Are you blending in?

Seth Godin is one of the most insightful bloggers on the planet, and many of his articles about marketing and the internet should resonate with artists who manage their own careers.

In this post, he predicts “Apple’s next problem,” which is the fact that the cool outsider company is rapidly becoming mainstream. The lightbulb went off while he was visiting a Starbucks, where he saw five unrelated people working away on laptops - 5 identical machines, all Macs.

I think most artists see themselves as quite different from the performers they rub elbows with at venues. To the trained eye/ear, they are probably correct. However, music audiences generally have an untrained eye/ear and don’t necessarily notice the subtle differences between artists. In short, if you are playing acoustic guitar and singing, they assume they know your story and what you do.

Do you think of yourself as more of an outsider than you really are? Worse, are you blending in? It might be Apple’s next problem. It might even be your current problem.