Musician Mike Posner explains to Shaan Puri how record label business models have shifted from artist development to signing pre-built audiences.
Insight
Posner: Great artistry is vulnerability and human connection, not technical skill
“Music is not about hitting the high, it's like life, it's not about hitting the perfect no or doing the run, it's about, does it, does this part of my humanity speak to that part of your humanity? I'm raising my hand, I'm taking my clothes off out here, and it…”
Insight
Posner: Record labels cannot start fires, only pour gasoline
“And that's what labels are great at. It's not so great at starting fires, but if you could start a fire, they got a hell of a lot of gasoline.”
Insight
Posner: Artists must win Spotify before radio, reversing historical trends
“You win Spotify and get on the radio, or you win YouTube and you get on the radio. Then it was the opposite.”
Insight
Posner: Emotional pain and reluctance signal ideas worth writing about
“A huge, huge barometer of something I should be writing is that, oh, I really don't want to write this. This moment was so painful. Like, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. So yeah, that, that it's not the only, you know, it's not t…”
Insight
Posner: Taking on harder goals paradoxically makes life feel easier
“I'm gonna make my life harder, but then paradoxically, my life feels easier when I'm doing the harder thing.”
Assertion Supported
Posner: Early music gained traction on 2DopeBoyz, Nah Right, and Kanye's blog
“I was getting a little bit of traction on these hip hop blogs, which were important in hip hop at the time. Blogs like Two Dope Boys, Nah Right, even Kanye's blog, which is a really big deal at the time.”