Pay attention to paying attention

This morning, I paid attention to the world and completely lost track of what was right in front of me. A bike-safety commercial taught me to look out for things I don't see, but the lesson was in watching out for the things I should have never seen.

A lesson in cycling or a lesson in life?

South (artist) denied 20G's by Camel at SXSW.

"South (artist), who’ve proven a significantly more popular and successful proposition over the pond, had traveled all the way to the United States for the show at South by South West. They were due to be paid £10,000 for the performance in Austin, until lead singer Joel Cadbury made the seemingly innocuous remark.

Spotting the Camel logo tattooed onto the arm of a female audience member, Cadbury – who himself partakes in the filthy habit – joked “Don’t smoke, it’s bad for you”. The band continued the set before being told by Camel representatives upon leaving the stage that they’d forfeited their appearance fee."

Hang on. Cigarette companies are still paying people to promote them, and people are taking the money? At SXSW of all things? Just when I thought the world was turning against cigarettes. I guess this will be good fodder when McDonalds launches their new "Panic! At the Arches" chicken double-melt biscuit, right before Oprah finally manages to reunite Zeppelin.

"Everyone's getting a new car!! [and a carton of Pal Mals]."

The oldest recording in the world.

This just in. Apparently, Edison wasn't the first person to record music. Beating him by a good 30 years, a 'phonautograph audio transcription' (recording) of 'Au Clair de la Lune' by Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville was made in the late 1850's. Sorry, Thomas.

Wanna hear it? Crank up the volume and squint your ears at this.

Now, learn more here.

Get Into Any Club

An amusing look at getting into any club. Two guys from 'Funny or Die' take a look at how easy it is to get into a number of hotspots by simply telling the bounce that you're the DJ. What ever happened to 'I'm with the band?' Then again, 'roadie' never got anyone laid.

Van Buskirk on NPR

Eliot Van Buskirk writes the music blog "Listenting Post" for Wired.com. He's the man with the plan, and last week talked to NPR about how we are discovering and sharing music. It's a whole new world.

Click here to stream the interview.

1000 Fans

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans...

Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.

One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.


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Art imitating life.

Stairway to Stanley Jordan.

Just when you thought you've seen all covers of 'Stairway' you're going to see, check out what Stanley Jordan puts down (let this fire warm-up, and stay tuned till about half-way through when he/they blow your mind).

Hitler had a crush on Jewish classical music.

Music: the international language. You know how I know? Because even if you're whole game is based on hating another brother, you might like their beats. Read all about how Hitler loved specific Jewish composers, enough to whistle their tracks off-tune (how magnanimous). Check out this article.

The world is now different.

Do you know Seth Godin? I do. The marketing guru of our generation, Seth knows what it is to push the goal. Seth spoke to Columbia Records last week and raised some truth up the flag-pole. Click here and read what's what.


Here's what else you'll need:

Watch Seth address the Google clan here.
Read the blog "Music Lessons" that made everybody think different here.
Now, see his #1 rated marketing blog here.