By Johnny Dwinell Are you a rip-off artist? Huh? Yeah, man, John Lennon wasn’t the first to say, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.†Beethoven took from: Mozart (they arguably met and Mozart arguably gave Beethoven lessons) Tom Petty took from: Bob Dylan – this one’s obvious, right?? The Continentals (feat. Don Felder [Eagles]) The […]
By Johnny Dwinell What is your lane? Do you really know? Should it change? Are you sure? Keith Urban on American Idol I was inspired by Keith Urban after hearing his comment on American Idol last week. He said something to the effect of (and I’m paraphrasing), “If these people would just listen to our […]
By Johnny Dwinell You learn to be an artist like you learn to be an expert plumber, like you learn to play poker, or like you become a master craftsman working with fine wood furniture. First you tackle the broad strokes and then increasingly you focus on details until you become a student of the […]
By Johnny Dwinell “Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream†– W.C. Fields Are you a dead fish? I love this quote. If you think that money and the right connections equates to “easy street†for your career or that you need these things before you […]
By Johnny Dwinell At least once a week I’ll get an email asking “What does it take to have a successful music career like _____?” The short answer is that there are literally a million ways to skin that cat, but the ONLY common denominator in EVERY success story is the artist. Every successful story […]
By Johnny Dwinell Kelly and I are so busy with the marketing and record production duties of Daredevil Production, we don’t get that much of a chance to listen to cool new music. Enter my cool brother-in-law Randy Ahrens. Randy is an unusual music consumer, in fact, he is what I have referred to in […]
By Johnny Dwinell What’s your frame of reference? What’s your frame of reference? Your frame of reference dictates your experiences, perceptions and, subsequently, will dictate your decisions and strategic planning. If you want to be successful in any business (especially the music business) you need to ensure that you have an accurate frame of reference. […]
By Johnny Dwinell My favorite question to ask aspiring artists and songwriters is: “Do You Really Have a Plan?†and what EXACTLY is it? How EXACTLY are you going to make a living as an artist? This question is always good at separating the wheat from the chaff or in this case the real musicians […]
By Johnny Dwinell I hate to say it but even though it is easier than ever before to make a living as an artist these days, artists are starving more and more in large part because they suck at business. The most iconic artists we cherish today are literal business titans as well musical geniuses; […]
By Johnny Dwinell  How do you want to be perceived? Do you want people to see you as a great artist?  A great writer? Innovative?  Intelligent?  On the way up? A survivor? A maverick? An icon?  Maybe an outlaw?  We artists always think about how we want to be perceived in the very […]