Never forget that the boy band juggernaut was concocted and executed by a roly-poly man in Florida who had visions but no connections.

You see success in the arts always takes place in the head.  It’s conception.  Creativity comes in a burst. Who has the perseverance to make it real?

The story about Amanda Hocking in today’s "New York Times" is littered with details you won’t care about. But focus on the endless rejection and the dedication to make it.  Along with the inspiration of Mark Hoppus of Blink-182.

That’s what great music does.  Inspire you.  Keeps you going when no one else will pay attention, when they’re pissing on your dreams if they’re aware of them at all.  Put on that record and let your freak flag fly.

Well, not exactly.  Amanda Hocking was cold and calculating.  She delivered books she believed would sell.  Which is why when we ask why no outsider has triumphed in the music game we’ve got to point out that they’re all trying to be hip and cool, whereas he who wins without a major label…will be positively mainstream.

The music will be catchy.  With great vocals.  Harmonies.  Not only choruses, but bridges.

The breakthrough will come not from Brooklyn, but somewhere far from hipdom, where a young soul is creating to get out of the hole he’s in, to make it.

The gatekeepers don’t know.

Repeat that to yourself.  You’re as smart as they are, probably smarter.  Because you know the target audience.  What does a fiftysomething male know about what kids desire?  Radio doesn’t know either, otherwise it wouldn’t do research!

You’re the expert.

Amanda Hocking started telling stories and writing when she was still in her single digits.  This is the 10,000 hour phenomenon.  In other words, if you woke up yesterday and decided you wanted to be a rock star, you’re in trouble.

She got better as time went by.  She honed her chops.

Then she created what she believed the audience wanted and put it into the marketplace.

Here’s the key…  Repeatability!  Does someone hear something once and need to hear it again?  People couldn’t stop reading Hocking’s books, they needed to read one more chapter before putting out the light.  In other words, if I have to play your song many times to get it, chances are you’ll never be that big.

But if I only need to hear it once…

That’s the magic of "Friday".  Don’t wince.  Ark Factory looked at the landscape and delivered a lowest common denominator version of what was popular.  Spent almost nothing to make it.  There was gargantuan success.  Which would not have happened if you could get the damn song out of your head.

Can you create something that catchy?  Rebecca Black may have been a nitwit newbie, but the Ark Factory guys were not, they’d paid some dues.  And YouTube blew them up.

You don’t need the major label.  You don’t need radio.  All you need is yourself.  If you create something that hooky, something that entrancing, all you’ve got to do is put it up online and it’ll flourish.

But notice there are not a plethora of Amanda Hockings.  Because only the best and the brightest, the top of the elite, make it in the democratic Web/self-publishing world.  Without all the marketing, without all the hype, all you’ve got is the naked product and it had better be damn good.

Amanda Hocking’s story is inspirational.  It’s gonna happen in all creative industries.  Because the gatekeepers just don’t know.  I’m gonna let you in on a secret, they never knew!  It’s just that you could not play without them.

Now you can.

Just like Amanda Hocking wrote the books in her head before she put fingers to keyboard, think before you create music.  And make a lot of it.  Hocking writes a book in two to four weeks.  If you’re polishing an album for years, you’re doing it wrong.  Keep writing and producing songs until you have the one, people don’t care about the chaff, they’ll find the wheat.

P.S. The fact that Amanda Hocking ultimately signed with a major is irrelevant.  First and foremost, book distribution is not as refined, not as up to date as it is in the music world, where iTunes is dominant and everyone can get on there.  And even if we posit that fat cats ultimately poach the independent artists, which is doubtful, they’re going to have to pay dearly for the privilege.  The majority of the spoils will flow to the artist, not the company.  Don’t listen to the B.S. of the majors saying they provide necessary expertise and deserve the lion’s share of the money.  They just want to perpetuate the old system, when you know it’s not only broken, but almost extinct.  You know.  Trust yourself.  Fire up your computer.  Make something so hooky it can’t be denied.

Storyseller