YouTube & Video

Seth Godin: Why Artists Think It’s Safer To Fail Small

image from www.catalystmarketers.com Seth Godin gives a speech on how artists sabotage their work. They follow the pattern and attempt to fail small. Why? Their lizard brain tells them to; it's the resistance. The thing that tells them to make it so they don't end up a failure, starving, or worse, dead. At the last minute, most artists will take a half step back and take that compelling elements out of their music because it's safer to fail small. The resistance causes them to compromise truly great music and settle for an album that's good enough.

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6 Comments

  1. I agree with Seth on this point. And while I think you make an interesting analogy, it might be unwise to swap Seth’s “entrepreneur” with “artist”. While I do agree that “artists as entrepreneurs” fall into this trap with marketing or business decisions, I’m not sure it’s happening at the level of creation. I’m not saying that it never happens but I think the lizard brain is probably at it’s “least present” when someone is creating music.
    Also Kyle, when you say, “Seth Godin gives a speech on how artists sabotage their work” when he, in fact, says no such thing, is dangerous. It can damage your (or anyone’s) credibility.
    I’m not saying that you are trying to put words in his mouth. I understand why you slant general articles and talks toward the music community. But I fear you are doing yourself a disservice when you don’t acknowledge the intellectual leap. It can sometimes come off as dishonest.

  2. Perhaps your lizard brain made you attach “artists” to this video because it was afraid of no one watching it and your little blog failing.
    Seth would be the first person to tell you to be truthful & transparent. So next time say something like, “Here’s a video geared towards business that would be valuable for artists to see.”
    BTW, every artist should subscribe to Seth’s blog because there’s a lot of info that can be used in the arts.

  3. “It can damage your (or anyone’s) credibility.”
    “So next time say something like, “Here’s a video geared towards business that would be valuable for artists to see.”
    While I understand both your points the above seems more lizard brain to me than the article writer seeing a resonance between the entrepreneur and the artist compromising greatness in order to fail small.
    The headline grabbed my attention. I think it would be much more beneficial to get the point and see how it relates to you rather than criticize a headline. The headline managed to catch your attention, no?
    It’s not false. Artists do let their super-ego and/or lizard-brain interfere when releasing music. They do compromise in the same way. Seth’s advice is valid for anyone who creates a new way or their own way.
    “Seth would be the first person to tell you to be truthful & transparent.”
    Would he? I though he was telling me to be a unicorn in a balloon factory. 😉
    Wouldn’t it be more lizard-brained to not take the liberty to interchange artist for entrepreneur because you’re scared of what others might think?
    It’s about NOT being afraid of what society and others may label you as. Dishonest? Hardly. Cunning? I think.
    Great video though, don’t you think? 😉
    P.S. My lizard-brain told me several times not to post this.

  4. Good video… but I agree with the first two posts above. Poor writing that smacks of cheap, self-serving journalism.
    Hypebot is a great aggregator of music news, but then you guys continually fuck it up with your opinion and immature/uneducated commentary. Honestly… I don’t know why I still keep coming back to this site. In fact…
    bookmark deleted!
    Good luck.

  5. I’m not criticizing the headline. I don’t see any problem with using that headline to grab attention. But the entire post sums up Seth’s talk inaccurately and that just feels like a “bait and switch” scenario for me. Also, writing the post this way tosses out the opportunity to discuss the question, “does this paradigm apply to artists like it does to entrepreneurs?” and I think that’s something worth discussing.
    This is Kyle’s blog and he can write how he sees fit. I’m just giving him my impression… how it makes me, as a reader, feel. He’s free to disagree with or ignore me.

  6. I hear you Jeff. I guess the meta-content doesn’t bug me too much as long as the content it points me to doesn’t disappoint.
    Looking back I acted a bit hasty with my earlier post because Seth clearly didn’t “give a speech about how artists…” at all. 😉
    With regard to…
    “does this paradigm apply to artists like it does to entrepreneurs?”
    I think it applies to anyone who enters into the public space. The artist and the entrepreneur may have different motives as far as I can see though the process they go through to create is remarkably similar.
    “Reality, is what you can get away with” I’ve heard them say. Are they going to crucify or lock you up when you release this? If not then are you really creating something great or novel?
    I think real artists face this dilemma of the lizard-brain even more than entrepreneurs.
    A thought…
    Could the lizard-brain be responsible for the monotonous blandness of the music you find in the pop-charts? 😉

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