Doers vs. Talkers

I was talking with a fellow "industry professional" today about how there are soooo many people in our line of work who love to spend HOURS at panel discussions pontificating (or listening to others pontificate) about "the future of music." You know what the future of music is? Continued massive upheaval and disruption. Now get back to work.

Seriously, do you think we as a company have time to wring our hands about where music is headed? No, because we're in the trenches every day trying to do work, chase down clients, respond to 18,000 emails and generally do all of the things that people who run businesses need to do. I don't have time to sit around in an ivory tower wondering where the Industry will go. If all of the people at these panel discussions devoted more of their time to actually working, they might arrive at a sustainable model, instead of lamenting that fact that they don't have one.

Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy lively discussion as much as the next guy. And I also know firsthand that lively discussion leads to great ideas, which is how we progress, both as a society and an industry. So far be it from me to poo-poo creative thought and intellectual discourse. But there comes a time when you need to stop talking and start working. And for many of these folks, that time is way overdue.

With the music business, the only thing that's certain is uncertainty. Yes, there will be pivotal individuals (Steve Jobs, the MySpace dudes) that will change our way of thinking and steer things in new directions. But we cannot all be those people, at least not all the time (even Jobs has to answer his email at some point).

Ironically, Chris and I have been working on our own potentially game-affecting concept. It's called BrandsForBands and it'll launch soon. But even though it's required hundreds of hours of discussion over the last 2 years, we still managed to increase our company revenues by 10% last year. In other words, we talked about The Big Picture - and are poised to contribute to it significantly with B4B - but not at the expense of getting our everyday work done.

So, fellow music professionals, I beseech you to spend more time on your work and less time worrying - and talking - about where things are headed. That's important, but it don't pay the mortgage. Less talk, more rock. ~ Tim

The D-Process

If you’re at all like me, you’re trying desperately to make sense of the sh*tstorm that we call our nation’s economy. I found this recent interview with Ray Dalio in Barron’s (by Sandra Ward) to be very enlightening:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123396545910358867.html

Mr. Dalio is the Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, one of the larger hedge funds out there. He was one the earliest people to sound the alarm about “the dangers of excessive financial leverage.” He does a great job describing the deleveraging and deflationary process that has been happening around the world…what he calls the “D-Process”. Batten down the hatches everyone…we’re in for a fun ride over the next couple of years. ~ Chris

Suddenly, Everything Is Right In The World...

Well, maybe not everything. But the Doves just posted "Jetstream," a new track from their forthcoming album, Kingdom Of Rust, and I'm pleased to report that it's excellent and, as with most music by the band, keeps getting more excellent (excellenter?) with each listen. Download it for yourself.

I'm an absolutely massive Doves fan, and I don't quite know why. I guess it's something intangible that just hits me right here. They're just three dudes from Manchester, but the sum is infinitely more than the parts. I was telling someone yesterday that Doves may be the only band that I would follow around like a Deadhead. Something tells me that that scene would be a little less, shall we say, colorful than the one fostered by JerBear & Company. I can see it now: a bunch of record store clerks in hoodies standing around mumbling about B-sides and bonus tracks, not making eye contact. [shiver] Now that I think about it, I think seeing Doves in LA will be sufficient.

Anyway, back to "Jetstream." It's a bit of departure for the band, with more of an electronic influence, but it's still classically Doves. If the rest of the album is this good, it's gonna be a corker.

This was supposed to the year that I went to England with some friends, including a pilgrimage to Manchester, the home of a great many of my favorite bands. Sadly, the economic apocalypse has thrown a wet blanket over that idea. But at least I'll have a new Doves album in April. Hell, that + a few pints of Guinness and I can just pretend I'm in Blighty. It'll have to do for now. And I'm OK with that. Kinda. ~ Tim