Hmm, what other thing does this sound like? Yes, yes, yes. Music groups are small businesses and bootstrapping is now a model that makes sense for many of them

Hmm, what other thing does this sound like? Yes, yes, yes. Music groups are small businesses and bootstrapping is now a model that makes sense for many of them. But although there are many parallels between musicians and startups (labels are the VCs of music etc.), there are some significant differences. For example, one of the tenets of bootstrapping is the pivot. If you're not profitable, take what you've learned and change your direction. For musicians this is far more difficult I believe. Like many popular artists, DMB's success stems from their unique 'sound'. This sound is a special mixture of each members personality and is very hard to change up while still remaining genuine. Founders certainly have a similar effect on their startups product, but I believe its far easier to hire a new designer than to stop playing the music you feel in your heart. tl;dr - Music is business but its also an art. There needs to be a new bootstrapping methodology tailored towards music.