How to Learn More About the Music Biz

You already know this: To be successful with your music, you must have talent and drive and be smart about promoting yourself. You also have to mentally absorb and learn a lot of STUFF.

How do you keep up with it all?

Well, here are some interesting stats about the way people internalize ideas.

WE REMEMBER ...

10% of what we read (books, blogs, articles, etc.)
20% of what we hear (conversations, audio programs, music)
30% of what we see (pictures, images)
50% of what we see and hear (audio-visual presentations, personal observation)
70% of what we say (discussions with others, self-talk out loud)
80% of what we personally experience (do through action)
90% of what we teach others (share what we've learned)

These numbers are loosely based on something called the Cone of Experience created years ago by an educator named Edgar Dale. Apparently, Dale never assigned percentages to his "cone" and warned that the levels of experience don't always apply to every person in every situation.

But the implication is clear ...
The more ways you absorb new information, the greater the chances are it will take root in your mind and make a real impact in your life.

For example, you can read about how to drive a car and get a minimal amount of knowledge that way. You can listen to someone who knows how to drive, and even watch them while they drive ... and that will give you a greater understanding.

But getting behind a wheel and actually driving will give you the most direct experience. And if you take the knowledge you gained through that experience and tell someone else about it -- on top of the previous reading and watching and listening -- you will know how to drive a car on the deepest personal level.

So ... do you wanna learn something new?

Maybe how to "pimp" your MySpace profile, or how to edit video using iMovie on your Mac, or how to get more media exposure for your music?

Then don't just read about it. See, hear and feel it. Involve all of your senses. Read books about it. Listen to audio programs about it. Watch videos about it. Find out who's already doing it and talk with them.

Then try doing some of it yourself. And as you learn things about it, share your newfound knowledge with others -- while also continuing to read, write, hear, see, touch, smell, taste, and talk about as much of it as you can.

In the next blog post, I'll cover how to use these same principles to promote yourself and communicate with your fans.

-Bob

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