Derek Sivers

When the subject of rebellion comes up with friends, I often quote this great phrase from “Lonely Dissent” :

[Real rebellion] doesn’t feel like going to school dressed in black. It feels like going to school wearing a clown suit.

Today Jason pointed to this YouTube video of Peter Schiff, two years ago, predicting exactly what’s happening in the U.S. economy right now. (Click here to watch even part of this video to really understand the point of today’s post.)

Every other expert on the show is laughing out loud (literally), scoffing at him, saying that’s the most ridiculous thing ever. (Then watch those same experts make predictions about 2008 that could not have been more wrong.)

For all you musicians and entrepreneurs who are used to having people tell you your plan, band, or company will never work, let this be a great reminder of what real rebellion feels like, and how sweet it is when everyone else is wrong.

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© 2008 Derek Sivers

Singing:

I used to take voice lessons from Warren Senders.

For each lesson, I’d bring in one song I was trying to improve.

First, I’d sing it for him as-is.

Then he’d say, “OK - now do it up an octave.”

“Uh… up an octave?”

“Yes! Go! 1.. 2.. 3.. 4..”

I’d sing the whole song again, in screeching squeaking falsetto, sounding like an undead cartoon mouse. But by the second half of the song, it was almost charming.

Then he’d say, “OK - now do it down an octave.”

“Down an octave? But I don’t think I can!”

“Let’s try! Go! 1.. 2.. 3.. 4..”

Have you ever tried to sing lower than your voice really goes? Mine sounded like a garbage disposal or lawn mower, but he kept saying, “Pitch!” - and the point was the control of the vocal chords down in that chaotic range and the intense focus it takes to hear the pitch in a creak.

Then he’d say, “OK. Back to normal pitch, but double-time! 1!2!3!4!”

I’d sing the whole song twice as fast, which brought out different rhythmic phrasing and articulation challenges.

Then he’d say, “OK. Relax. Now do it half-speed. 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . .”

Singing a song half-speed really brings a microscope to its details!

Now sing it like Bob Dylan. Go! Now Björk. Go! Tom Waits! Go!

Now sing it like I just woke you up at 4am. Now like it’s a chant at a football game!

We’d end with me singing the song at its original speed in my normal voice, like I did the very first time. But of course it sounded different - like seeing your home town after being away for years.

If you care about a song, it’s worth an hour of experimentation. Realizing the initial choices you made are just one of many brings all kinds of weathered wisdom and perspective to your song.

Business:

I’m taking an entrepreneurship class now. I’ve never studied business before.

We analyzed a business plan for a mail-order pantyhose company.

After reading the whole thing, I felt like my old voice teacher:

• “OK - make a plan that only requires $1000. Go!”
• “Now make a plan for 10-times as many customers. Go!”
• “Now do it without a website. Go!”
• “Now make all your initial assumptions wrong, and have it work anyway. Go!”
• “Now show how you would franchise it. Go!”

You can’t pretend there’s only one way to do it! No business goes as planned, so make 10 radically different plans.

Realizing the initial choices you made are just one of many brings all kinds of weathered wisdom and insight into your business.

Life:

• Now you’re living in New York City, obsessed with success. Go!
• Now you’re a free spirit, backpacking around Thailand. Go!
• Now you’re a confident extrovert and everyone loves you. Go!
• Now you’re married and your kids are your life. Go!
• Now you spend a few years in relative seclusion, reading and walking. Go!

… bringing all kinds of weathered wisdom and perspective into your life.

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© 2008 Derek Sivers

Jenny Holzer’s “Truisms” - (provocative statements posted in public places) - make great song-lyric inspiration. They’re listed, below:

I love how they are designed to get a reaction, whether “that’s so true!” or “that’s so wrong!”

Lyric-writing could use more of that.

• a little knowledge can go a long way
• a lot of professionals are crackpots
• a man can’t know what it is to be a mother
• a name means a lot just by itself
• a positive attitude means all the difference in the world
• a relaxed man is not necessarily a better man
• a sense of timing is the mark of genius
• a sincere effort is all you can ask
• a single event can have infinitely many interpretations
• a solid home base builds a sense of self
• a strong sense of duty imprisons you
• absolute submission can be a form of freedom
• abstraction is a type of decadence
• abuse of power comes as no surprise
• action causes more trouble than thought
• alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries
• all things are delicately interconnected
• ambition is just as dangerous as complacency
• ambivalence can ruin your life
• an elite is inevitable
• anger or hate can be a useful motivating force
• animalism is perfectly healthy
• any surplus is immoral
• anything is a legitimate area of investigation
• artificial desires are despoiling the earth
• at times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning
• at times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind
• automation is deadly
• awful punishment awaits really bad people
• bad intentions can yield good results
• being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular
• being happy is more important than anything else
• being judgmental is a sign of life
• being sure of yourself means you’re a fool
• believing in rebirth is the same as admitting defeat
• boredom makes you do crazy things
• calm is more conductive to creativity than is anxiety
• categorizing fear is calming
• change is valuable when the oppressed become tyrants
• chasing the new is dangerous to society
• children are the most cruel of all
• children are the hope of the future
• class action is a nice idea with no substance
• class structure is as artificial as plastic
• confusing yourself is a way to stay honest
• crime against property is relatively unimportant
• decadence can be an end in itself
• decency is a relative thing
• dependence can be a meal ticket
• description is more important than metaphor
• deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
• disgust is the appropriate response to most situations
• disorganization is a kind of anesthesia
• don’t place to much trust in experts
• drama often obscures the real issues
• dreaming while awake is a frightening contradiction
• dying and coming back gives you considerable perspective
• dying should be as easy as falling off a log
• eating too much is criminal
• elaboration is a form of pollution
• emotional responses ar as valuable as intellectual responses
• enjoy yourself because you can’t change anything anyway
• ensure that your life stays in flux
• even your family can betray you
• every achievement requires a sacrifice
• everyone’s work is equally important
• everything that’s interesting is new
• exceptional people deserve special concessions
• expiring for love is beautiful but stupid
• expressing anger is necessary
• extreme behavior has its basis in pathological psychology
• extreme self-consciousness leads to perversion
• faithfulness is a social not a biological law
• fake or real indifference is a powerful personal weapon
• fathers often use too much force
• fear is the greatest incapacitator
• freedom is a luxury not a necessity
• giving free rein to your emotions is an honest way to live
• go all out in romance and let the chips fall where they may
• going with the flow is soothing but risky
• good deeds eventually are rewarded
• government is a burden on the people
• grass roots agitation is the only hope
• guilt and self-laceration are indulgences
• habitual contempt doesn’t reflect a finer sensibility
• hiding your emotions is despicable
• holding back protects your vital energies
• humanism is obsolete
• humor is a release
• ideals are replaced by conventional goals at a certain age
• if you aren’t political your personal life should be exemplary
• if you can’t leave your mark give up
• if you have many desires your life will be interesting
• if you live simply there is nothing to worry about
• ignoring enemies is the best way to fight
• illness is a state of mind
• imposing order is man’s vocation for chaos is hell
• in some instances it’s better to die than to continue
• inheritance must be abolished
• it can be helpful to keep going no matter what
• it is heroic to try to stop time
• it is man’s fate to outsmart himself
• it is a gift to the world not to have babies
• it’s better to be a good person than a famous person
• it’s better to be lonely than to be with inferior people
• it’s better to be naive than jaded
• it’s better to study the living fact than to analyze history
• it’s crucial to have an active fantasy life
• it’s good to give extra money to charity
• it’s important to stay clean on all levels
• it’s just an accident that your parents are your parents
• it’s not good to hold too many absolutes
• it’s not good to operate on credit
• it’s vital to live in harmony with nature
• just believing something can make it happen
• keep something in reserve for emergencies
• killing is unavoidable but nothing to be proud of
• knowing yourself lets you understand others
• knowledge should be advanced at all costs
• labor is a life-destroying activity
• lack of charisma can be fatal
• leisure time is a gigantic smoke screen
• listen when your body talks
• looking back is the first sign of aging and decay
• loving animals is a substitute activity
• low expectations are good protection
• manual labor can be refreshing and wholesome
• men are not monogamous by nature
• moderation kills the spirit
• money creates taste
• monomania is a prerequisite of success
• morals are for little people
• most people are not fit to rule themselves
• mostly you should mind your own business
• mothers shouldn’t make too many sacrifices
• much was decided before you were born
• murder has its sexual side
• myth can make reality more intelligible
• noise can be hostile
• nothing upsets the balance of good and evil
• occasionally principles are more valuable than people
• offer very little information about yourself
• often you should act like you are sexless
• old friends are better left in the past
• opacity is an irresistible challenge
• pain can be a very positive thing
• people are boring unless they are extremists
• people are nuts if they think they are important
• people are responsible for what they do unless they are insane
• people who don’t work with their hands are parasites
• people who go crazy are too sensitive
• people won’t behave if they have nothing to lose
• physical culture is second best
• planning for the future is escapism
• playing it safe can cause a lot of damage in the long run
• politics is used for personal gain
• potential counts for nothing until it’s realized
• private property created crime
• pursuing pleasure for the sake of pleasure will ruin you
• push yourself to the limit as often as possible
• raise boys and girls the same way
• random mating is good for debunking sex myths
• rechanneling destructive impulses is a sign of maturity
• recluses always get weak
• redistributing wealth is imperative
• relativity is no boon to mankind
• religion causes as many problems as it solves
• remember you always have freedom of choice
• repetition is the best way to learn
• resolutions serve to ease our conscience
• revolution begins with changes in the individual
• romantic love was invented to manipulate women
• routine is a link with the past
• routine small excesses are worse than then the occasional debauch
• sacrificing yourself for a bad cause is not a moral act
• salvation can’t be bought and sold
• self-awareness can be crippling
• self-contempt can do more harm than good
• selfishness is the most basic motivation
• selflessness is the highest achievement
• separatism is the way to a new beginning
• sex differences are here to stay
• sin is a means of social control
• slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
• sloppy thinking gets worse over time
• solitude is enriching
• sometimes science advances faster than it should
• sometimes things seem to happen of their own accord
• spending too much time on self-improvement is antisocial
• starvation is nature’s way
• stasis is a dream state
• sterilization is a weapon of the rulers
• strong emotional attachment stems from basic insecurity
• stupid people shouldn’t breed
• survival of the fittest applies to men and animals
• symbols are more meaningful than things themselves
• taking a strong stand publicizes the opposite position
• talking is used to hide one’s inability to act
• teasing people sexually can have ugly consequences
• technology will make or break us
• the cruelest disappointment is when you let yourself down
• the desire to reproduce is a death wish
• the family is living on borrowed time
• the idea of revolution is an adolescent fantasy
• the idea of transcendence is used to obscure oppression
• the idiosyncratic has lost its authority
• the most profound things are inexpressible
• the mundane is to be cherished
• the new is nothing but a restatement of the old
• the only way to be pure is to stay by yourself
• the sum of your actions determines what you are
• the unattainable is invariable attractive
• the world operates according to discoverable laws
• there are too few immutable truths today
• there’s nothing except what you sense
• there’s nothing redeeming in toil
• thinking too much can only cause problems
• threatening someone sexually is a horrible act
• timidity is laughable
• to disagree presupposes moral integrity
• to volunteer is reactionary
• torture is barbaric
• trading a life for a life is fair enough
• true freedom is frightful
• unique things must be the most valuable
• unquestioning love demonstrates largesse of spirit
• using force to stop force is absurd
• violence is permissible even desirable occasionally
• war is a purification rite
• we must make sacrifices to maintain our quality of life
• when something terrible happens people wake up
• wishing things away is not effective
• with perseverance you can discover any truth
• words tend to be inadequate
• worrying can help you prepare
• you are a victim of the rules you live by
• you are guileless in your dreams
• you are responsible for constituting the meaning of things
• you are the past present and future
• you can live on through your descendants
• you can’t expect people to be something they’re not
• you can’t fool others if you’re fooling yourself
• you don’t know what’s what until you support yourself
• you have to hurt others to be extraordinary
• you must be intimate with a token few
• you must disagree with authority figures
• you must have one grand passion
• you must know where you stop and the world begins
• you can understand someone of your sex only
• you owe the world not the other way around
• you should study as much as possible
• your actions ae pointless if no one notices
• your oldest fears are the worst ones

All of these © Jenny Holzer (not me!)

Comments

© 2008 Derek Sivers

Last week, I went to the PopKomm Music Conference in Berlin, Germany.

Since I had no real business need to be there, I tried to be the eyes and ears of my musician clients, bringing my video camera around to every company that was exhibiting there, and asking them questions from a musician’s point of view.

So, here are the edited videos from 10 companies that seemed worth talking to - and the URL for each.

Whether they can help you directly or not is up to you, but I hope you find it interesting, either way.

PhonoNet, digital distribution to German radio and journalists

Relab, custom software for hosting your own remix contest

ForEars, an Italian record label

SongLink, a UK-based pitch-list for songwriters

VIP-Booking, online database of European venue/touring contacts

Bertus, a Dutch one-stop distributor

ArtistXite, a widget for selling music

MusikWoche, the Billboard Magazine of Germany

StereoMinds, production and songwriting team from Frankfurt

SonXs, music video uploading and voting

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© 2008 Derek Sivers

Nobody knows the future.

That’s a hard but crucial lesson to learn.

If even ultimate insiders like Greenspan, Bernanke, and Paulson don’t know the future, then neither does Jim Cramer, your stockbroker, Nostradamus, nor you.

We have a human need for certainty that desperately yearns to believe that someone can turn our future from unknown to known.

Even if we logically understand that it’s impossible, we’re emotionally sucked back in and fooled again when someone important tells us with such conviction what the future will hold.

But nobody knows the future.

Some people predict so many things, so when the random future lands on their number they can say, “See! I told you!” But how many times did they say so, and it didn’t come true? (Like the joke, “He correctly predicted 12 of the last 3 recessions.”)

Our pleasure-seeking brains remember the times in our past when we were right, and forget when we were wrong. So it’s easy to think we’re smarter than we are.

Every time I speak on a panel, the moderator has to ask, “What’s the future of the music business?”

My first thought is always, “Nobody knows. Anyone who pretends to know is not to be trusted.” (And, even the ultimate insiders, the heads of every major record label, got it wrong.)

But then my thoughts turn to whoever is asking the question.

Why should it matter what anyone says?

Realistically, what would you change about what you’re doing, day-to-day?

And so it comes back to fundamentals.

Just like we know there will be gravity, and water will still be wet, there are laws that don’t depend on predicting the future.

You know that people love a memorable melody.

You can’t know what instrumentation or production-values will be in vogue.

You know that people prefer people who make an emotional connection with them.

You can’t know what technology will carry that communication.

You know that writing lots of songs increases your chances of writing a hit.

You can’t know which song will be a hit.

So the best thing to do instead of predicting the future is to focus on the fundamentals that never fluctuate.

If you’re a songwriter, write at least a song a week, always aiming for a memorable melody and words that make an emotional connection.

If you’re a performer, make weekly improvements on your ability to captivate an audience, and make a goal of really connecting with 10 new people every week.

The details are unique to you, and will change constantly. But the real point will never change.

Comments

© 2008 Derek Sivers