200 ft from the top, Alison Levine’s powerful story
I love this anecdote from mountaineer, Alison Levine, about how sad it is for someone to miss the feat of an experience, how dumb it is to disregard someone’s adventure.
When you are a musician releasing your music, you’ve embarked on climbing a mountain; few of us get to the top, whatever the top may be; but the point is to stay on the mountain, to keep creating.
So a warning: don’t let someone else redefine success; ignore them if they disregard your music because you might not have been on the Billboards charts or reached some numerical feat of plays, spins, or money; the mountain you climb is yours; few folks are lucky enough to find something worth climbing, let alone 28829 ft of it.
Mike Vial interviewed on the Craft, WCBE 90.5
I had a fun chat with Doug Dangler, host of the Craft on WCBE 90.5 FM. You can listen to the podcast here: http://crafttheshow.com/?p=1096
“Having, like Sting, left the teaching of English to follow his passion as a singer-songwriter, Mike Vial has developed a variety of new songs, new techniques, and new artistic outlets to enhance his music. Lately, he’s turned to writing haikus to stay sane and he shared some of these, along with the most requested performer in his set once listeners learn he’s from Michigan (nope, sadly it’s not Bob Seger).”
The biggest debate in the music industry has gotten boring: Which streaming platform will win the most consumers. Spotify, Apple Music, a Google/Youtube redesign…
You can read Paul Resnikoff’s Digital Music News blog for anti-streaming arguments (usually addressing payouts); and you can read Bob Lefsetz for the pro-streaming arguments (often addressing cutting off piracy; data analysis).
Either way, “What’s music’s value?” is a difficult question to unpack because the music industry was built on scarcity, and scarcity has ended.
Whether it was vinyl or CD, the business was built on people hearing songs on the radio (or a TV broadcast) and going out to buy a physical product to listen to the song. As an artist, you had to be picked by a label to get a chance. Plus, vinyl would deteriorate after use. The more you like it, the more likely you will have to buy it again! A perfect system! (And yes, our CDs are deteriorating, too.)
However, scarcity is over. Music is abundant.
Anyone can write, record, publish a song. There is a cost to recording, but that cost is a fraction of what it used to be 10, 15, 20 years ago. And most music is published online at the push of a button!
While debating fair payout rates and copyrights from streaming companies is important, for most of us, it might be more useful to focus a different question: How can artists use the aspects of abundance to their advantage?
I’m still pondering answers. Today, I’m only proposing the question.
I liked that band before they were on the radio…
In 1994, I heard Bush’s “Everything Zen” on Henry Ford Community College radio station, WHFR 89.3. The DJ said, “Once this goes mainstream, we won’t play it anymore, so let’s enjoy it while we can.” During art club one evening, I snuck out the back door, walked down to Desirable Discs music store, bought Sixteen Stone, and felt like the coolest kid in school because I felt like the first kid to have it in my neighborhood. By the time Bush was on MTV, I would show off my early pressings that is missing title on the back of the CD cover. [I know, I’m still a dork.]
What’s the equivalent to that experience now-a-days?
“I listened to them before they had 1,000,000 views on Youtube!” or “I listened to them before they were on Spotify’s Global Top 50!”
Doesn’t have the same ring to it, but it’s actually the same action: seeking and embracing new stuff. Being an early adopter.
Plus, now we have the ability to curate it and share it with our little circles. Like making a mixtape for a friend. So here are some great bands you can say you heard before they had 1,000,000 streams, songs that mean a lot to me.
Sedgewick – Gardens EP
Darlingside – Birds Say
Jean Rohe – Jean Rohe & the End of the World Show
Gabriel Kahane – The Ambassador
Nataly Dawn – How I Knew Her
In April, I sat down to strum my guitar while Ginny was napping, and I wrote one of my favorites, this song called “A World That’s Bigger.” I had looked up how much college is estimated to cost Ginny in 18 years, and almost had a heart attack while looking at the computer screen. (An undergraduate degree is estimated to cost more than both my and my wife graduate degree loans. Whoa!)
Fortunately, songwriting calms anxiety for me.
What doesn’t calm anxiety is the lizard brain, that part of our brain where fear lives. Over the weekend, I did a quick recording while Ginny napped. Then, I debated if I should post it:
- I didn’t nail the pitch of one word perfectly
- I didn’t use an expensive microphone
- I didn’t use an expensive camera
- I didn’t use any expensive recording equipment
- I didn’t do any special effects
But I posted it to Facebook; and turned off my computer, tried to turn off the lizard brain, and fed Ginny some carrots. (She doesn’t like them, yet!)
And then I checked back to see if anyone watched my song, and James had written, “I love the sentiment in this song. Made me tear up a bit thinking about my own 2-year old Quincy. It’s easy to make someone dance, it takes an artist to make someone feel.”
That compliment made my day, and reminds me to ignore the lizard brain.
It’s OK if we don’t use the best equipment. It’s OK if it’s not perfect. Just keep the art human.
