Read time: 1 minute, 370 words. Making money in indie music is tough. A project might earn $100 from streaming in a year. So I have to be thoughtful about where my time goes. The number of artists and engineers I work with gets smaller every year. Not because there's a shortage of talent. Because I've built a creative orbit around execution. I tend to work with people who have experience in the corporate world or working with customers.(or who were in the military!) They call back...
about 13 hours ago • 1 min read
Read time: 1 minute, 322 words. More options can kill your creativity. Brian Eno recorded Another Green World with a limited set of synths and tape machines. In 1975, he and Peter Schmidt created Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards designed to force new creative decisions. Jack White built The White Stripes around two instruments, three colors, analog tape, and no bass player. The limits became the identity. Here are 7 ways constraints boost creativity, plus how to put them to work today....
15 days ago • 1 min read
Read time: 1 minute, 294 words. In 1941, Olivier Messiaen was a prisoner in a German POW camp. In a freezing barracks, using the instruments available, he composed and premiered his Quartet for the End of Time. The audience included prisoners and German guards. The barracks did not become warmer. The war did not stop. His circumstances remained grim. But they did not dictate his entire experience. Sometimes you cannot remove what makes life difficult. You can still decide whether difficulty...
22 days ago • 1 min read