I recently completed the KonMari Method™ and it was as she promised, life-changing. In this episode, I share the lessons Marie can teach us all in the music industry.It starts with clearing out space so that your creativity juices have a place to flow, and while you are at it, you can clear out some space for the dreaded business side of the music business.
Here’s what I was reminded of and learned, and how it relates to any of us trying to succeed in this new music business.
Lesson 1: It’s Self-Help Help Not Shelf-Help
OK, so Marie didn’t teach me this directly, but my experience with the book is a great reminder: I bought the book years ago it languished (sadly) in the downloads on my Kindle – out of sight, out of mind. It wasn’t until I went to an actual bookstore and bought the book – the physical book (and put it on my nightstand) – that I really got around to doing the work.
AKA It’s hard to commit to doing serious work when so many meaningless things pull us in the wrong directions. I have a lot of clients who signed up for a LAB and never watched a single video or put a technique into place because they feel too busy and overwhelmed. I get it. But, once you commit to making shelf-help your self-help, this will shift.
Lesson 2: Branding With Authenticity is Key. Is decluttering new? No. There have been countless books and systems created in the past on how to do it. Professional organizers have been gainfully employed for years. But Marie created a sensation, and a craze. She’s a total rockstar in her lane.Why is this?People resonate with real.
What Marie does comes honestly.She used to organize her room and her family’s house when she was a child and has dedicated her whole life to her art. In other words, it’s 100% authentic and fans resonate with her realness and that is POWERFUL!
KonMari Method™ – Her System Has a Name – This Is Brilliant Branding!
Marie Kondo took parts of her name for the brand of her method. It stuck and it caught fire.
Lady Gaga has little monsters, Clay Aiken has Claymates, the Grateful Dead have Deadheads – you get it, you know all about brilliant tribe branding and strong marketing.
Lesson 3: Dress The Part – AKA Show Up For Your Stuff
Marie advises to dress up while you’re doing her method – this means looking your best like you would for a big meeting at work or a gig, or in my case a speaking engagement. Don’t do this in your sweatpants – come prepared. Show up for your stuff.
When you do something dressed for the part, a deep shift will occur. Do you try to advance your music career in stained sweatpants on the couch?Try getting up, getting dressed, and getting out to a coffee shop or a co-working space – just to see if that shifts your productivity or your mood.
Lesson 4: Go Through It ALL
In her system, you have to take all your clothes out of all your closets and drawers and cupboards and the garage and the back of the car and the laundry room, and put them in a huge pile so that you can start by seeing everything you have. This is confronting and it’s a bit embarrassing to see that giant mountain of stuff. After that, you move onto the rest of the items in your house, your papers, and finally your most sentimental effects.
What you’re supposed to do is pick up each item at a time – I started with a new shirt that I love. Next, you ask yourself: Does this spark joy?If not, you get rid of it; if so, you keep it and you will organize it (that comes later though).
The person who just clears out one drawer and expects massive change never gets it. We all know that just doing one thing never yields the results you want.You need to do something radical here…. Get real with yourself.If you have ever done anything big in your life, it didn’t take a teeny shift. It took pigheaded discipline and dedication.
You can’t just do ONE area – you must do it all!
In her book, Marie rightly points out that just doing one thing isn’t enough because you end up in clutter again. This is why hiring a publicist or a radio promoter in isolation isn’t enough. You’ve only addressed ONE area, and soon you will be back at the same place you started.
Maybe You Don’t Need PR – You Need To DeClutter
Of course, when you are planning your marketing or your music rollout strategy, we don’t ask, ‘does this spark joy?’
But what we do ask, and what you should ask yourself:
Why are you doing this in this way?
Is this a fan?
Is this a potential fan?
Should we keep this strategy?
Should we abandon this?
Do you like this or hate this?
Is this even working?
Lesson 5: You Must Intentionally Create Vacuums in Your Life to make the universe help you to fill up those empty places you created.
The whole point is to have a total transformation in your life. It’s not just about the stuff, it’s about not having enough space and room to actually grow and change, and clutter could be stopping that change.
It’s About Creating Voids
What she does seems fairly simple – the Netflix series makes it seem this way (let me be clear going through your whole house, getting rid of stuff, and organizing it all of is NOT simple). However, what she is actually having us do is much deeper.
Yes, you end up with a less cluttered house that sparks joy. But, have you ever heard the expression “The Universe abhors a vacuum”? I bet you have.What this means, from a manifestation standpoint, is whenever there is a void, the universe seeks to fill it because, according to the laws of physics, empty spaces are not natural.
The Lies YOU Tell Yourself Are Stopping Your Vacuum from being created
If your socials are clogged with fake likes and your feeds are clogged with purchased streams, you’ve clogged up your house. This means you need to unclog it, go through each thing one at a time, and give yourself room to really grow.
You Got Your Numbers To Grow, But You Didn’t Get REAL FANS.
I have been lied to so many times about how an artist who has never toured or only has a few hundred streams across all socials and DSPS magically has 100,000 fans on Facebook or 19,000 fans on Instagram, but very few comments or likes. Or, those hundreds of thousands of plays on YouTube and the comments that are not even in English. Then there are those tens of thousands of SoundCloud streams but no followers and no comments.
I get it, so many of us have tried “grey area” aka “bot” marketing and we all know it doesn’t work.And I know seeing large #’s makes our egos feel good, but ask yourself really how that all happened.
I recently wrote a plan for an artist who started in the social media advertising game early, got really good at it and he has 3 million fans across channels, but he can’t sell 30 tickets in his hometown. After the plan we made, he did it! He sold out a show with 100 people in his hometown, and there’s another one booked next month. This is an artist with a career that is building.This is the goal, not huge inflated numbers.These don’t fool anybody.
Lesson 6: Think of Planning, Strategy & Fanbase Building the Way Marie Thinks of Mess.
The reason why I was on pins and needles the whole time while reading Marie’s book is – this is exactly what I do with my artists. My team and I Roto-Rooter through everything we can find online about you and get it all out onto paper and spreadsheets. Then we put it all back together in a more organized way.
Build your fanbase one real human at a time. Like you begin to put your house together one item at a time. Is it a pain in the butt to touch every item one at a time? You bet. But, in the end, each one is known to you and in its right place. On socials, your newsletter, or on text, etc.
Lesson 7: No One Else Can Decide What Sparks Joy for you and what feels good in your closet and throughout your home. Only you can make those decisions. Organizing is NOT new and it’s NOT Sexy. It takes work and a considerable amount of willpower.
Just like working on the business side of the house will never feel as sexy as making the music.
At least they don’t feel and sound as sexy as having another person doing stuff for you, but the truth is, this rarely moves the needle. No one on earth – not apublicist, or that record label you so desperately want, not a manager, not a consultant, can build your fanbase – this is YOUR DAMN JOB.
Just like it was my job to touch every item in my house and deal with it.
So – Go out and do it. Please.The world needs your music.
If you are stuck in any area of your artist life, start with decluttering your home and see what opens up.
Ariel Loves the challenges that today’s music business presents and she leads her team to help clients come out ahead- whether that is with a detailed Total Tuneup, a new brand, or an increased established digital footprint, she is dedicated to helping her clients leave more educated than they were when they came to Cyber PR. She has written over 300 blog posts and four books on marketing, crowdfunding, and social media for artists- two of which went to #1 on Amazon. Ariel has spoken to over 100,000 artists in 12 countries about how to take control of their own marketing leading masterclasses, workshops, and panels.
