Author Archives: Brad Henderson

Norah Jones Has Huge Balls

Friday, May 4, 2012 No Comments by Brad Henderson

Have you heard Norah Jones‘ new Little Broken Hearts record yet? Personally, I’m digging it. But whatever you think of the music, you need to show Ms. Jones some serious respect. She may be the bravest artist around with that level of success (did I mention that Come Away With Me has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide?). Oddly, when most people have that kind of crazy success, they become prisoners of it. They obsess over topping themselves. Or, even worse, they waste their time and attention on not losing their place in the world.

But not Norah. The new record is produced by Danger Mouse. Yep. You read it right. And before that she put out her second record with The Little Willies, an old-school country band. Even the art direction on this new project is unexpected and bold. Yet, just like all the music she’s done up to now, it’s still very much “her.” That’s really saying something. To pull that off, you have to know exactly who you are. And have the balls to stand up and and tell the world.

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How An Unknown Band Helped Launch The Career Of Another Unknown

Friday, April 20, 2012 No Comments by Brad Henderson

I just stumbled across my own Facebook post from January 9th about this Walk Off The Earth video. At the time, I noted that it had an amazing 4.5 million views on YouTube. Now here we are, a little over three months later and the video has an astounding 93 MILLION views. And oddly enough, that’s not even the biggest part of the story. Click thru to see the rest of the story… Read more »

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You Want To Bring Me In Later? Thanks, But No Thanks.

Thursday, April 19, 2012 No Comments by Brad Henderson

I hear it again and again. “I really love what you do and I think it would be great. Once we get a little further down the line, I’d love to talk to you again about working together.” Would you tell an architect that you “want to go ahead and get the foundation and framing done” and then bring her in? Nope. Because all she’s going to do is tell you that you built a crappy foundation and you need to start over. Same with building a career. If you’re getting strategy and planning help, get it up front. If you can only afford to work with someone for three months, make it the first three months of the year, not the last three. You’ll get on the right path and learn a lot about what you should be doing on your own later. And a smart strategist and planner can set you up to do the execution on your own.

There is no magical point where suddenly you have more money or a moment of total certainty when you say “NOW is the perfect moment to get help” — unless, of course, you screw something up beyond your own ability to even guess how to fix it. Yes, it’s an investment. And not a small one. But investing is about timing. Do it now. Because the most common way that people waste that investment is by paying someone to spend their time and your money undoing what you’ve been doing for the last nine months. And in many cases, it really can’t be fixed. And even if it can, I’m over it. I want to work with people who get it. People who want a partner, not a repairman.

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You Get More Done When You Know What’s Worth Doing

Friday, March 16, 2012 No Comments by Brad Henderson

Being an independent musician or photographer is tough. Not only do you have to be a creative genius, you have to be an accountant, salesman, project manager, customer service rep and marketing guru, too. And based on my conversations with people who do it day in and day out, they’re willing to do the work, they just don’t know what is and isn’t worth doing. So I’m launching a new idea to help on the branding and marketing front. It’s called the BigHowdy Mini Brand Exam for creative professionals. Find out more after the jump. Read more »

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What Are Your Holiday Plans?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 No Comments by Brad Henderson

It’s the holiday season and there’s a lot of stuff going on. Are you and your music a part of it? Because your fans want you to be a part of their holiday season. There is no time of year that people’s hearts and wallets are more open. So give ‘em a discount in your store. Create a special holiday bundle. Or record an acoustic Christmas carol and give it away. Make a funny video. Just do something. Trust me, if you have fun, you won’t come across like a self-promoting asshole. Have a good time and share it with the people who like you and your music. After all, pretty soon it’ll just be winter again. But right now, tis the season.

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A Big Dose Of Reality (gulp)

Monday, October 24, 2011 1 Comment by Brad Henderson

With musicians, photographers and artists as clients, I’m constantly faced with the reality that those industries have changed. The old model is gone and it has yet to be replaced by a new one. Maybe there will be a new model. But maybe there won’t be. Music hasn’t changed, but the business around it has. Technology is slowly rolling through industries and turning them on their heads. Photoshop killed commercial illustration in the 1990s. Napster and iTunes killed the music business in the 2000s. And now variants of the same process are happening in photography, design, advertising, publishing, television and movies. And it seems like this round of change is coming even faster. It’s accelerating.

It’s a different world out there. It doesn’t matter what it should be or if it’s better or worse. It just is. What worked ten years ago doesn’t necessarily work now. And what works today may not work tomorrow. The world is changing. If you don’t change with it, you starve. It really isn’t much more complicated than that.

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You Are A Bad Standard

Monday, October 3, 2011 No Comments by Brad Henderson

Let’s cut the to chase. Nobody is going to care as much as you do about your career. They won’t work as hard. They won’t do it the way you would. Why? Because they can’t. They aren’t you. And you shouldn’t expect them to be. Good people will be there. And they’ll care. They’ll work hard and get emotional and lose sleep and go out on limbs for you. But when it’s all said and done, their life doesn’t depend on it the way yours does.

So if your biggest complaint about your publicist or manager or agent is that they don’t care as much as you or work as hard as you or do it the way you would do it, get over it. It’s a bad standard to hold people to. It means that you are either A) chronically dissatisfied with the people around you or B) trying to do it all yourself and, eventually, failing. Either way, you’re unhappy and your career can’t grow. And that isn’t just bad for your career, it’s a crappy way to live your life.

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Ira Glass On Creative Taste Versus Skill

Friday, September 30, 2011 No Comments by Brad Henderson

My friend Wayne Leeloy from Topspin posted something on Facebook today that caught my attention because it rang true with something that’s been on my mind a lot lately: The difference between having talent and having skill. Ira Glass, of NPR‘s This American Life, makes some great points. Talent (or specifically taste, as Glass puts it), to a point, can replace skill. But initially, the lack of skill can be limiting. And in the long run, to be great at something requires both talent and skill. And that means doing it. Over and over again. And being bad at it for a while. Here’s the quote from Ira Glass:

“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

 But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Click through to see the extended video from Glass that the quote was taken from. Read more »

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Shut Up And Do It

Thursday, September 29, 2011 No Comments by Brad Henderson

If you check the date on my last post before this one, you’ll see it’s been a while. A loooooong while. Why? Because, like everyone else, the longer I wait to do a new post, the bigger deal it seems like it’s going to be to get started again. But it isn’t. In fact, I’m determined that this post you’re reading now will be written, posted, added to Facebook and Twitter in less than five minutes.

Content—whether it is writing, video, photos or anything else—is the conversation that keeps your relationship alive with your audience. Stop posting and they will eventually stop waiting. And stop caring.

So, take a photo, shoot a video on your webcam, do something today. Something quick and simple. It doesn’t have to change the world, it just has to break the momentum (or lack thereof). Go. Now. And thanks for still checking out the blog. I’ll try to do better.

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There’s Making Music & There’s Making YOUR Music. Which Is More Important To You?

Thursday, June 30, 2011 No Comments by Brad Henderson

Not many people get to make a living making music. And almost no one gets to do it making THEIR music. Meaning this: Are you Tom Petty or are you Tom Petty’s keyboard player? Or the keyboard player in a wedding band? Or a hotel lounge? Obviously, those are various degrees of professional success and prestige, but in all cases, unless you’re Tom Petty, you are getting paid for your performance, not for your artistic expression. Some people can do those jobs and be happy playing their own stuff in their garage or corner pub. For others, self-expression is the point and everything else just sucks the life and the joy out of their art. So the real question is, which one are you? Both are valid. Both are creative. If you can blend the two, then go get a great gig and you can still make your own music on the side. But if you fall into the latter category, you’re waaaay better off getting a desk job or bartending to pay your bills and keep your art pure. If you want to be happy, you need to figure out which category you fall into and make your choices accordingly. Because if by earning a living in music you lose the joy and fulfillment from making your art, it just isn’t worth it. Not even close.

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