I have spoken before about how when people shave a bit off their song, they end up losing more than the effort they feel they saved. I built that model with the concept that every 1% of effort avoided leads to 20% off in terms of fan engagement.
I used Eagles’ “Hotel California” as the 100% commitment Best Song Eva (a reasonable call for discussion).
| Effort | Song | Quality | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Hotel California | 100% | Gold Standard |
| 99 | Hotel Kalicorny | 80% | Might get lucky but probably won’t, seeing Hotel California is the GOAT in the room |
| 98 | Motel Cancer | 60% | Pushing uphill but maybe you get some sympathy |
| 97 | Motel Syphilis | 40% | No one wants that curse |
We see how that little bit shaved off in the effort to rush things has made the result far less than it could have been. Worse, if this is cloneware, people are going to note how it is not special and abandon your thing for the real deal.
Thinking that 1% didn’t mean anything, a bit more effort gets shaved off. The result now is not very attractive at all. It is less directly in competition with the GOAT, so may score some sympathy, but the odds of becoming its own kind of GOAT are poor now.
Finally, with the assumption that another tiny shave won’t hurt, we reach the point where the result really is the pox. This is chasing people away, as no one gets sympathy for that.
The interesting thing is that people laughed that off. Not laughing at the joke side of it, but did that modern pedantry thing and strawmanned the idea away entirely. Of course, listening to their music and noting its lack of actual success proves my point. Everyone is too busy playing that game where delivering poor results gets a pat on the back from others playing the safety game.
Easy, yes; useful, no. At least not as long as they are saying they want to Make It.
Footistry
Being winter here in Oz, I am watching Aussie Rules Football (AFL), which is a very fast, agile, and strategic game. There is a reason it used to be referred to as aerial ping pong. You can’t be half-arsed and play this at a high level. That makes it similar to music.
A common discussion from the commentators over the decades is that of the “One Percenters”, those players who consistently put in every bit of effort and do things that most players just don’t (or perhaps can’t). Those players are the most valuable as they tend to change the game more than anything. The best of those players become the “Rock Stars” of the game.
One of the greats in the time I started watching was Jason “Acka” Akermanis, who was a stunning player. Ok, he could be a bit less ideal off the field, but for the sake of this discussion, not relevant – taking away what was achieved over other issues is ‘effort shaving’ pedantry (see above).
Jason commonly changed the flow of the game and did things that just did not seem possible. He’d do bizarre things – often several times a match – like catch the ball behind his head, roll it round his body and kick it backwards between his legs – for a goal, of course!
In his top years, Jason’s play helped elevate those around him, so his team ended up with a core of players who not only did the extra bits of work, but moved as a unit far greater than every other team – hence their premiership wins.
This makes Acka an analog for Freddie or EVH, Dio or Bruford.
The Madness of Method
Those who do those 1% actions over and over, without thinking up ways to avoid, tend to get considered mad. Right up until they make it. Then those who called them mad either double down on their derision or change their tune and become fans. Either way, they try to work out how their approach worked out – invariably missing the point.
For the person who commits and builds trust, it is their method more than anything else. No one can consciously choose and learn how to do some of the things that these exceptional people do. They deliver their outcomes because of the mindset of investing that extra 1% that others just don’t.
While everyone else is looking at little pedantic things like how to make Pro moves, these 1%ers are focusing their mind & spirit entirely on being present in the moment. Sure, they train their muscles and brains in how the basics work, but it is in allowing that extra bit of engaged effort in the moment that the real magic happens.
Those focused only on little technicalities, esp those that claim to make life easier, find themselves stuck in a hole really fast. Assuming that more of those little technicalities will improve things, as they can do more of the ‘important things’ with the time saved, seems logical. But that kind of logic never looks to see whether it is working or not. It is too focused on serving the self over serving the song. So it fails over and over in a cycle of frustration.
The 1% – seemingly little things – that people do have dramatic results. So just as shaving 1% off the effort in making a song can result in a massive loss of fan uptake, the 1% extra tends to make pivotal moments. So it has nothing to do with numbers but is all mindset – all in or not.
Divided By Joy
Joy Division were no one’s idea of competitors for Eagles or Steely Dan’s crowns as amazing players. They chose not to compete on that metric. Instead, they ended up committing 101% to what made them unique. That paid off with a deal and songs like “Transmission”. The band weren’t initially sold on Martin Hannett’s 1%er changes but committed nonetheless and later acknowledged that this made them as an act. That commitment led to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” which changed the world. Not only as an Alternative band, but Pop acts covered the song – which, of course, offended the alt tribe, but the audience liked it anyway.
The commitment in just that one song alone is why Joy Division are still so important. Odd for a band who were often so terrible live and had such a small output. Grab the “Substance” collection and tell me you don’t feel how committed this material is. You don’t have to like it – just understand the commitment. DO NOT grab the “Permanent’ collection, however, as some scared shrew somewhere snookered JD to seem more like Nirvana and the music just isn’t right anymore. That is the 1%.
What if tomorrow, when you worked on music, rather than focusing on tiny technicalities, you trusted so you could have the courage to play those 1% moments?