For you non-religious types who don't already know, "crisis of faith" is, according to Wikipedia, "a term commonly applied, especially in Western culture, to periods of intense doubt and internal conflict about one's preconceived beliefs or life decisions."
As an example... You think God exists one minute, but the next minute, you're not so sure.
I imagine it must be pretty painful to spend years, and possibily decades, building your life on a foundation of beliefs, only to later question whether or not the very thing you once thought to be solid exists at all.
Many musicians have a similar crisis of faith when it comes to their music. This can be very painful as well.
They talk a good game, going through the motions of what it takes to have a career in the music business, such as recording a great album. Then they flake when it comes time to pull the trigger...
Over the years, I've seen it happen in many different ways. For example, I once knew an act who spent months putting together the perfect release, only to try and save a few bucks by:
- Pressing CDs in bulk, so they arrived on a spindle, rather than already packaged.
- Printing booklets on the printer at a friend's office.
- Shrinkwrapping everything via spool of shrinkwrap and hair dryer.
In the end, the money saved was about $1000. All that work (and an inferior product to sell) for $1000.
Doesn't say much about their faith in the album, does it?
Like dogs smelling fear, fans can smell non-belief. This is more likely to hurt what you're doing than anything else. If a band is not going to believe in their album enough to package it like a professional or you're not going to do whatever it's going to take for you to do your project right, why should fans believe in it enough to pay money for it?
Are you having your own "crisis of faith" and doing something similar?
Don't quit five minutes before the miracle! If you're investing time, money, and energy on something, see it through to the end.
Stunt men don't flinch. That's what gets them killed.
When Dar Robinson jumped off CN Tower without a parachute in 1980, before the jump he said, "If this stunt fails, and the cable breaks, I'm going to keep my eyes open to the ground. If they perform an autopsy on me, they'll find sand in my eyes."
Like a religious crisis of faith, the only way to find out what's on the other side is to follow through. Why not do so going balls out?
In the case mentioned above, follow through was as simple as paying about $1000 for professional printing and packaging. Not a big deal, really. In my opinion, certainly a far less investment than the time and energy already put into writing and recording the album.
Doing it right pays off. Had these guys spent the extra $1000 on their album, they would have likely been much more confident in selling it, inspiring confidence (and money) from others.
It's normal to have doubt and be scared when you take risks. Don't let that stop you from following through 100% though. If you don't believe in what you're doing, who will?
Do it!
Comments