Break Stuff.

If you are a musician, artist or business owner, your job is to break stuff. And when I say "break stuff", I'm referring to the act of not accepting the status quo. It is not letting your teachers define in you what is true and what is not but constantly questioning why it has to be done this way.

The music industry is so scared to break things in fear that they will lose what little they have. And that means a lull in innovation. It is like squeezing a lemon to get a few more drops of juice out. Trying to hold on to old models of publishing and label deals, licensing arrangements and on and on. Squeezing every dollar we can get out of people that aren't wanting to pay in the first place is NOT THE ANSWER. It is not the way to long term growth and sustainability. Just like Att and Verizon lost the unlimited data choke hold, you will eventually lose as well.

My suggestion. Go break something. Change the way you operate. Ask a fan what they want and give it to them. Don't be selfish but selfless. Give more value than you take.

Break Stuff.

Raising Awareness

Two schools of thought.

1. Make something. Tell the world about it through marketing. 
2. Make something so good the world can't help but to find out about it.

There is no right or wrong answer here but it does draw out the question, is your product/music/project so good that your customers tell all their friends?

If you have trouble getting 100 people to buy your product (not including your friends and family), you really should consider if people want it at all. What about it doesn't make sense to a customer or fan?

I think you should start with option 2, then graduate to option 1.
Option 1 usually costs a lot of money and if you don't have something people actually want, you will just waste a TON of marketing money. 
And if you have great word of mouth attention, you can safely spend money marketing to new fans.

GO. Make 100 true fans. If you do it right, that will turn into 500.