What is Style, and how important is it?

One of the biggest challenges we face as musicians is how to make sense of the duality between music as a team sport and our desire to stand out as an individual. So allow me to quickly explain the cause of this tension and how to reconcile it.

Common sense dictates that the “goal should always be greater than the role.” However, when solitary achievement is continuously exalted over collective efforts, it’s hard to not get seduced by the allure of feeling special when you stand out. Not to mention, if you largely see success in your field as being a zero-sum game, then of course you’re going to favor self-serving tactics. But to be honest with you, I think the subtext behind this type of mentality falls under the misguided lens of “job security.” After all, if your value makes you irreplaceable in the eyes of others, then you’ll always have employment. That said, however, if you have enough cash-flow producing assets that you own, then you won’t have to entertain the idea of “job security,” as your survival wouldn’t be contingent upon someone else’s valuation of you. And in such situations, any pressure you might feel to overcompensate for attention would lose its allure.

I often say that music is 98% preconceived and 2% inspiration. So like a conversation, where all the words we use are known to us before we use them, the order in which they come out is where this 2% comes into focus. And it’s that 2% (style) that makes us memorable enough to stand out. Therefore, the impact of your style in music, fashion, speaking, etc., is really predicated upon the strength of your fundamentals, as your style is simply your point of view about those fundamentals. Therefore, if your style is simply a natural byproduct of your interpretation of your fundamentals, then by simply focusing on those basic principles, it allows you to let your stylistic chips fall where they may, without the fear that they’ll fall in an unflattering way. 

Suggested Takeaways…

a) An incessant interest in maintaining “your style” at all times forces you to turn your focus inward as opposed to the outward concern for the good of the band.

b) Actively seek out as many examples of team-oriented successes as possible to believe that that can be an attractive option to pursue.

c) If real success is “significance,” and significance is measured by the effect you have on others, then this is how your name will truly outlive you.