Things In Which We Believe

(3 min read)

When The License Lab was launched in 2011, our founder and creative director Daniel Holter put together a list of bullet points to keep top of mind during our early days of coffee-fueled brainstorms and all-night sessions.

We call them our 10 Tenets.

As the business progresses and evolves, these tenets seem more vital than ever… and increasingly difficult to keep in focus. Distractions. Conflicting priorities. The necessity of constant attention being paid to social media. Responsibilities to our people and investors, client requests, giving in to the temptation of automating tasks just to make things a little more, um, efficient.

This is a reminder that the details still matter. Indeed, they matter now more than ever.

We must be more vigilant than ever about these guideposts lighting our way into the brightest of futures. This is who we are.

1. Quality over quantity, always.

Always the aim in life, love, and business. More is just more, and there are plenty of others who will unknowingly suffocate your clients with choice. Give them a true choice so obvious that it’s blinding.

Also, picking the right times to say “No” is just as important as saying “Yes,” and a critical strand of our DNA.

2. Pursuing passion instead of chasing profit.

Efficiency sucks. Compromising the passionate heart of anything creative in the pursuit of profitable efficiency will inevitably mean losing the hearts of those who support your enterprise. And that spells long-term failure.

3. Tubes. Warm, glorious, saturated vacuum tubes.

The heart of music is often imitated but rarely achieved without involving the heat of a vacuum tube somewhere in the chain. There’s something alive about tubes warming the air in the studio… guitar amps, microphones, preamps, compressors or equalizers. Shortcuts rarely pay off in the creative process.

4. Honoring imperfection, dirt and grit. A universe in balance.

You can keep your “perfect” and sterile and tidy, we aim for genuine emotion and inspiration. This applies to our whole company, our brand, the music we make, and the people with whom we make it.

5. Analog tape… and, yes, even analogue tape.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The key is knowing when to use it, when to push it, and when to let everything run off the rails. Or reels.

But this point is really about the importance of spelling. #metadatamatters

6. Computerized recording technology, the latest plug-ins, and the imminent singularity.

There’s no denying it, modern software gives everyone endless options. We hope to make enough inspiring music before the robots take over so as to render them irrelevant… before the inevitable dystopia sets in. We also love and adopt new (and, at times, uncomfortable) technologies and support those who make the tools we use to create our images and sounds.

7. The Golden Rule.

It’s so damn simple. Do unto others. With clients and competitors, creatives and co-workers.

8. Taking requests, and tipping well.

If we’re listening, our clients are telling us what they want to hear. We covet their input. We want to know what music turns them on. We want them to share their budget concerns with us. We want to help them win, we’re here to serve, and we truly enjoy spreading the good around. And let us always remember we’ve been helped along the way… pay it forward.

9. Trustworthy handshakes.

There’s a lot to learn from the handshakes of certain people. And their eye contact, or lack thereof. We’ll just leave this here.

10. The judicious use of exclamation points.

Humility. Little fanfare. When you see an exclamation point from us you’d best know we mean it.