Derek Sivers podcast

The more senses you touch in someone, the more they’ll remember you. The most sensory experience is a live show, with you sweating in front of them, the sound system pounding their chest, the flashing lights, the smell of the stinky club, and the visceral feeling of pushing up against strangers. The least sensory experience is an email or a plain web page. Reach as many senses as possible. Have so...

On CD Baby, there was a great musician who made an amazing progressive heavy metal album. When we had a “search keywords” section, asking for three artists he sounds like, he just wrote the biggest-selling pop acts of that time (“Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, Backstreet Boys”). What the hell was he thinking? He just wanted to turn up in people’s search engines, at any cost. But for what? And who?...

Let’s say you’ve decided that your style of music should be proudly called “power-pop”. If you say, “We’re power-pop!” in the very first sentence or paragraph of all of your marketing If your email address is “powerpop@gmail.com” If your album title is “Powerpop Drip and Drop” If the license plate on your band van is “POWRPOP” When someone asks me for a music recommendation and says they like powe...

There is a vodka company that advertises itself as “the most expensive vodka you can buy”. It’s enticing. It’s almost a dare. (And it proudly excludes people !) While most companies are trying to be the cheapest, a few do the opposite and aim to be the most expensive. Most people try to imitate current trends and styles. So I suggest you boldly declare that you are something totally un-trendy — th...

We love when someone hates the same thing we hate — especially if that thing is popular. We’re drawn to the confidence of someone who is not trying to please anyone. We admire a strong, defiant stand. You can use this to attract your future fans. You can say, “If you like Katy Perry, you’ll hate us.” Then people who hate Katy Perry will love that you said that and want to check you out. You can sa...

People will always and forever ask you, “What kind of music do you do?” You will always and forever have to answer that question. So have a good description prepared in advance. Many musicians avoid answering by saying, “We play all styles.” No you don’t. That’s like saying, “I speak all languages.” Many musicians avoid answering by saying, “We are totally unique.” No you’re not. If you use notes,...

Find a media outlet that writes about new music. You’ll read about so many artists that you’ve never heard of before, and see their photos too. Out of all of them, only one or two will really catch your attention. Why? I don’t have the answer. Only you do. Ask yourself why a certain headline or photo or article caught your attention. Was it something about the opening sentence? Was it a curious ti...

This may sound obvious, but for me it made all the difference. Before I interact with people, I ask myself this question: “What do they really want?” Like if I’m writing someone an email, I ask, “Why are they really reading this email?” If I’m contacting an agent, I ask, “Why are they really doing this job?” If I’m about to perform a show, I ask, “What are they really hoping to get from a night ou...

As a young musician, I always heard that you had to get your music “solicited” to the major labels. I never really understood what “solicited” meant, until I worked on the inside. Here’s how it actually looks: Every day, tons of music is sent to the labels from total strangers. It’s just too much to deal with, so it’s all ignored. All of it. These companies don’t exist to find new music. Their job...

All those years I was trying to get famous, it felt like the music industry was this giant mysterious machine. I’d submit my music to showcases, and the machine would choose everyone else. I’d try to contact record labels, and the machine wouldn’t let me past the gate. I’d send my music to media outlets, and the machine would make it disappear. What a heartless machine! It felt like a complex puzz...

This book is entirely about you and your music. But I use some of my stories as examples. So here’s my context, as short as can be, to set the stage for the book. Since I was 14, all I wanted was to be a successful musician. First I graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Then I got a job at Warner/Chappell Music Publishing in New York City. There I learned a ton about how the tradition...

Welcome to my book about getting your music to people, into people, and through people. You deserve a little preview of what’s inside, so I’m going to introduce you to all of its main ideas, right now, all at once. It’ll be a bunch of declarations in a row, like reading a table of contents, but it’ll give you an idea of what’s to come. Ready? Marketing is an extension of your art. Business is just...