This entry was inspired by a conversation about the subconscious mind, self-sabotoge and how it relates to societal systems. A quick disclaimer, I certainly don't have all the answers about that specific connection at that scale, but it's interesting to consider, do we build our own personal flaws into our macro-systems? I thought it might be useful to explore the nature of limiting beliefs as they do strike at the root of most of life's "challenges"... I believe It's common for creatives to experience this, since I often read artists talking about mental-health and depression. Please be prepared for a long and information-dense article. Apologies if it's not exactly bite-sized or easily digestible. Be welcome to discuss the ideas - Cody Gene Exploring Limiting beliefsLet's explore some ideas around "what holds us back" where it relates to our pursuits as creatives. for example, let's say you're a recording artist and your mix has some issues leaving you telling yourself 'i suck, i'll never be good enough.' It's likely not a matter of the quality of your gear, which DAW, or which plugins you're using, a common misconception - 'if i just upgrade this or that, then i'll be better at ____ - but let's dig deeper, what's at the root to prevents success?
Let's talk about limiting beliefs. We can address limiting beliefs through the shifting of mindset, sounds simple right? Easy in-Principle but Difficult in-Practice. How can one unlock his/her full potential? How does one overcome obstacles, to pursue dreams with confidence, with resilience, with passion? Results dont happen immediately but the development of this internal-skill through the training of ones mind can be key to breaking free of negative cycles and achieving better results faster. Creativity, at it's core, drives the ability to think outside the box. another word that comes to mind is innovation, or the ability to come up with original ideas, and to execute them in novel and engaging ways. Creative thinking enables artists and promoters to break free from traditional approaches and experiment with new methods of connecting with audiences. This articl explores ideas around innovation and creativity in the context of promotion strategies to become more engaging and appealing to your target audience Let's explore the idea of authenticity. Now this idea is very context-dependent. I might imagine a sliding scale between authenticity and mystique. on one-hand is genuine self expression, and on the other-hand is a fantasy-world-building aspect. at any point along this spectrum where your art fits, the concept of authenticity can be utilized to establish genuine connections with an audience. Who is your audience? well, That's a topic for another article. Authenticity involves staying true to the identity you're creating. Consider values, and artistic vision, and thematic elements if you're lean towards 'mystique', and characteristics of your personality, likes, and interests if you lean towards 'self-expression'. It's a 'you do you' type of situation here, nobody can tell you you're wrong, but if the concept is integrated into your promotion strategies, it can create a more cohesive experience while allowing you to express yourself in a way that feels authentic and natural. You might find that you and your fans start to resonate on a deeper level and build trust faster and maintain loyalty over time. Effective promotion focuses on connecting with a new audience in meaningful ways, and strengthening the relationship with an existing audience. This involves understanding the desires, interests, and preferences of the target audience and creating experiences that resonate with them. Before you do that, it'd be advised to do some soul-searching. Remember we're talking authentic self-expression here. If it feels unnatural or like you're faking it, pretending to be something you're not, your audience will pick up on it, don't ask me how but they will. You'll know when you start to have that genuine connection with your audience because it will start to feel effortless. Innovation, when related to progress and differentiation means thinking creatively and finding unique ways to stand out from the crowd. Some examples might include an artist who builds a fantasy world by combining unique imagery and thematic elements, or a songwriter who authentically expresses their genuine self in everything they do. In current year, innovation might be heavily tied to technology, artists and promoters can stay ahead of the curve by adapt to changing trends and technologies, and explore new creative ways for reaching and engaging with audiences. Be open to experimentation, take calculated risks, and continuously seek new and creative solutions but remember, it WILL feel right if it's the right approach for you, don't stick with something just to grind through it if you try and it doesn't inspire you. When it's right it will feel natural, effortless, motivating, and exciting. The music industry is ever-evolving, and successful approaches are mindful to be adaptable to changing circumstances. Being adaptable means staying flexible. It's the idea of trying new things, keeping what works, and discarding what doesn't work. To do this, the word responsive comes to mind. Do you have any metrics that you track to tell if something is working? it could be streaming analytics, follower count on a given social media network, email subscribers, responses, comments... any number of things. Adaptability, in the tech/business world might be called being 'agile'. in the face of unexpected challenges or opportunities, adjust strategies, tactics, and messages to meet the evolving needs of your life-situation and the preferences of your audience. A value-Proposition in effective promotion communicates a clear and compelling ask to the audience. Some people feel this is too direct, but it is important. If you have something to give, how are your people going to know it exists if you don't a: tell them it's there, and b: ask them to take a look. Articulate what makes your product, valuable and worth investing time, attention, and resources into and the reasons why can be useful. Remember the idea of authenticity from before? It's important that authenticity comes first. If you've been building a genuine connection, the reasons for your audience to support your value-proposition may not be the product in itself, but instead as a means to show support for you based on the genuine connection itself, which was built on authentic self-expression. it's a circular thing. A strong value proposition resonates with the audience's needs and desires, addresses pain points, and offers tangible benefits or rewards for participating, but these are topics for another day... Collaboration and community can play important roles in authentic self-expression. It can show a side of you that might not be otherwise expressed on your own. How you interact with others, how your influence affects the direction of a song, etc. Building partnerships with other artists, brands, influencers, or organizations can extend reach, amplify messages, and create mutually beneficial opportunities for promotion. Seek collaborations with others in a way that creates a win-win. What do you bring that others need, and what can others bring that you need? Emphasise that and seek harmony while carrying out the project together. Similarly, fostering a sense of community among fans can strengthen loyalty, advocacy, and support for the music and the artist. it works the same way, lets say for example you have a community channel or engage with your fans on social media. How can collaboration with your fans create a win-win? in this hypothetical, you might have a question about a direction you want to move with regards to your content as you shift from one batch of songs into the next. So you post a few samples to test the waters, you ask them if they like this direction for the next project and you reply to their comments to ask what they would like to see? Your audience, since you've built a genuine authentic connection, are happy to give you feedback and tell you that it works or that it doesn't work, giving you the feedback you need so you can continue giving them an experience that they can be excited about. In summary, these principles of originality, authenticity, and self-expression can open up doors to effective strategies that can better help resonate with audiences, drive engagement, and ultimately contribute to the success and longevity of a music career. written by Cody Gene: an independent record producer, helping artists connect the dots and navigate the music industry....
What do you think when you hear about the creative cafe?I know we're not all marketers, but there's something to be said for presenting something thats cohesive. I see the whole event/community here as an exploration of creative lifestyle. a mini creative lifestyle blogosphere if you will, only each month we host an event. On the presentation side, I'm less concerned about 'branding' and care more about 'culture'. I see it almost like a 'brand of me' kind of thing, except instead of it being 'me' its instead a group of like minded people, together, accomplishing something very cool.
content what is it? Content is the stuff we post about in relation to the event. what is content used for? Content is used to connect with our audience and each other, to attract people in and build relationships so that people can get to know us and what we're all about here... So here's the challenge... Come up with 3 categories into which you can plan your content. for example, these are my 3 main areas of focus when it comes to creating content: 1- Music Mindset & Methodology 2- Songwriting 3- recording + production Diving deeper After you've got three niche areas, start thinking of some subcategories within that, these might mean individual post topics, pictures, or videos. 1- Music Mindset & Methodology
Capturing ideas on the fly... hope you have a pen and paper
Remember that great idea you had while you were out on the town? Neither did I until I started carrying around a notebook for scratching down ideas. Start collecting and stockpiling these ideas and before you know it, you'll have a deep pool of resources to draw from next time you sit down to focus on creating some new content, and the beauty part is, you'll never have to worry about running out of ideas again... ![]() What's the Point? To me, there is no single quick fix, no magic silver bullet to get you from where you are to where you want to go. I can't promise that this is your one-way ticket to instant fame and fortune. Success is driven by the desire and a willingness to never give up. while seeking challenges as opportunities and striving to overcome them. I believe that a group of committed individuals working together can aim higher and achieve more. That's why I'm doing this... seeking to learn from experienceI'm Here to try. To try and to fail Repeatedly, Unapologetically. To push boundaries, To open doors, To expand horizons Face fears, and to seek perfection... But not to expect it. I'm Here to have compassion to listen with empathy To stay humble To always strive for the best path Moving forward Making failure your main objective -
What happens when you're afraid you're going to be wrong? Speaking from experience with this one here because it's something I struggle with regularly. Constantly seeking perfection instead of jumping to it and figuring out the minutae later, one can end up seeking what may never come ending up in an endless spiral of preparation with no activity to back it up... The cure for imposter syndrome So what do you do? well, do something! Do anything! It's not like those people out there waiting to hear your music or hear your message are out to judge you, Sure some might be, but who spends their life worrying about trolls on the internet? If they do it should be like water rolling off a wax surface. Thick skin. Having such skin, you know, those nay-sayers were not the right people for your art anyways, so who cares what they say. If your message resonates, you WILL recieve confirmation that what you're doing is on the right track. Such is the nature of perfection It doesn't have to be all perfect all the time, Welcome to the realization of being human. We're here to experience, to grow, to try, to fail, to learn, and eventually achieve mastery over our pursuits. afraid to lose So do the costs outweigh the rewards? You've heard people say that you have to spend money to make money right? Well this is partly true for musicians also. Every step of the way from songwriting, to recording, to production, to launch. The same can be said for energy. How you spend it, the value it brings to other, and the return on the investment of it... Want to write a guitar song but don't own a guitar? would getting your hands on one help you achieve the goal? Want to record an album but don't have gear? would getting some help you achieve the goal? or would it be a more productive use of your time to go find someone to help you who is already set up? want to release that album to more people than friends and family? There are people who love your music, Would it be worth reaching out? would the effort be worth it to you? Or would you try learn the tools of E-commerce to try to do it yourself? worried about what others think of you If you're scared, why? If the fear is holding you back, face it head on. Many times you'll realize 'hey if this experiment goes absolutely sideways, I'll still be able to make ends meet. It won't be the end of the world if I do fail, and I'll have gained some valuable experience from the whole process.' Action is the catalyst for opportunities. Take action, screw fear. Sit down for a moment and ask yourself, what is the worst thing that could happen if I attempt this thing I want to do? count backwards 5-4-3-2-1 go... This is a guest post by Levente ![]() For one, devoting your life to any kind of art is not only honourable and good, but it is also very natural Like the more time I spend creating and playing music, the more that’s all I want to do Sometimes I get annoyed when Soso or or Lablah the bandees want to smoke weed for like 45 minutes when my brain is wanting to be submerged in playing music And that’s a voluntary activity But it takes away from what’s pulling my very existence On the other, life is here for the living and though there are so many facets of songwriting that you could indeed spend every waking moment on it and never run out of things to improve and create. ... If you don’t take the time to live life, and enjoy some of it, take in art whether it be in games, TV, film, books, or anything else, you deny yourself the possibility of any of those things expanding your creative mind and leading you to places you wouldn’t have gone otherwise Not to mention receiving art into your mind is a way of connecting with all the humans who made it, and therefor gives you practice at connecting with humans, seeing how other artists do it, and draw your own conclusions there. I’d argue that a great portion of art creation is sharing existence with other humans. You think the composers of yore didn’t have hobbies on the side? Tune in to Loosechange604 on twitch. Streams Most nights at Midnight PST
![]() Let's start with the idea of Creating our own Reality. How might one take a pro-active approach towards a better tomorrow? One might start by considering the quality of information consumed. One might also consider the language used within the subconscious mind. Paying attention to day-to-day actions of the present moment. Or leading with the heart, from a place of love. Don't complain, Seriously, Stop complainingPlease don't complain that your gear isn't good enough, or that you're not good enough. Seriously, Stop complaining. Recording is one part artform and one part physics. You as an artist should be learning to trust yourself. That's right, not every project is going to be perfect. Get over it, It doesn't actually matter as much as you might think. Here are 3 considerations to make your recording sound 'good'1: quality on the input This comes down to your performance, and your overall sound. It's like this, if you practice your song. You will get better results. It also ties into the quality of your gear. Is your guitar set up properly? does it stay in tune? do you need fresh strings? do you have clean pre-amps for your microphones? 2: Put things in balance When you have your tracks, lets say you took 3 guitar takes, put them together in a way that blends smoothly. Lets say you've added some soft-synths? and some midi drums. Do they blend? did you put on your engineering hat and use your mixing tricks to make space so that everything sounds good? 3 Finishing touches. Adding embelleshments, automation, Final adjustments for dynamics, keeping the song interesting from start to finish. how you get there doesn't matterHere at Gene Media, we don't care how you get there. We recognize that everyone is unique in their own approach, or as a smart author once said, "we each have our own game." The whole point is putting trust in yourself, trust in your ears, trust in your process, and trust your ability.
Today's video is another sit-down and do it style practice. I didn't really have much of a plan going in - its nice to have a structure - so it ended up being a bit of Melodic Development over one of my favorite chord structures. - Daily Gratitude - When your reality isn’t what you imagined: In fact its so much better. Be open to the possibilities and receive your blessings of unlimited potential. Get a free song download - Join Cody Gene's Music mailing List |
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