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Posts about Music Ensembles
On September 24th
covering Business, Music, Music Ensembles
It was bound to happen. I’ve been noticing the similarities between bands and startups as self-led creative teams. This item describes a band taking funding from an Angel Investor in return for 30% of future revenue.
This is a way of replacing one role of the record label, which was a source of funding during the formative days. It could go either way.
My question is whether the angel investors are competent to predict the success of a band — or whether they are dabbling in this as a high-risk hobby investment, the way some people invest in Broadway plays. Read more »
On September 7th
covering 100 days, Group 8020, Music Ensembles
It’s been an interesting time in my 100-day process. Over the last week and a half it’s been much clearer to me what I’m trying to accomplish. The homework has gotten much more concrete and specific with respect to defining what I’m offering and what kinds of organizations would be the best fit for my skills.
This comes dangerously close to developing what I’ve lacked all along — a strategy for marketing. We psychologists are pretty terrible at this part, which is not an awful thing for the most part. If people have depression or anxiety or they’re repeating the same relationship problems over and over, eventually they’re going to know to ask around and find a good psychologist. Read more »
On August 27th
covering creative partnerships, Group psychology, Music Ensembles, Psychoanalysis, Teams
This study from Baylor has been making the rounds. I recommend watching the short videos in the sidebars. It’s a good study, even if I think the researchers miss the best implications.
They focus on one aspect of Borderline Personality Disorder: people with this condition have a very hard time judging what is fair in a give-and-take situation. They will often feel persecuted and deeply unsafe. They will genuinely feel they are getting the short end of the stick, even when others have made huge concessions. Others perceive them as hugely selfish.
My point is not to diagnose your bandmates or fellow hackers/entrepreneurs with a personality disorder, satisfying as that may be. If you don’t know what this disorder is, don’t worry. My point is to shed light on the group-house syndrome. Read more »
On May 29th
covering Leadership, Music, Music Ensembles
Even though orchestras are bigger and more complex organisms than chamber groups or bands, the same questions of ownership apply. Orchestras have formal boards of directors and union contracts, which are supposed to represent the interests of the larger community and the musicians, respectively. This can bring the issues to light in ways that in rock bands tens to be vague.
These questions are all over the place in the debacle taking place in Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus symphony is within a couple of days of closing down altogether. Drew McManus has been covering these sad developments in his blog, which is always instructive and entertaining. I recommend reading all of the posts with “Columbus” in the title for a case study of how music groups can be torn apart. Here is a letter from the orchestra musicians in Cleveland and Cincinnati to the board and management of the Columbus Symphony. It’s a good read. notice how much of the letter makes the point that the whole community hs a stake inthe orchestra.
On May 27th
covering Leadership, Music Ensembles
This comes from some recent conversations I’ve had with musicians. The notion of “who owns this?” for bands and chamber groups can be complex. Even with a well-worked-out band agreement it can be complicated. When a music group is young, lots of people support the band from lending a couch to crash on to running the merch table to contributing money and in-kind goods and services. The fans contribute to the band by telling their friends and by … well, being fans. In both the classical world and the pop/rock/etc world, managers invest time on the hope there will be revenues in the future. Read more »
