Mike Monday

Inspiration On Demand

Playtime for Cats

Next Saturday (December 11th 2010) I’m DJing at East Village in London for my old Playtime buddy, Grant.

Playtime was the club “that whacked you on the arse with the Racing Post and called you Princess” and where I had a monthly residency for five wonderful years, which were (in terms of DJing) easily my happiest.

The night’s called Catzmuzik, and because Dan and Jon Cat were such regulars at Playtime it’s something of a reunion. The Playtime crew were the friendliest crowd I’ve ever had the pleasure of entertaining and even though those days are long gone, I still miss the unique atmosphere of our little club night.

So if you’re anywhere near Shoreditch in London next Saturday, come and join us for a little pre-Christmas knees up. I shall be suitably misty eyed…

(Still) The Best Book For Those Who Don’t Get How The Music Industry Is Changing. And It’s Free.

If you’re at all interested in writing, releasing, performing or promoting music and haven’t read Andrew Dubber’s New Music Strategies yet, then stop what you’re doing, give yourself a slap on the wrist and look at what happened to them and there’s only one mention of Twitter still in its infancy back then), this supports the first point he makes:

“You’re always hearing that the music business has changed. That’s not quite true. In fact, it’s changing – and that’s quite a different thing.”

And while the specific tools and services Dubber mentions continue to change, the principles remain true and were more than a little prescient:

“Just as patronage is old fashioned, other aspects of the music industry
become less significant as we move into the new media environment. The notion of giving money to someone in exchange for a piece of music that you can come home and listen to repeatedly is quite quickly going to be seen as passe.

While we will always want to sell an individual recording to an individual
consumer in some kind of physical form, the writing is well and truly on the wall: this is no longer going to be the main way in which money is made from music.

In that respect, despite its current success, the iTunes Music Store is still
completely old school. “

I reread it recently and shall no doubt do so again and again. I consider it as seminal. It completely changed my approach to (and probably saved) my career in music.

For anyone who hasn’t done so yet, it’s a must read. You can New Music Strategies website for free.

One Simple Technique To Beat The Fear And Do Your Art

So now you know what you were born to do, how do you find the strength to face your fear and do your art?

The answer is simple: do it every day.

Without fail, put your time in. No exceptions. 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s writing, performing, running, playing poker or starting a business. Whatever it is, set aside a sacrosanct chunk of time each day for complete devotion to your art. Even ten minutes a day is enough at first. Just do your art every day and give it your all.

When you make a daily commitment like this you turn it into a habit. And habits are hard to break. The Fear doesn’t stand a chance.

Go right now, be your best; do your art.

If you’re inspired that’s brilliant. But if you’re going backwards and wonder why you’re doing this and think you’re not good enough…

…just do it anyway until your time is up. There’s always tomorrow.

Why Am I Giving Away My Favourite Mike Monday Tune For Free?

I scratched my head for ages. Which track from my recent album should I give away for free? My favourite? My least favourite? Something in the middle?

Despite writing the album in ten weeks, in hindsight it turned out quite well, with four of the tracks – Robot Go Disco / Crush / Lullaby / Do Be Do – ranking amongst my best work (in my not-so-humble opinion).

But more than that, after a few months and a number of listens, I’ve realised that Lullaby might be my personal favourite. Out of anything I’ve ever written. I get goosebumps every time (especially at the ridiculous “Whitney Houston” drum hit). This could be down to the subject matter, but even taking this into account may I rather immodestly suggest that it kicks some serious butt?

It feels weird to give away your best work. Despite all my big talk about the new reality, for someone who’s been a participant in the traditional industry for a good few years, there’s still a residue of attachment to the old model of ownership. I mean, I’m not giving away all my music for free (yet) am I? Doesn’t giving Lullaby away for free then devalue it and suggest that it’s worth less than the ones which cost something?

No. Because as a gift it has to be the very best of me. And I hope you enjoy it.

Download Lullaby for free

100 Things Every Music Producer Should Know: #3/ Your Tools Define You

You can make music that sounds like anything from an acid house pioneer to a zither player. Isn’t that great?

No. Because when you’re able to sound like anything, it’s too easy to sound like nothing.

A limitless sonic palette is a dangerous thing; the best electronic music artists are masters at limiting themselves to tools, techniques and processes which make them distinctive. And in a saturated market being distinctive is half the battle.

Don’t buy the latest kit just because you’ve heard that it’s amazing or that this hero of yours uses it. These machines are merely your tools; what matters is what you do with them.

Look at what you’ve got now and how you can express yourself with it. There’s already more at your fingertips than the greatest musicians of all time ever had.

Find a synth, vst plugin, sampler, controller or whatever and focus on it exclusively until you know it inside out. Try writing a tune on it alone. Or even an entire album. This will force you to use it creatively and you’ll find your own way of playing it which will be uniquely yours.