We began this series with the idea that because of the tremendous amount of disruption that currently exists in the music business, there is also a tremendous amount of opportunity.  While it’s easy to state that there is opportunity out there for musicians and those who want to work in the music business, it’s also sort of a vague statement.  The goal of this series is specificity, not vagueness.   To that end, we’ll begin with some specifics that you as a musician or participant in the music business must face head on.  Put simply, if you don’t address the issues addressed in this segment, you have little to no chance of succeeding in the music business.  These specific details can be referred to as the sine qua non of the music business.  That roughly translates to, “without this there is nothing.”

There are two specific details that you must address immediately.  The first is a concept that Jim Collins outlines in his fantastic book, Good to Great.  It’s called the Hedgehog Concept.  The second is an internal factor.  Specifically, it’s the belief that your own music, or the music of the artist on whose behalf you work, must be heard.  I’ll explain both in some depth, beginning with the latter.

Kurt Cobain and the Drive to Have his Music Heard

To illustrate the importance of the belief that your music, or the music of the artist on whose behalf you work must be heard, it’s instructive to look at the career path of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana.

Recalling his time before starting a band, Cobain sums up much of what I’m trying to convey.  He states:

 I had this feeling all the time—I always knew I was doing something special.… I knew it was better, even though I couldn’t prove it at the time. I knew I had something to offer, and I knew eventually I would have the opportunity to show people that I could write good songs—that I could contribute something musically to rock and roll.  

Cobain had these insistent thoughts in that hotbed of creativity, Aberdeen, WA, a remote, lower-class logging town. And yet, Cobain somehow managed—even in this creative wasteland—to find ways to get his music out. He gravitated to the only band in the area that he felt an affinity for—the ultra-heavy Melvins—and began hanging around with them, while he honed his guitar and songwriting skills. Additionally, through his connection with the Melvins, he was able to occasionally escape Aberdeen for the far more hospitable Olympia, WA.

Olympia is a college town, with a large bohemian contingency, many venues for bands to perform, a great indie radio station (KAOS) as well as a record label that so represented Cobain’s ethos that he eventually tattooed its name and "K" logo on his forearm.

Nirvana—as they were now called, after wisely ditching their first name, Fecal Matter—recorded a demo tape in January of 1988 at Reciprocal Recordings in Seattle. It was not a coincidence that they chose to record there, as some of Cobain’s favorite bands had done so as well.

The owner of Reciprocal, Jack Endino, engineered the early Nirvana demo tapes. He played them for Sub Pop head and founder Jonathon Poneman. It is not surprising or coincidental that Endino played the Nirvana demos for Poneman. In fact, two EPs that Endino had previously recorded were for the bands Soundgarden and Green River, which were released by Sub Pop. Clearly, Endino and Poneman had a rapport. And Cobain, who was aware of the scene that he aspired to become a part of, wisely chose to find a way—however tangentially—to make a connection to it by selecting this studio to record his demo.

Sub Pop is a Seattle-based label that, at the time, was specializing in a relatively specific genre of music that came to be known as "grunge." This music, in some ways, reflected the regional climate of Seattle: dark, thick, somewhat gloomy. The label became known for releasing records by artists that defined this type of sound. Nirvana was making music that fit—and soon defined—the description of this sound. At the time, Sub Pop was actively looking for artists to help grow their label, and Cobain realized this.

Cobain believed that his music had to be heard. This need forced him to assess how to get it heard. He educated himself about the industry that he wanted to be a part of, and found ways to connect his music to it. He did not simply let his undeniable talent stay in his room unheard. Instead, he learned who the players were, and directed his energies towards appealing specifically to them.

What we see from this case study is that while Cobain’s musical talent ultimately played a huge role in Nirvana’s success, it wasn’t this talent alone that got him signed. We also see that he was forced to really persevere—funding his own demos and finding backers, while the label waffled, in order to bring his music to a larger stage. Additionally, it was his desire to have his music heard that drove him—gave him the fuel—to contextualize it and find other participants in the business who he hoped would grant him entrée into the record industry.

Are you doing the same for your music?  Do you have that belief that your music must be heard?  It is only this belief that will sustain you during the inevitable indignities that accompany you on your way from obscurity to popularity. If you don’t have this belief, you will not be able to persevere.

The Hedgehog Concept

The second critical foundation element you must confront is discerning your inner Hedgehog.  As mentioned, this is a concept that Jim Collins articulates in his book Good to Great. To find your Hedgehog you must determine:

• what you are passionate about
• what you can do better than anyone else
• what will be your economic driver

You must have all three of these elements defined in order to become great at what you do.  The Hedgehog Concept forces you to focus on three crucial elements, and, importantly, to be sure that you don’t focus on things outside of these three elements.  As Collins says, “The key is to understand what [you] can be the best in the world at, and equally important what [you] cannot be the best at….The Hedgehog Concept is not a goal, strategy of intention; it is an understanding.”

As we embark on our journey, I’d like you to think about this Hedgehog Concept as it relates to yourself and your goals.  Consider what it is that you’re passionate about; consider what it is that you can do best or could do best; consider how you will make your money.

We will constantly refer to this Hedgehog Concept as it lays the foundation for three crucial management elements: mission, vision, and values. 

Certainly, your passion will revolve around music, but you need to determine precisely what your “wedge” or competitive advantage is in the music business.  If you're a performer, what precise element of performing are you most passionate about; is it writing the songs you perform, is it playing in front of the audience, etc.?  If your passion involves working with musicians in order to get the music you believe must be heard heard, you must identify precisely how you will do this: managing artists, booking artists, financing artists, producing music, or some combination of each?

Importantly, this idea of doing what you're passionate about is not as simplistic as doing what you love.  Unfortunately, many of the things we are passionate about are not things we can be the best at, nor are they things that can generate income for us.  The genius of the Hedgehog Concept is that it requires you to make some difficult choices, and even some trade-offs.  We all know people who have decidedly found their economic driver, and have made more money than they can ever spend, but who are miserable.  In essence, while they have at least one (the economic driver), and maybe two (what they can be best at), they are missing the crucial third circle (what they are passionate about).  By not having each of the circles, they can never truly be great.  More frequently, of course, people know (or think they know) what they are passionate about, and tend to believe that they can be the best at this thing.  However, they can’t figure out a way to make a living doing this thing.  The sad consequence of this is that, because they lack the economic denominator, they are not able to truly focus on doing what they are passionate about and what they believe they can be best at, because they are too busy doing all sorts of unrelated things (“Would you like that coffee as a grande for only a dollar more?”) in order to pay the rent. 

The challenge, therefore, is to balance the three circles.  You may, for instance, find that you must re-evaluate your passion in order to make it overlap with an economic driver.  While this may seem as if you're compromising your dream, the reality is that it represents the first step in a theme we will be examining throughout: a strategic approach towards monetizing your passion.

To conclude, before we can begin delving into actual practices for getting your music, or the music you work with heard, you must address two essential issues.  First, you must make certain that you have the unwavering belief that your music (or the music on whose behalf you work) must be heard.  Second, you must begin reconciling the three elements of the Hedgehog Concept: a. What you are passionate about. b. What you can do best. c. What your economic driver is.  When you combine these elements you drastically increase your odds of success.