3 ms·

Ask HN: Do musicians/artists release MVP & iterate it?

• frankus 15y ago
  I've heard of stand-up comedians, playwrights, and musicians testing new material on small audiences to gauge how well it works, but that's arguably closer to a private beta than an MVP. I also know that artists will often do studies of their ideas before doing a full-scale piece, but that's more along the lines of a development spike than an MVP. The closest thing to a true MVP that I've heard of in music would be a band that labors away in obscurity for a few years, has a hit, and then re-releases some of their old material but with better production values. Thinking out loud, I think the difference between the sort of software where an MVP is important and both music and art is that the former is a tool and the latter is entertainment. The entertainment industry is built on novelty, and the sheer amount of material out there is so vast that the media can really only cover what's new, what's especially good, and what has made important innovations in the past. If what you're building has utility above and beyond its entertainment value, you have the freedom and in some sense the responsibility to release early and often.
• epoxyhockey 15y ago
  From an indie rock musician's standpoint, I could interpret the MVP of a song as many things. A cool sounding riff, an instrumental (song w/o lyrics) or poetry (lyrics w/o instruments). The quick answer is that my band performs none of those things in a concert setting. The most MVP we perform is a song that maybe doesn't have all of the lyrics worked out or maybe needing another section of music added to it - a work in progress. In our private practice sessions, of course, we build songs from scratch and you could make some comparisons to MVP. I would compare music to hardware rather than software. You need to have things pretty well worked out before public performance because no one comes to a show to hear you play one riff and most audiences don't care to listen to a boring set full of rock instrumentals and no lyrics. Also, it is generally difficult to get real-time feedback from an audience while performing rock music. Some audiences just stand and stare at you while bobbing their heads and other audiences jump around so long as there is a beat. You don't have the constant feedback that a comedian has after every joke. Pretty much the only feedback you'll get is that people will leave if you suck, or they will clap a little less after a song if they aren't as entertained. I have to ask my close friends after the show what they think of certain songs. I don't think any musician creates music for the sole purpose of pleasing the audience. A musician creates and performs music as a means of self-expression. So, in my opinion, MVP and its market testing methodologies are less applicable to musicians.
• glimcat 15y ago
  What, you mean like how bands release singles and do live performances to build up a fan base and get backing?
• deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]