It’s a both/and situation.
Passion without practicality is not sustainable. Practicality without passion is not rewarding.
Neither precludes the other. Neither is better than the other.
Both are necessary to cultivate if you want to live a big, creative life.
Passion gives us:
Purpose
Meaning
Joy
Practicality gives us:
Stability
Structure
Safety
Finding the balance is the key to building a life of meaning. This is not static, but an ever-changing work in progress.
Starting a new thing today.
Group Therapy is a weekly playlist. Five new songs every Friday.
This week includes: Wishy, The Ophelias, Suzzallo, Bon Iver, and Baths.
Subscribe now to save your life.
It’s obvious but it needs to be said.
This morning I read that Napster was recently sold for 207 million.
Napster was a file sharing service where people uploaded and downloaded music illegally.
Napster claims they “changed the music industry.”
They did. For the worse.
What they started and what followed as a result, put my indie label, Lujo, and other labels like ours out of business.
It was the heartbreak of my life.
Since then (and even well before) my battle cry has been INVEST IN ART and ARTISTS.
Lujo did 50/50 deals with our artists.
The profit shares for artists with music tech companies? Disgusting.
I don’t want computers making me playlists. Human taste and our ability to appreciate art is a developed skill.
Imagine what taste makers and artists could do with 207 million.
In my town of Ojai, just outside of LA, I am joining a team of folks reviving our outdoor live music venue, Libbey Bowl.
You don’t go into music to make money.
You go into it because you believe in art and its ability to uplift and hearten and make us better.
David Lynch: Music is one of the most fantastic things. Almost like fire and air and water.