Worthless Crap Rooftop Sign MEME Feature

Y’all should know by now the difference between distribution and marketing. Distribution is where consumers go to purchase your music and merchandise, the marketing is why they’re going to go there. Distribution is stocking a product people want to buy. Marketing is the art of influencing buying decisions which drives traffic to the distribution centers.Worthless Smart Owl

Most people are blissfully unaware of how effective marketing is, they even think they’re smart enough to be immune to it.

 

I got news for you, nobody’s completely immune to it and it has nothing to do with intelligence.

 

This is why it works so well.

 

Don’t believe me?

 

I’ll bet at least one of these examples will ring your bell.

Finish this sentence: Nationwide is ___________.

Did you sing it?

 

Worthless Coca Cola Cap

 

 

 

Try this one: I’d like to teach the world to sing in ____________

Do you know the melody to that one too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about a less musical approach to our little test?Worthless Nike

 

What is the first word that pops into your mind when you read the following?

Just Do _____

I’m Loving _____

 

 

Here’s yet another exercise. Again, what is the first word that popped into your head?

 

Worthless McDonald's Logo

 

If I say I need an ibuprofen you think of _______

If I say I want to copy a document you say I need a ______ copy.

If I say I want a tissue for my runny nose, you say I need a ___________

 

 

 

Crazy right?

You are probably well aware of the Nationwide and old school McDonald’s jingles.

 

You probably thought of a Nike image with “Just Do It.”

You probably thought of McDonald’s again with “I’m Loving It”

 

When I asked about ibuprofen you undoubtedly thought of Advil. Would it surprise you that there are many brands of ibuprofen, but Advil was first in the marketplace?Worthless Marketer Electroshock MEME

 

When I asked about copying a document you probably thought of a Xerox copy. Again, companies like Canon, Fujitsu, and Ricoh all make amazing copiers, but Xerox was first in the marketplace years ago with this device and therefore, we often refer to a document copy as a Xerox copy.

 

Finally, when someone has a runny nose they most often ask for a Kleenex as opposed to a facial tissue. Yep, you guessed it, Kleenex was first in the marketplace with facial tissues.

 

In some cases we actually replace the brand name of certain products for the noun that they are. Xerox, Advil, and Kleenex are brand names of certain products.

 

Have you ever heard someone say I need a Canon copy?

 

Think about how powerful that is.

 

You’re not immune.

Worthless Electroshock Therapy Elecrodes 2

 

You’re exposed to an average of 2,000 advertisements per day. Some of them come in right through the front door, some are subconsciously allowed into your mind, and some infiltrate your psyche both ways. It’s almost like a melody attached to a catch phrase drops a cookie in your brain; forever.

 

 

 

Guess what? Good music does the same thing.

 

I’ll bet you can remember the exact song that was playing the first time you had sex, got drunk, or maybe had your first kiss.

 

You’ll never forget.Worthless First Kiss

 

It’s powerful.

 

It’s necessary.

 

It’s also worthless if it isn’t marketed.

Did you catch that?

 

Your music is WORTHLESS to the world if it isn’t marketed correctly or marketed at all.

 

That one’s going to piss some people off but I believe that’s a good thing.

 

Worthless Car Stalled License Stephen Clarkson

 

Don’t you hate that situation where you’re broke down on the side of the road in your friend’s car and they say, “Darn it, I’ve got some jumper cables…”

You mind interrupts thinking, “AWESOME!”

They finish, “in the garage at home.”

 

 

Regardless of the quality of jumper cables they are as worthless to you as screen doors on a submarine.

 

If your music and talent can touch people, move people, make them think, and allow them to escape, these are all powerful and significant artistic qualities!Worthless Jumper Cables MEME

You would be what I consider to be an “important” artist.

 

If people never hear it…

 

Worthless.

 

If you just make music for yourself and have no intention of sharing it with the world you need not worry about marketing.

Worthless Brain MRI

 

If you, at any time, have experience a tinge of artist frustration, if you’ve ever played a live gig, if you have ever recorded your music and paid for more than one duplication of this CD, you do, in fact, want the world to react to your music.

 

Your diatribes about how you only make music for yourself, and don’t care if the world hears it are a protection racket to make yourself feel better that nobody cares about it.

They don’t care about your music because they haven’t heard it.

 

 

Maybe you MAKE the music for yourself and don’t care if the world agrees or disagrees with it…but they still need to hear it to formulate an opinion, don’t they?

 

Until they experience your awesome artistic creations…

 

Worthless.

 

Do you see why marketing is so important to your dream?

 

If your music is truly just for you, why pay to record it? Why do you have a website?

 

Why do you play live gigs when you can just rehearse, after all, it’s just for you, right?

 

Why do you fumble about on your social media regarding your music?

 

You want people to hear it. You want people to love it.Worthless Concert LOVE

 

You want people to love YOU for your artistry.

 

I have an honest question to ask you, can you think of at least 1 song and/or artist you’ve been inundated with in your lifetime that was complete and utter rubbish?

 

So terrible is their artistic efforts that you simply can’t believe they got their deal and it always aggravates you?

 

Sadly, but truthfully, marketing is more important than the music. If that statement was untrue there would be no terrible songs on the radio.

 

There would be no “manufactured” artists, only real talent.

 

Yes, art is subjective so not everybody is going to like what some consider to be “good music” but still, we all have that one artist who is the bane of our existence.

 

They were marketed.

 

I’ve stated this before but it’s worth repeating, the most hated albums and artists came into your awareness the same way as your very favorite, life changing records.

Worthless Big Record Collage

 

Through marketing.

 

It did not happen with one show, one video, one song played one time and the rest was word of mouth because good art finds its own audience.

 

 

 

 

So c’mon man, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING TO MARKET YOUR MUSIC?

Worthless Shrug

 

How much of your project budget are you spending on marketing and how much are you spending on recording?

 

If you have a project that has been recorded, mixed, mastered, and duplicated and you say you can’t afford to market it, you’re failing.

 

Worthless Empty Pockets Image License Barabara Nixon

Photo: Barbara Nixon

 

 

You budgeted wrong.

 

You would be fired if you worked for a record label and blew the entire budget on recording.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worthless Distribution

 

If your first duplication run was 1,000 units you will have 950 left over after you distribute and/or sell the first 50 to friends and family.

It won’t sell.

 

Who knows about it?

 

 

 

Why would anybody buy it if they don’t know it exists?

 

I currently have a refrigerator in a storage unit that I want to sell. Are you an idiot because you didn’t buy it? Are you stupid because it’s an awesome fridge and you should have it?

Worthless Refrigerator License Rich Anderson

Photo: Rich Anderson

 

NO, YOU NEVER KNEW IT EXISTED UNTIL NOW.

 

I would have to place that fridge on Craigslist to make people aware, then I may have some buyers depending on whether or not it’s what they were looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

What’s that? You plan on selling your CD’s at live gigs?

 

Awesome! This is an extremely effective method but you’re missing all other facets, all other marketing opportunities.

 

Worthless Dentist

 

That’s akin to going to the dentist and he only checks on 2 teeth.

 

What’s the point?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You strive for excellence in your writing, correct?

You strive for excellence in your live show, correct?

You strive for excellence in your musicianship, correct?

Some of you have put a little thought into your image, some of you have put a LOT of thought into your image.

Why don’t you strive for excellence in marketing?

Worthless Excellence

 

WHY?

 

You don’t understand it?

 

It’s complicated?

 

Well so is songwriting and playing the guitar or piano.

 

Worthless Eddie Van Halen

 

If it was easy everybody would be Eddie Van Halen and Liberace.

 

So what was the impetus that drove you to practice your instrument, to dig down and become a student of the game, to seek real accurate information, and to pay for lessons, that allow you to be the musician that you currently are?

FIND THAT DRIVE.

 

Apply it to marketing.

 

 

The bad news is marketing going to play a HUGE role in getting your career to the next level and you’re the only one who believes in you enough to do it for free.

 

You’ll need to learn how to do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

 

The good news is, it’s never been easier for an indie artist to target, connect, and create a relationship with a targeted audience before.

 

Your audience is out there.

 

Worthless Audience

They will become super fans.

They will create social media fan accounts.

They will stalk you.

They will live and breathe your art.

They will support you financially by purchasing your music, merch, and concert tickets.

 

 

They just haven’t heard your music, man.

 

That’s your fault.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Willpower knob feature 600x315

Willpower is what is going to make or break you in any endeavor you choose, be it artistic, business, romantic, or health oriented. I hear from so many of you about your struggles with willpower even when you aren’t trying to articulate anything regarding self-control.willpower complain

 

It’s evident.

 

Some of you complain about the music business, about your skirmishes with band members, about lack of management (even though there is nothing to manage yet), about the frustrations you have with becoming the professional artists you aspire to be.

 

Assuming (this is a HUGE assumption for many of you) that you have AWARENESS of what is required for you to succeed, you then need some discipline to concoct a plan of attack and persist through the trials and tribulations of executing said blueprint.

This requires willpower.

 

Once you become aware that:

  • You need to learn to improve your craft
  • You need to learn to market your craft
  • You need to learn some business to bring your craft into the world’s awareness.
  • Nobody is going to do it for you because of your talent.

You begin to employ willpower to seek new information and new methodologies.  You then apply that data to your current situation.

WillPower APPLIED Knowledge is Power MEME

I have news for you, the premise that “knowledge is power” is a false truth. Rather knowledge is potential power which is only transformed into real power when applied to a specific situation or problem.

 

 

 

 

I can’t tell you how many well educated people I have met that are simply flabbergasted that they don’t have a job or that they aren’t making what “they should be making” based on the knowledge they own.

Well, the hustle is always sold separately, man.Willpower Rediscovering Book Image

 

First you have to know.

Then you have to do.

 

The “doing” is going to require perseverance, resolve, and constitution; aka WILLPOWER.

 

I have been reading a book called WILLPOWER:  Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.

 

FYI, I am reading this because I am AWARE that I can improve on my willpower and execution so I am intentionally seeking OUTSIDE INPUT to learn real facts instead of creating false stories in my mind about what I think I know.

Get it?

I swear, I spend more time successfully and unsuccessfully dispelling the misguided stories and strategies that artists believe will create career momentum.

I want to share some of the content of this book because I feel like if you understand yourselves a little better every day, you will improve your ability to master your mind.

The more you learn to master your mind, the more you will succeed.

 

 

Willpower Bench  Press Best

 

Did you know that willpower is like a muscle that often gets fatigued when exercised?

Therefore, you can predict the strength of your willpower if you are aware of what to look for and how it works.

Think of it like this:  If you’re lifting weights and you want to beat a personal bench press record, would you attempt that feat right after a full workout or would you fare better going for the record after a light warm up?

 

The answer seems obvious, right? If you work out too hard immediately preceding the record breaking attempt, you won’t have enough energy to move the weight.

Guess what, willpower is the same. It’s an energy.

 

More accurately it’s a finite amount of energy that can be depleted and replenished.

Willpower Mood Swing 2 License Dominic Alves

Photo: Dominic Alves

 

Once it’s depleted our personalities can change with regards to mood swings (emotional control), decision making (impulse control), perseverance (performance control), and concentration (thought control).

 

In essence, certain physical, mental, and physiological processes don’t “make us” emotional.

Instead they consume energy and lower our willpower to control these emotions.

 

Willpower Cigarette Refusal

 

For example the mental energy required to quit smoking is far greater earlier in the day than later in the day (nicotine cravings aside).

 

 

 

Another example is PMS in females. Studies show that physiologically, the female body diverts an incredible amount of energy specifically to the ovaries during the premenstrual luteal phase of ovulation which leaves very little energy for willpower.

Willpower Ovaries Chart

 

 

Thus, women experience a heightened sense of emotion when the reality is the world outside did not change from the day before. Any outbursts or intense feelings are not because their emotions are any greater, or the event causing the flare-up is any more significant, or even that the woman thinks the event is any more substantial.

The behavior change is due to a significant decrease in energy normally allocated for willpower.

 

 

This translates to some women sobbing uncontrollably during a Chevrolet commercial and all men looking on with a sense of horror and confusion.

 

We can divide the uses of willpower into 4 broad categories:Willpower Thought Control

  1. Control of Thoughts – Sometimes it’s a losing battle like when you can’t get rid of that annoying song in your head. Sometimes we use willpower not to seek the fullest or best answer but to arrive at a predetermined conclusion. These are the deal making conversations we have with ourselves. Think of theologians and believers who filter the world to remain consistent with the non-negotiable principles of their faith. Tiger Woods convinced himself that the rules of monogamy don’t apply to him, he seriously thought nobody would care about the extra-curricular love life of the world’s most famous athlete. Y’all convince yourselves that your music is awesome (and needs no improvement) and the world will magically find out (without marketing).
  2. Control of Emotions – This focuses specifically on your mood (scientists call this affect regulation). Most commonly we want to escape bad moods and unpleasant thoughts although, occasionally, we avoid cheery thoughts in the case of a funeral or when we’re preparing toWillpower Emotional Control deliver bad news. Sometimes we choose to hold on to emotions like anger when we are going to lodge a complaint. Emotional control requires a ton of energy because while we can change what we think about or how we behave, we generally cannot alter our mood by an act of will. As such, we seek indirect strategies to ward off sadness and anger by using distracting thoughts and rituals like meditating, working out, losing ourselves in a TV show, chocolate binges, shopping sprees, and intoxication.
  3. Impulse Control – This is what most people associate with willpower; the ability to resist temptations like nicotine, alcohol, sweets, sex, etc. Baumeister says “impulse control’ is technically a misnomer in that you cannot control your actual impulses, rather you can only control your reaction to them.Willpower Impulse Control
  4. Performance Control – This is the art of focusing your energy on the task at hand, finding the right combination of speed and accuracy, managing time, and persevering when you feel like quitting.

 

Willpower Performance Control

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you internalize the fact that willpower is a finite energy that depletes and replenishes on a daily basis, it’s easier to understand how to improve it.

 

Willpower Mood Swing License Twanda Baker

Photo: Twanda Baker

For instance, a solid strategy for a warring romantic couple would be to get home earlier rather than continuing to work late. While this seems counterintuitive (why would they want to get home early only to fight more?), if their willpower isn’t completely exhausted they will use it to bite their tongue more, choose their battles, make better decisions, etc.

 

For artists, you need to tackle the most foreign and least pleasant tasks that are crucial to your success, first and foremost in your day.

 

If you LOVE playing guitar but HATE learning about marketing, you’d better take care of the marketing first because your willpower energy reserve will be higher thus, giving you a better chance of improving.

 

If you have a day job, you’d better GET UP EARLIER and handle your artist duties before you go to work. Watch how quickly your life changes with this approach.

Willpower Alarm Clock

 

Additionally, using willpower for too many tasks at one time is setting yourself up for failure; you need to focus on one task at a time.

New Year’s Resolution lists SUCK. That is another way to put it.

 

Anyone with a multitude of resolutions like lose weight, drink less, eat healthier, work harder, stop smoking, etc. inevitably ends up distraught and embarrassed to look at the list by February 1st.

 

This causes them to feel as if they don’t have any willpower.

 

 

The reality is the problem isn’t with their willpower, it’s with the list.

 

What does your artist “to-do” list look like?

 

Are you overwhelmed?

 

My guess is you’re willpower is fine, you’re just frustrated because you’re focusing on the whole list.Willpower Habit Collage

 

You will need every ounce of willpower energy to quit smoking just like you will need every bit of mental strength to learn to market your music better. Don’t spread it too thin, man.

 

What do you need to learn?

 

What do you need to improve upon in order to realize your dream of making a living at your music?

 

Focus on one project at a time – if you set more than one self-improvement goal you may persevere for a while by drawing on reserves to power through but it leaves you more depleted and more prone to serious mistakes later.

Willpower Put First Things First

 

This, in turn, leaves you more frustrated.

Frustration makes you feel like your haters are right, you’re not going make it.

 

 

You can make it.

It’s easier now than ever before to reach your audience.

I want you to win.

 

Try a simple change to your approach to avoid willpower burnout.Willpower Burn Out

 

For one week I want you to tackle the one looming artist task you have been procrastinating (this is probably either marketing in general or EFFECTIVE, INTELLIGENT marketing), first thing in the morning.

 

If your mornings are busy, wake up earlier.

 

Just do it.

 

Then let me know if you’ve made any progress.

 

Stay

In

Tune.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Songwriting Advice Hit Songwriter Feature image

Now, I certainly don’t know everything about songwriting and how to get cuts- if I did, I’d be writing a song on a beach somewhere right now.  But I have been blessed to land a top 5 country hit in the US (“Monday Morning Church” by Alan Jackson) and a #1 country hit in Canada Songwriter Advice Rolling Stone(“When Your Lips Are So Close,” by Gord Bamford) and several other cuts by artists such as Lady Antebellum, Randy Travis, Joe Nichols, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens and others along the way.

 

I’ve had just enough success and more than enough failure to learn a few things. Today, I’d like to share a bit of what I’ve learned so you can hopefully have some of the same successes and avoid some of the same failures.

 

 

Don’t try to import sand to the beach.

Songwriting Advice Sand

 

If your songs are doing what everyone else’s songs are doing, nobody has a reason to cut your songs.  Be bold.  Be innovative.  Give the artist a reason to cut a song that comes from outside their established relationships.

 

 

 

 

Your team matters- build it wisely.

It’s been said that you are the average of your five closest associates.  Make sure that those closest to you are people who will lift you up.  What

Songwriting Advice Choose Your Side License Elias Malaquias

Photo: Elias Malaquias

you want is a team you can rise WITH to be successful, not a team you have to rise ABOVE to be successful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get to know as many decision-makers as possible.

Songwriting Advice children Friendships

 

 

The story of a cut is often the story of relationships. The more (and deeper) relationships you have with decision makers in the business, the better chance you have of getting cuts.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the journey.

If you want to “go pro,” be prepared for a marathon, not a sprint.  You have to enjoy every mile.  If you don’t have an attitude of gratitude and Songwriting Advice Marathoncelebration along the way- if you delay gratification until you get your first #1 – you’ll likely burn out and quit long before you get there.  Work hard, do the hard things, but make sure you enjoy yourself.

 

 

 

 

Be intentional.

Songwriting Advice Intention License Julie Jordan Scott

Photo: Julie Jordan Scott

 

 

If you enjoy songwriting, it’s easy to get caught up in playing – writing with whomever comes along, demoing whatever song tickles your fancy, and pitching sporadically.  You need to be intentional.  You need to have a purpose to your actions.  Otherwise, you could end up being like an octopus on roller skates- there’s a lot of activity, but it isn’t getting anywhere.

 

 

Songwriting Advice Choose

 

 

 

 

 

Choose your song ideas carefully.

 

Don’t just write the first idea that pops into your head or the first one your cowriter throws out.  Without having analysis paralysis, try to write the best idea you can find- the idea best suited to help you achieve your goals.

 

 

 

Be patient, but not lazy.

Songwriting Advice Make Haste Slowly

You have a long journey ahead of you.  You need to pace yourself so you don’t burn out or get too frustrated too early.  But you also have to be persistent.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re being patient when you’re just being lazy.  You can’t ONLY wait for good things to come to you – you have to get out there and work.

 

 

Watch your money.Songwriting Advice Watch Your Money

Keep a modest lifestyle.  Keep your overhead low so you can afford to take a low-paying publishing deal (if that fits your goals).  Save money for when you’re between publishing deals.  And if you get a hit, don’t spend it.  Save and invest the royalties.  Cash in on the street cred a hit gives you, so you can get more hits.

 

 

 

 

Write with a future-focus.

Songwriting Advice Future License K Rupp

Photo: K Rupp

 

 

Country music of today isn’t the country music of the 1990’s, or even of the 2000’s.  What is “commercial” evolves, and if you don’t pay attention, you’ll look up from your guitar one day to realize everything you’re writing sounds dated.

 

 

 

Music is not God.Songwriting Advice Pablo Picasso Quote

Music is a wonderful companion, a thrilling career, and a gift from God.  But music is NOT your god.  If you let it be an idol- if you make it into a god- it will become a demon.  It can break up your marriage, destroy you financially, and turn you into a self-centered jerk.  Music is an incredible thing, but it’s not meant to be your everything.

 

 

 

 

Songwriting Advice The Dream is Free

 

 

 

Thanks.  I hope you find this helpful.  If you want to read more of my songwriting tips, check out my blog at manvsrow.com.

 

God Bless,

Brent

 

 

 

This was a guest post from my good friend and hit songwriter, Brent Baxter. Thank you Brent. Stay Tuned for our upcoming podcast The C.L.I.M.B. (Creating Leverage In the Music Business).

Mistake Twitter

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Experiment Mistake FEATURE MEME

What’s the difference between an experiment and a mistake or a failure?

A failed (I hate that word) experiment is a consequence that refines your process, it’s a step forward. A failed experiment is merely a necessary and (should be) anticipated speed bump.Experiment Mistake Shoe Knots

A mistake is hitting the same speed bump repeatedly. The definition of crazy is making the same mistakes and expecting different results.

 

Remember when you were learning to tie your shoes? You didn’t perfect your performance right out of the box, (the bunny goes down the hole, then around the tree, etc.) you weathered many failed experiments to polish your steps. Now it’s like breathing and you don’t even remember the experimental stage of that activity.

 

I want you to win.

 

Experiment Mistake 2 guys looking through binoculars

 

You are all going to participate in a mental exercise today. I want you to deeply ponder this question:  What do you want your artist life to look like exactly?

There are no right or wrong answers here.

 

 

However, depending on your reply to the prior question, there will be right or wrong strategies to the solutions you seek.

 

You must ensure that your plan for success is not mismatched with the outcome you desire.

 

Your answers will have to come from outside because of the rapidly changing music industry. You’re going to need knowledge that you currently don’t have; thus, the source of your career frustration.Experiment Mistake Knowledge

 

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger was extremely unsatisfied building muscle on his calves early in his career (this is evidently a common hindrance amongst body builders). In his mind, doing calf raises with over 250 lbs. on the bar, would result in serious injury. He sought a mentor in South Africa who told him he needed 1,000 lbs. on the bar, his body could handle it, and he would see the results he wanted.

 

 

Experiment Mistake Arnold SchwarzeneggerHe watched his mentor execute this particular part of the workout without harm and then Arnold’s goal became immediately possible. He learned a new plan of attack, witnessed the execution of said plan, and saw the amazing effect.

Arnold then applied this newly discovered knowledge and changed what was a mismatched strategy with one that was consonant to the outcome he sought and BOOM, his calves began to bulk up. Problem solved.

Arnold pursued the truth by seeking knowledge from outside to remedy a problematic part of his process. He was rewarded with educated answers and most importantly, RESULTS.

 

 

 

So what do you seek?

Do you want to…Experiment Mistake Bono image

Make a living writing, recording, and touring?

Make a living just writing?

Make a living just recording and touring?

Be rich and famous as a writer?

Be rich and famous as a writer, recording and touring artist?

Be an iconic artist?

Just be famous?

Just be rich?

 

 

Experiment Mistake Stop Light Solution

 

Once you determine exactly where you are headed you can reverse engineer the steps to make it happen and take APPROPRIATE causative action.

 

Then you’ll begin to initiate a set of experiments to help you pave the way to your goal.

 

 

 

Artists often ask me, “How can I succeed?”

The fact is all artist’s paths to success are unique so answering that question up front and with authority is a fool’s game.

Artists ask this question for several reasons:

  • They’re lazy and haven’t researched anything
  • They’re scared to experiment
  • They don’t believe in themselves so they want to fast-track the inevitable (whatever that means).

 

Mostly they’re lazy.Experiment Mistake Afraid

 

We are all a little lazy.

 

We are all scared.

 

We artists are operating with an incompatible approach to our problem.

 

 

Let me explain.

 

Experiment Mistake Time and Money

Employment is essentially instantaneous reciprocal altruism. You sacrifice your time and a skill and in exchange, your employer sacrifices a scarce resource; money.

 

This is what we are used to and too many of you expect this kind of dynamic with your careers.

 

When you’re a venture capital company that invests in business startups you play on a higher level. There is a much deeper emotional quotient that must exist. You expect results in the form of momentum and progress but the payoff is not immediate. There is usually a 5 year exit plan for the investors. This is more akin to developing an artist.

  • A market has to be articulated (what “widget” are we selling and to whom?)Experiment Mistake experiment
    • This takes research, experimentation, and is often refined and refined again.
  • The “first draft” of the intellectual property is created.
    • This takes research and experimentation.
  • The intellectual property has to be advanced.
    • This takes research and experimentation
  • The intellectual property has to be prototyped into a tangible product.
    • This takes experimentation to account for design flaws, optimal effectiveness, presentation, spatial restrictions, and ease of manufacturing.
    • This is the “proof of concept” stage.
  • The prototypes have to be assembled and tested for durability, workability, effectiveness, user friendliness, etc.
    • Prototyping costs time and money, again, through experimentation, because there is no economy of scale. (Low volume means higher prices)Experiment Mistake Chemistry Dude
  • The optimized prototypes are send to mass manufacturing and become the sellable product.
    • This step requires research and experimentation, will the manufacturer play by our rules and within our budget?
  • The product has to be packaged appropriately
    • This takes research and experimentation. What packaging is more attractive and effective in the marketplace?
  • The product has to be distributed
    • This step requires research and experimentation as not all products belong in all markets.
    • Not all distribution deals are in harmony with the product designer.
  • The product has to be marketed.
    • This step always requires research and experimentation as sometimes you “tap into” a market that is preexisting and sometimes you create a market that never existed before.Experiment Mistake Chemistry Set 2
    • Often the experimentation is in the form of assembling an effective team that understands the company credo and will execute the plan accordingly.
  • The product has to be shipped/delivered.
    • This sometimes requires research and experimentation.

 

Can you see the similarities with this list and a solid creative plan for an artistic effort?

 

Do you see how much research and experimentation takes place along each step of the way?

 

Most of you probably don’t experiment nearly as much as you need to in the artistic intellectual property creation stage (which is where you ALL feel you are the strongest)

 

Experiment Mistake 25 Headlines

 

FYI, sometimes I’ll write 25 headlines to an article before I settle on the one I use…that’s 24 failed experiments to get to the gold because all the obvious and cliché content is exhausted during the first 15-20 which causes me to really think…just sayin’.

 

Do you craft your songwriting this way?

 

If you’re a rapper and you freestyle (which I find absolutely fascinating when it’s done well) do you create your beats and your hooks this way?

 

 

 

 

Most of you have never even attempted to experiment in the marketing phase of the process because it’s unfamiliar so you’re afraid.

SExperiment Mistake No Fear Imageo you lie to yourself and say, “Good music will find its own audience” or you rely on the idea that once you get your “deal” the label will handle that part of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Experiment Mistake Failure Rate

 

Here’s a scary fact from a study I heard about humans and experimentation recently.

 

50% of people quit after the first “failure”.

80% of people quit after the second “failure”.

95% of people quit after the third “failure”.

 

 

 

 

Is it no surprise that the two most common traits among self-made multi-millionaires (aka your favorite iconic artists) are leadership and tenacity?

 

Are you aware of the astonishing number of millionaires that went bankrupt 3 times before becoming millionaires?

 

Are you willing to go THAT FAR to achieve greatness?Experiment Mistake Wealth Collage

 

Now, let’s think about the wealthiest 5% in this country. Many of you have been taught to hate them.

 

Many of you subscribe to societal social biases like “They made their money on the backs of the real people”, “They’re dishonest”, “They’re sharks”, or “They’re only in it for the money”.

 

Here’s a thought, what if you’re angry because the top 5% is doing what you won’t?

 

What if they’re the only ones willing to innovate and research their way out of career frustrations?

 

What if they’re willing to fail more than 3 times on all the experimental steps of whatever process turns them on?

 

How’s your tenacity these days?

What research are you doing?

 

Experiment Mistake GE Logo Vintage

 

When Thomas Edison died he was one of the wealthiest men in the country, he had over 1,100 patents (he started General Electric which [I think] is the only corporation still around that was on the ORIGINAL New York Stock Exchange.)

Edison stated that he did at least 1,000 experiments to obtain the intellectual property requirements necessary to receive each patent.

THAT’S OVER 1 MILLION EXPERIMENTS.

 

 

 

How many of you have this kind of experimental curiosity with your music?

 

How many experiments have you done with the MARKETING of your music?

 

When the labels who used to own and therefore control the market aren’t sure what to do, it’s up to US, the artists, to innovate our way out of the mess and into success.Experiment Mistake The Secret

 

If 95% of humans will quit after the 3rd failure, isn’t knowing this statistic your secret weapon?

 

Isn’t that David’s advantage over Goliath?

 

You are a product of the input you receive.

 

I’m going to butcher this analogy but Tai Lopez refers to this as a sort of intellectual “success” soup.

Experiment Mistake Soup Collage

 

You can be the greatest chef in the world, but if you only have chicken and water your soup sucks.

 

You need more ingredients like salt, pepper, spices, onions, celery, carrots, etc.

 

EVERYTIME you learn, you add another ingredient to your artistic soup.

 

 

 

The more ingredients you have the more different combinations you can experiment with.

The more you research, the more curious and motivated you are to “play” with your newfound knowledge.

The more you experiment the more you refine the process

The more you refine your process the closer you get to whatever your goal initially was.Experiment Mistake The Thinker

 

NOBODY is smart enough to sit in a room and think up ideas about making music or marketing music without some form of outside input.

Are you picking up what I am putting down?

 

Your mentors are not going to show up at your doorstep, a gig, or appear in your dreams. YOU will have to seek THEM out.

 

Yes, I paid a lot of money for access to this Tai Lopez program and it is worth EVERY PENNY.

 

I discovered validation on my old ways of thinking, new ways to apply the knowledge I have, new ways of thinking and concepts I wasn’t aware existed, and new resources to find the information I seek.

Experiment Mistake Education Chalkboard

 

I’m excited! My creative juices are FLOWING!

Aren’t you tired of being frustrated?

How good does real momentum feel?

 

 

 

Too many of you think that you’ll dream up the answers on your own. NOT WITHOUT INPUT.

 

You’re born with an instinctual ability to suck (pun intended), after that you need input, direction, advice, mentoring, teaching, guidance, coaching, etc., to get ahead.Experiment Mistake Sucking

 

You never would’ve figured out how to tie your shoes without someone showing you the way.

 

How do you really expect to reach your goal of creating compelling artistry and finding a market for it by yourself?

 

You’d better rethink your plan and ensure that it matches your goal.

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

Mistake Twitter

 

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Signature Strength Pickle Jar Feature Image

I don’t want you to be delusional about your talent.

Signature Strength Rock Climbing

 

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Resignation is confirmed desperation.”

 

Wow.

 

I believe that everyone has a genius, and most people are busy working on something that has nothing to do with their genius simply to pay the bills and fall in line with societal norms.

 

There lies the quiet desperation.

 

I also know that many of you are suffering in your artist careers because you are too busy focusing on the wrong thing. You’re forcing something you think you’re good at while ignoring your real genius.

 

Signature_Strength_Holy_Grail

 

The lack of results from this approach creates an abyss of frustration and despair that eventually engulfs an artist like The Gorge of Eternal Peril from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

 

 

I want to touch on the idea that many of you are leading lives of quiet desperation simply because you are delusional about what Tai Lopez calls your “signature strength”.

Signature Strength Gymnastics

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that you’re delusional about your ability to make a living as an artist. I’m saying many of you have to identify, evaluate, and build a career on your signature strength so you CAN make a living as an artist.

 

You must build success on your strengths.

 

You do what you can to strengthen your weaknesses to be well rounded, but you don’t create the empire on something that is artistically dim.

 

Signature Strength American Idol Image

 

The artistic misunderstanding is prevalent in many of the American Idol contestants. They are delusional that their signature strength is vocal prowess, which is what American Idol is ALL ABOUT.

 

Why do they not see that most of the very judges they seek to impress could not win on this show?

 

How did some of these judges become hugely popular as artists if they couldn’t win Idol? I mean, if they weren’t AMAZING singers than how did they break through the public awareness?Signature Strength AI Collage

 

 

They played to their signature strengths, that’s how.

 

 

I’ll give you a couple examples of what I’m talking about.

 

As many of you already know, I was an artist in the late 80’s and through half of the 90’s. I was in a hair band called Kidd Gypsy. I toured for roughly 7 years of my life making a living recording and playing music.

Signature Strength Kidd Gypsy

 

Bliss.

 

Here’s the thing, Kidd Gypsy took TONS of vocal lessons so we could dominate on our harmonies.

 

We liked big harmonies and we DID dominate.

 

 

The vocal lessons were good for me as a front man so I could sing in tune enough to keep the crowd (I always joked that I “clawed my way to middle management in the vocal talent sector). My strength was not in my vocal chops (I really didn’t have any), rather my vocal tone and my ability to perform live and entertain people.Signature_Strength_Kidd_Gypsy

 

I could sell the lyrics on stage.

 

I could sell the sex appeal on stage.

 

Mick Jagger was never going to win any vocalist of the year awards either.

 

Signature Strength Mick Jagger

Get it?

 

Let’s go one step further, I also was aware that because of my weakness in the vocal department, the harmonies would bolster the strength and appeal of our band.

All the songs had big vocal harmonies in the choruses which diverted attention from the fact that while I was (usually) singing in tune, the melodies were much more powerful with harmonies arranged around them than they were if I sung them alone.

 

Harmonies WORKED for us.

 

Johnny singing alone, didn’t.

 

Here’s another real truth to drive this point home.Signature Strength Guitar God Collage

 

The hair band genre was built on guitar Gods; shredders is what they used to call them.

 

I absolutely LOVE the shredders like Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Randy Rhoads, etc.

 

I always wanted to be a shredder.

 

I practiced incessantly when I was a kid.

 

I didn’t have the right hand, man.

Alas, I was never going to be a shredder.

 

There was a number of years where I lamented the fact that I couldn’t be a shredder.

 

I was depressed.

Angry.

Frustrated.

Signature Strength Desperatoin Head Between The KneesLiving a life of quiet desperation.

 

See my point?

 

I got good enough to where I added musical value to the band and my style of playing actually complimented Darrell’s (our lead guitar player) panache quite nicely.

 

Once I came to the realization that my signature strength was not going to be shredding on the guitar, the quiet desperation dissipated quickly and gently into the night.

I let it go.Signature Strength Genuine Authentic Self Oprah Quote

 

What are you lamenting?

Have you considered the possibility that you may be frustrated because you’re focusing on a weakness instead of a strength?

 

What have people (including strangers) always complimented you on your entire life?

 

Build on that.

 

I know for a fact many of you are focused on not focusing when it comes to your “sound” or your genre.

Signature Strength Unfocused

 

I hear it all the time, “Dear Johnny, I love Reggae, Rock, Pop, R&B, Rap, and Country. I want to do all these genres and don’t want to ignore any of them.” “Can I make a record where each song is a different genre?”

NO.

At least not if you want anyone to care about it.

 

Here’s why.

You really want to attend to your core competency, your signature strength, your real genius, etc.

This approach will ensure you are the most genuine artist you can be by accenting your strength instead of forcing a weakness that you happen to be delusional about.Signature Strength 5 Percent Rule

 

Abide by the 5% rule.

 

You want to concentrate on whatever talent you have that would put you in the 95th to 100th percentile in a global competition.

 

Maybe you are in the top 5% in a globally competitive market when it comes to singing rock but you are not in country, reggae, R&B, etc.

 

You can’t be THAT good at writing, singing, and performing everything.

 

Signature Strength Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan, who is maybe the greatest basketball player of all time, thought his supreme athletic ability would translate well into baseball, because he actually loved baseball MORE than basketball (if you can believe that).

He sucked. Forget about the major leagues, he sucked in the minors.

 

In basketball he is considered a GOD among men.

 

In baseball, utterly forgettable.

 

Signature Strength David Lee Roth

 

 

David Lee Roth is one of my favorite rock star front men. He KNEW where his bread was buttered; a whiskey vocal tone, HUGE personality, and sex appeal. He’s never tried to pretend he could sing super rangy love ballads, so he was never artistically unfulfilled by pushing himself to do something he didn’t excel at.

 

Instead, he focused on this strengths. He dominated a live performance, and he kept his vocal licks to a limited blues range (on recordings) and did it with a stylistic flair that was different and cool, man. (The DLR vocal “Howls”, doubled on tape, were like a sex call to all women, SO FREAKIN’ COOL!!). He was, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest front men of all time, definitely in the top 5%.

 

 

 

Tom Petty isn’t going to blow you away with a 6 octave vocal range either. Listen to ANY Tom Petty song, he emphasizes simple, addictive melodies. Nothing too complicated or rhythmically busy (I won’t…baaack…down). He knows his strengths, and crafts his art to accentuate the positive.Signature Strength Tom Petty

 

What I’m saying is that you have to be honest with yourself and what your real talent is.

 

 

If you’re not getting the kind of traction you want, maybe you’re a little delusional.

 

Are you an artist that should be writing simple Petty-like melodies and you’re trying to be more complicated?

 

Signature Strength Be Honest MEME

 

Are you trying to over sing ever line when note choice and delivery are going to make you more important?

 

Sometimes a simple change is all it takes to generate serious momentum.

 

 

In my first pro band, Idols of American Youth, I was a decent guitar player pretending to be a shredder. We were motivated, we were good, and we toured for a year with a front-man that had amazing vocal talent and ZERO personality.

 

We did ok, but we were forgettable.Signature Strength Gun Show

 

Once I took over as the front man, catering to my strengths (I was a far better entertainer and songwriter), despite my lack of vocal ability, the world began to take notice.

We got a producer.

We were moved to Florida to be developed

We got management.

We got a booking agent.

We got radio spins.

We got press.

We got label attention.

Not for nothing, all this began happening really quickly once the lineup change was made and I began focusing on what I was REALLY good at.

Signature Strength IMPACT

 

Musicians could argue my band downgraded the vocal aptitude of the band when I began singing.

 

They would be right.

 

 

However, we upgraded our IMPACT and that changed our lives forever.

 

I want you to win.

Don’t live a life of quiet desperation.Signature Strength Desperation Cracked Image

 

Don’t resign yourself to being a second rate artist.

 

I want y’all to do some real deep thinking with this post.

 

The new music industry belongs to the genuinely talented.

 

This means you better know where you excel.

 

I want you to email me, Tweet me, Facebook me and let me know what is your signature strength?

 

 

StayMistake Twitter

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Grind Windmill Cogs MEME Feature

I’ve got big news for all of you. Life is not a grind, life IS THE GRIND. Life is what happens while you’re waiting around making plans.Grind Life Playing a Poor Hand Quote

The trick to life is understanding that you have to LOVE the grind.

Life is not the future, life is not the past; life is RIGHT NOW.

When you love the grind you find happiness, you make money by accident, you stay child-like, and you make miracles happen.

 

 

The antithesis of loving the grind is living the dichotomy.

Grind Pablo Picasso

 

Do you live the dichotomy?

 

Tweet me, Google + me, email me, comment below, but tell me if you live the dichotomy after you read this article.

I really want to know.

 

 

“Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.” –Pablo Picasso

 

You better love the grind.Grind Life is Good quote

 

Are you one of the artists who is bitching about the current state of the music industry?

 

Are you constantly waxing about how much easier it would have been had you been an artist 20 years ago?

 

You have to be the person that makes things happen.

 

Life, and therefore your artistic career is a numbers game. Plain and simple.

 

The more you do, the more opportunities you make for yourself, the more chances you have to gain momentum.

 

You don’t gain momentum tomorrow, you do the work that gains momentum today.

 

Grind Society

 

 

Too many of you are hiding behind some bullshit society or industry created rules, comments, political correctness, glass ceilings, social norms, trajectory obstacles, and old-school business practices, as excuses to forgive yourselves for not delivering on your own dreams.

 

 

 

THEY ARE YOUR DREAMS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!

 

I want to go on record saying that every artist that was worth a damn who ends up quitting on their dream was thwarted by their own doubts and insecurities.Grind YOUR Dreams quote

 

 

You’re no different than any other artist.

You’re no different than your favorite icon.

 

The only variance is your perspective on life. They ALL had challenges, man. You never saw what they went through to take their place in history.

 

You are only aware of the success.

 

Grind Oprah Collage

 

 

 

At 23 years old, J.K. Rowling was broke, Tina Fey was working at the YMCA, Oprah had been fired as a TV Reporter, and Walt Disney filed for Bankruptcy.

 

 

 

 

Here is a behind the scenes look at one amazing success story. You are ALL familiar with his brand, like it or not.

I broke this amazing story down into 50 line items because there were that many COMPELLING pieces (that I could find).

Harland David Sanders had quite a life before becoming an icon.

  1. His father came home with a fever and died when Harland was just 5 years old.
  2. After the death of his father Harland’s mother got a job in a tomato cannery so He was looking after and cooking for his siblings (still 5 Grind Sanders at 7 years oldyears old).
  3. By 7 he became skilled at cooking up whatever food his brothers and sisters could forage, while mom was at work. (THAT’S poor).
  4. At 10 years of age he was working as a farmhand.
  5. At 12 years old, his mother remarried and Harland had a tumultuous relationship with this step-father.
  6. At 13 he dropped out of the 7th grade.
  7. At 14 he was farmhand then a streetcar conductor in Indianapolis.
  8. At 16 years old he falsified his age and enlisted in the army.
  9. Honorably discharged when he was 17.
  10. At 17 he moved to Alabama to live with an Uncle. Harland’s brother Clarence also moved to Alabama to escape their evil, abusive stepfather.
  11. Sanders was studying law at night to improve his education through a correspondence course. (work today to make momentum tomorrow)
  12. Harland lost his job at Illinois Central Railroad after a brawl with a colleague.Grind Child and Mom
  13. Because he lost his job, Sanders was separated from his wife and 3 kids for 3 years; they went to live with her mother.
  14. After practicing law for 3 years, Harland earned enough money to move his wife and children back in with him.
  15. Then he blew his legal career after a courtroom brawl with his own client.
  16. After that Sanders moved back in with his mother.
  17. When Harland was 26 years old, he started selling insurance for Prudential Life Insurance Company, where he was eventually sacked for insubordination.
  18. He moved to Louisville, KY and got another job selling insurance for Mutual Benefit Life of New Jersey (that’s called perseverance).
  19. When Harland was 30 years old, he started a ferry boat company that operated on the Ohio River. He canvased for funding, in other words, he ASKED everybody to invest, they did, which made him a minority shareholder and got him the belittled title of “Secretary” in his own company. (That company became an instant success, btw).

    Grind Illinois Central Railroad License

    “Illinois Central diesel” by Wisekwai – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illinois_Central_diesel.jpg#/media/File:Illinois_Central_diesel.jpg

  20. At 32 he became a secretary at the Chamber of Commerce in Columbia, Indiana. (he admittedly sucked at that job and resigned 1 year later).
  21. Sanders cashed in his lucrative ferry boat company shares for $22,000 (around $307,000 in today’s money) and used the funds to establish a company that manufactured acetylene lamps.
  22. That company quickly failed after Delco came out with an electric lamp that they sold on credit.
  23. At 33 years old, Harland moved to Winchester, KY and worked as a salesman for Michelin Tire Company.
  24. At 34 years old, he lost his job because Michelin closed their New Jersey manufacturing plant.
  25. That same year, Sanders happened to meet the General Manager of Standard Oil of Kentucky who convinced him to open a service station in Nicholasville, KY.
  26. That station closed 6 years later because of the Great Depression. (the worst economy this country has ever seen).
  27. That same year, 1930, Harland was now 40 years old, he was offered a service station in Corbin, KY by Shell Oil Company, rent free, in exchange for a percentage of sales.
  28. In 1932, when Sanders was 42 years old, his only son Harland Jr. died from infected tonsils.
  29. Harland never gave up, huh? To bolster his income, Sanders began serving chicken dishes and other meals like country ham and steaks out of his residence adjacent to the service station. (Resourceful lad)
  30. Sanders eventually opened a motel and restaurant from the profitsGrind Auto House
  31. When he was 45, Sanders was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel by Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon.
  32. When he was 49, He got a favorable write up in a popular travel magazine from a respected food critic.
  33. Later that same year, Harland’s now hugely popular restaurant and motel burned to the ground.
  34. He rebuilt the Corbin, KY location as a new 140-seat restaurant and motel.
  35. He expanded and opened a new motel in Ashville, North Carolina.
  36. By the time he was 50, Harland had perfected his “secret recipe” for Fried Chicken in a pressure fryer which cooked it faster than pan frying.
  37. At 51 years of age, WWII broke out, gas was rationed, tourists dried up, and Sanders was forced to close his Ashville, SC motel.
  38. He then got a job as a supervisor in Seattle. (leaving his mistress to run the Corbin, KY restaurant and motel)Grind Standard Oil Filling Station
  39. Then he worked for the Government at an ordinance works cafeteria in Tennessee.
  40. Then he worked as an Assistant Cafeteria Manager in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
  41. At 57 he divorced his wife
  42. At 59 he finally married his mistress
  43. At 62 years old, Colonel Sanders franchised “Kentucky Fried Chicken” for the first time. The Utah store’s sales TRIPLED in the first year, 75% of the sales increase was from fried chicken. (FYI, the Utah restauranteur loved fried chicken because it differentiated his store from the competition with the imagery of “Southern Hospitality”) (Are you different?)
  44. After the Utah success with Kentucky Fried Chicken, several other restaurants successfully franchised the recipe.
  45. Harland thought the Corbin location would live forever but alas, at 65 years old, he was forced to sell it as the new Interstate 75 had significantly reduced customer traffic.

    Grind Sanders Cafe Licensse Brent and MariLynn

    Photo: Brent and MariLynn
    License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

  46. Now, at 65, Colonel Harland Sanders was left with his savings and $105 a month in social security.
  47. He decided to REALLY try and franchise his recipe. (If you’re going to sell 10,000 CD’s you have to meet 10,000 people and shake 10,000 hands, right? He went out to shake some hands).
  48. He travelled the country, often sleeping in his car to cook the chicken for a suitable restaurant owner. If they like it, they would negotiate a franchise deal.
  49. The money required to grow the fulfillment piece of the business (someone had to mix the spices, bag them, and ship them to the rapidly growing number of stores) was not there. Sanders asked 1,000 people to invest, the last one finally did and they grew the chain. (999 “no’s” got him a “yes”)
  50. It became too much for him at 72 years old and he sold the franchise for $2 million dollars. ($15,800,000.00 in today’s money)

 

 

 

So Colonel Sanders had it easy right?

Grind KFC License vxla

Photo: vxla
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

 

He became rich and famous.

 

You’d love to have his life, right?

 

All you need is great recipe or a great song and you too can be as rich and famous as Colonel Sanders, right?

 

 

YOU NEVER SEE THE STRUGGLE.

YOU NEVER SEE THE HUSTLE.

 

I’ll bet none of you have had this kind of struggle. Yes, all of you have gone through some of his struggle.

 

But all this? In one life? WOW!Grind Greatest pleasure quote

 

You’re stronger than you think, people. The only person that DIDN’T get in the way of Harland Sanders was Harland Sanders in the end. At the beginning he got in his own way OFTEN didn’t he?

Today, I can safely say that ALL OF YOU have it easier than your favorite icons did when they were coming up.

 

They would have FREAKED over the targeting power of social media and the internet.

 

Grind 3 C's Quote

 

 

Whatever your struggle is, be it personal health issues, handicaps, doubts, traumas, setbacks, injuries, mental disorders, lack of money, crappy family, mental abuse, physical abuse, etc., you’re not the only one.

 

 

Google your biggest problem and find the famous or iconic people that overcame that same issue.

Do it.

 

Nobody could break the 4 minute mile until someone broke the 4 minute mile and then tons of people broke the 4 minute mile simply because they saw it could be done.

 

Get it?

 

Toughen up. It’s all in your head.

 

The pain is real but how you deal with it is up to you.Grind Colonel Harland Sanders

 

Your favorite artists had to overcome amazing challenges in life.

 

ALL of the most successful people had incredible setbacks, don’t fool yourself.

 

The difference between them and you is that so far, they have chosen to rise above all obstacles and move forward to reach their dreams.

 

Have you?

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

 

Mistake TwitterPS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Successful Friends Rocket MEME Feature

Some of you are going to have a hard time with this article. It’s because I’m going to be pressing hard on a raw nerve you may not be aware of. Whether you are cognizant or not, the discomfort exists. What will sting is that for some of you, to be more successful, you’re going to have to leave some of your friends behind.Successful Friends Emotionally Exhausted

Not all your friends are going to keep the same life trajectory as you.

 

These friends can become a hindrance to your life goals. The worst case scenario is they can ruin them, the best case is they are spiritually and emotionally exhausting like trying to shove 10 pounds of sand into 5 pound bags.

 

Successful Friends 5 pound bags image

 

I’ll bet you’re thinking of one right now.

 

Was this friend from the past and you’ve moved on?

 

Is this friend impeding your success right now?

Your friend may be super talented or maybe super loyal and not very talented, but when he/she isn’t willing to fly as high as you, it will create stress and fissures in the relationship.

 

In plain English that means the more you grow, the more success you see, the more the microscopic cracks in the dam will become apparent which forces decisions to be made.

Successful Friends Toxic Snake

As you’re pulling away the relationship will become (or always has been) toxic and detrimental to your success.

 

Often it’s hard to recognize (or admit to) that toxicity because you are a loyal friend and despite the current imbalance, they have been a staple in your life.

 

It’s not uncommon that toxic friends are supremely devoted to you (which we all respond to) but only at a level they are comfortable with.

 

Sometimes shifting gears is a solution to maintain the relationship but on a far different level than in the past.

Successful Friends Gear shift

 

I have experienced this one before. I have a very close friend (we grew up together) that simply cannot seem to function or behave like the normal person (I know him to be) around some of my more notable clientele (or clientele he thinks is notable for whatever reason). This causes problems in my work environment.

I still love that friend but only deal with him in “small doses” outside of my world; it just works better like that for both of us.

Guess what? THAT’S OK.

 

 

 

There is a dynamic that exists in all of us, we are hard-wired up as humans to want to belong. The antithesis of this dynamic is fear of abandonment.

 

The fear of deserting a lifelong relationship is super powerful.

 

Have you ever slowed your momentum because you feared losing a relationship?

Successful Friends Abandoned License Rennett Stowe

Photo: Rennett Stowe
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

Have you ever blown an opportunity because a friend wouldn’t step up when it was time to shine?

 

We are emotionally and morally torn in that department because we want to do the right thing.

 

We want to be fair.

 

Do we support them as a friend and try to understand why they failed us (because they did) or do we call them out and demand accountability?

 

Successful Friends Pinky Promise

 

Which choice makes you a better friend?

Which choice is better for your life and career?

 

On one hand we don’t want to disrespect our friend and the relationship, but on the other hand we want to push farther, reach higher, and that person either won’t come along (if they’re part of the team) or makes us feel guilty for leaving (or wanting to break out) of the familiar environment we currently occupy.

Being a good, solid, loving friend does not mean that you hold yourself back to ensure happiness and quality of life for someone else.

 

Sometimes moving on means the relationship has to end.Successful Friends Moving on

Sometimes it just has to change.

Moving on is often better for the friend too, after all, who better than YOU to show a loved one what it means to work, excel, go for the good life, and strive for something better.

 

 

I have another personal experience that I will share with you.

I was struggling with this one in California when a mentor of mine recognized the dynamic and spelled it all out for me.

Successful Friends Open Eyes

 

You see, a dear friend was failing me. My friend was one of the greatest salesmen I had ever seen. He was the one who made me aware of my sales skills and was the first to put me into a position to exercise that muscle; I capitalized on the break he gave me big time.

This friend recognized my skill set and presented an opportunity to experience success (that ultimately led me to a 25 year career path) at a level I never dreamt of.

 

He was a pretty good guitar player and we wrote several great songs together so there was an artistic bond between us as well. He originally introduced himself to me by commenting on a t-shirt I was wearing from a Miami rock club called The Button South so it was music that brought us together, in a roundabout way.

Successful Friends Zeph Machine

I always used to feel like he empowered me. The reality was he opened my eyes and I empowered myself.

 

Still, I felt I owed him.

 

I felt there probably wasn’t enough I could do for him to repay him for showing me my own gifts.

 

I met this friend in Nashville in the mid 1990’s and he ultimately followed me out to California.

I gave him an opportunity to step up his amazing talents and increase his success working with me. I had a relationship with a corporation that had an amazing zero damage bench-top soldering system mainly used for assembling electronic prototypes. This product was exploding in the Successful Friends Batter Upindustry would double my income 3 times in the 3 coming years. It also would leave me with an impressive customer list of valuable relationships with top engineers from the premiere electronics and aerospace companies on the West Coast.

 

That was so exciting!

 

My friend had all the talent but zero brains.

 

He didn’t, couldn’t, or wouldn’t grasp the subtle nuances of this new gig. Yes it was sales, and sales is always the same process structurally and conceptually (I was applying the lessons I learned from HIM to succeed at THIS gig), only the details of the products change.

 

Successful Friends Brain Bar GraphMy friend was focused on only one thing. Making his moronic, vapid, clueless, talentless, bloodsucking, girlfriend famous.

To perform at sales at his level required intelligence. I never understood how he could pair up with a person that was the OPPOSITE of intelligent in every way I could possibly imagine.

She wanted to be famous and he was drinking the Kool-Aid. He was doing whatever she told him to do.

 

 

If you can imagine (and maybe you’ve encountered) a person who is not interested in working in the arts, only the fame and perceived glory that comes from being a TV, film, or recording star. She was that girl, she felt she had everything she needed with blonde hair and big boobs and was soullessly prowling for actors, directors, producers, songwriters, musicians, etc. to help her.

Ugh.

How was he so unaware of this trait in her?

How was he tolerating this behavior?Successful Friends Duckface Cartoon

She was always surrounded by an entourage of creepy, broken-hearted, hangers-on who were believing she was going to be “someone”.

 

Some of them were paid creeps and he was the one writing the checks. (They had an 800 sq. ft. office space and 2 assistants even though she NEVER worked because she felt it was more professional and made her look better to the industry.)

Successful Friends Steak Knives MEME

 

This was NOT what he preached in his line of work, you had to execute in sales or be gone.

 

I was bewildered by the dichotomy.

 

 

My previously stated mentor is the President of a hugely successful electronic OEM and former Director of Engineering at Rubbermaid’s heat department (which is a 7 billion dollar conglomerate [coffee makers, irons, glue guns, soldering irons, etc.).Succesful Friends Zephyrtronics Machine

 

He said, “Johnny, one of the toughest lessons I have ever had to learn is how to let go of some of my friends.”

 

I struggled with a response.

 

I began to make excuses for my friend, stuttering through the entire retort.

 

I wasn’t going to convince my mentor though.

 

Try as I might, at this point, I wasn’t convincing myself either.

 

I let the relationship go long enough that this former friend and his psychotic girlfriend almost ruined my wedding (after all it wasn’t about her so she tried EVERYTHING to change that; ugh, classless)

 

 

During the first couple days of my honeymoon I was in a trance, all I heard was my mentor’s voice about letting go.

Successful Friends Cut The Cord Baby

 

Then my wife (at the time) chimed in to break the spell, “They tried to ruin the wedding and they didn’t, are you now going to let them ruin our honeymoon?”

 

That was it. I cut the cord. I let him go.

 

I’ve since learned that they’re coming along and pulling their weight, or their holding me back.Successful Friends_Tai_Lopez

 

The dynamic is created through growth and I damn sure have learned how to recognize it and address it.

 

If they’re not playing at your level, the relationship has to change. It only has to end if it’s super toxic or if they demand it as an ultimatum.

 

 

This awareness has improved my life for the better.

 

I try to focus on what Tai Lopez calls the Law of 33%.

  • You spend 33% of your time with your contemporaries that are friends, business relationships, and artists who are on your success level at the moment.
  • You spend 33% of your time with people that are below your success level, you can teach (and also learn) from these individuals.
  • You spend the remaining 33% of your time with people that are above your current level of success, in any way you possibly can. These gurus are found in mentorships, internships, books, paid coaching; you need to be LEARNING from 20/20 hindsight as much as possible.

Successful Friends Pie MEME

 

YOU NEED TO SEEK THESE UPPER 33% RELATIONSHIPS OUT AS THEY WILL NOT COME TO YOU.

 

 

 

 

My most successful friends are always asking questions and interested in the truth.

My least successful friends are always bitching about how it used to be or telling everyone their opinion (regardless of how misguided it is) so they can feel better about themselves.

It really is true that you are a product of the company you keep.

 

If you aspire to be a carpenter, and you’re smart, you can learn to raise a barn through massive amounts of trial and error.Successful Friends Bad_Barn_Raising

 

That’s going to take a lot of time, cost a lot of money, and consume your energy which is exhausting in all these areas.

 

But you’ll learn.

 

You might learn to quit as a result of avoidable frustration.

 

Do you see how this approach to learning can be fatal to a music career?

 

Success Friends Successful Barn Raising

 

You’ll definitely learn how to do it the hard way provided you don’t give up first.

If you aspire to be a carpenter and you’re really smart, you will learn to raise a barn right the first time by studying a master craftsman.

 

 

As humans, one ability we have that no other species has is the capacity to simulate an outcome in advance of the actual action to determine if it will be successful.

 

Amazingly, we know what we don’t know and have the option of learning how it should be done before we begin doing it.

 

But most people don’t do this. They approach their career like a monkey with a gun and wonder why they can’t get ahead.Successful friend_Monkey_with_a_gun

 

They suffer, their lives suffer

 

If we have the humility to know that we still need to learn then we are always improving.

 

The heights of our artistry and exposure is bound only by our egos and stubbornness.

 

Who’s holding you back?

 

Be mindful of your energy and don’t waste it on people who aren’t interested in improving themselves.

Successful Friend Wasted Energy

 

Learn to let go of your friends who aren’t playing in your league, they’re holding you back and you know who they are.

 

Stop telling people what you’re doing and start asking questions about your songwriting, music recordings, music marketing, and overall artist development.

 

 

Search for the truth in your relationships, in your music, and in your marketing.

 

Watch yourself rise.Mistake Twitter

 

Stay

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

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Awareness More Success MEME

Awareness is the key element to deserving success.

I subscribe to Tai Lopez’s 67 steps to success. It’s paid coaching and it’s awesome. While I 100% support paid coaching (a resource that most of you choose not participate in which demonstrates a lack of humility, I mean you must already know it all right? But I digress) I’m not plugging Tai’s. I’m all about giving credit where credit is due, and the content of this article was derived from Tai’s 1st step of the 67 steps.

 

Do you think you deserve success?Awareness Obesity Scale

Do you really think you deserve success?

 

Many artists (and normal people) say they deserve success but they’re not really deserving because they don’t do the necessary work that is required.

If you want to lose 100 pounds, you need to deserve to lose 100 pounds.

To deserve to lose 100 pounds you have to be aware of what is required to execute that plan. You must be conscious of how your body works, how many grams of protein, sugar, carbohydrates, etc. should you intake every day.

You must have awareness to avoid processed foods.

Awareness Food Ingredients

 

You have to be cognizant of how your body works with regards to caloric consumption during exercise and sedentary times, then apply that knowledge to your personal situation.

 

 

Are you active at work?

Sitting at a desk?

 

Here’s an awareness example that everyone can relate to.

Remember the day you got your last automobile? It doesn’t matter if it was new or used, awesome or junky.Awareness Car shipment

The day you got it was the day you noticed EVERYONE had that same car. It’s like they appeared all over the road out of nowhere, right?

You became aware of the car type once you owned it and now, even though they were always on the road, you notice them everywhere because your awareness has increased.

Cool huh?

 

 

Becoming aware of what has to be done means you now have a solid blue print to execute the plan.

Awareness Blueprint

 

You only deserve the end result once the plan is executed.

 

Most people choose to be blissfully unaware. It’s easier.

 

 

 

Maybe you can’t be as physically fit as Arnold Schwarzenegger who works out 6 hours per day or LeBron James who is 6’8” 280lbs. with 6% body fat but you can deserve more than you have right now.

You can improve.Awareness Step by Step

 

You can get on the journey of becoming the best version of you; be that physically, mentally, artistically, or all of the above.

 

Each day you have to go to bed a little wiser, step by step you get better and rarely does that happen in fast spurts.

 

Most people in life are victims of their own making. They are focused on the lottery approach to life because they are waiting, wishing upon a star in their lives and their music careers.

 

Awareness Fingers Crossed Image

 

There is no lottery.

 

Tomorrow will not be better just because you believe it will be. If you want tomorrow to be better you HAVE to work today, every day, and take it step by step

 

 

When you earn it you will be deserving of it.

 

There will not be one event that alters your momentum enough that will “change your mind” about committing to your music career. The one event that thrusts you forward will only be a “game changer” if it’s met with the proper, prior preparation.Awareness Lottery MEME

 

That preparation will be the result of work which makes you deserving of the outcome.

 

Without the appropriate groundwork, the opportunity will be blown and result in tormenting frustration for the artist.

 

Have you ever had that happen?

 

Who did you blame for the outcome?

Awareness Blame Piano MEME Image

 

If you understand this concept, your perspective will change and you will become more patient. You will stop blaming the world, blaming your parents, blaming the industry, etc. and get down to the work of deserving more.

 

 

 

To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.

 

 

If you are not where you want to be right now it’s because you don’t deserve it yet.

 

 

That’s a simple fact that is always a jagged little pill to swallow.Awareness You Don't Deserve it MEME

 

The world is, in the light of the Universe, a fair place to live. As imperfect as it is, it’s more just that it has ever been in the past. People get rewarded when they are deserving of what they want.

 

I have friends who are incredibly successful and friends that are unsuccessful and I can tell you that my friends who are successful deserve it and my friends who are unsuccessful don’t.

 

 

 

 

What about wealth and abundance?

 

Why does Bill Gates have 60 Billion dollars and the rest of the world doesn’t. You may say that nobody deserves that much, and you may be right,

Awareness Bill Gates “Bill Gates in Poland cropped” by [1] (cropped)Pomme de terre - www.prezydent.pl. Licensed under GFDL 1

“Bill Gates in Poland cropped” by [1] (cropped)Pomme de terre – www.prezydent.pl. Licensed under GFDL 1

 

but he changed all our lives forever. He added immense value to the world. You may believe he doesn’t deserve 60 billion but he certainly deserves the respect for his accomplishments and he definitely deserves more than me and you. Did you know from the time he was 19 years old to 30 years old Bill Gates NEVER took a day off?

 

 

Are you that committed to your own career?

 

 

 

 

If you aren’t why on earth would you expect anyone else to be more committed to your success than you?

 

Why then, would you resign to waiting around until someone sees your potential and acts on it to make a decision to really believe in yourself and commit to your own project?

Awareness Toe in the Water License Sallm Fadhley

Photo: Sallm Fadhley
License: http://bit.ly/1jxQJMa

 

Do you see how that is a victim type strategy?

 

I hear artists say this all the time, “I’m going to just stick my toe in the water and see if I get a good reaction, if everybody freaks out enough for me I’ll jump in.” Or I hear, “I wrote and spent money recording these 3 songs, I’m going to wait until I make my money back on these 3 songs to determine if songwriting is a good career choice for me.”

 

This strategy feels smart because you don’t expend too much energy and money on what you probably honestly believe is a “pipe dream”. It certainly feels safer because you don’t have to be that vulnerable, do you?

 

Awareness Vulnerable Comedy Tragedy

 

If you make sure you’re not in a position to be too emotionally vulnerable, then you won’t be too upset if it doesn’t work out.

 

 

 

You don’t believe in yourself because nobody else does so it’s easy to blame the world for your lack of progress. You can’t succeed because the world doesn’t see you as amazing and therefore it’s not your fault, right?

Awareness Blame Image

 

 

 

You’re a victim of your own unsuccessful strategy simply because you are unaware of the vicious cycle you are caught up in.

Awareness Vicious Cycle image

 

I want y’all to win.

 

Life is about the journey which is what is happening right now, not the end result.

 

I want you to focus on the intangible skills like awareness, wisdom, patience, focus, execution, and experimentation.

 

 

 

When you come to the awareness that there is no failure in experimentation, you enter into a life perception that will breed success.

 

There is no failure in experimentation. When an experiment doesn’t work you learn what doesn’t work, you move forward.Awareness Experimentation image

 

You’ve added tremendous value to the answers you seek.

 

You’ve learned something, you’ve progressed, therefore NO FAILURE.

 

You eliminate a speed bump or a pot hole in the system.

 

When you view every challenge as a black or white outcome, that is to say success or failure, you lack the awareness of complexities and therefore you are much harder on yourself during the losses OR you get too cocky on the wins which results in a head trip.

We’ve all met that artist.

Ugh.

 

I want you to read this excerpt from a letter written by a prisoner sentenced to life without parole in Sing Sing Maximum Security Correctional Awareness Will Durant QuoteFacility. This came from a book written by Will Durant entitled On the Meaning of Life, which was a compilation of responses to letters he sent out asking about the meaning of life.

 

Read this carefully and let it sink in.

 

 

I do not know to what great end Destiny leads us, nor do I care very much. Long before that end, I shall have played my part, spoken my lines, and passed on. How I play that part is all that concerns me.

In the knowledge that I am an inalienable part of this wonderful, upward movement called life, and that nothing, neither pestilence, nor physical affliction, nor depression, nor prison, can take away from me my part, lies my consolation, my inspiration, and my treasure.

                                                                                                          Owen C. Middleton (convict 79206)

 

Here are the takeaways from this letter.

 

The most important line to me is “HOW, I play that part is all that concerns me.”Awareness Colin Powell Quote

 

Don’t focus on bad business deals (everybody has them), rejections (we all get them), health issues (most people have some kind of health issue), difficulty keeping the band together, difficulty getting gigs, difficulty getting the money you need to record (when you deserve it, the band, gigs, and money will come), difficulty marketing your music (all the knowledge you need is out there and a ton of it is free If you are aware of what to look for), and traumas (most people have some kind of remarkable personal trauma).

 

Instead, focus on the reality that you are in a competition with yourself. YOU must get better and you are the only one that make that happen. Be aware that you are an inalienable part of the upward movement called life and you aspire to make a dent in the artistic part of this upward movement.

 

Donald Rumsfeld was quoted as saying, “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

 

Awareness No Excuses Meme

 

Awareness is what is required to search for the unknown unknowns.

Awareness is key to being a student of the game.

 

Ideas won’t make you a great artist.

 

Supreme talent won’t make you a great artist.

 

Work, awareness, and endless experimentation is what will make you compelling, iconic, and contagious.

 

When you become aware of that, you will find fulfillment in your artistic endeavors and not for nothing, your bank account will reflect it.

Stay Mistake Twitter

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Music Critiques Despair Fire head image 600x315

Music critiques sting when they aren’t positive. For me, I always put a lot of weight on critiques, especially from respected music business people and even some not so respected failed musician turned journalist/critics.

 

You should put weight on critiques from your music business “elders”, but how much?Music Critiques Despair Head In Hands FEATURE image

 

Here’s the thing, just because they outrank you in a MAJOR way doesn’t mean they’re right or aware of your situation, your goals, or intentions. It doesn’t mean they foresee the future and all the planets that will align to propel you as an artist.

Just because they have massive power and a Godlike reputation doesn’t mean they are right about your song or sound. They are definitely unaware of your aims with that song, aren’t they?

 

Music Critiques Head in Sand Peter License

Photo: Peter
License: http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

Just because they say something that hurts doesn’t mean you should ignore them either, especially if you disregard their opinion simply because it is negative.

 

I get it, it’s a human reaction to get defensive, but let’s be productive and find the meaning or value, if any exists.

 

 

 

You have to process the information correctly and no matter what, there are going to be dots that have to be connected by YOU simply because you have all the information on your career trajectory after the criticism is rendered.Music Critiques Connect the Dots

 

If you are an artist on the cutting edge, with something real, something unique, something that isn’t derivative, then you should EXPECT that people won’t get what you’re doing. Trust me, you’ll be eating criticism for breakfast.

 

You have to understand the system, the market, what people’s motives are when deciding how deep you’re going to let those words cut.

 

You always have to consider the source.

Music Critiques Perspective MEME

 

What is their perspective?

 

 

 

For instance, if you asked a culinary icon who happens to be a vegan to evaluate your prized meatloaf dish should you be upset about a scathing review?Music Critiques Thumbs Down

 

Where is the reviewer coming from?

 

What, exactly, is your situation? What are you trying to accomplish? Are you an indie artist who just wants to find an audience or do you dream of being a major label international superstar?

 

The answers to these questions will dictate a multitude of different pragmatic strategies.

 

 

Therefore, if a critic crafts a scathing review based on how you music will never be mainstream, and your intention is to be underground, no Music Critiques Car Collageharm, no foul, right? Similar to a sports car critic evaluating a minivan and poo-pooing it because it won’t take 90 degree corners at 100 mph. Duh.

 

As an artist, looking back, I took a lot of reviews a little too seriously and unfortunately, that led to me ignoring all of them moving forward, which was a mistake.

 

The appropriate way to process the feedback from a review, good or bad, is to consider the source, apply the information to your circumstances, assess your situation OBJECTIVELY, and then file the review in the appropriate mental folder.

 

 

Huh?

 

Here is an example.

If you aspire to be a professional songwriter (as opposed to an artist) then you are beholden to the market trends. Period.

In other words, YOU HAVE TO STUDY THE MARKET.Music Critiques Study Owl

 

If you want to be professional, you will need to sell some songs, right?

If you want to make money you are going to have to sell what the market wants right now.

Nobody cares about a genius, avant-garde, gourmet hamburger stand in a vegan community. They don’t eat meat. You won’t make money regardless of how good the product is.

 

So if I apply some of the regular rants I hear from aspiring songwriters who don’t get it to our vegan community analogy, it would sound something like this, “Screw those guys man, I make the greatest burgers ever, I just have to find the right person who gets my burgers to help launch my brand.”

Music Critiques 1+1=2 Meme

 

 

How silly and completely detached from reality does that sound?

 

They’re barking up the wrong tree to begin with!

 

They have created the very roadblock that is getting them so upset.

 

 

If you want to sell your songs ASAP they better be written in the vein of what you hear on the radio right now, regardless of your opinion towards the current market trends.Music Critiques Barking Wrong Tree

 

If you want to be super artsy with your songs, and you are not a performer, than you will have to find a super artsy artist to bring those songs to life. You could change the world in that scenario because you have moved your hamburger stand OUT of the vegan community and into a more appropriate market.

 

With songwriters, often a combo platter is more accurate. I know TONS of professional hit songwriters who blow my mind with their talent. They are professional because they understand the art side of the business and the market. They write the crap you hear on the radio (and sometimes hate it) to keep relevant, keep their relationships up, oh, and to pay their mortgages. However, they also write their hearts as well, however, they understand that, right now, those songs are not going to be received as well from the major music market professionals simply because the pros can’t do anything with them at the moment.

 

Trends change.

 

Music Critiques Winter Ice Cream

 

I’ll bet Dairy Queen and Baskin-Robbins sell a lot more ice cream in the summer than they do in the winter in the northern part of America.

 

 

 

In country music, a real good example of this is with ballads at the moment. In the 1990’s the radio waves were full of balladeers like Collin Raye whose body of work was amazing, slow, rangy love songs. Today, for whatever reason, ballads are just not on the radio so song pluggers, Music Critiques Collin Rayepublishing companies, producers, record label execs, etc., don’t want to waste time listening to your ballad because they can’t sell it.

 

That doesn’t mean your song sucks.

 

It means they can’t use it, right now so they don’t waste their precious time.

 

Ballads will make a comeback, but not right now. So you process the information not as a rejection but understand that PARTICULAR song isn’t going to make anyone any money right now, even if it’s a knock-down-drag-out-HIT.

 

Get it?

 

When I was in high school, our bass player’s father was a killer mechanic for the big earth mover trucks and machines. Of course, like Spicoli’s dad from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he had the ultimate set of tools.

Music Critiques Spicoli H. Michael Karshis License

Photo: Michael Karshis
License: http://bit.ly/1ryPA8o

 

I remember our bass player bought a used Japanese car. When he proudly presented the car, his father gave the automobile a scathing review. His father hated it. Here’s the key, he didn’t hate it so much because it was a foreign car (although that was PART of the disdain). He mostly hated the car because it was built using metric nuts and bolts. Therefore he didn’t own 1 tool that could be used to help his son.

 

 

 

Make sense?

You may have a relationship with a professional who would like to help you but you keep buying foreign cars so their American tools are useless and they can’t help you.Music Critiques Help Me image

 

If you’re an artist who aspires to expand your brand and get a major label record deal, you need to understand the dynamic of today’s music industry to avoid putting too much weight to a rejection.

 

It used to be that a major label found a real talented artist, believed in them, signed them, developed them, and then released the first record to start their career.

 

That just doesn’t happen anymore.

 

So if your goal is to create a demo and shop that to get your deal, you are selling screen doors to a submarine manufacturer; bad plan.

 

Today, the review or rejection has as much to do with your music as it does with the business you’ve created behind the music.

If you are seriously viewed by the professionals as “the next big thing” based on your talent alone, the best you can hope for is they want to keepmusic Critiques Buzz an eye on you. They’re human, if they like you they don’t want anyone else to get you but they can’t really work with you and help you, using their system, until you create a serious buzz in the market place.

 

Some of you have probably experienced an advanced step of this dynamic. You actually got signed by a label, management, booking agency, producer, etc. because you’re good and they want to make sure they solidify their relationship in case you blow up. The reality is that these signings don’t mean squat in the market place. If you aren’t building your brand and increasing your market share you end up with a huge, untapped opportunity because you aren’t bringing enough to the table.

 

 

Consider the source, and intelligently separate the wheat from the chaff.

 

Here’s a real world example. The people surrounding the Allman Brothers Band developed my band when I was an artist. This gave us an immense amount of access to one of the most incredible, iconic rock bands of all time.Music Critiques Gregg Allman

 

I was sitting next to Gregg Allman in his hotel room one night and he was listening to our demo tape. Gregg had his hand wrapped around the back of my neck in a sort of choke hold, I imagine, to ensure he had my attention (how could he not?). He then proffered his (appropriate) critique and said we were “Too busy” especially during the verses. He said, “The band has to come DOWN!” as he SMACKED his two hands together, “during the verses, bra, we need to hear you sing! There ain’t enough space, man.”

 

Music Critiques Allman Brothers Live

 

He was right, you know, but all I was thinking about was this dude had a band with 52 inputs of drums alone and he’s calling us “busy”?

 

Well, there is a good example of how NOT to think. We were too “busy” on that recording. We eventually got it and took his advice, but if I had listened rather than bowing up right away, I might’ve got it a little sooner.

 

 

Listen to all the critiques.

Consider the source.

 

And do it better next time.

 

They’re just critiques.

 

Stay

In

Tune

Music Critiques Malcolm X Meme

 

Mistake Twitter

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

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Music Marketing Reason Feature

The music industry is SUFFERING because consumers don’t need more ways to connect with artists and purchase products, they need more reasons. Creating reasons consumers want to buy is what music marketing is all about.Music Marketing Bkstg Logo

Why does the music industry keep creating new WAYS for fans to purchase music/merch/tickets, etc.?

You’ve heard of “Murphy’s Law”? Well, Murphy completely underestimated the problem here.

 

A new startup called Bkstg just raised $20 million to create a new social network geared towards artists and music sales. Of course, fans and artists alike will have to adopt the new app, new platform, care about the artist and artist’s product, and there’s your proverbial trouble.

If a cool, easy to use distribution platform was all that was needed to sell more music, indie artists and Music Marketing Barrel Moneymajor label artists alike would be in high cotton selling like crazy on iTunes, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Bandzoogle, Reverbnation, CD Baby, blah, blah, blah. The trouble is when you put your music on any digital distribution platform nobody cares unless you make them aware that you are there and then make them care about YOU.

 

Get it?

Consumers need a reason.

 

A good reason makes the purchase worth it.

 

Your music has to be worth it to the consumer not just you, so if you’re thinking “my music is amazing and that’s why they will buy” you are seriously delusional.

Music Marketing WHY Ksayer1 License

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Your delusions, in my point here, have nothing to do with your music (although that is often part of the problem…but I digress as that issue is not germane to this article).

 

 

 

If we all understand the difference between music distribution (which is where consumers go to Music Marketing Distribution Equalspurchase) and music marketing (which is why consumers will purchase) then it should be obvious to y’all that a new distribution method is a waste of time.

 

There are many BIG investors behind this new Bkstg platform that frankly, seems to be reinventing the wheel.

 

 

 

This is where I see opportunity for all you indie artists.

 

Focus on the “why” right now. Focus on music marketing and marketing yourself.Music Marketing Magnifying WHY

 

 

Ask yourself, “What reasons do consumers have to purchase my music?”

 

 

 

What are your gifts?

Can you sing?

Can you play?

Can you write?

Can you rap?

Can you dance?

Music Marketing Gifts ElfAre you funny?

Are you a big personality?

Share these gifts with the world on social media.

Let them get to know YOU.

 

 

If you own the “why” it really won’t matter what the “where” is because real fans will find a way to get it…just like drugs, or Christmas, or Black Friday, or Valentine’s Day, etc.Music Marketing Why Collage

 

In plain English, any and all distributors (of the consumer’s preference) will be utilized to purchase music from an artist people are genuinely interested in.

 

 

The biggest reasons consumers will purchase anything from an indie artist these days is a relationship with the artist. Period.

 

 

If you’re not thinking about this then you are an idiot.

This is what new music marketing is all about, people.

 

Music Marketing 1 MIllion. Morgan Williams License

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Jason Aldean had lots of promotion, lots of radio spins, and barely sold 1 million units. This number along with almost all the other record sales scares the crap out of industry executives.

 

Aldean had the #1 selling country music record of 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor Swift had lots of promotion, lots of radio spins (albeit NO SPINS on country radio where all her previous releases were promoted) and a relationship with her fans via social media.

Music Marketing 7 Million Jana Zills License

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Taylor sold 7 million units.

Her fan’s reasons for purchasing the whole record vs a single were founded in the relationship they felt they had with Taylor.

 

 

So what are you doing with your music marketing?

What are you doing to create reasons for people to buy your music?

To expose people to your music?

 

Why do so many of you wait until you finish recording before you begin thinking about creating the relationships with your fans online?

Music Marketing Music Don't Talk MEME

This tactic suggests that the music will do the talking. The trouble is if consumers are not aware of you, if they are aware of you but are unfamiliar with you, or don’t like you, they won’t give the music a chance.

Get them interested in your talent, in you as an artist, and they will be curious to hear your music when you release it.

THEN the music will do the talking because the consumer will be open to receiving the communication you want to send. (At that point your music and recordings better be good!)

 

Get it?

Overlooking and under-funding the music marketing for your project is akin to choosing not to put oil in your car because you don’t have “the budget”.Music Marketing Junkyard

You wouldn’t be shocked when your engine freezes up without oil, why would you expect the world to purchase a product they aren’t aware of or familiar with?

 

Look, you’re not sure you know what you’re doing, I get it.

 

It’s foreign.

 

Get over it. FAST.

 

You must learn.

Music Marketing Bailey James MEMEWith Bailey James we have been marketing her on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook since January.

All this activity creating relationships with fans, getting them connected with her as an artist and her talent was consistently happening while we were still developing the project artistically.

 

As of now, we have created a decent fan base that now know her, are familiar with her (they regularly watch her YouTube videos), they interact with her on social media, and they adore her.

8 fan created Instagram accounts have been started so far.

Her EP is loosely scheduled for release mid-September.

 

Listen, YOU’RE the reason get it?

Music Marketing YOU MEME Gabe Austin License

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Don’t make the mistake of thinking the music is the reason.

 

In today’s indie online market, you come before the music.

 

The more “reasons” you can give, aka the more of yourself that you put out there, the more fans you will get, the more music, merch, and tix you will sell.

 

Get to work now on creating more reasons.

 

Focus inventively on why a consumer will buy your music, not where, and you’ll be one step ahead of the whole damn industry.

 

Stay

In

Tune

Music Marketing Laser  Find Your Audience

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PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

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