Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

Small Excuses

by

They add up. And each time you make one, you put an obstacle in your own way.

Tonight I almost skipped my nightly dose of apple cider vinegar because I just brushed my teeth and it would taste bad.

I love the feeling I get from taking the stuff and it’s crazy to me that minor feelings of aversion to a bad taste would somehow outweigh something I value highly; it’s crazy I’d subconsciously prevent myself from taking this action.

Then I had the realization that I get in my own way all the time and reflected on recent frustrations in my life where I’m getting in the way of my other goals.

Next I had the idea for this post, and thought:

But you haven’t posted in ages, plus you’d be staying up later

and caught myself making 2 more small excuses and then grabbed my phone and started typing.

I’ve started with 2 steps:

  1. Promise to get out of your own way
  2. Notice where you’re making small excuses

Once you’re frustrated with stagnation and inaction enough to commit to clearing your own mental path, tuning in makes the source of friction obvious.

The combination of those two steps is powerful: You’ll be bias to action and cutting through excuses in no time.

Your Life With One Bar

by

That thing in your pocket – you know; the rectangular one? The one that helps you Facetime grandma or read what your crazy friend has to say on Facebook or that you can’t live without on a long flight because HELLO! Stranger Things Season 2 is out and you’re somehow only 2 episodes in!

Something really, really messed up is about it to happen to it.

First, think about all the times it works well: When you’re connected to the internet and you forgot to print your boarding pass and then… “Oh yeah, I can just download the app and enter in my reservation confirmation that’s sitting in my inbox. Easy.”

Or remember the time when you remembered at the last second its Dad’s birthday? How happy was he to hear you and your daughter sing to him? Remember the look on his face?

Of course there was that horrible hurricane. And you were FREAKING OUT because you know your sister lives RIGHT near there in Florida and…oh thank god, she checked in on Facebook that she’s ok, just without service for a bit.

Now think about the times when it doesn’t work so well.

UGH, the file is too big but I have to send this stupid thing for work and WHY CAN’T THIS WORK WHEN I NEED IT TO?

Or CRAP, no connection so Facetime won’t work. I guess we’ll just have to connect later and say “Happy belated” (if I remember) even though I TOTALLY am NOT late, my stupid phone just doesn’t work.

What about that AMAZING playlist. The one that ALWAYS helps you with anxiety on a flight. Just fire up Spotify and download it and…shit. One bar. No sleep on this flight and my presentation tomorrow is SCREWED.

Welcome to life with one bar. Always.

This is what the FCC wants to do with their repeal of the net neutrality laws. They want to give you one bar.

…but not for everything.

Only on stuff that you use a TON, that you LOVE, but that doesn’t happen to jive with your internet company’s bottom line.

You know, the same internet company that manages to raise your bill every month for no reason. The one that provides you download speeds slower than ANY OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD for
MORE MONEY than ANY OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

Think about that: you pay to have internet service provided to you, but instead of just providing the already over-priced, over-throttled service they now
tell you what and how you can use it and can charge you more for the privilege.

Imagine if you did that with your business, how fast would you lose customers? They could choose another provider so easily.

Luckily our internet providers don’t have that problem – you’re basically choosing between mediocre and fine because they’ve already lobbied to make sure we don’t have a choice.

Now, very soon, they’re going to get to decide how much Facebook you get to go on, how much Spotify you get to listen to, or heck, maybe they’ll charge you more to use Facetime.

Sound ludicrous and moronic? It is.

It’s pretty insane to think that you could possibly be charged more money to use apps that you love. Or that they can limit the amount of time you spend streaming your online college course that you’ve already paid kind of a lot for because you’re trying to get a job so finally your kid can go to a decent school.

It’s insane to think about what life would be like always having one bar.

I don’t want to be told what to do, what service is best for me, or get charged even more money for even WORSE service.

I want an open and free internet.

If you do too you can take 2 really easy steps you can do in 3 minutes:

  1. Write to Congress (just fill out your name and address)
  2. Share that link to as many people as you can. Use this post if it helps you do so.

That’s it – but you have less than 48 hours.

If you’re feeling heroic you can also call congress (they’ll show you how after you follow step 1 above).

Just do one that one thing to avoid having one bar on all your favorite apps.

Your grandma and I thank you.

Andy

p.s. The current FCC chairman was a lawyer for Verizon for years.

The Chip On Your Shoulder

by

The chip on your shoulder is there because you put it there.

At any point in time you can let it go, brush it off, release the shackle it has on your mind.

You can also choose to let it be your excuse to start fights, stay in a bad mood, blame someone else, or to simply do nothing and just say “oh, that’s just how I am.”

The choice is yours.

Crushing It.

by

Crush It.

When people hear this phrase most think of doing something incredibly well. Maybe they’re driving a golf ball 300 yards, picking up ladies at the bar, or are having a hair day so epic, so flawless, they can’t help but feel like the sassiest gal in town (I love feelin’ sassy!).

All of these situations are great and imply some sort of higher-being moment for the individual who’s in the zone. But maybe there’s another way to think about it…

I was playing Settlers of Catan last night (which, if you don’t know, is the greatest game of all time – kind of like Monopoly mixed with Risk but easier to learn) and at some point during the game I looked at the board and thought to myself:

“There is no way I am going to win this game. There aren’t enough resources and there are too many obstacles.”

Then I looked around the table and it dawned on me. Everyone else likely felt the same way; eyes glued to the board searching for options, hands running through their hair in frustration, and all looking at the exact same thing:

A crowded board with too many obstacles and not enough resources.

Once I had that realization my mindset shifted. Everyone has mostly the same problems and perhaps if I change my outlook I will find a way to at least be competitive. Since I was going to play the game anyway, why not try to at least make the most of it.

I decided to crush it, but not like you might think.

I wasn’t trying to re-invent the wheel and create some insane new strategy. Instead my aim was to crush my limiting mindset:

“not enough resources, too many obstacles.”

So I looked at the board, more closely analyzed the other players’ situations and continued to move ahead despite what seemed like an implausible scenario.

This happens in art, science, and business all the time. We all look at the same game and conclude it’s too difficult based on the resources available and the obstacles in the way.

Yet people always manage to succeed.

People even come in second and third and do pretty well despite not coming in first place.

So the next time you think someone’s really crushing it ask yourself: Have they re-invented the wheel? Are they playing out of their mind? Is her hair REALLY that silky and smooth?

Or have they simply crushed their limiting beliefs?

Here’s Why Your Label Isn’t Getting More Syncs

by

Boss at Cubicle
The C-levels at a music publisher I used to work at would drop by my cube once every few days. All nice people, they did their best to be friendly when asking “working on anything big?”

They’d ask that question because I was the person who had developed a system and brought in deals (licenses worth anywhere from $15K-$400K per side). My answer was typically “yes, I’m always working on something big.”
[Read more…] about Here’s Why Your Label Isn’t Getting More Syncs

Why Every Brand Should Follow McDonald’s Golden Example In Music Publishing.

by

McDLogo

I used to think music publishers were just big music companies that owned songs. Then I found out McDonald’s is a music publisher and things got interesting…

Everyone knows there’s money to be had with placing music in advertising, but many people may not know exactly why it’s such a boon.

Including the very brands that pay for the music in the first place.

It’s key to realize that the owners of a song get paid every single time a song airs on television or the radio. This is called a performance royalty.

What does this mean for brands?

You may be surprised to find out that many brands are already setup to collect these performance royalties. And not just small players – brands like McDonald’s, Nestlé and Unilever all collect performance royalties when songs air on TV.

But how do they do this?

It’s simple actually – a lot of advertising work is done as work-for-hire. Therefore the brand owns everything that’s created for their commercials, including the music.

A brand can simply sub-contract a “real” music publisher, or even small royalties shop, to setup a publishing entity, collect, track and manage the royalty income on their behalf.

Fees for setup are reasonable, especially compared to the amount of money the brand will earn back from performance royalties (out of which the music publisher will take an administrative cut).

The resulting income for any given spot depends on many variables.

The PRO’s certainly aren’t very open about their tracking formula – much of it is mystery sauce with a pinch of fairy-dust. Despite there being VERY reliable computer tracking services available this seems to be more of a thorn in the side of the PROs than a welcome new tool.

That means it’s tough to tell exactly how much money one spot brings in.

However, they could make enough in performance royalty income to pay themselves back for the expense of the music creation in the first place in many cases.

Is this bad business for the musicians that write the music?

In fact it’s often a better situation for the musicians. If brands don’t register their compositions that are works-for-hire it can be tough for Bill G. Songerton to collect his performance royalties.

But attach a big brand name to a small publisher, and you’ve got an entity that commands respect at the PRO’s (and not to mention one that registers works with all relevant data needed for tracking).

If a brand uses bespoke music for ads that air on TV or radio but isn’t setup to collect performance royalties, they’re missing out on creating a way to offset the cost of music, while also helping out the composers of the song at the same time.

This can all be managed by setting up a simple 3rd party music publisher that can run all of the administration for the brand and literally just cut a check once every quarter.

Let me know what you think about this in the comments – brands, does your agency have you setup to own your works-for-hire? Songwriters – what’s it like to collect performance royalties if your ad-work isn’t registered at a PRO?