Is it Riding the Wave or being Seen with the Right Date ?

Fads come and go.

Fads and fashions come around in cycles.

Everyone is looking for the next big thing.

Is it possible to predict a “sure thing” ?

I was told an interesting story that illustrates how fleeting predicting success can be – it was when Sony bough MGM.

Sony, the new owners of MGM went in to have a meeting to see what MGM had planned for the coming year. They wanted to know what movies were slated for release and what income they could expect.

The MGM guys told the Sony executives what was coming – so many family films, a couple of block busters, a few dramas, a few comedies and so on.

Out of all those movies – half would loose money, a few more would break even, a couple would make a little money and one or two would be a big hit and rake it in.

The Sony execs asked why not just make big hit movies?

Sounds logical – right?

The deal is – there is no guarantee what will hit with the public. This is why studios put out a lot of movies and the music industry puts out (or used to put out) lots of albums.

It’s like having a buffet – the cook puts out a lot of dishes and then it’s the patrons who gravitate towards a particular dish depending on the tastes and mood of the day.

Take the music industry for example – for every five bands they release an album with, only one of them makes a hit with the public. The other four loose money. And then that doesn’t include the scads of bands also signed but crash and burn before getting to the point of releasing an album. (oh – the stories I could tell)

In the same way, bands record many songs on an album to then see which one could be the best shot as a hit for the radio. There are lots of examples of thinking a certain song will be the hit when it’s the one the band and label though was a sleeper.

So – like a restaurant – you have to put out a menu with a lot of dishes so the customer can choose what they want. What if all the customers that day choose fish and not steak – you have to “eat” the steak as a loss and hope you have enough fish on hand to make up for it.

The bottom line is – sure, we have to do our best and make the best product we can. But there is a lot more to making a hit than having a great product.

Is luck involved ? I personally do not believe in luck – so I would say no. It’s all about what I call the “hip factor” … it’s all about the “buzz”. If you believe in luck … well then …. good luck ;-)

Then again – there are those who say you must be seen with the “right date” to be noticed.

Some make a mistake and try to emulate what is currently popular – be like the “flavor of the month”.

You MUST be on MYSPACE … uh … no … now you MUST be on FACEBOOK … oh – that’s so last year … NOW you must be on (PUT THE NAME OF THE LATEST INTERNET FAD HERE)

Remember fax machines? NOW you MUST get TEXTS … what happened to email? Or a phone call?

Make a great product. Do your best work. It will get out there eventually.

Would you rather be a sudden, big success – have loads of money pile in all at once – appear on MTV CRIBS – develop an expensive dope habit to cope with the pressure – have “old friends” and distant relatives suddenly come out of the woodwork asking for a hand out – then find out someone turned the faucet off and find yourself in the tabloids as a scandalous has-been …

Or would you rather steadily and surely put out good works that find their audiance and have some lasting value as you enjoy a stable and more predictable lifestyle? No MTV CRIBS … no tabloids … even enduring a few idiot receptionists sarcastically asking you “And you are ….?”

In other words – Janice Joplin or REO Speedwagon ?

Don’t worry about following trends – if they are already here then it’s too late anyway.

Don’t worry about being seen in public with the right date … build real relationships.

Category: Tony Rollo Blog