Mike Monday

Inspiration On Demand

Stop Complaining

You’ve wasted too much time complaining.

The game has changed and you can either sit on the sidelines or start playing.

This is as big a revolution in the way we consume and distribute music as there’s ever been in history.

As big as sheet music. As big as recorded music. As big as radio.

If not bigger than the lot.

And you’ve spent way too long whining about it instead of getting your head around it. You’re missing a golden opportunity.

Or more accurately – lots of them.

Because the writing’s on the wall for selling recorded music it doesn’t mean the same is true for music as a whole.

Our new currency isn’t vinyl, cds or even mp3s. It’s attention.

So how are you going to get mine?

Goodbye Fear, Hello Muse – Why You Should Externalize Your Creative Struggle

To your left is The Fear. This is what The Fear tells you every day:

“You’re not good enough.”

“They’ll laugh at you.”

“You’ve already done your best work.”

“You haven’t got the right tools.”

“It’s not perfect, go back and change it.”

To your right is The Muse.

She gives you ideas. But she is flighty, unpredictable and often arrives at inopportune moments. She also startles easily and deserts you at the drop of a hat. But give her enough space and she will repay you with more ideas than you’ll ever need.

Thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk on the idea of an external genius and my current favourite book Steven Pressfield’s “The War Of Art” who names his fear “Resistance”, recently I’ve experimented with externalizing my daily creative struggle.

It’s been so helpful that I had to share it with you. It’ll take a lot of pressure off your shoulders. Here’s why.

By personifying your inspiration and fear and making yourself the battleground, you’re removing the link between your work and your self-worth.

Beating yourself up for not doing enough good work is the best way of playing into The Fear’s hands and the quickest way to make The Muse run for the hills.

It’s also FUN! Let’s face it, the daily grind of creating anything can be a mundane business, and viewing your work as a struggle between the forces of darkness and light makes it a deliciously exciting prospect.

It’s certainly got me coming back for more.

What’s Next?

This site has been my main focus for a little under a year. Since writing and releasing my third album (my first without a traditional record label) I’ve had a couple of months to decide what to do next:

Writing

I’ve come to enjoy the writing almost as much as I do the music. It gives me a break from my music composition and production “day job” and it helps me process and clarify my thinking about my work.

But while it’s been a useful personal exercise what’s more interesting to me is focussing on the value I can give you.

Over 16 years of making a living from writing electronic music has given me a wealth of experience in the areas of creativity, motivation and productivity. Thomas Edison famously said that “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” and after bucket loads of sweat, tears and a sprinkling of inspiration, I look back on over 250 releases and remixes and realise how much I’ve achieved. But it’s been anything but easy.

The process of creating anything – whether it be music, a web site, a painting or company is a tortuous affair. I’ve used many techniques to fight the good fight over the years and some have worked better than others. By sharing my experiences and insights I’ll help you win your daily battle.

It’s my sincere belief that in tough times the world needs us to realise our dreams. It’s natural to hunker down and play it safe when finances are tight and prospects uncertain, but the more savvy of you will turn your dreams into goals and set about achieving them. If I can help just one person do that I’ll have achieved one of mine.

Music

I’m practising what I preach with my music. 

You might assume that as a self-employed music producer I’ve followed my dreams. You’d be mistaken. I’ve felt a disconnect for some time now. 10 tracks 10 weeks was an attempt to address that, as I thought the problem was external. Releasing the album myself and writing it in public inspired me in some ways, but in hindsight I was tinkering with the process of distribution rather than addressing the source of the problem within me.

If I look back to what I loved about music when I was a kid, it was performance. I started piano at the age of 7, quickly moved onto bassoon then saxophone and played in numerous bands, choirs and orchestras. This fed my soul. I even dabbled in free improvisation at one point and (even though much of the resulting music was a racket) I loved the unexpected things that could happen in an environment of pure performance.

But I ended up producing music in a studio and over the last decade I’ve only performed as a DJ. It’s been good to me, and had amazing opportunities to travel the world DJing everywhere from Kazakhstan to Australia, but I’ve increasingly felt that something is missing.

So I’m learning a new instrument. And when I say a new instrument, I mean new not only to me, but probably) to you as well. It’s an Eigenharp Pico. It’s more than an instrument because (when I get good enough) it will allow me to both perform and compose music on the fly. I’m extremely excited about the endless possibilities that this wonderful little machine opens up.

But it’ll be some time before I can inflict any music on you because it has such a horribly steep learning curve. It’s partly the challenge that attracts me to it though, and I’ll check in occasionally with my progress.

Money

I intend to make a living from the site at some point, but at the moment my focus is on providing as much free and useful content as possible. 

As for the music, I wish I could continue to offer it for free as I did for the 10 weeks of my 10 tracks, but unfortunately Bandcamp have started charging for free downloads. 

So until I make enough money to fund free downloads my latest album will stay at the very reasonable price of £5. And if you’re curious to know what my music sounds like you can download my favourite track off the album for free.

Manifesto

The idea of creating a manifesto appeals to me. It’s been on my mind since I saw Mathew Herbert’s personal manifesto a few years ago. I’m now working on a blueprint which I’ll live (and work) by, but which will be applicable to anyone who wants to realise their creative ambitions.

Aims

  • One post every other day on the subjects of creativity, productivity and motivation. My mantra is “less is more” and I’ll say as much as I can in as few words as possible. Although I will write longer pieces (like this) when the subject matter requires it.
  • At least one studio tip a week for those interested in electronic music production.
  • Occasional updates about how I’m getting on with my little Pico project.
  • A monthly newsletter with content you won’t find anywhere else.
  • I want to be fluent enough on the Pico to start releasing new music by January 2011. And then my tentative plan is to release a new track every week when my schedule allows.
  • A creative manifesto or blueprint to be finished early next year. It’ll be of value to anyone who wants to discover what they were born to do and how to do it.

How I Beat The Fear (Today)

Steven Pressfield calls it “Resistance”. It comes from what Seth Godin calls “The Lizard Brain”.

I call it The Fear.

Anyone who’s tried to create, build or do anything knows The Fear; it’s what lies between us and our art. It’s the source of all procrastination and failure to complete.

Recently I’ve read voraciously about The Fear and how to overcome it. It’s been a relief and joy to find that I’m not alone, it’s something we all face every day.

But The Fear is such an wily foe that it’s hijacked my investigations. The more I read, the more I succumb to it. Researching and reading isn’t doing.

So today I’m back on the attack. I’m playing it at its own game. I’m writing this post about The Fear in order to overcome it.

And I just won.

(For today anyway)

10 Tracks 10 Weeks – My Conclusions

Its been just over a month since I completed my 10 tracks 10 weeks project, enough time for me to draw some conclusions about the whole shebang.

(For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, through August and September this year I wrote and released one track a week for 10 weeks, you can read about the process and listen to the music here.)

As I can’t remember exactly exactly what my original hopes were for the project (it seems like such a long time ago now), I’ve gone through the original 10 tracks 10 weeks blog post, and will address each of them to see how I fared.

I wanted to find my distinct musical voice

I got 50% of the way there.

While I some of this album fits together as a whole, in my opinion other parts don’t. I didn’t have the luxury of writing more than 10 tracks and picking the best ones, and one of the points of this process was to discover the “real” me musically, so I am forgiving myself for the slightly schizophrenic nature of the finished product.

I still think its an engaging listen (which I guess is the most important thing), but I’m sure that if I’d written this album more traditionally, a few of the tracks wouldn’t have made it to the final cut. Not because I don’t like them (in fact I don’t hate any of them which is something of a surprise), but because they don’t fit.

Overall the exercise was very useful to me as a musician, because I discovered what feels right, and have got closer to understanding what makes me tick musically.

And for the record Robot Go Disco, Crush, Lullaby and Do Be Do are the tracks which speak most to my heart and make me happy.

I didn’t want to think about the market

Fail!

I found that the opposite occurred, but this wasn’t a negative experience at all. Quite the reverse.

While I wasn’t worrying about sales exactly (because it was all free) at first I became quite fixated on the number of downloads until I forced myself to stop constantly checking the figures.

But the direct response I got from all the comments, Tweets and Facebook messages was a revelation. I was much more aware and attuned to the reaction of my audience whilst writing the music than I’ve ever been in the past.

And I was surprised to find that instead of leading to insecurities and difficulties in my creative process, this connection sustained me in my difficult moments. I found them immensely energising and inspiring. (Thank you!)

I wanted to avoid “endless head scratching”

Apart from the experience of connecting directly with my audience, this was the biggest benefit I got from the process. I’ve always found writing any music to be singularly painful and somewhat excruciating, and 10 tracks 10 weeks was no different.

But after consistently hitting deadline for 10 weeks in a row, I’ve gained an enormous amount of confidence in my ability to ship. I’ve also realised that its much more important and artistically honest to get something out even if you’re unsure about it than go round in circles trying to make it perfect. “Prolific not perfect” is my mantra now.

So in general I’d say 10 tracks 10 weeks was an unrivaled success. The finished product is good enough, in fact something I’m proud of. I have thought about repeating the process, then choosing the 10 tracks that work the best out of the resulting 20 to make a finished album with, but I’ve decided to leave it as is.

Because for all its faults, 10 tracks 10 weeks is a document of a process and an experience which I want to preserve and remember for what it was – the most exciting and enlightening creative project I have every undertaken.

And anyway, now its time for me to get on with my next idea! 🙂

What do you think? How was it for you? What are your favourite tracks?