Dear Artist, Surprise Me. This is what we're thinking when we click on a new song and press play... We zero in and listen. And wait for that feeling. We're hoping for a thrill. We're looking for a keeper. We don't have a lot of time on our hands, we just want great music in our ears. And oh yea, our attention span is about 5 seconds long. Can you sell us in that amount of time? When you write a song, you're inviting us into a relationship with you. You provide the entertainment, we lend an ear. Believe me, we want to love you. We want you to show us your best. We want you in our head. But there's so much music out there - too much music - so we will be discriminating ... When we hear it we'll know. That song that grabs us with a hook, a harmony, a riff, a surprise we didn't expect. It's your gift to us. It separates you from the others. We'll download your song. We'll play the track over and over. And we'll tell our friends. The same goes for the live performance. If we come to your show, we are already invested in you. That's when we look for a little more 'interest' on our investment. That's when you can really deliver. An impromptu jam session, drum solo, guest appearance, or cover song we never knew you played - you'll have us around your little finger... And we'll tell our friends. I spend ten hours a day working with music. When you listen to that much it all starts sounding the same. Not bad music, just predictable, ya know? Then it happens; in the sea of monochromatic, a surprise jumps out. My ears perk up. I close my eyes to take it all in. You changed the beat, took an exciting turn, added a mandolin, spoke to my heart with lyrics. You surprised me, and I knew you were a keeper.
In the past month, these artists have surprised me. Click on each to see if you agree:
Have you read the book The Purple Cow? Marketing visionary Seth Godin believes the more you're "the same" the more invisible you become. He says, "the key to success is to find a way to stand out - be the purple cow in a field of monochrome Holsteins ... Cows, after you've seen one or two or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though... now that would be something." Godin defines a purple cow as anything "phenomenal, counterintuitive, exciting, remarkable."
You are a remarkable artist. Surprise us.
Val Haller
Founder, Valslist.com
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