Every so often I go through my bookmarks.  Like maybe once every 2 years.  And I rediscover some page or site that is magical.  Such was the case the other day with a page I’d bookmarked from Seth Godin’s blog.  Seth is one of these guys that writes business books using common sense.  He’s a great writer and very successful, and he has a daily blog that is sometimes amazing.

Here are a couple of things from the page I’d bookmarked:

 

Today, there are more ways than ever to share your talents and hobbies in public. And if you’re driven, talented and focused, you may discover that the market loves what you do. That people read your blog or click on your cartoons or listen to your mp3s. But, alas, that doesn’t mean you can monetize it, quit your day job and spend all day writing songs. The pitfalls: 1. In order to monetize your work, you’ll probably corrupt it, taking out the magic in search of dollars and 2. Attention doesn’t always equal significant cash flow. I think it makes sense to make your art your art, to give yourself over to it without regard for commerce.

Further in the post he states:

“Do your art. But don’t wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.”

He also says that if you keep your art pure, ironically, you might end up with something that is able to generate income.  I’m paraphrasing.

I love Seth’s take.  Make your music.  If you try to write pop hits, news flash – the world doesn’t need your pop hits.  What the world does need is your originality and your creativity.  Every so often I’ll get an email from someone who really connected with one of my songs, and it’s such an amazing thing.  Because I write what I want to write.  I’d love to get a call from Pixar saying they want to license one of my songs for a movie.  But if I try to write a song for Pixar and attach my sense of self worth to that song, I’m gonna be really bumming when they don’t buy it.  This is just one perspective – I totally get the “all in” mindset of “not having a backup plan.”  I think it’s brave.  But I do think that in order to make a living writing songs, you’re not going to get to have a ton of say.  When you make a product to sell, you need to meet the needs of the buyer.  When you make a product for yourself, to express yourself, you need to meet your own expectations and standards.  I personally agree with Seth, but I also put my music online and everywhere via CDBaby, because if my music does make any money, hey, I’ll take it.  And I do get checks in the mail from time to time.  Small checks, but still.  It’s kinda neat.

LINK – http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/12/doing-what-you-love-but-maybe-you-cant-get-paid-for-it.html