I decided to write this post after seeing a TEDx Talks session from one of my favorite speakers that has inspired me throughout my artistic journey. His name is Simon Sinek and in this session he presents his speech called Start With Why – How Great Leaders Inspire Action (you can watch it on YouTube). If you are a music artist, I believe this post will help you how to get more fans and inspire other artists.
WHY? HOW? WHAT?
In this speech, Simon Sinek explains why some organizations and some world leaders are able to inspire people, where others aren’t. Let me clarify this very quickly. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. Some know HOW they do it. But very few people know WHY they do what they are doing. And by “WHY”, Simon doesn’t mean to make a profit, for example. That’s a result. By “WHY”, he means: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief?
It’s the way how great leaders and organizations communicate with people that make the big difference. See below the Golden Circle created by Simon Sinek.
Great leaders and successful companies communicate inside out. They start with WHY, then HOW they do it and finally WHAT they do. Leaders and organizations that fail communicate outside in. In other words, they start with WHAT.
For me this made perfect sense and this discovery profoundly changed the way I saw things. I started to think differently. You see, this theory doesn’t work only for leaders and organizations. The exact same theory applies also to artists, producers, DJ’s, etc.
I think by now you should be thinking: “Hey Doc! What the f*ck are you talking about?”
Well, just follow my logic here.
All the music artists in the world know WHAT they do – music! It doesn’t matter if it’s techno, tech-house, minimal, drum & bass or bossa nova. These artists know exactly WHAT they’re doing.
Many know HOW to do it. If they are DJ’s, they know that they need a controller, a mixer or CDJ’s to play. If they are electronic music producers they need a DAW to create music. If they are bass players, they need a bass guitar to play that instrument… You got the point!
But WHY do they do that? Many will say: “I wanna be famous”, “I wanna be rich”, “I wanna get laid with hot girls”, “I wanna be number one!”… But that’s not a purpose. This is a result! (Don’t get me wrong, these things will come along if you’re really good at it.)
People become fans not because of the music you play but because of your belief in what you do. It’s hard to get this point at first, but let me explain better. Why do fans still follow an artist even if their music style has changed? It’s because of what he/she believes, that turns out to be the personality of the artist and that’s what fans really like.
So, if you are starting a music project, or even if you already have a project but you are not achieving the results you want, remember WHY you are you doing what you do! You don’t need a plan, you need a purpose. Martin Luther King has influenced millions of people around the world with the famous phrase “I have a dream!”. He didn’t say “I have a plan!”. So, what’s your dream? Share your vision with the world, and after that, you can share your music. Do you wanna be rich or do you wanna leave a legacy? After you die, people will remember YOU, not your money.
I believe there are no boundaries in art. Do what you want to do. Be the captain of your own ship. Remember that you only live this life once so, why create what already exists? I may not produce the best music in the world. In fact, 80% of my ideas are terrible ideas that I put aside. But the other 20%, I focus on them and know that eventually something good will emerge from these ideas.
My new album Yin Yang is the real reflection of that. It may not be the best album in the world but I truly believe that I innovated and created something that no artist has created before.
WHY?
My life is unique. My feelings are unique. And if my music is the reflection of my feelings, why shouldn’t my music be unique as well? Maybe on my next album, the musical style would be a bit different. But don’t worry. Melodark is here to stay!
It turns out that life has always two sides. YIN and YANG ☯
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