Derek Sivers podcast

Attending a music conference is the most efficient way to meet the most number of the best contacts. People who attend conferences are ambitious, working in the industry now, and open to meeting new people. I highly recommend you go to a few music industry conferences every year. That said… Most people completely waste their time and money when they attend a conference. So here’s how to do it righ...

Do you remember when you first started listening to music? It was all so mysterious, as you wondered what those lyrics meant or how they made those sounds. Try to create that feeling for your audience. Don’t be so plain or obvious that there’s nothing left to wonder. But don’t be so cryptic that they give up. Use obscure references in your lyrics. Produce unusual sounds in your recording. Make str...

I used to take voice lessons from a great teacher named Warren Senders. For each lesson, I’d bring in a song I was trying to improve. First, I’d sing it for him as written. Then he’d say, “OK — now do it up an octave.” “Uh... up an octave? But I can’t sing that high!” “I don’t care! Do it anyway! Go! 1.. 2.. 3.. 4..” I’d sing the whole song again, in squeaking falsetto, like a choking mouse. Then...

At every music conference, with a panel of experts on stage, the moderator always asks, “What’s the future of the music business?” The guy selling video subscriptions will say that videos are the future. The guy selling intelligent playlists will say that intelligent playlists are the future. When they ask me, I always say, “Nobody knows the future, and anyone who pretends to know can’t be trusted...

New clients would often ask me, “How much does the average artist on CD Baby sell?” Some people would take our posted sales figures and divide them. $85 million paid, divided by 250,000 available albums = $340 per album. The numbers are right but the answer is wrong because it groups together two completely different approaches. For some artists, releasing their music is like the starting line in...

When we think about what’s worth doing, we usually think of big things. But when you hear the stories of how people got successful, they usually start with one little action: Saying yes when someone asked for volunteers Approaching a celebrity Reading one book or taking one course That one little action changes how you think about yourself. Having taken that one step, you start to think of yoursel...

Instrumental music sells best if you tie it into a purpose. Massage music sells very well. Yoga music sells very well. Instrumental Christmas music sells very well. Notice they’re selling more than just the music itself. They’re selling something that non-music people find useful. They solve a problem. Imagine two candlemakers. One says, “My candles have only the finest wax with the best quality w...

I often hear musicians say they want to do advance promotion — telling people about their new album before it’s available for purchase. Though the plan may be to generate excitement, I think the opposite happens. Imagine the dialogue. “Check out my new music!” “Where is it? Can I buy it?” “Not yet — but soon!” “Why are you telling me now?” “So you can be ready for the announcement!” (Then two mont...

One of my favorite musicians is Fela Kuti from Nigeria. I used to play guitar in an Afropop band that did a lot of Fela Kuti songs. The bandleader explained that what we know as the “one” — the downbeat, the start of a phrase — is considered the end of a phrase in West African music. Instead of “ONE two three four, ONE two three four,” it’s “two three four ONE, two three four ONE.” Instead of “How...

An amazing shift has happened in the last few decades. You used to get successful by being normal and mainstream. But now you have a better chance of getting successful by being remarkably unusual . Songwriters try to write a timeless standard that will resonate with everyone. But what good is that if nobody hears it because your music is too normal? Our culture is now split into niches. In 1948,...

Someone says, “Write me a piece of music. Anything. No restrictions. Go!” You’re stumped. It’s the blank page syndrome. Instead, someone says, “Write me a piece of music using only a flute, ukulele, and this toy piano. You can only use the notes D, E, and B. It has to start quiet, get louder, then end quietly. Go!” Aha! Now that’s an inspiring challenge! You can use this approach for business, too...

Imagine two people. One is a toy maker. One is a masseuse. Imagine both get suddenly famous. Now a million people want that toy. And a million people want a massage from that masseuse. For the toy maker, that’s no problem. Have the manufacturer make a million more. For the masseuse? That’s a big problem. She’s limited by her hands-on time. So which business would you rather be in? One that makes m...

Sometimes people ask me if there’s one motto or rule of thumb I use most often. This is it: Whatever scares you, go do it. For thirty years, I’ve been following that rule for both small and big things in life, and it’s served me well. On a small level, it can be that little nervous moment, when you’re scared to talk to someone intimidating. You notice you’re scared. Aha! Whatever scares you, go do...

Many small entrepreneurs think, “If we could just land Apple, Google, or the government as a client, we’d be all set!” Software companies often do this. They hope to make some technology that a huge company will want to build into every product, or install at every employee’s desk. But this approach has many problems: You have to custom-tailor your product to please very few specific people. Those...

I hope you don’t have to learn this lesson the way I did. One day, I wrote a blog post sharing what I had learned while switching between the PHP programming language and Ruby on Rails framework. At the time, my blog had no readers, so I didn’t think anyone would see it. I just wrote it for the record. But when I woke up the next morning, my post was all over the tech news sites, and it was like I...

It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. People who want me to sign a non-disclosure agreement to tell me the simplest idea. Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions. Explanation: table{width:80% }td{width:50%;padding:0.5em;border:1px solid #ccc} AWFUL IDEA -1 WEAK IDEA 1 SO-SO IDEA 5 GOOD IDEA 10 GREAT IDEA 15 BRILLIANT...

Your instincts have a compass that points two directions: what excites you what drains you No matter what advice anyone gives you — no matter how smart they may be — you need to let this compass guide you. Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it. For example: Many musicians get into music because they love playing their instrument. They love it so much they want to do it...

My music career was derailed when I took some advice from an expert. When my own music was at its peak success, a famous lawyer said he wanted to work with me. He said I should start a label, sign a few other artists, make them successful too. Then instead of getting me a simple artist deal, he could help me get a deal for the entire label for over a million dollars. I walked out of his office sad...

You can’t just normal your way through this. Extreme talent requires extreme practice — training like an Olympic athlete. Extreme success requires extreme focus — saying no to distractions and leisure. Extreme fame requires extreme ambition — taking the spotlight and its pressure. You can’t do what everyone else does. You can’t watch 63 hours of everyone’s favorite TV show. You can’t get two dogs...

Don’t go too far down the rabbit hole of managing your little business. It can become a brainless escape — a way to avoid the more open-hearted vulnerable work of making music. Updating your website instead of practicing. Answering emails instead of writing a new song. Despite the fact that I talk so much about marketing, never forget that your music itself is always the most important thing. Unle...

Moby, the famous techno artist, was interviewed by a journalist who said, “I’ve known you since your early days, and we both know that there were many amazing artists in your scene. So why did you get so much more successful than them?” Moby said, “While they were pasting up flyers to promote their next gig, I just put that same amount of energy into finding a great team: a manager, agent, publici...

Have you heard of rejection therapy? It’s a challenge — kind of a game — where you make it your mission to get rejected by someone every day. You have to do crazy things, like asking a stranger if you can try a bite of their sandwich. If they say no, you win for the day. The real point of the challenge is to overcome the fear of rejection by constantly exposing yourself to it. Musicians usually se...

You know that guy who comes to all your shows? You know that woman who tells you how much she loves your music? You know that fan who said, “If you ever need anything, just ask!”? Put them to work! People who reach out like that are looking for a better mission — a connection to your world. You might be the coolest thing that ever happened to a teenager going through an unpopular phase. You might...

Most of us don’t know what to do next. We know where we want to be, but we don’t know how to get there. The solution is incredibly simple and effective: Work backwards. Just contact someone who’s there, and ask how to get there. If you want to be in Rolling Stone magazine, call their main office in New York City. When the receptionist answers, say “Editorial, please.” Ask someone in the editorial...

Maybe all these words have got you down, and you have nothing new to say? Spend some money on a great photographer, and make a great video. Plenty of sexy famous artists have proven that you don’t have to talk and talk. But if you don’t, it’s all up to the image, so your image better be really damn appealing.