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This analogy is a huge leap. Aside from the fact that both endeavors are largely entrepreneurial in nature, the two things are mostly distinct. If you are actu
by ssharp 14y ago
This analogy is a huge leap. Aside from the fact that both endeavors are largely entrepreneurial in nature, the two things are mostly distinct.
If you are actually trying to succeed as a musician, "success", you are going to make a lot of sacrifices. The opportunity costs are huge. If you're touring as a fledgling band, you are most likely giving up the formative years of your career. The time you're spending with music isn't going to be particularly helpful in other arenas. If you're hacking at a startup, you're acquiring desirable skills in the process. If your startup fails, you can still go get a really good job in SV. If your band fails, you're hitting the reset button. You could be chasing a career in the music industry for 10+ years and be no better off than you were a decade ago.
I also don't think the analogy between VCs and record companies really hold up either. Because of the low returns of signed bands, as compared to funded companies, the models work differently.
Additionally, as a musician, you're ultimately selling a piece of art. It's designed by you, and while it may be influenced by the market, the product is largely determined by your own creativity. A business operates in the exact opposite way. Business as art rarely work. I can give someone a copy of "Kid A", have them say "this sucks", reply back "give it a few listens", and the person may ultimately end up really liking the album. I'm not doing that with a company. If I think a product, say Basecamp, sucks, and I have to pay $20 a month for it, I'm not going to give it much thought after my "it sucks" reaction. We consume art differently than we use other products, because they are radically different things. Market demands are simply too important for businesses. They have to listen to the customers to succeed. The path to success is to take customer problems and figure out a creative solution to them. The customer is driving the most substantial part of the company.
- freshhawk 14y ago"They have to listen to the customers to succeed. The path to success is to take customer problems and figure out a creative solution to them. The customer is driving the most substantial part of the company." I think the analogy is pretty good actually. You seem to have a bit of a naive view of how music is made a produced. This is a decent description of how music is made, perhaps with the Apple-ish addition of them frequently telling the customer what they like rather than always listening. It's completely treated as a product.
- ssharp 14y agoI'm not sure how my view of music is naive. As a completely unsuccessful musician hobbyist myself, who's toiled with bands and production, I've never once talked to the crowd after a show and said "what would you like us to sound like?", or "what should the next song we write be about", or "what would it take for you to buy a record of ours". Sure, trends are followed, and people may steer more towards what's popular, but you're not solving people's specific problems through music, so the type of customer oriented problem solving that allows startups to succeed is not really relevant to music.
- freshhawk 14y agoRight, but I think the analogy was not comparing that kind of band to a startup. Following the analogy that's more like open source contributors. They do it because they enjoy the craft and want to make something they will enjoy and feel proud of, they know/hope that there will be fans when they do what they feel they should. VC funded startups are exactly like a band that says "what should I sound like? What should our next song be? How do we get more listeners really fast?". They need a hit record to even have a chance of making a return on the investment that's been put in, so they better be making a top 40 song (or a mobile social media sharing app/site). I think I was wrong about your view of music being naive, i think we were just comparing different types of bands and startups here. Match up manufactured record label band and VC funded startup and they match quite well. I have some family and aquaintances who've worked as record execs and you better believe they look at it as a customer oriented problem solving. None of them like the music they push all that much, if they like music at all, they just know how to find/make music that sells.