How Sharable, Reviewable, Connectable Are You?

1. Food for Thought

I know a small percentage of artists out there don’t really mind if no one ever hears anything that they write. That’s okay, but also strange if discoverability is being aided by third parties like Indie Boom Shockwave or Abrasive Monologues. We really want to push indie music out into the world, but sometimes it’s hard… Because the artists make it hard.

I’ve temporarily put music production on hold to bolster Abrasive Monologues and Indie Boom Shockwave, because we need them both. James, and Indie Boom Shockwave, provide a visual space, and Abrasive Monologues provides a text and search engine friendly space to promote the artists we encounter.

One of the goals that I [Jonathan Hadley] have, is to help artists recognize where their blind spots are. So far, I’ve interacted with several artists that have a major one. You don’t give anyone anything to work with…

There’s a cover art that’s abstract, a song that’s abstract, an artist name that’s abstract, lyrics that are abstract. Those things could stand on their own. If, and only if, everyone understands your abstract, which is going to be very rare. There’s no description, no information about the song, about you… Put yourself in the shoes of the people who would love to talk about you for a moment.

If you take everyone who has the ability to put content onto Indie Boom, or Abrasive Monologues you’re only talking about roughly four people. Those four people have families, jobs and all the things that complicate your life and eat your time, also eat theirs. We’re starting handicapped in that regard. We have a very finite amount of time to decide what we’re going to say about you, your music… and it helps to understand, in your own words, what you wrote this song about.

2. How Sharable Are You?

Knowing all of that, and placing yourself if one of our shoes… You should know that we’re going to listen to your music either way. However, if I can’t tell what your song is about, or how it resonates with you, how you hope it will resonate with me… It’s going be a short paragraph. It is difficult to decide what to say when you don’t know what the artist was shooting for.

I can write a very descriptive paragraph or two about what happened musically and allude to some artistic things maybe, but … That does not capture you. It captures my opinion of you. Without your input about what you were going for to form my opinion around, I could miss you completely.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a random person, finding you for the first time. They like your sound and kind of dig the vibe and they think about sharing it…

Then they think about what they’re going to say to go along with it, or maybe they’ll just throw it out in the water and see if it floats??? What if someone asks what it’s about??? What do I tell them??? Maybe I won’t share it… Then I don’t have to worry about any of that.

I had someone earlier today tell me that very few people have ever valued art… I know that’s not true for me. I know a lot of people that’s not true for. The art I value I can quantify though. I know what it’s about to the artist, to me and sometimes those are different and that’s okay. That’s usually what the artist wants. The art that I value, I value because somebody let me deeper than the surface of the work. I listened to a piece that I like and I threw a name into Google, and I found all the information I wanted to know about who that artist is and how their life parallels mine… That’s the value. The value was never the notes, the chords. Those are just a basis of a possible connection.

3. People Buy From People

It’s an old saying in sales positions. The product (music) is the product. It has no value that you don’t give it. The same screw from one hardware salesman is the exact same as a screw from another. What makes you buy the screw from one, over the other, is the salesman… Not the screw. All things being equal, I’m buying from the person that I value the most. The relationship I have with the person selling the screw is more valuable than the screw itself, and it provides value to the screw, that it would not otherwise have. So after all of that… What am I getting at?

There are people out there who would share the heck out of you… If you gave them a reason to. If you’re one of the artists that doesn’t care… More power to you, but expect to get what you put in. If you’re looking for discoverability, then you really need to think about how you add value to your art. If there’s a box to talk about your music… do it.

One final thought…

The artist I have in my head, when I talk about an artist who doesn’t care about discoverability… Is one of the very best at adding value to his music through his relationships that he builds, his descriptions of his music, and his willingness to let people into his world, and thought process. He’s getting discovered by new people all the time, by complete accident.