Three Reasons I Stopped Writing Audible Hype.

Posted by Justin Boland on May 08, 2008 | 0 Comments

1. “New Business Models” Are For Rich People. The biggest disconnect between my theory and practice was this: here in reality, 95% of our planning doesn’t mean shit and never will. Most things will not work out, unseen factors always blindside you, and our assumptions are usually wrong. Don’t misconstrue me, I’m not throwing a philosophical tantrum, just saying that the only real “business model” you and I need to worry about is the one that’s randomly happening right now. 

We work with what we have.  What we have is seldom enough to work with, so we compensate by learning new skills, working as hard as possible, and maximizing the resources we do have.

2. Marketing is Simple and Boring as Fuck. I am a compulsive autodidact and the music business is hardly the first subject I’ve built my entire life around.  Like most of the subjects I get into, there’s not a ton of depth to the field of marketing-seriously, you read a couple Jay Levinson’s books and you’re as well-prepared as any “expert” you’ll run into.  They’ll be able to quote a lot more people than you, but you’ll both have the same toolkit for actually getting things done. 

Seth Godin writes very short books for a very simple reason: there’s not a hell of a lot to say aside from “Work Hard and Work Smart.” Success in any business is more dependent on who you know than what you know-online reading can only help you so much.

3. Audible Hype is Redundant in Current Form. There’s already a New Music Strategies, and there’s already a Music Think Tank, and the fundamentals of the DIY daily hustle haven’t changed much since back when Derek Sivers was starting CDbaby.  The technology has-our economy has-but the importance of playing good shows, making good music, and building good fan relationships has not changed.  (Neither has the basic need for outstanding talent.)

So I’m going to be converting Audible Hype to more of a knowledge resource than a news or music marketing blog.  The tone will become much more personal and specific: I write for DIY hip hop entrepreneurs.  Apparently it’s useful to a wider audience, too, which I’m grateful for-but Audible Hype will be a much more focused project from here.

UP NEXT: You will absolutely never read about Music 2.0 on Audible Hype again.  If there is a new model, great: people with more money and connections than us will implement it, and the world will be a better place for all musicians.  What I can tell you about is what I know about, and that’s World-Around Records, the label/anarchist hip hop collective I work for.  I’ll be providing a detailed work at the machine we’ve built, what works for us, and the open-ended questions we’re still wrestling with on a daily basis.

Thanks for your patience.