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You Can lead a Horse to Water...
It's funny how people just don't understand
the idea of music professionals giving up
their advice to help the career of
independent musicians. Why should they
listen to our advice?
After all we're not
famous. Of course we're not, our work is
done away from the spotlight, away from the
public eye and that is how it should be, but
many of our clients and businesses are doing
well.
I was reading a comment on the MySpace
homepage of Bandit A&R Newsletter which said
"Its an interesting concept, but I'm always
dubious of these pay-for-this-bible kinda
things." And I asked myself why? Why should
a person be dubious about helpful and
important contact information? Could it be
that the information is a lie? Could it be
that the product doesn't even exist and we
professionals are trying to scam you for a
few lousy bucks? I don't think so. There are
far easier ways to scam people if that is
how we wanted to be.
I personally work with marketing in music.
It's very fulfilling and works! To me it's
amazing how many artists and bands turn
their backs on or ignore completely
marketing. Marketing is an integral part of
your music career, you wear a certain type
of clothing, that's marketing, you have a
certain type of sound, is also marketing,
you promote your band or ask for your music
to be heard is also marketing (albeit
simple).
David Hooper, director of Kathode Ray Music
told an interesting story of an old woman
who, after hearing a young man playing a
violin said, "Oh! I wish I could play like
that!" The young man replied, "No you don't,
because if you did you would have learned to
play years ago!". The point of the story is
true. If we want something bad enough, we
must learn how to and commit ourselves to
it.
Of course you may be a musician just as a
hobby, and there's nothing wrong in that.
You will have hours of fun in your bedroom
creating your home recordings and showing
them to your mates. That's cool if that's
what you want to do.
But if you are considering being an
independent professional, earning money to
live from your music, you need to take the
bull by the horns and be proactive. You must
know about the whole business and not just a
part of it. It's like you making the
following mathematical equation:
2 + ? = ?
You know the first part (your music) but
you're missing the rest, so you will never
find the right answer in the end.
The cold, hard truth is:
If you are not prepared to take care of your
business, then who will? If you are not
prepared to invest in your business, then
who will? Being famous is not a right, it's
a reward. Nobody in business will give you a
free ride, it's up to you to take up the
reigns and get to the next level. Then, and
maybe then someone will start to take notice
of you.
Success
Steve Allen
Steve Allen is consultant and music
producer.
Author of "Marketing Your Music – Success
Strategies", "Personal Management in the
Music Industry" and "Street Teams – Expand
your Fan Base"
http://www.marketingyourmusic.net
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