The DCUM Credo

My blog post below announcing that Maria is now working on DCUM fulltime elicited a number of questions about expanding DCUM. In addition, a number of good suggestions for ways to enhance DCUM were offered. The comments got me thinking about our approach to growing and developing the website. I realized that while I have had what you might call a "philosophy" concerning how to address growth, I couldn't articulate it very well. Then, I stumbled across an article on a completely unrelated topic that encapsulated my ideas wonderfully.

Before I reveal what we might call the DCUM Credo, let me explain its origins. Some years ago, Maria and I met with an investor who was considering taking DCUM national. In turn, he referred us to a business specialist to help flesh out the business side of the operation. That specialist discussed the strengths of DCUM, the first and foremost of which he called "authenticity". We weren't a "build it and they will come" operation started by a deep-pocketed corporation. To the contrary, we were literally a "mom and pop" outfit being run on a shoestring. We did no advertising, growing purely organically. The investor ultimately lost interest in us, but the importance of "authenticity" to DCUM stuck with me.

Last week I was referred to a blog post written by Bob Lefsetz. Lefsetz is an expert on the American music industry. His post was addressed to musicians, advising them on how they might succeed in the current music industry. Somewhat surprisingly, the example he used was the popular hamburger chain, Five Guys. I didn't know much about Five Guys beyond the fact that I enjoy eating there occasionally. So, the article had a lot of new information for me. But, what was important for Lefsetz were the ways in which Five Guys had maintained its authenticity, the factor Lefsetz identified as the key to the chain's success.

Lefsetz went on to list several factors for musicians to maintain authenticity. However, what struck me was his conclusion:

"Let authenticity be your credo. Know that like Five Guys nothing great's an overnight success. Get the formula right before you try to grow. And don't change who you are once you’ve broken through, be humble and original, retain your rough edges, every concession to the mainstream works against you."

When I read that, I thought, "this guy just said exactly what I've been thinking all these years!" So, to those of you who wonder whether DCUM is likely to change with Maria's new role, here is your answer. Especially, to those who suggest -- over and over again -- that we require users to login, the chance of that is close to nil. To those asking about expansion, we hope that it will come in due time. Regardless, you can count on DCUM retaining its rough edges. We believe, like Lefsetz, that every concession to the mainstream works against us.