After having dug through most “things to do better this year” lists in january, most DIY musicians are now diving through the new year, steering into various directions while turning old habits into professional routines.
It´s important to keep an overview and realistic perspective on things that may differ from the way they were planned, trying to learn from them and acting differently the next time around. Especially as a DIY musician, without a complete team of constant feedbackers behind you, it´s an absolute must to engage in healthy, self-reflective analysis of your own performance and general way of doing things. Setting your ego aside and being completely honest is probably the hardest part about it, considering the fact of how easily the annual performance can be tracked by a tool like ForTunes.
Besides the numbers game, there are a bunch of soft-factors, that you should also be aware of. Things like the amount of people or musicians you have met and engaged with for the first time in the course of that year, how your music affected people out there and what kind of verbal feedback you got by means of emotional comments etc., how and if your social circle has evolved to a group of people that inspire and bring you forward. Things you can´t necessarily measure on a regular basis, but have none the less followed and fueled your musical torch.
It´s really easy to drop into a mindset of comparing your work with that of your peers – probably happens to every professional musician once in a while. Try to keep in mind the constant flow of things – the place you were at one year ago, two years ago, and work out your own mode of contentment, especially when adding up the little cornerstones that form the foundation of your current status quo.
This is where we want you to kick off your 2017 musical agenda
You probably already have certain things planned, some serious plans and goals you want to achieve. Maybe finish one or several important productions, run a tour or prepare a live show, learn an instrument or a new production software.
Kick off this new year with an inner calmness, a sense of clarity, that all of these little steps can and will lead to the milestones that you will place on your mental or physical shelf, maybe even hang on your wall.
We tend to grab for gold, constantly running around and exhausting our creative resources to hit that next big thing, while in reality, we’re totally missing out on the way we are crafting the frame that actually sustains our endeavor.
A great way of starting a new year is working on a mindset that cherishes the micro-wins, the little pots of gold lying around all over the place, often neglected and missed out on. Frustration is a consequence of a grave discrepancy between expectation and reality.
If you’re creative, love doing music to expressing yourself, while maybe even being part of an artistic culture, you are already running around up to your knees in stuff other people are fighting very hard for.
Try to let this new year shine for all the little things it brings to your doorstep, and try to be aware of them while realizing the way they form a bigger picture, adding up to an overall development and forming your desired milestones.
ForTunes @ SXSW
Currently, our team is working on a tool to help you keep an eye on all of your musical developments, from tiny, minor engagements, likes and features, to huge milestones and break-through moments. While building the technology behind our service, we were and are confronted with the same kinds of “Baustellen” – which means construction zones.
Next to having an overall goal in sight – the completion of a kickass music data analysis tool – we are constantly dealing with a compartmentalized cluster of tasks. We had to find a groove that works for us, dealing with all of these facets, while keeping an eye on the prize.
And things are starting to accelerate rapidly: We just launched this blog here, aiming to set up a fun and engaging base for insights on DIY musicianship/production and digital culture. Your feedback is helping us dive into these topics, and we are enjoying every input we can get our hands and eyes on.
The ForTunes App Beta is going to be released on March 1st. This means our whole office is steaming along, working on last tweeks and pushing that engine performance to where it should be.
My colleague Christoph and I are heading to SXSW this march, ready to present the Beta to musicians and industry colleagues. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity, and we can’t wait to drop some ForTunes magic onto the radar of various inspired and creative people in Austin. If you’re around – hit us up at the Austrian Day @ SXSW17, we’d love to exchange some ideas.
Learning to cherish the small victories, be it the smooth deployment of new technologies or fun visuals for the interface, was one of the most important factors of setting up and running ForTunes.
Some aphorisms are recited on and on because they carry a version of truth which seems too evident to ignore. So, with one foot in the new year, we want you to cherish the endeavor, equally as much as the vision of a final musical product and achievement. The journey is the destination.
Have a continuously great year!
Can´t wait to show you the app very, very soon!
Get in touch: hello@fortunes.io
2 join the family and show some love for this!