Simple, brutal, fundamental. Alberto Savoia, in his book “The Right It“, throws reality in our faces: it’s useless to obsess over execution if the core idea has no market.

In the music industry, we fall in love with our projects far too often. We spend months locked in the studio for the perfect mix, programming mind-blowing visuals, or studying endless launch strategies.

Then the track comes out and nothing happens.

The tour starts and the tickets just sit there.

The problem isn’t that we didn’t work well.

The problem is that we built “in the right way” something that the market didn’t want.

We spent our time polishing an idea that, technically, is out of tune with what people are willing to buy.

To avoid this bloodbath, we must use Pretotyping.

Unlike a prototype — which serves to understand if something works — a pretotype serves to understand if someone wants it.

We must validate interest before investing:

  • Create a minimal or “fake” version of the project.
  • Invest the absolute minimum in terms of time and budget.
  • Launch it into the real world to see if the artist generates “Skin in the game” (a click, an email, a pre-save).

If the audience doesn’t react to a 15-second drop on TikTok, they won’t do it for a 20k euro video either. If a show concept doesn’t generate hype with a simple teaser, it won’t fill the clubs.

We need to stop looking for perfection in the office or the studio and start thinking like a rapid validation laboratory.

We must learn to fail fast and cheap, investing heavily only when the data confirms that the artist has “The Right It” in their hands.

The flawless execution of a wrong idea remains a failure. Before burning resources, let’s use pretotyping to test real traction. If there is no response, we change course without mercy.

Time is the most precious asset: let’s not waste it polishing something that doesn’t move.

#LibriVsMusica
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I am Andrea Corelli, Professional and Advisor to the Music Industry.

From Monday to Friday, I share strategies, backstage insights, or the stories behind a song on LinkedIn. On the weekend, I enjoy the flow.

If you need help with your artist, label, project or music stardup, write to me.