The Art of Shutting Up

It’s always a tough decision. Audio and visual artists have to make it all the time. So do software developers.

When is the right time to show the product?

“Needy” Much?

The dilemma is that we are a needy group, we Creatives. I’m convinced there is a chromosome in us that is missing a few hugs and kisses from Mommy. It’s in every Creative I’ve ever met. You can smell it a mile away… The need to be “liked”. We’re wont for applause. We desire artistic acceptance. We long for justification that what we are doing resonates.

… Or what I call… A pat on the ass. Just recently I watched in horror as a composer linked up his SoundCloud profile on Facebook with an added admonishment that if we really were his friends, and we were on SoundCloud, then there is “no excuse for you not to leave a comment”. He further suggested that “friends” who failed to do so would be viewed as disingenuous, particularly if we’d already chosen to “like” his profile. To be blunt, this blatant call for a “pat on the ass” (and that’s exactly what it was — I couldn’t give you a more perfect definition if I’d made one up myself!) was truly disgusting, not to mention incredibly insecure, immature, and just a completely novice move all the way around. It was the D2F version of cyber-bullying. I felt bad for the guy. I felt bad because I happen to like this guy and his music.

But what if I didn’t?  What if I like you, but not your music? Am I not allowed, as a fan of YOU, to support your artistic path without necessarily endorsing your finished product? Is this American Idol? (You can see why these things get me into trouble!)

The Landscape Doesn’t Help

Unfortunately, the new 2.0 business model of “instant access” plays right into a Creative’s needy tendencies. Social networking is a bit of a “fantasyland” for artists. Not only is every avenue we have available to us for promoting our work becoming increasingly easier to use by the day, but each has also begun to blur together with the others into what starts to look like the digital data version of a Jackson Pollock painting. This chaotic confluence makes it almost impossible to distinguish that which should be designated strictly for promotion and that which should be used for personal “Heya, Mom! Howyadoin?” kinds of everyday communication. It’s far too easy to post music on your social profiles without regard to whether it belongs in the wild yet or not. Musical taste is highly subjective, so nobody can judge the quality of your writing (to a large degree, anyway), but a quick traipse through the profiles of a random handful of composers will reveal a vast cavernous lack of knowledge about mixing, mastering, and unleashing quality audio into the public’s eardrums. To make matters worse, digital audio workstation (DAW) makers are now beginning to include a “render to SoundCloud” feature so that writers and composers can go directly to the Net with their creations without even having to stop and ponder for a second if that’s even a good idea or not.

My point is that while we can’t go as far as to say that quality control has gone completely out the window, it certainly is contemplating the jump. It likes what it sees on the other side of the glass, has already undone the latch, and has both hands firmly planted on the bottom of the sill ready to hop up there and take the flying leap.

Building a Mystery

In the late 1980′s, Rolling Stone magazine published a terrific interview with Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks. One of the things they asked her about was why she always chose to dress in Victorian-era clothing, a style that incorporates long sleeves, flowing gowns, and high necklines. Without really coming right out and saying, what they were basically asking her is why she chose to “cover up”. Why couldn’t she show a little more skin and exude a little more sexuality. The interviewer asked her whether she thought a change in her fashion sense to a more contemporary “sexier” look might work to increase her commercial appeal.

Nicks replied that she had always felt like there should be a bit of mystery about an artist. She stated that she loved the idea that people couldn’t pin down if she was “really good-looking or if she just had a pretty face” because the rest of her body was always covered up. She felt that worked in her favor as she never felt like a very sexy person anyway. If she were to take off her clothes or relax her style of dress, there would be zero mystery left about her. Everything would be in full reveal. All of the wonderment would be gone from people’s imaginations regarding her appeal.

Mystery. I always thought Nicks’ answer was brilliant. I also believe her concept of mystery to be one that is lost on many contemporary artists. In fact, if you contrast that with, say, someone like Madonna who has definitely gone the other direction entirely, the concept becomes even clearer. Madonna has continued to put out music over the last decade where Nicks’ output has slowed. Even still, the last several Madonna records have not done nearly as well as her first efforts did and recent studies of her profits and sales suggest that her popularity is in steep decline. Is it her politics or private life? Or is it because there is nothing else for her to take off? Possibly all the above. It’s interesting to ponder, nonetheless. If it is those things, a case could be made that Madonna has “over shared” herself into obscurity.

The Art of Shutting the F*ck Up

You don’t have to show-and-tell every single little thing that you do. Every piece of music you output does not have to be publicly available on SoundCloud in order for people to regard you as a competent and engaging artist. You don’t need to have every scrap of portfolio that you’ve ever designed to be up on DeviantArt. Try to hold some things back as a strategic method of building some anticipation into your artist branding. Think back to your favorite artists growing up: Did you know what they had for breakfast or what they were doing in their studios 24/7? No… Because they recognized the power and excitement of keeping their fans wondering “what will they do next?”

Need a strategy or a gameplan for this? The models are everywhere, but I would suggest you start by observing how Apple runs their business. Apple has the highest company valuation on the planet and it’s worth looking at how they value secrecy. Take a look at their principles behind why they keep things so high and tight before a product launch and then ask yourself which of their variables or characteristics you could blend into your own release strategy.

Better Left Unsaid

For some of you, your business could stand a few “unknowns”. A few mysteries. You are saturating yourself into obscurity. Nobody is going to have the balls to tell you that you are annoying the hell out of everyone with your zealous self-promotion. But people vote with their feet — you just won’t get the business. That’s how you’ll find out. After the fact. You won’t know until the phone stops ringing. Either that or you may never know because the phone will just slow down a little. To me, that’s worse… Not knowing that your actions are keeping you from greatness because there is enough happening to keep you “thinking” you are doing just fine.

Build some mystique into your brand. Don’t give it all away. Keep a few things secret until the perfect strategic time comes for you to use them to your fullest benefit.

What’s the worst that could happen? People think you’re actually busy doing something?

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EASTERN CHRONICLE is my new album that is available worldwide on T-ABC Records. You can download it here on the website in any uncompressed format you can think of. You can also get it in AAC format from iTunes, on MP3 from Amazon.com and in various formats on just about every digital carrier that is out there including Spotify and MOG. If a physical copy is more your speed, the CD is available at retailers throughout Asia and North America.


Comments

  1. Stacy Chambers says:
    May 22, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    Damn. Now I feel like listening to some Fleetwood Mac.

    Seriously, though, amen. It can take a lot of trial and error to learn that, though.

    1. Deane Ogden says:
      May 22, 2012 at 5:46 pm

      I know, right? My problem is I'd rather listen to Lindsay Buckingham's playing than listen to Stevie sing… but that's just me. :P (I think he's a genius!)

      It can take a lot of trial and error… but I'm not sure it needs to. Does it?

    2. Stacy Chambers says:
      May 22, 2012 at 7:06 pm

      For me it did, but it doesn't always, no. Obviously posts like this serve as a great reminder for people like me, who tend to just let it all hang out. I know I've never regretted keeping some things behind closed doors. You can't really unsay anything these days.

      I hope that guy you cited learns for himself that he can't control what other people will choose to buy. All he can do is make the best music that he can and get it out there for people to listen to. These days, I think so much of "selling" is actually radiating goodwill and being the kind of person people relate to and want to buy from and/or hire. And for me, that's as much a personal journey as it is a destination.

    3. Deane Ogden says:
      May 23, 2012 at 4:59 pm

      "These days, I think so much of "selling" is actually radiating goodwill and being the kind of person people relate to and want to buy from and/or hire."

      That is a brilliant statement, Stacy. I love that. I've heard that termed "relational sales" somewhere lately. Great concept. I agree that is the way to go in the new world. Excellent thought.

  2. Terry Jones says:
    May 22, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    That's an interesting set of observations Deane, particularly from someone who posts these sort of helpful articles as often as you do :P

    As an artist I quite like the idea of keeping a bit of mystery about how I go about producing my work, and it probably helps that I think I'd be crap at explaining my own creative processes anyway. However I do think that unless you're already famous or quite well established and have created that aura around yourself along the way, it can be a difficult thing to balance between building anticipation in whatever followers you may already have or just boring them to death with endless promotional spam.

    I personally try not to push my stuff so hard right now, and I'm not really the sort of person to beg for likes for my Facebook page or expect comments on my SoundCloud tracks, although I am of course hugely grateful when they do happen! What I do hope for is that maybe if my stuff is interesting enough people will feel compelled to comment/like of their own volition, because they… you know… maybe enjoyed what I offered? ;)

    I know what you mean about social networks being the equivalent an artists fantasy playground though. It is so easy to get stuff out there now that it is sometimes tempting to push tracks out there before you feel they are truly ready, just to see what sort of reaction it gets if nothing else. I'm also guilty of not having the best mixing/mastering chops in the business, but then again, I don't think I'm the worst either and I'm always working on trying to improve that side of my game.

    I also need to stop posting so often on groups, forums and blog articles I think. You never know, people might think I'm actually busy doing something interesting instead. :)

  3. Terry Jones says:
    May 22, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    That's an interesting set of observations Deane, particularly from someone who posts these sort of helpful articles as often as you do :P

    As an artist I quite like the idea of keeping a bit of mystery about how I go about producing my work, and it probably helps that I think I'd be crap at explaining my own creative processes anyway. However I do think that unless you're already famous or quite well established and have created that aura around yourself along the way, it can be a difficult thing to balance between building anticipation in whatever followers you may already have or just boring them to death with endless promotional spam.

    I personally try not to push my stuff so hard right now, and I'm not really the sort of person to beg for likes for my Facebook page or expect comments on my SoundCloud tracks, although I am of course hugely grateful when they do happen! What I do hope for is that maybe if my stuff is interesting enough people will feel compelled to comment/like of their own volition, because they… you know… maybe enjoyed what I offered? ;)

    I know what you mean about social networks being the equivalent an artists fantasy playground though. It is so easy to get stuff out there now that it is sometimes tempting to push tracks out there before you feel they are truly ready, just to see what sort of reaction it gets if nothing else. I'm also guilty of not having the best mixing/mastering chops in the business, but then again, I don't think I'm the worst either and I'm always working on trying to improve that side of my game.

    I also need to stop posting so often on groups, forums and blog articles I think. You never know, people might think I'm actually busy doing something interesting instead. :)

    1. Deane Ogden says:
      May 22, 2012 at 5:44 pm

      Hey buddy!

      On your first comment… the thing that saves me here is that I don't make my living blogging.. otherwise, yeah.. it would be pretty hypocritical! LOL

      On the rest… I get what you mean. Totally. On "the fine line" though, I think the major mistake most artists make is that they just want the "follows" or the "fans" or the "likes"… but from whom? Contemporaries… or potential clients? See, it does no good to build an audience if your audience is made up of those who are your direct competition. If that's the case, then all you are doing is letting everyone know what they are competing against, and with that information they can either dimiss you as someone not to fret about or someone they need to best… then get busy besting you. But if there is no understanding — or at least very little — about how you do what you do and more importantly, what that "doing" sounds like, then you have a built-in competitive edge.

      I think there is a way for you (and all of us) to be online and be "present" without being over-saturated. People do it all the time. It's a balance. If you can find the right balance, I think you've found the sweet spot, and your business will increase a few notches… in fans, colleague appreciation, and people who want to give you money for what you do. That's the trifecta… :)

  4. The Art of Shutting Up | Home Recording Masters | Microphones, Recording Equipment and Software Reviews says:
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