Perfectionism kept Scott Bradlee from releasing anything until he was 27 years of age. He was unsure of his own talent, and too worried to take the risk. He had a trick at parties where he would take modern songs and put an early 20th century spin on them.
Scott got over his perfectionism and finally launched what would become Postmodern Jukebox.
The band had a big leap forward when author, Neil Gaiman shared them with his followers on Twitter.
Fast forward to his mid 30’s and his creation, Postmodern Jukebox, has almost 4 million subscribers on YouTube and well over 1 billion views.
Postmodern Jukebox travels the country with a cast of accomplished musicians, taking on locally and nationally famous performers as it progresses. As of early this year, Postmodern Jukebox is beginning its first residency at the Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip.
“I was just afraid to put something out there, not for fear of criticism, but perfectionism. I think my advice is you just have to kind of put things out there because, you have to think of it the way, and this is how I got over it, was just realizing that by me not putting something out, I was disappointing fans a lot more than if I put something out that was subpar or that they didn’t like. I mean, that’s even worse than to release nothing because you’re afraid…”
-Scott Bradlee
It’s safe to say that Scott and Postmodern Jukebox are very well known, it also shows how the modern way of making it big in music is not what it once was.
After his launch to mega success, Scott authored the Book: “Outside the Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig.” When it comes to writers block, Scott does something mindless to get the creative juices flowing; watching old episodes of Jersey Shore.
Scott Bradlee sits down with me, Jeremy Ryan Slate, on the latest episode of the Create Your Own Life Show.
