I’m as guilty as anyone of changing direction every five minutes. All I’m suggesting is that whatever approach you ARE pursuing in your art, you commit to it for a period of time: a year, an album cycle, a lifetime. When it comes to your own creativity, you certainly don’t need to share or adopt Jack White’s aesthetic. That clearly defined and clearly articulated approach comes through in his own music, the music he produces for others, the stuff that’s recorded at Third Man and available on vinyl in the shop, and in the extra-musical elements of the store: books, posters, guitar pedals, etc. He wants to capture moments and emotion, even if that means you see some warts. He’s not concerned with polish and perfection. Jack White is known for a kind of raw, wrangled, hand-made aesthetic. I’m not suggesting that you need simple color schemes in order to be coherent in your branding, but it’s worth considering all the ways (writing, arrangement, visuals, messaging, distribution strategies) in which you can perhaps create a more immediate and clear impression.Īsk yourself: How can I communicate more directly? 2. This visual directness is a lot like Jack White’s music, which is often reduced to its most vital elements (“vital” meaning not just important, but also alive). This simplicity has a powerful effect, and it’s reminiscent of how The White Stripes came out of the gates in the late 90’s with a fully realized sense of visual branding: back then everything was RED and WHITE. There’s a uniformity of presentation it’s not exactly minimalism, but it’s simple and direct. When you walk into Third Man you get an immediate visual impression. It got me thinking about “branding” for musicians - and there are some great lessons to be learned from Jack White and his label/studio/store/whatever. So what did Third Man Records do to create that feeling in me? And leaving an hour later I felt bummed that I had to exit the coolest place on earth and go back into the real world. And yet when I stepped into Third Man Records, I had the feeling that I was entering the coolest place on earth. I like The White Stripes and The Raconteurs’ music, but I’m by no means a Jack White devotee (I haven’t listened to any of his solo stuff). On the last day I had some time to kill before my flight home so I decided to go to Third Man Records, the studio, venue, record store, and curio shop dreamed up by Jack White. A few weeks ago I was in Nashville for the Music Biz conference.
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