

Ask HN: Do musicians/artists release MVP & iterate it? - selvan

I am neither professional musician nor artist. Being software developer/entrepreneur, i understand the importance of risk mitigation via MVP. Interested to know approaches in profession such as Music/Art.
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epoxyhockey
From an indie rock musician's standpoint, I could interpret the MVP of a song
as many things. A cool sounding riff, an instrumental (song w/o lyrics) or
poetry (lyrics w/o instruments).

The quick answer is that my band performs none of those things in a concert
setting. The most MVP we perform is a song that maybe doesn't have all of the
lyrics worked out or maybe needing another section of music added to it - a
work in progress. In our private practice sessions, of course, we build songs
from scratch and you could make some comparisons to MVP.

I would compare music to hardware rather than software. You need to have
things pretty well worked out before public performance because no one comes
to a show to hear you play one riff and most audiences don't care to listen to
a boring set full of rock instrumentals and no lyrics.

Also, it is generally difficult to get real-time feedback from an audience
while performing rock music. Some audiences just stand and stare at you while
bobbing their heads and other audiences jump around so long as there is a
beat. You don't have the constant feedback that a comedian has after every
joke. Pretty much the only feedback you'll get is that people will leave if
you suck, or they will clap a little less after a song if they aren't as
entertained. I have to ask my close friends after the show what they think of
certain songs.

I don't think any musician creates music for the sole purpose of pleasing the
audience. A musician creates and performs music as a means of self-expression.
So, in my opinion, MVP and its market testing methodologies are less
applicable to musicians.

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frankus
I've heard of stand-up comedians, playwrights, and musicians testing new
material on small audiences to gauge how well it works, but that's arguably
closer to a private beta than an MVP.

I also know that artists will often do studies of their ideas before doing a
full-scale piece, but that's more along the lines of a development spike than
an MVP.

The closest thing to a true MVP that I've heard of in music would be a band
that labors away in obscurity for a few years, has a hit, and then re-releases
some of their old material but with better production values.

Thinking out loud, I think the difference between the sort of software where
an MVP is important and both music and art is that the former is a tool and
the latter is entertainment.

The entertainment industry is built on novelty, and the sheer amount of
material out there is so vast that the media can really only cover what's new,
what's especially good, and what has made important innovations in the past.

If what you're building has utility above and beyond its entertainment value,
you have the freedom and in some sense the responsibility to release early and
often.

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glimcat
What, you mean like how bands release singles and do live performances to
build up a fan base and get backing?

