Tag Archive for: Songwriters

What Kind of Responsible Are You?

Responsible Feature MEME 2

 

I heard this on a podcast and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Responsible Ton of Bricks

 What I’m about to describe applies to all people in all jobs, not just indie artists, singers, and songwriters.

 

 

 

This fact goes hand in hand with self-awareness which I’ve written about before.

 

Responsible Self Aware MEME

 

There’s a story I heard (second-hand) from some paid coaching I purchased. The person telling the story was talking to his billionaire friend. He was endorsing another friend’s resume to the billionaire saying, “He came from this family, he has a Master’s Degree in so-and-so from this amazing institution, and blah, blah, blah”.

 

The billionaire’s response was simple, “Yes, but is he worth a damn?”

 

Responsible Worth a damn MEME

 

The billionaire didn’t care whatsoever about his resume and “what he looked like on paper”, he cared about his self-awareness and his common sense.

 

 

What kind of responsible is this person?

 

The more self-aware we become, the smarter we are because we recognize our strengths and weaknesses to craft our life around reality. We strengthen and deepen our character when we’re aware of what tools we’re missing, and we take action to find these missing tools.

 

Responsible Craft Our Reality MEME 2

 

 

We often think we have it together, but when we’re not self-aware, we are bullshitting ourselves.

 

 

 

These fictional stories manifest themselves in multiple ways including what kind of responsible you are.

 

Responsible 3 Kinds of Responsible Monkeys

There are 3 kinds of responsible.

 

 

 

Responsible Responsible

 

 

The first kind is responsible. Responsible people do what they say they’re going to do, work hard, follow up, and take care of all business in their lives.

 

 

 

The second kind is the opposite of responsible, which is irresponsible.  We all have at least one irresponsible friend.  They are always a hot, ghetto mess!

 

Responsible Irresponsible Party Girl

 

They don’t do anything, they’re always late, they party all the time. Sound familiar?

They completely fail at any kind of functional reality and therefore, irresponsible people don’t find happiness or success simply because they’re not willing to work for it.

 

 

 

Sometimes we feel like they find happiness. Sometimes it looks like they do, but they don’t.

 

You know, like that friend you have who’s Facebook page is a complete fantasy; at least to their lives.

 

They think they know how to define happiness, but they don’t know how to work for it. Therefore they don’t know happiness. It’s a destination in their minds.

 

Responsible Cookie Cutter MEME

 

The definition of happiness different for everybody which means the individual has to work to find what it means to them. Otherwise, they’re just crafting their lives to a societal cookie cutter and the society responds with acceptance, but the individual is not truly happy.

 

 

 

Can you guess what the third kind of responsible is?

 

NON-responsible is #3.

 

Wha?

 

Yes, non-responsible.Responsible Non-Responsible

 

Non-responsible are people who claim to be responsible but get nothing done and if you ask them, they’ll tell you it’s not their fault.

 

 

Whoa!

 

Who did you just think of?

 

Non-responsible have an excuse for everything.

 

Responsible Marine Corps Logo

I was raised by a Marine. Excuses were a luxury my sisters and I were not afforded.

 

 

 

 

 

I would have conversations with my dad like this,

 

Dad: “Did you mow the lawn?” (knowing full well the lawn was ignored)

 

Me: “Well I started but then this happened and that happened and to top it all off, this crazy thing went down.”

 

Responsible Drill Sergeant

 

 

Dad: “Ok, but you didn’t answer my question. I understand what happened and why it happened but what EXACTLY was the outcome with regards to the lawn?” “Did you execute or not?”

 

Me: “No.”

 

 

 

Dad: (he was an Officer in the Corps who oversaw the Drill Sergeants so he had to have a tone of voice that ensured he would not be misunderstood, misinterpreted, or ignored. Oh, and he had to be louder than the Drill Sergeants. You get the picture now) “So why do I care about all this other crap? You have plenty of great excuses and I’m proud of you and your creativity for birthing these incredible challenges, but the bottom line is that the lawn didn’t get mowed. Excuses are like butts (he used a more colorful word, I assure you), everybody has one and they all stink. So, what are you going to do right now?”

 

Responsible Excuses MEME

 

 

Me: “I’m gonna mow the lawn, Dad.”

 

It was either mow the lawn or get a size 10.5 up my keester.

 

Get it?

 

Non-responsible people can’t or don’t care about communicating. The outcome is predictable. They get frustrated that people don’t understand what they’re trying to convey and ultimately blame these people and the world for not understanding.

 

They don’t feel heard.

 

It’s the job of the communicator to ensure they’re being heard, NOT the other way around.

 

Responsible Shark Tank MEME

 

I was watching an episode of Shark Tank the other day. After the pitch, the panel all passed on the offer. But, as the future entrepreneurs were being led off the stage, one of them says to the panel, “But I don’t feel you HEARD me!”

 

 

 

To which Mark Cuban responded, “It’s not MY job to hear you, it’s YOUR job to make sure that you’re heard!”

 

The moment the entrepreneur said, “You didn’t hear me” was the instant he revealed himself as a non-responsible person which I assure you was a complete turn-off to the panel of very successful Type-A investors.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Guess what? Record labels don’t appreciate non-responsible artists. Neither do any of the business relationships you’re going to encounter on your way up.

 

Responsible Can't Recognize A Good Demo

 

I have previously broached this subject in a couple different blogs 10 Worst Song Demo Mistakes and 12 Thoughts On Unprofessional Songwriters. When a songwriter hands in a crappy sounding, cheap, amateur song demo and says or thinks, “It’s the producer’s job to recognize my amazing song through all the sonic challenges” this is an example of non-responsibility.

 

 

 

By the way, in this instance, it’s almost guaranteed that the song sucks, because the person is non-responsible and therefore doesn’t have enough self-awareness to improve their craft. A crappy sounding demo of a hit song is almost like a Unicorn; I’m pretty sure they don’t exist.

 

How about this non-responsible viewpoint, “I can’t find any good players where I live so I can’t put a good band together.”

 

Responsible DDHS

This is BS too. I grew up in Delavan, WI, a town with a population of 8,500 people. My graduating class was 189 kids. Somehow, I managed to put a band together that made it to FL via the Allman Brothers and then onto Rob Cavallo at Warner Bros. records. 7 years on the road.

 

That wasn’t luck, it didn’t happen by accident.

 

Do you see how this is a non-responsible attitude?

 

I can never say this enough, communication is NOT YOUR INTENT, but what is actually being received by the listener.

 

Responsible Communication MEME

 

Responsible artists understand that if the audience isn’t picking up what they’re putting down then they must change the message, approach, content, etc. This applies to their art AND their marketing.

 

 

 

Non-responsible people just complain that they feel like they’re never heard. Which is true, they’re probably never heard, but that’s only because they suck at communicating and refuse to take responsibility for fixing it.

 

It’s just too easy to get angry and blame them for not understanding.

 

Make no mistake, communicating is an artform all its own. This what makes marketing music so exciting for me.

 

What other things are affecting your career in a negative way that is in your control but you respond in a non-responsible manner?

 

Responsible artist 2 MEME

Marketing?  “I’m an artist, so I don’t have time for marketing.” = Non-responsible

 

 

 

 

How about business? “I don’t have time, money, or the inclination to be a business person.” = Non-responsible.

 

Responsible Artist Guitar MEME

These non-responsible outlooks are keeping you right where you are. These mindsets do NOT get you into a position of growth.

 

 

 

 

You need to evaluate everything in your life at the moment and take a good, long, hard look at what you’re being responsible about and non-responsible about.

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

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Increase Your Value, Learn To Make Better Relationships

Relationships Feature MEME

 

Imagine that you’re going out on a first date. This person is someone that you’re excited to get to know better but for some reason, you’re feeling excruciatingly nervous. You meet up with the date Relationships Nervousand the night is a disaster.

 

Maybe you were the date and the other person was nervous, which made you nervous.

 

 

Have you been there?

 

Why does that happen?

 

Answer: Nonverbal communication.

 

Relationships Cave Man

 

As a species, we have been communicating nonverbally for thousands of years before we developed language.

 

 

 

 

Therefore, we are far better at receiving and understanding nonverbal communication than verbal communication.

 

Arguably, the percentages are different depending on what you read, but the consensus points to the fact that when any message is received, the majority of the information transmitted was nonverbal.

 

Relationships Cat MEME

 How you say it and what your body does while you say it is far more important than what you say.

 

There is an art to the nonverbal performance aspects of an artist. What are you doing when you’re singing? How does your body language communicate to the audience when it’s time to clap or if they should wait out a pregnant pause?

 

See how important it is?

 

It’s the difference between a green artist and a pro in every situation imaginable.

 

Relationships Upset Man MEME

 

 

As humans, we pre-frame people prior to meeting them all the time. Our brains are designed to conserve energy thus; we won’t spend too much time studying before we naturally fill in the blanks on someone filtering the data through our own emotional experiences.

 

 

 

 

We all have vastly different emotional experiences.

 

Plain English: You’re always being judged.

 

Here’s another good point to remember, I’m generalizing but our first impressions typically don’t happen when we decide to make them.

 

Relationships Introduction MEMEAnother way to think about it is that a first impression is DIFFERENT than an introduction. Rarely do these two separate events happen simultaneously.

 

Why should you care?

 

Answer:  Because your job as an artist is to communicate. Your job as a marketer of your art is also to communicate.

 

Understanding exactly how messages are received is an invaluable exercise for your artistic creativity, live performances, marketability, team building skills, networking, etc.

 

Relationships Introvert MEME

 

Right now, some of you are cringing because you’re thinking, “But, I’m an introvert and I suck at relationships.”

 

I’ve got news for you. You don’t suck at relationships.

 

By the way, an introvert’s reaction to this idea is completely understandable, isn’t it? They don’t view themselves as the gregarious, huge-personality-type sales person who is a killer networker.

 

In fact, many introverts may be a bit envious of the extroverts who seem to effortlessly create relationships.

 

Relationships Big Personality

 

 

Some introverts may even view this lack of outward personality as a detriment to their artist career.

 

 

 

The fact is that introverts and extroverts all have strengths and weaknesses when it comes to creating and maintaining relationships. One is not necessarily better than the other.

 

What makes one PERSON better at creating relationships than another person is self-awareness.

 

Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is quite empowering.

 

Relationships Schmoozing

 

 

 

While extroverts are good at creating many relationships, they’re often not necessarily good relationships or deep relationships.

 

 

 

 

Statistically, introverts are better at creating more meaningful relationships.

 

Maybe you feel shy and weird about schmoozing or “working the room” after a show, but when introverts are ready to create and maintain relationships they think deeply, they observe people well.

 

When faced with the thought of hustling or schmoozing, many introverts think, “I’m too shy, I could never do this.”

 

False! You CAN do this; you just haven’t learned how.

 

Relationships Social Media

This information is HUGE for industry events, after show hustling, AND SOCIAL MEDIA!

 

 

Often, before you “meet” someone on social media they’ve already scoured your Instagram account. They’ve already created an opinion on you as an artist.

 

If you’re aware of this dynamic, you can attempt to control the outcome as much as possible.

 

Themed accounts are pleasurable to viewers. Many of my client’s accounts are themed, albeit some more than others.

 

Relationships John Kern

 

 

@JohnKernMusic is themed black & white. He looks so cool in black and white (he’s extremely marketable in color but there’s a retro vibe that transmits via b&w with John).

 

 

 

@patience.reich has an account that is themed with the many amazing facets of her personality and work efforts. Patience is a black, female jazz singer (working on a pop record), MD (physician of Internal Medicine), true humanitarian (closing her practice every year for weeks or months at a time to travel and give medical care to children in impoverished countries), a marathon runner, a devout Christian, oh, and she loves cats.

 

Relationships Patience Reich

Do you see how a visual or contextual “thread” of sorts is extremely helpful to creating fans on your social media accounts?

 

 

Images are extremely important here, especially on Instagram. All serious artists need professional pictures taken.

 

Relationships Orleans Album Cover

These photos need to be shot by a professional ARTIST PHOTOGRAPHER as opposed to your girlfriend’s, dogwalker’s, first cousin’s boyfriend who has a cool camera and knows how to focus the lens.

 

 

 

 

 

Get it?

 

Relationships Bad Band Photo

It’s all about the photographer’s eye, not the camera.

 

 

 

 

You must also heavily weigh the common creative tasks this photographer’s eye must complete on a day to day basis.

 

All too often I see artists whose images were shot by amazing wedding photographers and they look like that: wedding photos. Just because they’re a wedding photographer doesn’t mean they can’t shoot artists well (Alysse Gafkjen in Nashville is an incredibly talented exception to this rule) but usually, they’re thinking wedding and not selling the artist.

 

Relationships Band Band Photo 2

Spend the money. It’s going to be your first impression.

 

 

Guess what else the masses are going to formulate their first impression with an artist on.

 

Answer:  Engagement.

 

You’d be AMAZED at how many people will line up behind you as an artist simply because you took a little time to respond them and were smart enough to ask a question about THEM.

 

Hardly any artists do it.

 

I’m constantly pushing my artists to engage more with the people who take the time to say something about a killer post we put up.

 

Relationships Value ArtistAs an artist, if you want to build a real, solid, loyal following, you’re going to have to love them first.

 

 

 

You must be vulnerable first.

 

Artists who have multitudes of real online relationships are far more valuable than artists who don’t.

 

More valuable to the record labels, managers, booking agents, lawyers, PR companies, brand partners, etc.

 

Relationships Leverage MEMERelationships are how an artist creates LEVERAGE in the music business.

 

 

Y’all tell me you want managers, better bookings, a record deal, better players in your band, and more opportunities but you don’t work at the task that will deliver all these gifts.

 

It’s not going to be about your music at first, it’s going to be about you.

 

Once you forge a remarkable first impression and engage deepening the relationships, you’ll begin to grow a following.

 

Relationships ScaleThey’ll love you and begin to identify with your music.

 

A moderately talented artist with a loyal following is far more valuable and therefore will be far more successful than a hugely talented artist with no audience to perform to.

 

When was the last time you heard a song on the radio and thought, “My music is way better than that piece of crap”?

 

That artist on the radio knows something you don’t.

 

Or didn’t up until now.

 

Relationships I Want You To Win

 

 

I want you to win.

 

 

 

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

 

 

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Happiness Drives Everything

happiness-feature-meme

“I’m not some great philosopher. This is simple shit. ONE AT BAT. THIS IS IT. YOU’RE GOING TO DIE. Like, I don’t understand…here’s what I don’t understand. I want to talk about complaining. I want to talk about complaining. If you are making your own bed you have to sleep in it and you need to shut your fucking mouth. You’re more than welcome…I’ve met hundreds of people who left their jobs, making good money when they had college debt 18% compounded interest because they need their mental health to be happy. They were willing to take a step back, and in a 7-year period, THEY WON! Because happiness drives everything. You collectively aren’t patient enough. Your lack of patience is killing you. Your need of things is killing you. I don’t need a fucking watch. I don’t need a fucking whip. I need to be happy. One fucking at bat.” – Gary  Vaynerchuk

happiness-gary-vee

 

You’re not taking enough responsibility for your happiness.

 

 

Which means you’re not taking enough responsibility for your artistry.

 

 

There’s nothing wrong with that unless you’re frustrated with your life.

 

If you’re reading this, you are blessed to be in a country where you are allowed to read this and fortunate to own a computer or a smartphone to read it with.

 

happiness-99

All you complaining 99 percenters, 50% of this planet, over 3.5 billion people live on less than $2 per day. If you’re at the bottom of the 99%, meaning you’re earning the least amount of all the 99%, you’re actually in the 1% (probably the people you love to hate) when compared to the rest of the world.

 

I say this because I want you to stop complaining right now and be grateful.

 

 

 

 

If your parents had sex 3 minutes later or 3 minutes prior, you wouldn’t be here.

happiness-sperm

 

So be grateful out of millions of sperm, YOU won the lottery and became a human.

 

That fact alone is simply ASTONISHING.

 

Be grateful that God gave you an artistic gift to share with the world.

 

happiness-responsibility-meme

 

Be grateful that your frustrated because you’re struggling to get paid for that gift rather than struggling to find food, or struggling to turn a pair of 2-liter soda bottles into a pair of shoes.

 

Wow, that’s a LOT of gratitude.

 

 

Now, you have all this time, what are you doing with it?

 

What exactly are you doing to take the next best step towards pursuing your happiness?

happiness-stop-complaining

 

What Gary Vee was saying about your own bed is absolutely true.

 

Stop complaining because I promise you that your status amongst the professional artist community and the consumer’s awareness or lack of awareness of your art is a direct result of the time and attention you’ve put towards it.

 

 

 

I promise if you put the time in, I mean REALLY put the time in, you’ll win.

 

happiness-time-meme

 

I promise that if you commit to being a student of the game, meaning that you stop complaining, passing blame, creating excuses, and start honestly asking questions and looking at ways to improve your situation, you’ll win.

 

 

 

Are you willing to take a step back? Really?

 

You’re afraid of losing your stuff, your lifestyle. I’m here to tell you everyone is and it isn’t so bad, in fact, it’s rather liberating.

happiness-liberating

 

If you aren’t willing, THAT’S OK because you’re a hobby artist or a hobby band, and there NOTHING wrong with that.

 

What IS WRONG is if you complain that you can’t “Get your deal”, or you can’t “get professional recordings”, or you can’t “find your audience”.  These are tasks that are tackled by professional artists, not hobby artists.

 

Many bands have done it.

 

We do it for artists every day here at Daredevil Production.

 

So when I hear complaints about how it’s because of this reason, or that reason an artist can’t find an audience, get paid, or make great recordings, it makes my hair stand up.

happiness-hair-stand-up

 

Excuses

 

I’ll ask them, what EXACTLY do you think are the issues that are preventing you from tackling these challenges?

 

 

You see, to me, this is akin to complaining that you can’t breathe. Yet, there are 7 billion + people on this planet that are breathing.

 

Why can’t you?

 

Because you’re complaining and looking for excuses rather than taking any action whatsoever to solve the problem.

happiness-one-at-bat-meme

 

ONE AT BAT.

 

YOU’RE GOING TO DIE.

 

 

If you don’t seriously step up, which may mean stepping back momentarily, to follow your dreams, I promise THAT is the regret you’ll have on your death bed.

 

It won’t be a regret over something you did.

happiness-regrest-booze-bottle

 

It’ll ALWAYS be a regret over something you DIDN’T do for whatever reason.

 

 

 

I can testify that money, your house, watches, cars, trips, restaurants, extra musical instruments, the latest recording gear, softball league, basketball league, racquetball league, Golf, your credit score, etc., are completely worthless.

 

They mean nothing.

 

You find that out after you lose them.

happiness-definition-2-career

They don’t define you.

 

I’ll say that again so READ IT.

 

These are things that don’t define you.

 

Your happiness defines you.

 

 

That’s what other souls really see. They may be misguided enough at this point on their journey to respond to your money or what they feel security “looks” like, but your true happiness is really what they see.

happiness-is-what-the-soul-sees

 

 

Or don’t see.

 

 

 

 

People are going to remember you for the way you made them feel, not because you have a Rolex, a Ferrari, or a vintage ’59 Les Paul.

 

When you’re really happy because you’re doing what you were born to do, you can’t help but make other people happy.

 

You become the inspiration all artists aspire to be.

 

I made decent money in business. I have a talent for that.

 

I made a LOT of money in the financial industry.  Straight up, my monthly ad budget at one time (with my radio show on in 5 stations in 3 markets) was more than a lot of you, maybe most you, make in a year. 3 month’s ad budget would safely probably cover the lot of you.

 

Just the ad budget.

happiness-poof-it-was-gone-plane-fire

 

Poof, it all went away in 2008 and IT WAS A BLESSING.

 

A gift from God.

 

I lost my house, my wife, my savings, my business, my dignity (briefly), and for about a year, my direction.

 

The loss of direction was the scariest part. Never had that happen. Faith is all you have at that point, that’s what gets you through.

happiness-regrets-pray-cross

 

When I moved back to Nashville from Los Angeles, I had nothing. I literally went from requiring 2 trips in a 24-foot U-Haul truck to move into my new house in 2004 to 1 10-foot box truck to move out to Nashville.

 

 

 

I’m STILL getting rid of crap.

 

 

Lots of old energy.

 

I hocked all my prized guitars and amplifiers including a ’68 Gibson Country & Western acoustic guitar, and a 1st year Peavy EVH 5150 guitar head (ugh), a ’68 Marshall 4×12 cabinet with vintage 25 watt greenbacks, a killer 60’s re-issue Vox AC-30, and rare mid ‘80’s Sunburst Gibson ES-335 (these are just the sexiest items) to keep this company going in the beginning.

 

This is called taking a step back.

happiness-step-back

 

I believed in what I was doing.

 

 

 

 

 

I had months where I didn’t know how I was going to come up with the $80 I needed to renew my tag on my auto license.

 

 

I was thinking, “I’m too old for this shit.”

happiness-too-old

 

 

I worked Uber after hours for 18 months to pay the bills while the company grew. That would be Friday night from 6pm-3am. Saturday night from 6pm-3am. Then I’d crash for 2 hours and work the Sunday morning airport runs from 6am-12pm.

 

 

 

 

 

I was definitely growing Daredevil Production at a pretty nice trajectory percentage-wise but when you start at $0.00 it takes a while for those percentages to turn into an amount of money that can pay your bills.

happiness-sales-trajectory-meme

 

I took the step back.

 

 

 

 

 

I promised myself that I would go HARD TO THE PAINT for 5 years and after 5 years if I looked back and felt it was a waste of time or I misjudged the target somehow (which was my mistake in the financial business) then I’d go sell insurance and make a million dollars.

happiness-hard-to-the-paint

 

I could pretty easily do that. I have that skill set.

 

Music was my passion, though.

 

 

Cracking the code to connecting artists and fans and then MONETIZING those fans without using radio, was and still is the sexiest challenge in the world to me.

happiness-cracking-the-code

 

We’ve done it. We’re ramping up the traffic volumes now.

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Vee was right in that opening quote when he mentioned the 7-year time frame.

 

This November 5th will mark my 5-year anniversary of being back in Nashville. To be fair it’s probably been a solid 3 years since I really started focusing on the marketing side of Daredevil Production.

happiness-7-year-meme

 

The trajectory continues and if next year grows like this year, BOOM!

 

That 7-year mark no matter where you want to start the timeline will be a biggie.

 

I’m telling you this because there is no greater feeling than winning at what you LOVE to do and what you were BORN to do.

 

I want you to win.

 

I don’t want you to live the dichotomy.

 

Stop complaining, start working, and taking responsibility for your own happiness.

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

 

 

 

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What Is The Right Approach To Ensure Your Artist Success?

Artist Success Approach Feature MEME

There is an over-promise of artist success amongst allArtist Success Hand MEME artists in all genres like country, rap, rock, pop, etc. This over-promise has become the key ingredient to your failure.

 

It’s causing you to lose.

 

I give credit where credit is due and this article was inspired by this 3 minute video from Gary Vaynerchuk called, “Reframing Entrepreneurial Success”.

Gary Vee Reframe RESIZED

 

The over-promise is so prevalent that when I write articles geared around “artist success” I’ll inevitably get a few emails chastising me for selling some idea of success and attaching it to millions-of-dollars kind of success; which I never do, by the way.

 

It’s the over-promise that has been drilled in their head so much they just assume that when I mention success it must mean selling out, fame and fortune, and of course that’s bad for the art.

 

Artist Success Ball Rolling STRUGGLE

To be clear, those of you that actually read my articles (and don’t comment solely based on your reaction to my title which is idiotic, but I digress) know that I define artist success as being able to make a living doing what you were born to do; the opposite of living the dichotomy.

 

What do I mean by that exactly?

 

Well, I remember moving a 17-year-old, phenomenal guitar player down from Detroit Michigan back in 2010 (ish?). His grandfather is my father’s best friend and someone I grew up with and respect immensely. I remember having a conversation with this man, someone I referred to throughout my life as an “uncle”, and someone who is extremely intelligent (a dentist), about whether his grandson had what it took to “make it”.

 

I asked him what his definition of “making it” was.

 

Naturally, it was attached to fame.

 

You have to remember he’s a dentist and completely unfamiliar with the entertainment industry and how it works.

Artist Success MTV

His only experience with the entertainment industry is with the entertainment. The entertainment is served up to his awareness by the famous entertainers. This is MOST people’s grasp of the industry who operate outside of it.

 

His response was something along the lines of “will he be a star” or “will he be on MTV” aka will he be famous like all the entertainers that have come into his awareness.

 

Now you may laugh at this, but some of you who BELIEVE YOU’RE IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY are just as naïve.

 

To be clear, my uncle is an extremely intelligent man who built and sold an amazing dental practice, he knows nothing about the inner workings of show business.

 

YOU, on the other hand, have zero excuse for being naïve in this regard because this is the business which you choose to want to dominate. You’d better know how the hell it works, but again, I digress.

 

Anyway, I asked my “uncle” if he’d heard of Danny Elfman. Of course, he said, “No.”Artist Success Danny Elfman

 

I said, “Well, you’ve definitely heard his music and he could buy and sell you and your impressive success 1,000 times over. Danny writes music for feature films. He makes about 4 million dollars per movie.

 

He does a LOT of movies.

 

My uncle’s jaw dropped.

 

That was the opener to my point.

 

The next point was that there were tons of really talented people here in Nashville for Artist Success Homeinstance who make a good living doing what they were born to do; making and playing music.

 

I described “A good living” as a job that allowed them to own a house, have a family, put their kids through college, and take a vacation once a year. These are people that he would only know if he was deep in the industry.

 

My uncle immediately understood my point.

 

I then told him that, yes, his grandson had all the talent he needed to “succeed” by our newly refined definition and it would be up to his work ethic and his brain to actually provide the execution necessary to turn an idea like that into a reality.Artist Success Labor Day

 

By the way, he did just that landing a gig with an indie artist tour that paid about $45k-60k per year…he was 19 at that time, I believe. Not too bad for a guitar player with no college education if you ask me.

 

Y’all are too worried about being famous and you’re making bad decisions because of it.

 

You need to reframe your idea of success.

 

This will change your approach.

 

Which will change everything.

 

Some of y’all are impeding your potential and you’re currently at a very coveted level, playing with the big boys, talking record contracts, and dealing with real industry professionals.

Artist Success YES MEME

What I mean by impeding your success is that without sales, without any resemblance of a profitable small business, God help you if you if they say “YES” and you get your deal.

 

Sounds crazy but money talks and bullshit walks (h/t to Bobbi Fleckman). A less talented artist with more hustle and business experience is going to get the entire label team more excited and command more label resources than someone with astounding talent and no cash flow.

 

 

Artist Success Money Talks MEME

 

 

 

This model means you’d have to be developed and the labels just really don’t do that anymore.

 

 

 

 

Artist Success Lotto

Oh, and they’re people so they’re naturally lazy like you. Getting behind the other guy is going to make them look better quicker.

 

 

I’m generalizing to be sure. However, basing your future on a plan requiring the label to do all the work is like basing your next rent check or mortgage payment on whether or not you win the lottery.

 

 

It could happen.

 

But it’s lazy and unrealistic.

 

Artist Success Stack The Deck

If making a living and getting a record deal is THIS important to you, why the hell wouldn’t you want to go in stacking the deck with every advantage you have to ensure your artist success?

 

 

Granger Smith did exactly this. He created an online 1.8-million-dollar-empire, completely independently. The labels wanted to sign him a couple years ago but they kept saying no until it was time to get the #1.

 

 

He was so undeniable as a business force that when he finally did sign he had the hearts and minds of everyone at the label. The entire team was committed to making him successful or die trying. That’s a buy in.

Artist Success Granger Smith

Consequently, his first single went to #1.

 

I doubt that would’ve happened if he was signed by the label and required them to develop him.

 

 

 

Most of you are not at this level yet. You’re just trying to get the ball rolling somehow.

 

Here’s the take away.

 

Focus on getting one new person to like you every day.

 

Artist Success Money 100k

 

Focus on creating a business built around your music and creative efforts that generates $100,000 per year.

 

 

 

That’s impressive to me.

 

One step at a time.

 

3D Twitter Book Cover image

VALUE BOMB:  Try the same approach with your social media. Master ONE PLATFORM first. Master Twitter because you have my free book (GiftFromJohnny.com) and then build from there.

 

Once you master creating $100,000 of revenue per year, which equates to 1000 fans that are willing to pay $100/year to an artist, the next $100,000 is a lot easier, I promise.

 

Why the hell is this article important to you?

 

Because when you framing your “success” as multi-platinum record sales, custom tour busses, and millionaire rock star friends, you’re not thinking about the little steps required to create a career like that.

 

Artist Success Tour Bus

You begin to get in your own way and allocate precious resources like money and your limited time to the wrong things. I actually know an artist who blew a privately funded $750,000 record promo budget on a freaking tour bus! A 1.5 million-dollar depreciating asset with a $6,000/month overhead burden for a business that has zero dollars in monthly cash flow.

 

 

 

I guess he wanted to feel famous or something.

 

Now he’s still not famous, has a record deal, and a bus, which he parks in his driveway and plays video games in.

 

Artist Success Compromise Dogs

To be multi-platinum, yes you’re probably going to need radio at some point. But if multi-platinum is your only definition of success it’s super easy to quit because you don’t have $500k to invest in a radio tour that will promise NOTHING but give you the opportunity to make a play.

 

If you reframe your idea of success, which for a lot of you should be as simple as replacing your crappy day job that makes you $20,000 – $60,000 per year with money from sales from your artist career, it becomes doable.

 

Try that first.

 

 

How much money do you need to make to afford to be a full time musician?

 

Some of you write me and tell me you’re currently making $80,000 – over $100,000 per year and would have to at least start there.

 

To me that means the money is more important than the music.

 

 

This is ok, man. I get it, believe me.

 

Just be real with yourself. With THAT kind of discretionary income, you could orchestrate a pretty sick little business but it would require you to be willing to step back on your revenue for a while to get the ball rolling.

 

Start with making your first $1,000.

Artist Success First 1,000

 

Then move on to replacing that money your making at your current job.

 

Then move on to the $100k mark.

 

 

Then move on to bigger things.

 

Don’t let hype shut you down or make you feel like It’s impossible to achieve the dream unless you’re famous.

 

Artists are creating small functioning businesses every day and you certainly don’t want to give up only to find out that everybody is doing it 10 years later and you hate your current job.

 

No matter how much money that current job is making you, that would be the opposite of success.

 

At least for me.

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune.

 

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Why Do Failures and Mistakes Actually Make You Better?

Failures and Mistakes Feature MEME

There are no failures and mistakes.

Failures and Mistakes

 

You’ve heard that before, rah, rah, rah.  It’s designed to make you feel better, right? It’s so prominent on social media with every other vapid affirmation that we hardly even read it, we almost never stop and soak that in.

 

I get it, believe me!

 

What if there was a REAL GOOD explanation or connection that could be made to spiritually break down exactly what “no mistakes” and “no failure” means?

 

Failures and Mistakes North Star

What if this enlightenment clarified that mistakes and failures were by design; a working part of a grand plan?

 

What if failures and mistakes were necessary?

 

What if this rationalization cleverly explained to your soul’s satisfaction that every failure and mistake was your spiritual “North Star” pulling you back onto your path by causing the failure to happen?

 

As if your supreme destiny said, “Nope, you’re close but no cigar my friend; TRY AGAIN because you’re supposed to be over here.”

 

Maybe that was with a relationship.

 

Maybe a business decision.Failures and Mistakes Connection

 

Maybe a job that you’re not supposed to be at.

 

Maybe a supposed “lost” opportunity that shook your emotional foundation to the point of complete collapse HAPPENED FOR A REASON.

 

Watch this 3-minute video by Oprah. h/t to the 2 Steel Girls (@2SteelGirls) for turning me on to this

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS 3 MINUTE VIDEO

Your “little mind” is where you are not centered, where you don’t know who you really are.

 

Failures and Mistakes Little Mind MEMEWhen you’re in your “little mind” speed bumps, pot holes, challenges, setbacks, failures and mistakes seem catastrophic.

 

Your “big mind” is where you are centered. You have clarity that you are part of something greater than yourself. I’ve spoken about this before in prior articles but I just love the language Oprah uses here.

 

Your big mind is where you relax and listen.

 

When you have the epiphany that the Universe is always as it should be, you don’t freak out about failures and mistakes.

 

Instead you listen.

 

You become STILL.

 

Failures and Mistakes Listen MEME

You breathe and try to receive the message that your supreme destiny is trying to communicate.

 

Failures and mistakes are quite necessary and happen quite often because they are there to WAKE YOU UP.

 

 

You’re in the wrong job.

 

You’re in the wrong relationship whether it be romantic or artistic.

 

Failures and Mistakes Wake Up Alarm Clock MEMEYou’re wasting time doing this because you’re supposed to be doing that.

 

 

For many of you, the terrifying reality is that your supreme calling is not the way you’ve conceived it exactly, at least not as you see it in your head, in your dreams. That’s scary.

 

 

 

I remember when I came to that crossroads.

 

Failures and Mistakes Crossroads MEME

 

 

The reality for me was that I actually was an artist, but not a musical artist as I had been trying to do.  At least not in the way that I pictured it for so many years.

 

I was there for a reason and as such, there was a tremendous amount of serendipity in my life. That is to say things fell into place often.

 

 

 

That’s the sign of a correct path; serendipity.

 

We had some fateful coincidences in my first band Idols of American Youth, but it was filled with tons of failures and mistakes as well.

 

We had far more seemingly accidental fortune in Kidd Gypsy because that was also supposed to happen.

 

Which is funny if you seriously consider the fact that the singer in Idols was AMAZING and I was the singer/front-man in Kidd Gypsy and, as I like to say, “I had to claw my way to middle management” in the vocal department.

 

 

Failures and Mistakes Claw My WayI was supposed to front the band all along. Talent was there but it just didn’t manifest itself in the same way for me as it did for the Idol’s singer.

 

Then another life changing moment when it was time for me to move on to greater things.

 

I sincerely remember thinking as I packed my bags to take advantage of a non-music business opportunity in Los Angeles that this was a step towards something great, the next right thing to do, and that it was all a part of me getting back to the music business somehow.

 

I knew I was supposed to return.

 

Failures and Mistakes Packed My Bags

I didn’t know how.

 

I didn’t know when.

 

I didn’t know why.

 

I did have faith.

 

I WAS listening to my spirit guide, my North Star, the voice of my supreme destiny.

 

While I was in the electronics business working with a company that had a zero damage prototyping soldering solution (which is God-like when you consider how much the first 5 prototype boards cost for whatever widget your reading this on) the music business was changing.

 

Failures and Mistakes iPhoneOnce the smartphone was invented and became super popular, consumers suddenly had choices in their cars with regards to music selection. The radio no longer dictated what we would listen to; instead we became our own DJ’s.

 

Then I moved on to the financial world and learned to build a team, learned to think bigger from friends like Eric Mitchell, and executed these kinds of plays in real life.

 

Then I lost everything.

 

My business because Wall St. closed its doors.

 

My savings because I had $15k per month of advertising expenses alone and ZERO dollars of income for well over a year.

Failures and Mistakes Cash Flow

 

My house because the market crashed and I was suddenly $250k upside down on an intelligent loan that had me with 40% equity when I signed it.

 

All these failures were my North Star, my supreme destiny pointing me back to the music business.

 

Yes, I was an artist.

 

A vastly different kind of artist that what I had originally imagined.

 

Now the serendipity is happening again BIG TIME.

 

My company doubled the first quarter of this year.

 

In the last month I have had more serious conversations with serious artists about marketing (aka opportunities) than I have had the whole previous year combined.

 

Failures and Mistakes Devastation MEMEI’m supposed to be here.

 

The failures were horrible, devastating, and soul sucking to be sure but THEY WERE NECESSARY.

 

When your big mind understands how necessary failures and mistakes are to your journey, you don’t allow yourself to be thrown by a grade or by a circumstance because your life Is greater than any one experience.

 

Your journey is so much bigger than you.

Failures and Mistakes Bigger Than You

 

The end of this Oprah video is the best.

 

It’s where she always asks people what they would say to their younger self and the answer is almost always, in one form or another, “RELAX”.

 

Everything is going to be ok. It’s really going to be ok.

 

 

Let the failures wake you up.

 

Failures and Mistakes Relax Frog MEME

 

 

Let the mistakes give you pause to be still and LISTEN, and LEARN, and IMPROVE.

 

 

 

 

To be a student of the game requires guts, courage, work ethic, and fortitude.

Failures and Mistakes Wall MEME

 

Guts to risk failures and mistakes in the first place. Yes, you actually have to be willing to fail.

 

Oh, by the way, most people think failing on the dream or mission when they read the statement “You have to be willing to fail”. The Daredevils understand it’s not overall failure that this statement is pertaining to, rather, it’s all the little and big failures that will have to be endured to make the dream happen.

 

Courage to rise up from the ashes of one seemingly cataclysmic failure and move forward in the face of fear to your next mistake.

 

Failures and Mistakes PhoenixWork ethic to provide momentum which gives the brain reassurance that the last failure was but a small speed bump because hard work will easily roll over it.

 

Fortitude to internalize the realization that all the small dents and massive calamities are required to win.

 

I want you to win.

 

Eat these petty setbacks for breakfast, down your coffee, get up off your ass and work harder than you’ve ever worked before.

 

Failures and Mistakes Setbacks Breakfast MEME

This is your dream.

 

Don’t blow it by willfully living in your little mind.

 

Be self-aware of your little mind and your big mind.

 

Don’t be overwhelmed by the difficulty because your life and your career is bigger than any one moment or experience.

 

 

 

Failures and Mistakes Definition of Failure meme

 

Your life is not defined by any one person’s definition of failure for you.

 

 

 

If you’re not at ease with yourself right now, THAT’S THE CUE that you’re on a detour and it’s time to think about a change and LOOK for the next opportunity which is probably staring you right in the face as we speak.

 

Failures and Mistakes I Believe in Me Silhouette

 

Failure is just there to point you in a different direction.

 

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

If you found value in this article, please SHARE it and COMMENT below.

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s Your Cage; It Can Be As Oppressive As You Want It To Be

Cage Feature MEME

Follow me on this, I promise it’s all about artists.

Cage Election BannerElection season is here in the United States and personally, I hate all politicians on both sides of the isle because their job security is not related in any way to performance.

 

That’s an accident looking for a place to happen.

 

It’s gross.

 

Is that just me?

 

You can relax, this isn’t a political rant of any kind. I have my beliefs just like you, but I disdain both sides of the isle because the system doesn’t foster performance when job #1 is just to get reelected. This means they really don’t give a damn about any of us or the country simply because they don’t have to.

They care about your vote, and ALL politicians will pander to you, looking for the biggest common “heart-string” threads they can pull to gain the most votes.

Cage Politician Promise

 

Until Congressional term limits are in place, where the politician incentive changes from “what do I have to do to ride this gravy train a little longer” to “I don’t have much time to leave my legacy so I better get to work” we will continue down the same path. Sadly.

 

 

Until the proper, appropriate, intelligent motivations are woven into our political structure, the sour  arguments, talking points, and voting process will stack up and linger unnecessarily like garbage in a compulsive hoarder’s home.Cage Hoarding

 

 

 

 

I liken it to a group of people standing around a swimming pool, each of them with a different colored cinder block, spouting endless spirited nonsensical rants based on their thoughts, fears, and beliefs, for the purposes of convincing the other side that their cinder block will actually float.

 

Cage Cinder Block Voyeur MEME

Until we reimagine the cinder block, it just isn’t going to happen regardless of your beliefs.

 

Our current arrangement allows us to change said political system as a people, without permission from Congress (via a Constitutional Amendment), but we won’t.

 

And this brings me to my point.

 

This is where my prior statements morph into your reality as an artist.

 

Right now, we live in a country where, for the most part, there is equal opportunity. Yes, it’s flawed, but the opportunities are there.

Cage Slave Collage

 

For thousands of years all kinds of people have been persecuted, enslaved, exterminated, controlled, oppressed, etc., including blacks, Jews, women, Irish, Italian, witches, sorcerers, all religions, gays, people with different skin tone within their own oppressed race, handicapped, the outwardly vocal dissenters, etc.

 

Now, just in this election, we have full term black President nearing the end of his legacy, and so far out of the four front runners in the Presidential race, 1 is a Jew, 1 is a woman, and 1 is a Latino of Cuban decent.

 

 

Here’s my point. Yes we are flawed. Yes, there is always room to improve, but we have opportunities for anyone who wants to grab the brass ring.

 

But, most people won’t.

 

Most people won’t out of fear.Cage Brass Ring

 

It’s a very real fact that most people secretly don’t feel they’re worthy of it.

 

 

 

Cage King Arthur small

 

Only King Arthur can remove the scimitar from the stone.

 

This fear manifests itself in the form of convenient stories we tell ourselves that are designed to create forgiveness,

 

Forgiveness for failing to believe.

 

“But I’m not King Arthur so I can’t grab that sword.”

 

“Money is the root of all evil.”Cage Root Of All Evil

 

“We’re the 99% not the evil 1%”

 

“I need to be perfect before I can bring my art to the world.”

 

“I just need that record deal and THEN I can be serious about my artist career”

 

Cage Perfectionism

 

 

There is still rampant slavery in this world and no politician can EVER promise you that they can somehow change the system to create an equal outcome for every person.

 

 

 

Here’s why.

Yes, you’re a slave.

You’re also the slave master.

 

While your opportunities can be changed by a different political system, your outcome can only be changed by you.

 

Did you catch that?

While your opportunities can be changed by a different political system, your outcome can only be changed by you.

Cage Feature 2

We are all prisoners held captive within our own cage.

 

How far you choose to expand your reality is completely up to you.

 

I’ll give you an example, here is a GREAT video of Tony Robbins being interviewed by Lewis Howes (I love Howes’ podcast).

 

Robbins talks at length about giving.

 

The more you give the more you receive. He was barely making a living at one point when he offered a kid a college scholarship with these rules:

  • You must have a B average
  • No Drugs
  • You can’t go to Jail
  • You must do 20 hours of community service each year.

 

Cage_Lewis_Howes_podcast

 

The community service was a strategic component he placed in there to systemize exposure to giving. This requirement ensured that the beneficiary could experience the biological and mental change which occurs within a soul when it gives.

 

 

Since then, Tony has expanded this amazing scholarship program exponentially but you’d be amazed at how many kids turn down the scholarship because either they, or their parents, don’t believe they should be giving they believe they should be getting.

 

They find the 20 hours of community work requirement offensive so they pass on the gift!

 

There’s that rusty cage I was talking about.

 

Cage 99 percentIncidentally, about 27 minutes in Tony talks about the 99% and their views and attitudes towards money. He says that money is a magnifier of someone’s real self. If you’re mean you’re going to get meaner with money. If you’re generous you’re going to give more with money.

 

 

I personally like the fact Tony states about how half of the population of our planet live on $2.50 per day or $900 per year. Which comparatively in the context of the whole planet, places the poverty stricken Americans, the lowest of the 99%, in that evil 1% category that they love to hate so much.

Cage Tony Robbins Statistic

 

 

 

 

Think about that.

 

 

 

 

 

I find it extraordinarily entertaining when these 99 percenters bash capitalism and capitalists via social media from their iPhones. Nothing like ignorant irony.

Cage Kumbaya

 

 

Listen, most people are standing in a bucket and trying to lift themselves up. Until these people learn to get out of their own way, no institutionalized equal outcome ideologies will help them.

 

 

In your band somebody has to be the spiritual force, the leader. Somebody has to be John, then somebody has to be Paul, somebody has to be George, and somebody has to be Ringo.

Cage Standing In A Bucket

 

 

There will always be hierarchy in all animal species.

 

We’re wired up that way.

 

 

To be uplifted we need to have hope.

 

We need to believe that we can really succeed.Cage Megaphone Guy

 

Then we need to learn how to do it.

 

What we don’t need is any buffoon telling us we’re being held down by the man.

 

Because if we really believe that then it’s true.

 

EVERYBODY has to overcome obstacles to succeed and those obstacles don’t ever go away after you succeed.

 

We don’t need any respected “expert” making us feel these hindrances are somehow “institutionalized” or out of our control, rather we need to think of them as anticipated speed bumps.

 

I have massive respect for individuals who were smart enough, worked hard enough, and were driven enough to get out of their hood, their oppression, their cage, their former reality and make a real dent in the Universe.

 

Cage Name Tag Rich Person

 

I lose that respect when they become famous and use their voice, with the reach of their new found megaphone to complain about their lot in life. To complain about what they had to overcome to get their success.

 

I want to vomit when these achievers, these people who manifested their dreams into their reality whine and jump up and down about persecution, money, unfairness, blah, blah, blah.

 

All they are doing is sucking the wind out of the sails of anyone from their designated oppressed community who has an inkling of hope to achieve the same success.

 

They’re inadvertently proliferating the very problems they content they’re trying to solve.

 

Hey, not for nothing, but some famous people proliferate on purpose because it makes them feel relevant or the social problem actually makes them relevant, but I digress.Cage Politician Megaphone

 

In a misguided attempt to shine a light on their struggle to help others, they are enslaving millions of people on the receiving end of that megaphone by implying that life is impossible because it’s unfair and it’s out of an individual’s control.

 

They naively believe that some social change is going to make the world a fair place and help their downtrodden people rise.

 

Do you see? They’re putting the results of their outcome on someone or something else.

 

Isn’t that kind of an excuse?

 

Then their besieged people respond by doing nothing; waiting around for the world to change.

 

Cage it's Your Cage

Stuck in that cage because now that the onus isn’t on them, it’s the world’s fault, and until it changes to make it easy for them, why try?

 

What these famous achievers should be doing is telling them it can be done!

 

Why won’t they learn how to empower these people intelligently?

 

 

 

There are no equal outcomes.

 

Here’s another example.

 

Cage EM HE BusABC had a hit show called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

 

If you haven’t seen this show the producers would find people in need of a new home. The benefactors were vetted by an incredible story that would touch the hearts of America, ABC would then send the family on a luxurious vacation, and build them a brand new home while they were gone.

 

They demolished the old edifice and built the new house in one week!

 

For instance, you’d have a couple with 7 kids living in a 700 square foot house.

 

EM: HE would pay off their current mortgage and build them a 4,500 square foot house; absolutely free.

 

EM HE Before and After 2

 

This concept sounds so beautiful, and it is, but you have no idea the psychological and societal landmines ABC unearthed on this show.

 

In a sense this platform promised an equal outcome, didn’t it?

 

Every lucky subject gets a brand new spacious free house, no mortgage, taxes paid, and their insurance paid.

 

 

Boom.

 

Easy street.Cage Landmine

 

Well, not exactly as it turns out.

 

 

In the first 5 years of this TV series, they had to change the rules to protect the winners from themselves.

 

Too many of the winners ended up destitute again.

 

What?

 

Yes, they got their mortgage paid, a brand new free house, a new car, much better life at no cost, and then somehow found a way to get right back down to being broke again.

 

This was bad press for ABC.Cage Extravagant 2

 

What would happen you ask?

 

The winners would spend the money allotted to cover taxes and insurance on things that weren’t taxes and insurance.

 

They’d take mortgages out on their free house that got them out of squalor to go on vacation, live like a rock star, or start a business that they weren’t smart enough to know they didn’t know about.

 

Some of the people would lose the house because they couldn’t afford the utility bills in the new home.

Cage EM HE Logo Image

 

That’s right, after having zero debt, after all the new relationships they could’ve made in the community from the 2,000 to 4,000 volunteers who would show up to build this house in a week, it ended up that the winners couldn’t figure out a way to make an effort to earn a little more money for the electric bill in the new roomy home.

 

This is because they never believed they deserved it so they never stepped up their game to rise to the occasion.

 

 They clearly weren’t being held down by the man, here. They were being held down by themselves.

 

They couldn’t find a way to use the benevolence to pick themselves up and literally blew it.

 

Cage You Are Your Biggest Obstacle

 

This happened OFTEN.

 

ABC was forced to create rules that wouldn’t allow mortgages to be taken out on the home, untouchable escrow accounts had to be set up ensuring the taxes, insurance, and utilities could be paid for the next 5 years to guarantee ABC that these people couldn’t screw themselves.

 

The winners were pathetic.

 

I don’t say that to be mean or to be condescending.

 

ABC vetted them because they were pathetic which made for good TV. ABC amazingly created a show (which made tons of money by the way) that congregated thousands of local volunteers to help someone in need in their community. The network and these volunteers gave some poor, broken souls a new house, sometimes new vehicles, bills paid for 5 years, and a helping hand to lift them up out of their poverty stricken reality.Cage Pathetic

 

What ABC discovered was that all too often, the new environment, new things, and the new situation did not change the reality of the people they were helping at all.

 

These people were pathetic because they believed they were pathetic.

 

New house, new clothes, new car, same old person.

 

SIDENOTE: This is amazing. Over 50% of the people who were helped by ABC were grateful for the amazing opportunity. The other 50% became instantly entitled and began making snotty demands during and after production.

Cage Complaint

 

Demands for “appropriate” transportation, “appropriate” behind the scenes cuisine, they would turn their noses down on the color of a brand new SUV they just received, etc.

 

They complained!

 

WTF?!?!?!

 

 

Every society is like this.

 

Including you and your band.

 

Cage Winwood Lyrics“Come down off your throne, and leave your body alone. Something must change. You are the reason you’ve been waiting for so long.”

 

You are the answer to overcoming your troubles.

 

It’s your cage.

It can be as big as you want it to be.

It can be oppressive as you want it to be.

It can be abundant as you want it to be.

It can be full of love if you want it to be.

It can be creative if you want it to be.

 

In your cage you can live the dichotomy and suffer like the rest of society tells you that should because it’s the right thing to do (and they can’t figure out how to escape it), or you can step outside of your pitiful little cage, be courageous, and push forward in the face of fear and ridicule.

 

Cage Chains

 

Take a deep breath, experience some failure, and LIVE the life you always dreamed of.

 

You need stop thinking about what you don’t have because it doesn’t matter.

 

 

 

You have to concentrate on your gifts, on what you DO have and build from there.

 

People of influence love to help people who get it; people who they feel are on their way.

 

It has little to do with your talent.

 

It has everything to do with your mindset.

Cage Slave Punisher

Are you a slave?

 

Are you enslaving yourself?

 

Are you a corporate slave?

 

A slave within your relationship?

 

A slave shackled by the misguided thoughts and beliefs of your parents?

 

A slave to your own ineffective methodologies that never seem to work because you refuse to change tactics?

 

A slave to your own ego?

 

Cage Slave NegroA slave because you believe someone else is going to be responsible for your outcomes?

 

Well, no election, major TV network, record label executive, recording studio, management company, booking agent, songwriting partner, and certainly no amount of money is going to free you from your own shackles until you retool your brain.

 

Here’s a good example, we recently lost the incomparable Merle Haggard. Merle was born poor white trash. By the age of 18 his voluminous rap sheet resulted in a 15 year jail sentence. Merle escaped from jail 17 times. This is why he was moved to San Quentin State Prison because the state of California couldn’t figure out how to contain him in a jail. It was in San Quentin where Merle saw Johnny Cash play live and decided to change his life forever.

 

He had nothing and was not captive to a figurative cage, rather a real cage. He was released serving 2.5 years of his sentence and changed his mindset.

 

He had no money.Cage Merle Haggard 2

 

He had no contacts in the music industry.

 

What he did have was his songs and an unrelenting drive to succeed.

 

Hag gave absolutely no one permission to take that drive from him. The rest is history.

 

Sadly, like the subjects on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, many of you will get some incredible opportunities and completely blow it due to your ignorance.

 

Many of you already have.

 

Ignorance is changed into potential power with education and knowledge. There are plenty of very inexpensive sources for education that only require your action and a couple bucks to implement.

 

FYI, Tony Robbins doesn’t have a college education, but he did read 700 books in 3 years when he first started getting his act together.

 

Cage Amazon Image

 

Why aren’t you reading?

 

Applied knowledge is turned into real power.

 

That’s a power that only you own.

 

It’s a power that will continually create opportunities for you.

 

 

No person, no government, no 1-percenter, and no election can take power like that away from you. Ever.

 

Don’t play their game, man.Cage Glass Half Full

 

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

 

It’s poison.

 

You have everything you need right now; no more, no less.

 

The question is what are you doing to pick the lock on your cage?

 

 

 

Stay

In

Tune.

P.S. I challenge you to read 1 book a month with the subject matter being whatever you feel you need to help you further your artist career.

 

 

 

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I Want You To Climb (New Podcast)

The Climb 600x315

I want you to climb.

I want you to succeed.

As per your many requests, I am happy to FINALLY announce that I have another way for artists and songwriters to consume the information I share in the form of a new podcast called “The C.L.I.M.B.”.

 

This new podcast is LIVE and available for download now. (of course, it’s no charge so ENJOY!)

 

Leverage The Climb FeatureIf you read my blog, you already know I’m a bit of a podcast geek. You’ve heard me quote many of my favorite podcasts including Tim Ferris and Tai Lopez in my weekly articles. I really believe in keeping my finger on the pulse of inspirational, motivational, and educational content for my own soul. Of course, I LOVE sharing this energy with you.

 

Why “The C.L.I.M.B.”? Well, it’s an acronym which stands for “Creating Leverage In the Music Business.” And that’s our goal – to help indie artists and songwriters like YOU create leverage, which is is defined as “strategic advantage; power to act effectively.”

 

Yes, you read that right, I said “our”. huh?

The Climb Man vs Row

 

To help me spread the gospel, so-to-speak, I am thrilled to announce my co-host and  hit songwriter Brent Baxter. Brent has written hits for multi-platinum artists like Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, and more. Brent is the founder of Man vs. Row (I often share his awesome “Wordplay Thursday” interactive blog for my songwriters and you devout readers will recognize a few guest posts on my site) which helps songwriters turn pro by teaching the art, the craft, and the business of songwriting. You can find Brent at ManvsRow.com so reach out and say HELLO!

Brent Chair Thumbnail

 

Brent and I will take turns guiding each episode. Brent’s episodes will focus on songwriting and music publishing business – areas he knows  all too well from his years in the music business as a songwriter.

 

My episodes will be aimed at helping indie artists with marketing, understanding the music business, production, creative development, etc. Naturally, I’ll focus more on the artist side of things.

 

Brent and I aim to bring you a ton of value with each episode, and I hope you’ll check it out. The first 5 episodes are LIVE NOW on iTunes and Stitcher. Please subscribe and download ALL the available episodes today. We want to hit iTunes “New and Noteworthy” so more people will see the podcast and we can help the most people possible so please SHARE it if the content resonates with you.

 

PLEASE take a second and leave a rating and review if you like what you hear.

 

Here are the links:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE C.L.I.M.B. ON iTUNES

 

If you don’t have iTunes, you can listen to the podcast on our website TheClimbShow.com

 

Thanks for taking the time, it really means a lot to me.

 

I LOVE the way we sign off on each episode, “We’ll see you at the top!”

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

Johnny D.

 

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20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Feature

At the end of every year I ask y’all to respond to me about your feelings on the article content. I also ask for any suggestions on what you want me to write about moving forward. Many of you responded with requests for help.

You asked for answers to some of the common problems I’m expressing; especially with marketing your music.

Much of the content in this article was posted in a June 25, 2014 article simply as an articulation of the mistake. Here is a revved up version of that same content with some ideas and direction towards solutions. I hope this helps.

Please let me know what you think.

1. Misguided Language – Too many of you are telling people what to do on your CTA’s (Calls to Action) and failing to get conversions.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Paraverbal Example: “Check out my new single” or “Hottest new rap artist spitting real life, yo, check him out now” or “Donate to our Kickstarter campaign”.

Nobody cares.

Hype on social media is as useless as screen doors on submarine. What you should be doing is making it about Say something like, “Wow, thank you for the follows #grateful, I want you to have a free download of my first single in return”. When someone engages YOU, respond with a similar message. Your conversion rates will skyrocket and people will begin to actually give your song a listen. This is a social media adaptation of paraverbal communication.

 

2. Paying For Discovery – Imagine a late night infomercial starting off with “Just $19.99!!!” Asking for the money and then attempting you to get excited about the product.

Would you watch?

Would you care?

Every day I see a tweet that says something like “Discover us on 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes iTunesiTunes” or “Download our first single on iTunes”. Indie artists are misguided into thinking that giving music away is devaluing it somehow and “good business” means collecting money.

Listen, I’m all about collecting money, but just like you, I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, paid to discover an artist in my life.

Think about it, your favorite iconic artists came into your awareness for free. You discovered them on the radio (while you were waiting to hear your “jam”), a friend turned you on to them after he/she found them on the radio, or you paid to see a headlining act that you knew was worth the money and 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Kickstarterwere pleasantly surprised by the opening act.

Without terrestrial radio,  marketing means you are going to have to get people interested in you and emotionally involved in your artistic journey before you shake them down for the cash.

In simple sales terms, you have to build desire first.

 

3. Likes and Follows Are Strong Connections – This is the biggest common fallacy.

Likes and follows are NOT strong connections in any way, shape, or form. If you ask for money directly after a like or follow it’s the same as meeting someone at a cocktail party, handing them your 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Chain Link WeakCD and asking for $10.

Can you imagine? “Hi, I’m Johnny D, here’s my CD. You’re going to love it! That’ll be 10 bucks.”

You KNOW that won’t work.

It doesn’t on social media either.

A like or a follow is a handshake after an introduction at best.

If you’ve toured at all you KNOW that you cannot possibly remember everyone you meet. Something else needs to happen for you to remember a fan, right? You need to remember that when you networking on social media.

 

4. Selling, Selling, Selling – Too many indie artists just ask for money or hype themselves on social media with every post. This is the 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Jabequivalent of digital panhandling.

You’ve got to give to receive, man.

Create content that is focused around YOU that can be offered for free to potential fans (make sure they know you’re benevolent) to get them interested in YOU first. THEN about every 4th post, serve up a CTA but give them the single.

You want to space out your CTA’s (where they need to act) with cool content that is about you and your brand. Read Gary Vaynerchuk’s Jab, Jab, Jab, RIGHT HOOK for more ideas on this subject.

 

 

 

5. Old School Marketing Methods – Look, I get it. Every artist we love was marketed to us via the radio, that’s where we most likely discovered them and that’s certainly where their music was driven into our brain enough 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Old Man MEMEto become familiar after we discovered them.

It stands to reason that is how you would fashion your marketing plan because that is all you know. Listen, radio is no longer effective for exposing new artists.

The power of radio to introduce a new artist into a market is over because consumers don’t have to suffer through the “getting-to-know-you-process” of listening to unfamiliar music.

Even if you have 1 million dollars to spend on a P1 radio campaign, they have Wi-Fi in the car, man.

They’re going to change the channel when faced with an unfamiliar tune to find their jam because, well, now they can.

While there are always exceptions to the rule, I submit to you that outside of country music no new artists have broken on rock or pop radio in the last 5 years. Any artist that has their very first single on radio in the last 5 years broke somewhere else and THEN radio started spinning them.

They broke first on YouTube, American Idol, The X Factor, The Voice, TV show soundtracks (theme song music), some anomaly that created attention, or great online marketing.

Most of you don’t have 1 million dollars so relying on radio to break you is a convenient cop out that ensures you won’t make it and it’s not your fault.

Spend your money putting your promotional content in front of a targeted set of eyes. Spend your money on a PR launch for your record to get some valuable press that you can use for social proof. Spend your money either on a company that can help you find your audience on social media OR learning to do it yourself. (Gasp!!)

 

6. Directing Traffic to Digital Distributors – If you’ve marketed correctly, you’ve influenced a consumer buying decision and they will find a way to purchase your product line.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Traffic Cop

Digital distribution has exactly ZERO effect on sales today.

No artist broke on iTunes and nobody is stumbling across cool music there either. They’re buying what they went to iTunes to look for.

So, if you’re spending the money and busting your butt to influence buying decisions and drive traffic, why send them to a digital distributor and give up such a huge percentage on purpose?

YES, OF COURSE, you need to have a presence on all DD’s but drive them to your webstore and let the consumer decide to go somewhere else. At least 45% of them will probably go somewhere else, the rest will buy directly from you where you get 100% of the money.

BTW, don’t be afraid to offer packages and products that aren’t available on digital distribution making it sexier and smarter to buy direct.

 

7. Zero Bundling On Artist Webstore – Let’s be honest, most of you don’t have a webstore which is 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes abbeyincredibly idiotic. You’re giving at least 30% of your hard earned revenue to a company to access essentially free 1’s and 0’s.

Those of you that do have a webstore (Kudos!), don’t have bundles.

FACT: 30% of your buyers are willing to be upsold and will purchase more while their credit card is out. That is as long as there is something for them to purchase!

There is a 70% chance you are NOT one of these kinds of people who can be easily upsold, but don’t that be your erroneous, short-sighted reason for leaving money on the table.

 

8. Ignoring YouTube – YouTube is probably the biggest marketing asset you have available to you and hardly any of you are using it. The ones that do use it aren’t consistently posting videos.

YouTube is your own private TV network, treat it as such.

Many artists break on YouTube.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Ditzy

Hardly any have broken on the radio in the last 5 years with the exception of country music and those days are numbered.

Our artist Bailey James is 13 years old and has over 260K views on her YouTube channel and I assure you that was from consistent content with ZERO paid promotion.

That’ll change soon but 260k views and 2,900+ subscribers from just hard work and intelligence isn’t too bad.

There’s at least 2,900 people that want to see her next video enough to subscribe. How many do you have?

 

 

9. Zero Marketing – Sadly, MOST indie artists spend every dollar of their precious, limited financial resources making the record and 20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Zero MarketingZERO dollars marketing it.

Sound familiar?

If they do spend any money marketing it is horribly misspent and proportionately upside down.

Good music has rarely if ever found its own audience “organically”.

Somebody, somewhere, somehow was putting the artist works in front of the right group of people to create a little fire in the grassroots.

Whether they PAID for radio promotion, or they PAID for PR to get them on Letterman, Oprah, Jimmy Fallon, Leno, GMA, Rolling Stone, Spin, or they PAID for tour support, or they PAID for a radio promo, these were all strategic calculated marketing plans.

If you got a record deal tomorrow the label would spend around 10% of your total budget making the record and 90% promoting it. Try adjusting your budget to get closer to spending 9 times the recording funds on marketing and see what happens. Even if it means recording just one song.

Any other approach is as asinine as flip flopping the salt and the sugar amounts in any given dessert recipe. If you don’t follow the recipe you’re masterpiece is going to taste like crap.

 

10. You’re Not Asking the Right Questions – Too many of you are asking yourselves “How can I get my music to the right industry people so I can make it?” or “How do I get 1 million dollars so I can get my shot at fame”.

The questions indie artists should be asking are “Who is my audience?” “Where can I find them?”, “How can I connect with20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Question them?” “What can I do to get them to seriously listen to my music with an open heart and mind?” “Where can I learn the right questions to ask?” and “Where can I learn the answers for the right questions?”

All the marketing power you require is available on your computer and it’s mostly free.

The only thing missing is a good, creative attitude about the project, some education to get you accurately inspired, and then the gumption to get started!

If you don’t know, LEARN. Yes the education is going to cost some money but somehow you managed to get your music recorded and that wasn’t free. If it was free the recording equipment you used wasn’t.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Book collageYou’re resourceful, when you really decide to make it happen you’ll find a way, believe me. Some good books to start getting intelligent, accurate marketing strategies are:

Jab, Jab, Jab, RIGHT HOOK: How to Tell Your Story In A Noisy World by Gary Vaynerchuk

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

Music Marketing on Twitter: How To Get 1,000 Loyal Music Fans Every Month in Just 15 Minutes a Day by yours truly , Johnny Dwinell (this one is free so just click the link and tell me where to send it. You’re welcome)

 

 

 

11. Consistency – Most indie artists are not consistent with social media marketing.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Consistency

 

Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope, Facebook, and all social media platforms require consistency and content.

If I were to grow a client’s account without adding content the followers will soon unfollow because there is nothing to consume.

I would be like going to party and the host never shows up so nobody has cocktails and there is no music playing. See Ya! You have to provide regular consistent content or you’ll lose them regardless of how captivating you are.

 

 

 

12. Engagement ­– The days of the mysterious rock star have been over for quite some time now.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes BaileyIndie artists need to engage EVERYBODY that engages them.

People still admire creatives but they require more if they meet you through their device.

My amazing 13 year old client Bailey James interacts with every single person that reaches out to her on social media.

They can’t believe it when she does that which makes her look genuine and makes them feel special.

She has over 30k followers on Instagram and every post that little girl puts up averages a SOLID 600 likes and 85 comments per post.

The difference between you and Bailey is she gets it and you’re still making excuses as to why you can’t, why you shouldn’t, or why you won’t.

You’re meeting people for the first time on social media, think of it like a cocktail party.

FACT:  When you meet someone for the first time they won’t remember what you said so much as they will remember how you made them feel. Remember that and your fan responses will instantly change.

 

 

13. Lack of Aggression ­– You can’t seriously believe that being antisocial on social media is a smart idea.

Too many Indie artists wait around for people to follow them in a misguided attempt to grow their social media accounts “organically”.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Aggressivve

Your favorite iconic artists have massive social media followers because they’re famous. Paying millions of dollars to promote these major label artists all over the world is what made them famous which means it was man-made, not organic. Consumers were exposed to an artist and liked what they saw or heard the music and chose to follow that artist.

This approach doesn’t create “organic” traffic, rather it’s targeted to strategic groups of people they think will like the music. The PR convinced them it was cool.

You can promote yourself online via social media and create a similar effect but you have to follow somebody first for crying out loud.

And why not be aggressive this way?

When you do the initial following you are handpicking the people most likely to connect with you.

You’re targeting (remember picking teams on the playground when you were a kid? Some of you did the picking and you picked in a certain order for a reason. Some of you were always the last to be picked you felt horrible. Well, now you’re doing the picking. Pick intelligently and make them feel welcome or they’ll feel like you when you were passed over).

Essentially, you’re deciding who gets invited to your cocktail party. A bunch will follow back if you’re not a douchebag and they’ll stay if you have regular content.

 

 

14. Overthinking YouTube – Save the super creative, expensive, big time videos for the single promotion.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes OverthinkingThe “I can’t afford a good video” routine is a cop out.

Every week you should be gleaning potential fans from popular videos by doing regular cover songs. Do this via low-cost, easy-to-shoot, one-shot, smart phone videos of you putting your artistic spin on whatever the most popular video will be that week regardless of genre.

In fact, the more disparate your version of the hit song/video is from the original artist, the more compelling it will be.

Study and compare Noah Guthrie’s version of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” or The Gourd’s version of Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” to get an idea of what I mean by different.

BTW, Bailey James’ YouTube channel at this moment has one professionally done video with about 3,500 views. 99% of the content is shot with an iPad camera. The most popular videos were shot this way as well. Just sayin’.

 

 

15. Annotating YouTube Videos – Here it is plain and simple.

They won’t subscribe if you don’t ask.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Annotate

They won’t download that free single if you don’t ask.

FACT:  You get 80% of what you ask for in life so why not do it? The worst thing that could happen is they say “no” but then, since its social media, you’ll never deal directly with the rejection.

 

I recently got the opportunity to work with an AMAZING 14 year old artist name Erin Kinsey. She had 3 videos on her YouTube channel with a total of around 250k views and 1,224 subscribers. They added a 4th video just before Christmas and I annotated all 4 asking for subscriptions.

That 4th video has over 113k views now and her subscriptions jumped 41% in 3 weeks adding 503 new subscribers for a total of 1,727.

All I did was ask.

All the info you need to learn to do this is on the YouTube “Creators” tab.

 

 

16. You Think You Own The Information – You don’t own the information.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Own Info

 

Don’t fool yourself.

All your likes and follows may be from your real fans but you don’t own that information, and as such, somebody is going to charge you to access that data at some point if they haven’t already begun to do so (ahem, Facebook).

You need to be regularly trading free downloads in exchange for email addresses and/or phone numbers via squeeze page technology or text capture technology.

Facebook charges you for access to your following. Twitter will do the same, so will Instagram and so on. You have to own the information so you can reach them whenever you want for free, on your terms.

 

 

 

 

17. Ignoring Periscope – Why?

This is the most amazing app with the most amazing reach and the BEST capability of showing your true soul to your fans.

Be consistent and you’ll build an audience.20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Periscope

Remember, if you’re a pro artist you’re living a life most people only read about in books.

What would it be like for your viewers to experience walking onstage to a packed house of people?

How would your audience react if you told them they were live worldwide on Periscope?

Case Study:  With Bailey James we created an interactive exercise where we asked her social media following to help us pick the 5th song on her upcoming EP. They responded in droves with their choice between 2 songs.We announced the winning song live via Periscope from inside the recording studio on the day we tracked it accomplishing social proof and cool interaction. There were fans from Brazil, Canada, United States, and England on that broadcast. (Boom, drops mic).

Another neat idea is to ask for requests on your social media throughout the week and play 3 of them live at the same time on the same night, every week. When you play a request show a printed S/O to the requestor’s handle and thank them. This adds a vanity aspect to your weekly draw. They’ll want to see if you play their request and mention them. The ones you don’t mention will be excited for their opportunity next week.

 

 

18. Missing Live Show Contact Capture – Live shows have the best conversion rate if you’re good.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Contact Capture

 

My good friend Wade Sutton at Rocket To The Stars recently worked with a band that tours so much they have performed over 1,000 shows in 4 years. They had 300 people on their mailing list. That’s like 1 person every 3rd show!

On the contrary we did 1 show with Bailey James at a middle school and received 160 contacts!! We gave away a free download and they just needed to tell us where to send it (translation: we got their email address or phone number).

It was easy.

Is it wrong that when I see a crowd in front of a stage I envision everyone with credit card heads?

Not for nothin’ but the more you do this the more you can reach out to individual markets to let them know you’re coming back to town. Your live draw will increase if you do it until you outgrow the venue. Just a thought.

 

 

19. Social Proof ­– 2 things to consider with this.

One is that most of you aren’t putting up enough social proof if you putting up any at all (no doubt because you don’t want to come off as bragging).20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Social Proof 2

Two, you’re putting it up incorrectly and you come off as bragging.

Social proof is anything that proves you’re really doing it and other people are into it.

 

This includes, reviews, interviews, fan comments from your social media platforms, emails, live show clips, BTS clips (Behind The Scenes), etc. Rather than implying “I’m awesome, check me out” which is bragging, why not give a “Shout Out” to the source of the content?

For instance, “S/O 2 Honkeytonk Central in Nashville for letting us play #Grateful We had a BLAST partying with all of you” with a 15s clip of the show.

 

 

20. Not Promoting Interactivity – People want to feel like they’re a part of something.

20 Biggest Indie Artist Marketing Mistakes Interactivity

 

Get them to interact. You can do this by engaging them.

You can accomplish this with controversial content. For instance, Bailey James posted a YouTube video of Luke Bryan’s “Kick the Dust Up” and it was controversial. I convinced her parents to LEAVE THE NEGATIVE UP and her fans defended the attackers. The result was deeper fan relations.

 

 

Also ask to be interactive. Have them send pictures of themselves and POST those pics with a S/O to the fan. This adds a “vanity” aspect to your web traffic. They want to see themselves, man.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

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Separate The Emotion From The Event

Emotion Event Feature image 2

I have found that one of the key skill sets to success is learning how to separate the emotion from the event in certain business and life scenarios. Emotion heart beat stick figure image

I refined this concept while occupying a National Sales Director position for nationwide short sale corporation.

Stay with me on this, ok?

After the 2008 mortgage meltdown there were millions of homeowners who found themselves in the unenviable position of having to sell their home when they were “upside down” on the mortgage.

In plain English they owed more, sometimes much more, than what the property was worth.

Emotion Short Sale

 

Almost all the time these good people could put themselves in a FAR better real-time financial situation by short selling their house and moving, thus, dramatically lowering their monthly housing costs.

 

Often times they could keep the SAME lifestyle.

 

 

Sometimes they could move across the street to rent an equal size home, with equal amenities, for HALF of what their monthly mortgageEmotion Half a Payment payment was costing them on their current house.

How would you feel if you could cut your monthly mortgage or rent payment in HALF without really changing your lifestyle or neighborhood?

 

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Emotion Duh Einstein

 

 

It was the most baffling exercise in communication I have ever gone through.

Homeowners had a problem separating the emotion from the event.

 

They would say, “Our kids grew up [are growing up] here”.angry-woman

A valid point.

I would remind them that a house was simply a building and their family made it a “home”. They would make a home anywhere.

They would say, “We like this school system and don’t want to move our kids”.

Another valid concern. (Even though nobody was suggesting their kids should change schools.)

 

 

 

The simple FACT that all these good people were facing was that their investment in the American Dream had gone horribly wrong.

Emotion Home is Where The Heart is

 

If they moved they could get out from under a HUGE investment debt that had begun to destroy their financial future, as opposed to cultivating equity. All this came at a monthly cost that was literally TWICE what they could get for the EXACT same lifestyle if they sold (eliminating the bad debt), rented a comparable property, and began to rebuild their finances.

 

 

The truth is their pride was hurt because they were financially wounded with the property.

SONY DSC

Often times this was due to financial circumstances that were out of their control.

 

Often times this was due to horrible financial decisions they had made.

 

Either way, the damage was the same.

Often times they were subconsciously punishing themselves for getting into the position.

Emotion Guilt

 

Many ended up in foreclosure which was far worse for their credit rating and completely PREVENTABLE.

 

Get it?

They were scared to move so they screwed themselves.Emotion Scared will set you free

 

Artists and songwriters do this too, and they do it often.

 

How many of you are being held back because your good friend is the weak link in the act?

 

How many of you are hurting your brand because your artist child wants to put everything it ever creates up on the world’s refrigerator before its ready lest you be judged?

Emotion Poor Quality

 

 

How many of you are creating product with poor quality (horrible sonic quality, shoddy performances, amateur arrangements, etc.) because of whatever excuse?

 

 

How many of you are so busy lamenting the fact that your careers are not going the way you pictured they would (or should), that you’re Emotion Missed Opportunitiescompletely missing the opportunities and strategies that will effectively get them going?

How much energy are you spending on the emotion vs. action towards the event?

 

How many of you are procrastinating or avoiding taking action because you are unsure of exactly what it will look like when you’re done?

 

If you want to be an artist than BE AN ARTIST.

 

Emotion I Am A Writer

 If you want to be a writer than BE A WRITER.

Stop riding the fence and GET IN THE GAME.

 

 

This statement sounds like it should be filed in the “easier said than done” category but let’s look at the rest of your life.

Let’s dissect the destructive phrase “Easier said than done”.Emotion Easier Said Than Done

 

What if you approached your current job with the same attitude that you approach your fledgling artist career?

 

What if you called your boss and told him you weren’t feeling it today?

Emotion Boss

What if you told your boss you weren’t coming in because you were scared?

You know, scared of dropping a tray of food or drinks, making the wrong cocktail, measuring once and cutting twice on your construction gig, or scared of learning some new software process they are requiring.

 

Would you have a job?

 

 

Of course not.  So you go to work even though you don’t have a clear picture of what your day is going to look like and you get through it.

You already KNOW how to separate the emotion of your daily job from the daily events that occur.

Some of them are great events.

Some of them are nasty events.Emotion Paycheck

Some of the bad events happen EVERY DAY for crying out loud (don’t we all have that douchebag at work we have to tolerate?)

You still push forth every day, on a consistent basis and do what you have to do and you get your results.

A paycheck.

 

You pay your bills.

 

You do it again.

Logically speaking, if you would apply the same predictably mundane climb, up the staircase of faith you do at your day job to your music career you would begin to see magnificent results.

Emotion Staircase of Faith

 

Take a deep breath and let me ask you this.

 

Why do so many of you place the hopes of your future career on meeting “the right people” that will do it all for you?

 

 

I mean those drinks aren’t going to make themselves.

That board isn’t going to measure and cut itself.

That food isn’t going to deliver itself to your table out there.

That new software isn’t going to learn itself.

 

Why do you expect anyone in the music business to jump in and help you for free when you clearly won’t do it yourself?

 

Why would you expect anyone you don’t know in the music industry to help you for free when you don’t expect anyone you know to do your job Emotion Help Yourselffor you at your regular job?

Or do you?

How is it that you can separate the emotion from events occurring in your day job but you’re afraid to make a move in your artist career?

 

Is it because you just can’t see EXACTLY how it will look?

 

Why are you not as fearful about these SAME issues at your day job?

I mean, who knows what could happen, right?

Emotion Unknown

 

Where do you get the courage to consistently go to work and face the terrifying unknown, but fail to execute this same brave behavior with your artist career?

 

 

 

I’ve got news for you.

 

You will never know EXACTLY how it will work out at your day job or your artist career.

Your artist career will NEVER develop EXACTLY as you planned it.

 

Your boss doesn’t want you to make the same mistakes over and over. He/she expects you to learn at your position and improve.praying-hands-Pencil

In fact your current boss is banking on that concept with you.

For some of you (and you know who you are), your bosses have more faith in your abilities to learn and improve at your day job than you have in yourself to learn and improve your artist career.

 

Whoa, let that one soak in a bit.

 

You are going to have to get serious about your artist career and change your behavior if you expect to see real results.

Emotion Einstein Mistakes quote

 

You are going to have to work smarter.

You are going to have make some mistakes.

You are going to have to invest time and money.

You are going to have to pay for some training so you can LEARN to be better.Emotion Paid Training

 

You are going to have to do this yourself and create momentum.

 

I promise, once you have some momentum, the “important people” you seek will appear.

 

Emotion Momentum

 

They will come to you.

 

You will have far more leverage in a relationship like that then you would have if you seek them with your hat in your hand.

 

 

The difference between artists and professional artists is simply commerce by definition.

 

The rest of the details will naturally, organically improve if you have a heart beat and a brain.

Your art will get better.

 

Your business acumen will develop.

Your relationships will develop.

 

file0001034171256

Things that once were foreign and unimaginable will become second nature to you, like tying your shoes or tuning a guitar.

Yes, you will have to work extra hours above and beyond the demands of your day job.

 

 

Welcome to the world of professional artists.

 

Professionals are all in, man, and don’t get me wrong, they get pissed off when things don’t go their way.

But they press on.Emotion Just Believe In Your Dreams

There is no such thing as “spare time”

There is no such thing as “free time”

There is only life time, so don’t waste it by avoiding what you love to do.

 

I mean, you already know how to separate the emotion from the event.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

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12 Thoughts On Un-Professional Songwriters

Professional red ball image

By Johnny Dwinell

I was having coffee yesterday at The Red Bicycle in Germantown (holy crap their crepes are AH-MAZING) with an artist writer friend.  We got involved in a passionate discussion about song demos and some different perspectives to consider before recording and pitching them. We were discussing what it means and what it takes to be professional.

To act professional.Professional Unprofessional image

To be perceived as professional.

To be taken seriously as a writer in this town.

There are a slew of different common mistakes writers and artists make when it comes to the art of recording a song demo.

Remember, a SONG demo is a demonstration (aka demo) of your SONG, not you as an artist. It needs to be treated this way. The purpose of a song demo is to demonstrate the lyric, melody, and vibe of your song in such a manner that an artist can “hear themselves” singing your song and then subsequently cut your song.

I am perplexed when I hear songwriter’s wax about their elitist, unwavering passion for “quality” in their songwriting juxtaposed against their proclivity for cutting corners to save a few bucks in the recording process.

Quality song, inferior recording. What’s the point?

brokenCD2It’s like they put their blood, sweat, tears, and whole heart into creating a killer blue print of a house and then constructed the house out of rotting balsa wood & weathered duct tape. They built this with novice builders too, and as you can imagine, the house looks shitateous and is unlivable.

Then, after all this, they get butt-hurt when they’re judged by the professional world on exactly what they built.

Huh?

 

Don’t present crappy, novice song demos and expect to be treated like a professional.

This topic gets some songwriters really pissed off. In fact, I wrote an honest article about it last year called “10 Worst Song Demo Mistakes” and I believe it was the most provocative article I have written to date.  Some songwriters got it and others clearly got emotional and defensive about these mistakes. Many songwriters anonymously wrote negative comments about how a professional community would react to unprofessional song demos (many also wrote negative comments about completely different subject matters which is always amusing).

The song demo “audience” is comprised of producers, A&R execs, song-pluggers, publishing companies, and ultimately artists.

All of which are professional.Professional Judged Empy Picture image

All of which are human.

Here’s the deal, you don’t know what’s going on with them.

Maybe they’re having a bad day and your messy sounding song demo is annoying to them.

Maybe they’ve just listened to 200 PROFESSIONAL sounding song demos, they’re exhausted, and your song demo sticks out like a sore thumb because the sonic quality and performances are so poor.

 

I mean, why would you think these human beings could read your mind and hear the way you wanted the demo to sound?

If you read some of the previously mentioned article comments you will see a couple responses like “A real producer should be able to hear past the production on a good song, so you suck and I’m not going to listen to your advice…blah, blah, blah”

Did it ever occur to you that your audience isn’t just judging the song?

Professional My Song Demo CD imageDid it ever occur to you that they’re judging you as a professional too? After all you are now in a professional environment, right?

What does that amateur sounding song demo say about you, the songwriter who is trying to be professional?

 

 

 

 

What does that say about your craftsmanship, attention to detail, work ethic, and intelligence?Professional DIchotomy KEEP RIGHT image

I mean, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well, right?

Did you ever think that your audience may be hung up on the fact that you have a professional opportunity and you choose to display something that is incredibly unprofessional?  You know, like showing up on a construction site and demanding to use your plastic toy hammer.  Everyone is like, huh?

 

 

 

Here are 12 thoughts I have about unprofessional songwriters:

  1. You’re lazy; if you weren’t you’d do it better.
  2. You’re cheap and unwilling to put skin this game you want to dominate so badly.
  3. You don’t really believe in yourself; if you did, you’d do it better.
  4. I wonder if you can’t hear the difference. If you can’t tell that your recording is second-rate than what else are you naïve and uneducated about?  How will that affect our business relationship?
  5. If you can’t tell the recording is poor than maybe you’re one of those artist writers who is insanely arrogant about their art and not really interested in getting better. These kinds of people are of no use to me in any aspect of my business.Professional Arrogance is Weakness Disguised as Strength
  6. You clearly don’t mind “cutting corners” on your product which infuriates me because I’m ALL ABOUT QUALITY.
  7. You’re not resourceful. I’ll bet you have some really good excuses as to why the demo sucks. Therefore, your professional behavior in the workplace leans toward making excuses instead of overcoming challenges. I need people that can handle challenges; they’re winners.
  8. You’re a novice and I need a professional.
  9. I have artists that need professional writers and we are counting on these writers to deliver consistently on a professional basis. How can you be trusted to deliver for them?
  10. What will my artists think of me if I put someone unprofessional with them?
  11. You have clearly demonstrated your inability to operate at the professional level required in this business.
  12. I also wonder if you even care because your song demo has confirmed you have no pride for the work that you do

 

Whoa! Read that last one again, man. Yikes!

Think about this for a second.  I PROMISE you that if any hit songwriter like Dallas Davidson, Kacey Musgraves, Craig Wiseman, or Michael Garvin called ANY Producer up and said, “I just wrote a song I think you should hear, but I only have a work tape of it.  Will you give it a listen?” they would ALL listen to it with an open mind and an open ear to give the song its due attention.

Now, think about these writer’s and their publishing companies and how much money they spend on song demos every year at $600-$900 per song.

Stay with me now…

This is business right?

How much money could the writers and publishing companies save each year if they stopped making full production demos knowing their best writer’s songs will be considered with less expensive recordings?

Professional Think Quality Don't Cut Corners

 

I mean they have proven hit songwriters writing hit songs that are pitched to the best producers and industry execs in town who should all be able to hear through bad production, right?

While there are always exceptions to the rule, all the publishing companies and hit writers continue to pay to for professional song demos.

They do this for one reason.

 

They’re professional and they want to compete.

 

If you want to be a professional songwriter, act like a professional songwriter.

 

Then watch your world transform.

 

 

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