever! I carried on. So I set a new goal: 24 albums in 24 months! I'd been there already, for a whole year. It was a thirst. I had to quench it. Like a man in a desert searching for his next drink. Yes! 24 in 24! So, what about 36 albums in 36 months? I was up for it! And I achieved it in March 2010!
In my mind's eye, the goal-setting Ariel writes about had already grown to enormous proportions. What on earth was I thinking when I set myself another seemingly impossible goal of continuing to write, record, and release 50 albums in 50 months?
Now that's a question I have been trying to figure for a while. You think I'd be happy, right? Job done? Retire away somewhere in a mountain retreat and... hmmm. One problem: The Tweaks!
Gotta keep going. Like a long distance runner! Gotta keep going. I love the feeling of completing each album. A lot of people love what I'm doing, new material every month, for free!
Now what does the complete addict do when he says he's going to quit, but really knows he never will? If he's honest, he knows he just has to keep on, keeping on, just to see what's around that next experiential corner, right?
Bingo! Well, I now know why I signed up for the Music Success in Nine Weeks challenge. You see, I'm curious to see if all of my previous internet music success, which thus far I have mostly initiated alone (but crucially relied on others to support and spread the word), can be taken to another level.
I'm curious to what may lie around the corner of the Music Success in Nine Weeks Challenge. I know for sure that I owe my musical heritage and influences to those who have gone before me. But what I am doing
with my music is truly unique. It's my unique selling point (USP). No, I don't have a unique sound that's impossible to describe. My music is steeped in history, owes its very existence to those musicians who have inspired me all my life.
But, musically, I know one thing for sure: I am an explorer, whose goal is to find undiscovered songwriting territory, to create lasting Art, in the 21st Century, by pushing myself further than any songwriter has ever pushed in the history of songwriting in such a short span of time.
50 albums in 50 months? No-one! No-one on the face of this planet has ever been there! Write, record, release! Every month. For 50 months. That's one huge mountain of a goal, right?
Although achieving over 100 album releases since 1976, over 2.5 million plays/listens/streams on the internet, and almost 1 million free downloads, is pretty substantial, I can't stop. In spite of the Tweaks.
IMPACTINGTweaks aside, (and getting slightly serious for a moment), I'll not deny, I want to know if I can climb that mountain, reach that summit of 50 albums in 50 months. Some days I feel like Neil Armstrong or the Wright Bros. Seriously. It's been a long, hard road. Other days I sound like Homer Simpson: doh! For three and half years now, I have flown this Album-A-Month Man flag. 42 new, original albums written in 42 months. Now, as my good friend Mark Ty-Wharton (
aka Mark Tinley) says: it's time to create an impact!
The Music Success in Nine Weeks challenge is going to create that impact, that final push for the summit. As my main goal that's why I'm doing the challenge - to complete 50 in 50 months, and let as many people know about my remarkable journey as possible!
See you next time, for Week 2: Your Perfect Pitch.
