A Book About The Google Era That Every Music Artist Should ReadI read a lot; mostly online, but I also read a lot of books.
I know some of you reading this think that reading a lot is a waste of time. I know that because many people think that in general. The problem with that point of view is that it stunts you…tremendously. The reason is simple. Most of the best learning is had by doing. That’ll never change.
However, for every real world experience that a person can undergo, there are potentially tens or hundred of way of making sense of the moment. Making sense of an experience allows you to process and analyze it in such a way that you can make a strategic decision about how to use that experience to move forward in a manner that furthers your career and life.
The problem with not reading is that as an individual, you have at any one time a limited number of ideas in your head that are based on just your immediate experience. A book or an article gives you access to ideas that you would have never thought of yourself. Those ideas permit you to make sense of your experience in a way that would otherwise have never been possible. Furthermore, you can use the idea to make a strategic decision that benefits your career. Ideas allow you to connect the dots in the real world.
There’s a reason that the poorest societies also tend to have the lowest literacy rates. Similarly, the people with the richest lives tend to have lots of ideas floating around in their heads. Having said that, I should add that the best books for music artists today aren’t books about music. They’re books about business and economics because they give you a grand perspective on what’s happening on a strategic level rather than on just a tactical level.
Thinking on a tactical level helps you decide what social media tools to use. Thinking on a strategic level helps you answer the question “Why should I use social media at all?” That’s a far more important question to have an answer to. Military generals win on strategy, not tactics. So do musicians and record labels.
If you can’t answer the big questions, you could be wasting your time on tactics that ultimately won’t yield useful results for you.
On that note, I want to recommend an excellent and grand-sweeping book about how Google has completely reshaped the business and media landscape. It’s called “What Would Google Do?” In it, author and blogger Jeff Jarvis talks about the new Internet economy created by Google and how to live and manage by its rules. 
It’s the kind of book that lets you answer questions like “Why should I use social media?”, “Why is a website crucial today?”, or “How have scarcity and abundance permanently changed the way the music business works?”.
Nothing you do in the context of your music career makes any sense if you can’t answer these kinds of questions. Google, the social media-sphere, and the Internet have redefined the music business and this books lets you understand what’s changed.
I’ve read it twice. Read it and enjoy. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Good point, well taken
While it is important to become technically proficient as an artist, remember: The music industry has changed. Your chances of being picked up by a record label are about the same as you winning the mega-jackpot lottery. For you to make it today in the music industry, you must DIY. This means casting off any old-outdated notion that as a musician you don’t have to know about business, marketing, accounting, etc. You had better come to view what you do as a professional entertainer as business, and the product you create, whether MP3s or CDs as that–a product. Then, research everything you can read on business and marketing.