I just finished my first time through Seth Godin’s “We Are All Weird.” It’s a book about marketing, and the logic is applicable to just about any mindset. Bob Lefsetz wrote a great perspective on the book and correlating Success Magazine (Seth Godin, Vimeo) interview that really got me thinking about my own approach to being a songwriter and artist.
Since this may be the first and only post of mine you read, let’s level set. I’m very much a part-time artist/writer and have realistic expectations for myself. That doesn’t mean I just go with the flow and call it good enough. I need to be weird and express my art my way, end of story.
And I do, just not enough. I’m sure if I get one new song a month out to anyone who will listen, I’ll keep the small base I’ve got and grow it incrementally. But listeners want new, it’s just the way society rolls today. New styles and new stuff from those whose sound or voice or lyrics once generated intrigue.
The only way I’m going to qualify as weird is to keep it all me. So the influences and mindset and emotions of the time I’m in come out “me”, not targeting any one specific pool of listeners, but getting my songs out to the broadest mass of listeners possible to find where my weirdness fits. So many wonderful musicians and artists, all over the world, I likely should stop trying and put my time, energy and resources into something else. Maybe I will, maybe the weirdness will soon make it clear what that path might be.
Sound weird? I hope so.
