In his book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Seth Godin makes a solid case that to be indispensable one must unleash the artist within. Well, how does that apply to people who already claim to be artists, like me? After all, didn’t I unleash my art during my CD release party? What about my CDs and MP3s? Doesn’t iTunes unleash my art for me?
In this series of articles, “The Indispensable Musician”, I am going to share my ideas–and experiments–on what it means for an independent musician to really unleash the artist within. Combined, these ideas generate a fresh paradigm that respects and promotes the uniqueness and value of each independent artist and of each fan.
I will be so bold as to say that the musician who successfully practices these ideas may only require 100 true fans to eek out a living. (See Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans.) I will also say that the first online music store to incorporate these ideas into their system will win. We shall see.
Next…Part 2: The Musician-Centered Paradigm