Hey -
Welcome to the new look Artist Development Newsletter.
Quick bit of housekeeping first.
This week I'm sending the newsletter from a new platform.
The new email might’ve landed in your junk.
If you want to keep getting the ADN every Sunday, do me one small favor (or both):
Find it in your junk/bulk folder and drag it to your inbox. That starts training your inbox that the ADN isn't spam.
Hit reply and send me anything back — even just "hi." That tells the servers in the sky we actually want to talk.
Okay, let’s jump in…
As artists, we have an almost unlimited supply of to-do's.
Writing
Recording
Releasing
Distribution
Art
Content
Gigs
Merch
Press
Sync
Socials
Marketing
Advertising
Optimizing
Analyzing
And the list goes on…
It is easy to feel like you have to do them all to succeed out of the gate.
Here is a different perspective…
Do what you can do great.
Shelter what you can't until you can.
Why?
If you can't make what you're doing a big bright flashing "YES" in a future fan's mind, it will be a "NO".
Haven't written a banger yet?
Instead of releasing a mid song, keep writing — and in the meantime, consider recording someone else's incredible song.
Haven't made a killer record yet?
Keep hitting record in your spare time, but pay a professional to help you capture an undeniable take.
Don't know where to start with art for your next release?
Find art you love and reach out to whoever made it.
You get the point…
We need to either put our best self forward, or we need to work until we know we have something worth sharing with the world.
Even more than for fans, it is the industry that is looking for a reason to say "NO".
You could have 500k monthly listeners, a sold-out tour, merch flying off the shelf, press chomping at you for interviews — and if you aren't posting on social media, a record label might not want to work with you.
Why?
Because they may not make money on your sold-out tour or merchandise.
They just want to know that you'll be an incredible marketer of your music.
So if they look around your socials and see that you only post a couple of times a month, they may not see an artist willing to put in the work.
If they don't think you'll put in the work, they won't put up the money.
You'd be better off taking a stance and saying you're the artist that doesn't do social media, than to be the artist that does it poorly.
Same rule, everywhere you look.
Half-effort doesn't read as humble.
It reads as "not ready."
Full-effort on a few things reads as "this one's serious."
So here's the move:
Take everything on your plate right now — that list up top is a good place to start — and split it in two.
Column one: what you can do great today.
Your writing.
Your live show.
Whatever it is for you.
Column two: everything else.
Pour yourself into column one until it's undeniable.
Shelter column two — delay it, or hand it to someone who can make it great — until you can.
A short list done great beats a long list done "fine" every single time.
Because "fine" doesn't make fans.
"Fine" doesn't get you signed.
"Fine" is just a slow no.
Pick your few.
Make them undeniable.
I'll see you next Sunday,
Neil
P.S. Hit reply and tell me the one thing you're going to make undeniable this month. I read every response — and right now those replies also help this new email land in inboxes instead of the junk folder.
Ways we can work together:
1. Done With You MGMT - Individual and Group Management for Independent Artists.