Never forget that the boy band juggernaut was concocted and executed by a roly-poly man in Florida who had visions but no connections.<\/p>\n
You see success in the arts always takes place in the head.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s conception.\u00c2\u00a0 Creativity comes in a burst. Who has the perseverance to make it real?<\/p>\n
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.\u00c2\u00a0 Along with the inspiration of Mark Hoppus of Blink-182.<\/p>\n
That’s what great music does.\u00c2\u00a0 Inspire you.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 Put on that record and let your freak flag fly.<\/p>\n
Well, not exactly.\u00c2\u00a0 Amanda Hocking was cold and calculating.\u00c2\u00a0 She delivered books she believed would sell.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
The music will be catchy.\u00c2\u00a0 With great vocals.\u00c2\u00a0 Harmonies.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only choruses, but bridges.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The gatekeepers don’t know.<\/p>\n
Repeat that to yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re as smart as they are, probably smarter.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you know the target audience.\u00c2\u00a0 What does a fiftysomething male know about what kids desire?\u00c2\u00a0 Radio doesn’t know either, otherwise it wouldn’t do research!<\/p>\n
You’re the expert.<\/p>\n
Amanda Hocking started telling stories and writing when she was still in her single digits.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the 10,000 hour phenomenon.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, if you woke up yesterday and decided you wanted to be a rock star, you’re in trouble.<\/p>\n
She got better as time went by.\u00c2\u00a0 She honed her chops.<\/p>\n
Then she created what she believed the audience wanted and put it into the marketplace.<\/p>\n
Here’s the key…\u00c2\u00a0 Repeatability!\u00c2\u00a0 Does someone hear something once and need to hear it again?\u00c2\u00a0 People couldn’t stop reading Hocking’s books, they needed to read one more chapter before putting out the light.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, if I have to play your song many times to get it, chances are you’ll never be that big.<\/p>\n
But if I only need to hear it once…<\/p>\n
That’s the magic of "Friday".\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t wince.\u00c2\u00a0 Ark Factory looked at the landscape and delivered a lowest common denominator version of what was popular.\u00c2\u00a0 Spent almost nothing to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 There was gargantuan success.\u00c2\u00a0 Which would not have happened if you could get the damn song out of your head.<\/p>\n
Can you create something that catchy?\u00c2\u00a0 Rebecca Black may have been a nitwit newbie, but the Ark Factory guys were not, they’d paid some dues.\u00c2\u00a0 And YouTube blew them up.<\/p>\n
You don’t need the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t need radio.\u00c2\u00a0 All you need is yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 If you create something that hooky, something that entrancing, all you’ve got to do is put it up online and it’ll flourish.<\/p>\n
But notice there are not a plethora of Amanda Hockings.\u00c2\u00a0 Because only the best and the brightest, the top of the elite, make it in the democratic Web\/self-publishing world.\u00c2\u00a0 Without all the marketing, without all the hype, all you’ve got is the naked product and it had better be damn good.<\/p>\n
Amanda Hocking’s story is inspirational.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s gonna happen in all creative industries.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the gatekeepers just don’t know.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m gonna let you in on a secret, they never knew!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that you could not play without them.<\/p>\n
Now you can.<\/p>\n
Just like Amanda Hocking wrote the books in her head before she put fingers to keyboard, think before you create music.\u00c2\u00a0 And make a lot of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Hocking writes a book in two to four weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re polishing an album for years, you’re doing it wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep writing and producing songs until you have the one, people don’t care about the chaff, they’ll find the wheat.<\/p>\n
P.S. The fact that Amanda Hocking ultimately signed with a major is irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The majority of the spoils will flow to the artist, not the company.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t listen to the B.S. of the majors saying they provide necessary expertise and deserve the lion’s share of the money.\u00c2\u00a0 They just want to perpetuate the old system, when you know it’s not only broken, but almost extinct.\u00c2\u00a0 You know.\u00c2\u00a0 Trust yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 Fire up your computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Make something so hooky it can’t be denied.<\/p>\n
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