A question that avoids a ‘no’, a question that starts a conversation, a question that opens the door to emotion… those are the questions that build careers and create value.
Tag: work
I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know (if you don’t already) that last Wednesday was my (and quite a few others’) last day at Topspin. Talk about a great run… Man, nearly five years of everything I had. We did change things and I can hang my hat on that. I’ve mention elsewhere that I am tremendously proud of the work we did at Topspin. It felt like the culmination of everything I’d done previous and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity that, at least initially, Ian, Bob and Andrew gave me. They certainly took a chance on me when it came to handing over the operations reigns. After I got over my initial bout of Impostor Syndrome, it turned into the most challenging and rewarding job of my career (so far). It pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone and beyond. I learned those are the kinds of jobs that can become The Best Jobs Ever. Perhaps some day I’ll write something a little lengthier on the subject.
Here’s the email that I sent to the company:
Topspin has been my family and home away from home for the last nearly five years. That’s a record for me. Not only have I been at Topspin longer than any company in my career, it’s been the best and most challenging job I’ve ever had with some of the best and smartest people. When I started at Topspin I used to tell people it felt like working for NASA, or at least how I imagined it felt. Topspin built software that not only changed the music business forever, but in many cases it changed artists’ lives in immeasurably positive ways. No one can take that away.
I wake up every single morning proud of the work I do. It took years to get to that place – to this place and I only regret I didn’t place more importance on getting there sooner. If you feel the same about what you do, congratulations. I salute you. If you don’t, make it a priority and figure out a path to get there. Eat better, get outside, exercise, dance, be grateful, play air guitar (or drums), love, meditate, build things, create, play. Do everything you can to become happy in your career and your life and do shit that matters. Happiness is armor for life.
While happiness lessens the blow, this hurts, but I’m eternally grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to serve this company. I leave knowing that I gave it everything I had. I will miss working with you all, but I also know that it’s quite likely we will work together again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
If there’s anything I can do to help any of you along the way, please don’t feel weird about reaching out. I’ve been through this experience several times and am happy to offer advice or simply lend an ear.
Sincerely,
Brad
I’m spending the next couple of weeks talking to lots of people with the idea that I’ll figure out what I’m going to do next pretty quickly. If you’re wondering what I’m looking for, it’s likely either a role focused on product or operations or a mixture of the two. It will probably be in music, but at this point I know I can apply so much of what I’ve picked up in my career to other problems in the world. You can find me on LinkedIn for a better idea of what I’ve done. If you wanna talk about solving interesting problems, send an email to brad at bradbarrish dot com. Maybe there’s something fun we can do together.
I’m also trying to help out all of the incredibly talented people that also lost their jobs on Wednesday. I’ve set up an email address for people to email opportunities at formertopspinemployees at gmail dot com.
(Image via nevver)
Parker (@boomcat) invited me along to Werewolf Heart for a quick video shoot with Trevor (@yungskeeter) from Spotify for an intro video for artists to get their stuff on Spotify. Coming soon.
Use ArtistLink to Promote your Merch on Spotify
Use ArtistLink to Promote your Merch on Spotify
Our friends at Spotify just announced that artists will be able to promote their merch directly on their Spotify artist profile pages using Topspin’s ArtistLink.
It’s all happening!
TedR * Tumblr: Most People Won’t
TedR * Tumblr: Most People Won’t
From aninterviewwith designer/artist/soul searcher Elle Luna:
So I was using Uber all the time in San Francisco, even though I hated the design. And then I went to the Crunchies awards ceremony and at a post-ceremony event, where I was in a ball gown, I saw the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, sitting at the bar. I was three whiskeys deep at this point and I walked up to him and said, “I use Uber all the time and I absolutely hate the app. I think you should bring me in to fix it.” He replied, “Oh, yeah? What are the three things you’d fix about it?” I said, “I’d redo the logo, redo the entire app, and change the rating system.” I think there was something about being in a dress that empowered me to say such things (laughing). And do you know what he said? He said, “Be at the Uber office at 9am on Monday.” I told him I couldn’t do it alone and he said he’d have a team for me.
I thought the offer was bogus, but I went to Uber’s office on Monday at 9am, laughing to myself, and Travis led me back to a project room with two other designers—they were from outside of Uber and he had flown them in from New York! We took on the Uber app and redesigned it in three weeks. In fact, one of the guys he flew in from New York, Shalin Amin, ended up staying on full-time. The app is gorgeous and last night it won the Fast Company 2013 Innovation By Design Awards for the transportation category, beating out Mars Rover and Tesla.
Most people want to be fit, most people aren’t.
Most people want to build a successful business, most people won’t.
Most people want to be the best version of themselves, most people aren’t.
Most people have dreams they want to fulfill, most people won’t.
Everyone wants to quit something, build something, be something, do something. Most people won’t.
How many things have we wanted? How many opportunities have we craved? How many broken things have we wanted to fix?
And how many of those have we shrunk from. Hid from. Or, excused away.
We’re not alone.
Most people won’t.
But every once in a while someone puts themselves out there. Makes the leap. Faces rejection or failure or worse. And comes out the other side. Better. Changed. Bolder.
Most people won’t. Which means those that do change everything.
I love everything about this.
Topspin Tumblr: Topspin Joins BitTorrent in Launch of Bundle for Publishers
Topspin Tumblr: Topspin Joins BitTorrent in Launch of Bundle for Publishers
For the last five months, Topspin and several other companies have been working with BitTorrent’s new Bundle platform, and today, we’re proud to share the news that it is now available to more artists as part of a closed alpha announced yesterday by BitTorrent.
I love my job.
Topspin Tumblr: Required Reading: Phish-y Business, Quantifying Disruption, Rethinking Retail, D2C Journalism, Manufacturing Rebooted
Going direct-to-fan takes more than a website and an e-commerce store. It takes strategy, planning, and information. Below are a few stories we think are helpful for all three, as the latest installment of the semi-regular Required Reading column. Enjoy.
Another edition of Required Reading is up on the Topspin Tumblr.
me*dia*or: Three Oft Overlooked Music Marketing Tools That Are Really Useful | O Music Awards Blog
me*dia*or: Three Oft Overlooked Music Marketing Tools That Are Really Useful | O Music Awards Blog
Reposted from http://bit.ly/12M1ZXk on February 15, 2013 at 10:33AM[SNIP]Topspin GoDirect
At first, Topspin GoDirect may seem like just another hassle of a band profile to be maintained and created on the web (because we all know there are hundreds of sites to make profiles on), but it has a unique set of features that make it a powerhouse for marketing. It creates a profile for you on Artists.MTV, has direct-to-fan sales capabilities, and can also assist you in securing licensing deals with its publisher information section.
If you don’t have any one of these three tools working for you and promoting your music yet, you should certainly take a look! Each has a unique set of capabilities and benefits that make them all worth having.
If you want to follow along with Riley and I as we experiment with tools like these, put books full of music marketing advice to the test, and generally make a mad scientist lab out of the music industry, join us at RileyAndRyan.com, or onFacebookandTwitter!
Nice of them to mention us. 🙂
Topspin Tumblr: Topspin + Beats: Creating artist opportunities inside new music service project “Daisy”
We have big and exciting news at Topspin today: News of a substantial new strategic investment, news of a product partnership that will bring fans and artists closer together in a new consumer service, and news of a new CEO and a whole bunch of new open positions on our team.
Definitely some big and exciting news.
Topspin Tumblr: Thanks for Supporting Artists on Cyber Monday / Topspin Holiday Gift Guide
Topspin Tumblr: Thanks for Supporting Artists on Cyber Monday / Topspin Holiday Gift Guide
Wow. Thanks sincerely for supporting artists by buying direct on Cyber Monday. Thanks to you, Monday, November 26th, 2012 was among the biggest sales day in Topspin’s history, and 93% larger than Cyber Monday 2011. Considering Cyber Monday sales were up about 30%, it’s incredibly encouraging to see direct-to-consumer sales out-pacing by 3x! We’re long-time believers in direct-to-consumer as a growing retail channel and it was exciting to see this played out on the biggest online shopping day of the year.
To celebrate, we wanted to share some staff picks for our favorite holiday gifts of the year from Topspin artists.
Everyone at the company contributed to our gift guide. Can you guess what I picked?