Music Binds Us Together

I woke up this morning and saw two people had donated to my Kickstarter project while I slept. One of the donors was an old friend from my Kahuku High School days.  For some reason this caused me to do some deep reflection about how music binds us together in unique and meaningful relationships.

Early 2000s. “Canoe House” party in Laie, HI.

This Kickstarter project has been incredible because it’s put me back in touch with people I haven’t talked to or thought about in years. Because of that, it’s shown me that the impact I’ve had on people musically is much greater than I thought.  I sat for a while this morning and thought about the memories my classmate must have of my music. As I played a slide show of memories in my mind I was impressed with the following idea: music shared from the soul uniquely binds us together in ways that very few things can. Even after well over a decade, the music I’ve been a part of has created bonds I’ve forgotten about, but those people haven’t forgotten. The bonds are still there.  It makes me grateful for those moments when I was brave enough to raise my voice and sing.

Today my mind has been filled with the words of a number of authors I’ve been following.  Gary Vaynerchuk talks about the value of social media in business and how you should appropriately approach your audience.  Too many people approach social media like a popularity contest, where the person with the most friends are the most successful.  Vaynerchuk says this is all B.S.  He argues it’s all about depth of relationship and not breadth.  It doesn’t matter how many followers you have if you can’t influence them, especially if you can’t influence them to buy your stuff.  And if you only have two followers on Twitter and they’re Obama and Oprah, you have a lot more influence than someone with 10K followers that are all robots!  When you invest in people individually, they will defend you, listen to you, and feel compelled to reciprocate the love you’ve already shown by buying your stuff.  It’s about depth, not breadth.  Because of this idea I often use the phrase, always love first.  I feel if you’re the one to love first, it binds people to you immediately.

Tim Grahl in his book Your First 1,000 Copies explains that authors today need to focus on developing “long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships” and avoid the popularity contest mentality.  It’s the people you’ve personally invested in that will buy your material every time you put out something new.  Instead of trying to push massive sales on one product and hoping you can dupe enough people on your one piece of crap, invest in people, try to serve them, and develop depth of relationship instead of breadth.

Seth Godin talks a lot about figuring out who your tribe is and serving them.  I love this idea.  Finding out exactly what your strengths and talents are and then using those to serve others as best as you can is the exact way you figure out who your tribe is.  Those who respond to what you have to offer, that’s your tribe.  That seems to be what this Kickstarter project is helping me do: clearly identify my tribe.

Lastly, this has reminded me of something a great friend said once when I lived in Hawaii.  This friend has a child with serious handicaps and he has had to care for this child for years.  My friend commented that his love for his handicapped son was solidified through the service he has rendered for so many years.  He said, we are bound to each other when we serve selflessly.  Serving others creates love.  I’ve been reminded today of that powerful lesson my friend taught me years ago.

So as I anxiously watch the numbers tick away in my Kickstarter project, I’m reminded of all these words from great authors and my friend from Hawaii.  Service binds us and when I perform my music as a means of service, to try and help lift others, it binds us in a way very few things can.

Thank you to my High School friend for taking me down memory lane and reminding me of so many great moments I’ve had in the past sharing my music with such great people.  You’ve reminded me that music binds us together – no matter how far away we may be.