Xpansv // art + science + execution

The Cupcake Hack - Hacking Music with John Pisciotta

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Episode 06 - The Cupcake Hack, Hacking Music with John  Pisciotta 

About Hacking Music:

Welcome to the Hacking Music podcast, here you will learn the Strategic Frameworks, Force Multipliers & Micro Habits essential for thriving in the new music marketplace. Our mission is to help you to massively grow your artist career in new ways that support, strengthen and sell your content. Additionally, we bring together music and media leaders to unpack how strategy and execution drive their success.

The Cupcake Hack helps artists identify how projects can be broken down, better managed, and more easily completed. Such projects can range from planning a tour to developing a marketing plan for a new album. Managing projects like these well is important because each of them contribute to building momentum in a career.

Music artists tend not to make great business managers because they bite off more than they can chew when starting a new project such as planning a tour or creating a new album. They have grand ideas and visions but reaching the end seems like such a massive undertaking that many of them become overwhelmed and give up.

The Cupcake has six important attributes:

  1. Small size - It is small in scope and does not take up very much room or require a plethora of supplies to bake correctly.
  2. Completable - Baking a cupcake is a task that is manageable and is not intimidating.
  3. Quick - You don’t have to dedicate a great deal of time to bake a cupcake.
  4. Learning - When you are baking a cupcake, it is easy to identify exactly what you need to improve at.
  5. Winnable - Completing a cupcake builds confidence for everybody involved.
  6. Momentum - What you learned through baking the Cupcake can be put to use when
    7. baking on a larger scale.

    BENEFITS OF THE CUPCAKE HACK

    1. Supercharged Learning Cycles - Breaking down large projects into smaller ones subjects the artist to more learning cycles (see definition below). This results in the artist improving at that particular task.
    2. Hope - Accomplishing smaller wins leads to the artist feeling more optimistic and excited due to the creation of momentum in their career. To put it simply, things are moving! It also helps you remain relevant in the eyes of the outside world because it appears that you are constantly doing something.
    3. Better Music - Because you are putting yourself through The Cupcake Hack over and over again, you begin to improve at that task. An example would be how some of the best songwriters in the industry constantly advocate that artists attempt to write a new song every few days. Improvement comes naturally with increased learning cycles.
    4. Focus - It is much easier to stay focused on what needs to be done when you are seeking to accomplish a smaller task. You aren’t wasting time, energy, or money on things that might not be necessary to reach your goal. It is also much easier to make decisions that avoid costly mistakes.
    5. The Wedding Cake Appears - One of the best things you will learn about The Cupcake Hack is that focusing on the small things leads to the big things taking care of them- selves. Think of a novelist committing to writing one chapter each week. After several months, the novelist would have a rough draft in place that includes the foundation for an entire story. They had their head down focusing on baby steps only to look up and realize they had finished a marathon.



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      Xpansv // art + science + executionBy John Pisciotta