But the seemingly odd unease and discomfort made sense in context when I read on Huffington Post that Steve Jobs had passed.
This is a man I had always loved. I knew loads about his life, ingested the majority of major interviews he'd granted, and believed in various areas of his visions from music to technology to philosophy. Across the board, Steve's ethos and output have had a profound influence and impact on my life.
I can't remember not being interested in technology and computers. But Steve made technology creative, he made it mind-bending, he made it productive and he made it fun. And that was just in college.
George Howard was my Recording Industry professor at Northeastern when the iTunes store opened. Prior to the launch, George asked us if he thought this concept would be successful as Apple's product and mindset traditionally appealed to a "different" kind of user, with a beautiful Powerbook sitting on his desk. He was so psyched when iTunes sold a million songs in its first week :).
Much has been spoken this week about Steve Jobs' legalizing the traditional music industry's woes of the digital revolution. And others marvel at how his products make him the Ford or Edison of our time. I am of course using his tools to communicate this to you. Everything from turning the above photo montage into a size and context for something I'm trying to express from typing on my sleek wireless keyboard. This is while I stare endlessly into my Apple LED Cinema display, run off my MacBook w/ my iPhone plugged in all backed up by TimeMachine. These are just a few of the reasons that Steve was the greatest entrepreneur of our time. (HERE are even more reasons that exemplify this statement.)
Steve not only made technology and the communication and content behemoth that is The Internet useful, he made the technology genuinely cool. WTF was a virus to me after The Dresden Dolls' bought me my first Powerbook, an adorable 13", perfect for tour managing and impressive to the stealth Apple Nine Inch Nails band/crew/team, who we were on the road with at the time. I mean Steve's software and hardware basically powered NIN's live show on that tour and Trent was one of the first to post a heartfelt Tweet on October 5th.
[Truth be told, I just took a break to grab a vegan cookie from Liz Lovely, who along with her husband Dan is another entrepreneur I greatly admire. Check out their story and definitely try their ridiculously amazing cookies.]
I co-founded a music company 3 years ago and haven't had a boss since. When I am consulting, laying out ideas for our company, creating companies within companies based on artists and their music, and designing strategies; a major factor in how I got to this place in time is via Steve's work and tools.
This is why Steve Jobs' death this past week was one of the heaviest deaths I've ever experienced and I never met the guy in tangible life. It does feel like the equivalent of John Lennon's death in this day in age, though I'm sure as a massive Beatles fan himself, Steve might disagree. However, who else could have an impact on society as large as John Lennon as the man who amplified ALL music and content for the world by digitizing it for the masses and forevermore? Steve made every piece of content in history accessible in a beautiful and fun package at home. We can now access The Beatles catalog via bit torrent (and legally now via iTunes) + infinity.
Steve Jobs is a man who took the time to explore India and the depths of Buddhism. Intertwine this mentality with business and you have someone who is going to work every day for the right reasons. Despite Apple's market share, stock, and above average consumer pricing, I always viewed Steve's outlook on business to be one with a heart, spirit, integrity and limitless creativity. He wasn't there for the money, he created because he had a belief and love for his output.
Steve even affected what is worn in the community I'm proud to be a part of as a music and technology type living in Brooklyn with colleagues in similar cities/communities. I take for granted that it's considered pretty normal to start businesses from a home, let alone a garage like Steve and Woz did.
Beyond Steve Jobs' cultural and product based influence, his biggest affect on my work is that he created a platform to do it.
I worked for Bob Ezrin in early 2008 and at first was told by Live Nation that I would have to work on a Microsoft based PC. Bob hired me in large part due to digital and direct to fan strategies I had laid out in the past. HOW THE HELL was I supposed to do this with boxy, cluttered programs such as Outlook and Windows in general? Obviously Bob agreed I had to be on a Mac and to justify this to Live Nation I wrote possibly the longest email of my life that maybe I'll post someday if it makes sense.
Thus, when we started our company, I bought myself a whole new Apple office set up and started what we've built from scratch off my MacBook.
Which is why when you heard that Steve had cancer or he looked too thin, you always thought it would be ok. Or at least I did. And in the meantime, what Steve built and launched in the past 15 years in particular is astounding. The Mac OS allows users to create, design, and grow in ways that you don't need to know code to understand. The products that carried the OS continued to evolve in varying degrees of digital capacity and physical mass. It showed me to never be satisfied with your latest idea but to keep creating and executing new ones. It has allowed countless musicians of all ages and levels to professionally record anywhere and distribute their content worldwide.
Which is why today I'm running on Steve. As I was running on Steve the day after his death when I wanted to give in to my lame cold and skip speaking to NYU students on management in the modern/digital music industry. Instead it was a blast and I loved hearing the questions on the students' minds. And running on Steve not only inspires moving forward but the concept of forward motion in general. As it's wonderful to live in the moment, but not dwell in it and constantly grow to see what else can be created and launched.
I didn't even mention Pixar or the software he created at Next.
Sigh. I'll miss the man I loved.
PS - if you knew little of the above about Steve, just watch his 2005 commencement address @ Stanford for a crash course. Thank you.
