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“Rich And Famous” Is A Side-Effect – Not A Goal

January 21, 2009 in Focus with 0 Comments

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Are you in this for the right reasons?

No matter what style of music you make,  please do yourself and everyone who will ever hear you a favour…Think about this for a minute: Determine what your goal is, why you are making music, and how making music will help you achieve said goal.  And be brutally honest with yourself.

If your answer to the above request goes something like this “I wanna be a ROCKSTAR” or “I have to be famous” then put your instruments down right now and never pick them back up, ever.  Why?  Because if all you want to do is get famous, there are much easier ways to achieve that goal that are far more efficient and don’t waste anyone elses time either.  If, however, your answer is more like “because music is the only thing that drives me” or “music is how I express myself, and I have a statement to make to the world with it,” then carry on.  You’re the musicians who will have realistic careers, and you’re the ones the world wants to hear from.

This is the only way to truly connect with your audience.  Anything but true, honest music is going to smack of insincerity and while you might fool some people for a little while, it’s not going to work forever.  Music fans are pretty smart, and they’ll get wise to you pretty quickly.

“Rich and famous” shouldn’t be your target goal, it’s merely a by-product of relentless hard work and practice, unwavering belief, thousands of hours and days spent struggling to spread your message the only way you know how, and natural-born-talent.

It’s Your Band

January 7, 2009 in Focus with 0 Comments

Who's steering the ship?

You're steering the ship... are you paying attention?

If you are in a band who is serious about getting your music out into the world, and becoming professionals (making your livelihood from your music) as you get more successful, you will slowly develop “your team”… your manager, a booking agent, a publishing company, perhaps a label, a publicist, a radio promoter, your favorite concert promoters in each market, sound-engineers, producers, etc. There will be a great number of people who are not actually in your band, who you will assign certain responsibilities to, and they will be charged with overseeing and helping you build parts of your business.

The importance of surrounding yourself with people who you trust, and who share the same vision of success as you almost goes without saying, but there’s something else you must never forget about all these other people you work with as you navigate the music industry: For each and every one of them, there can (and will) always be “another band.” A manager will work with several acts at a time, labels and agents have rosters of artists, promoters deal with tons of different bands, as do publishers, producers etc. But for you, this band is probably the only one you’ll be in. Or at most, one of only a small number, and hopefully it is one of the most important things in your life. So no matter how many people work with you, or for you, it is ALWAYS up to you. If you don’t care, you can’t expect anyone else to. If you don’t ask the questions, or get involved with every aspect of your career, you have no one to blame but yourselves if the path is not going in the right direction. If your label isn’t marketing you the way you want to be marketed, it’s your responsibility to stand up and say so. If you’re not playing shows with the right type of bands, don’t settle, and don’t be afraid – say something. Ask a question.

Be the active driving force behind everything that happens in your band’s name, and if you don’t understand why something is happening (or isn’t happening), you owe it to yourself to ask the questions….after all, it’s your band.

On Negativity

December 3, 2008 in Focus with 1 Comment

Negativity = Poison for bands.

Negativity = Poison for bands.

Music is art, and art is subjective.  That means people are going to hate your band, even if you are ridiculously successful and millions of people around the world adore you.  And should you be so lucky as to have your music adored by millions worldwide, and you happened upon the last person in the world who still hates your band, and they told you so… you’d probably say to them something like “that’s fine, that’s your opinion” or “I do my music for my own enjoyment, not for someone elses,” or something like that.  You wouldn’t take that negativity to heart, you’d focus on your own successes and struggles.  You’d focus on your own art.

Why then, is it that there are so many bands out there who are completely obsessed with the goings-on of other bands.  Far too often, I hear things like “why the hell is that band on the radio” or “my band is so much better than those guys… how come they get all the tours.”

Well, the truth is there are many reasons as to why another band is achieving more success than your own, but don’t focus on the negative aspects of that fact.  And certainly don’t dwell on the fact that you think your music is superior to that of what is currently popular.  Those bands didn’t make their music for you.

Focus on the things you actually can control, and don’t be negative.  Write songs, write more songs, and then write some more songs.  Don’t think that just because you recorded a record that the work is over.   It’s not going to be your only album ever.  Put it out there, and keep writing.  Practice performing live.  then practice more, and then practice some more.  Play shows, play… okay you get the point.

It’s really easy to offer excuses, and complain about the fortunes of others… but almost every time, the bands that are successful are more focused on their own craft, and their own activity than they are focused on the successes of others.

The Thing About Time And Talent

November 18, 2008 in Focus with 0 Comments

shortcutSocial media, web technologies, mobile interaction… all of these are amazing tools that a musician now has in their pocket, most of them available for free. There is no excuse for a musician not to be using all these tools to the best of their availability to maximize their fanbase, enhance their fans experiences, turn fans into friends, and turn friends into evangelists. So much can be achieved simply by using these tools, and using them well.

However, there are two things that are simply unavoidable.  You need to invest the time needed to build your networks, and you need to be talented musically.  It’s true not everyone who wants to be a successful musician is going to become one, but if that’s what you want to do, then that’s fantastic.  But you need to focus on it all the time.  Spend your time practicing your instruments, writing new songs, booking shows… but then spend time making friends with other bands, showswapping, and engaging with people who have told you they like your music.  Don’t just go on Myspace and start friending random people, (or worse… only friending girls in bikinis) then never talk to them again.  Start conversations, get active in already-existing conversations… find messageboards that discuss topics similar to the lyrical material of your songs and start talking to people, try all kinds of different things to grow your fanbase.  Just be smart about it.  Think, target, then engage them.  And make the time to engage in meaningful conversations with people about your music.  You can’t just always have a one-way outward push to people.  You need to listen and respond to what they have to say as well.

Screaming from the rooftop no longer works. Conversations do.  Make time to converse with your listeners.  And make time to get better musically.  Lock those two things in, and the rest will start to fall into place.

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