Tag Archive for: How Do I Get A Cut

Responsible Feature MEME 2

 

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

Responsible Ton of Bricks

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

 

 

 

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

 

Responsible Self Aware MEME

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible Worth a damn MEME

 

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

 

 

What kind of responsible is this person?

 

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

 

Responsible Craft Our Reality MEME 2

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

Responsible 3 Kinds of Responsible Monkeys

There are 3 kinds of responsible.

 

 

 

Responsible Responsible

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

Responsible Irresponsible Party Girl

 

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

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible Cookie Cutter MEME

 

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

 

 

 

Can you guess what the third kind of responsible is?

 

NON-responsible is #3.

 

Wha?

 

Yes, non-responsible.Responsible Non-Responsible

 

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

 

 

Whoa!

 

Who did you just think of?

 

Non-responsible have an excuse for everything.

 

Responsible Marine Corps Logo

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

 

 

 

 

 

I would have conversations with my dad like this,

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible Drill Sergeant

 

 

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

 

Me: “No.”

 

 

 

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

 

Responsible Excuses MEME

 

 

Me: “I’m gonna mow the lawn, Dad.”

 

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

 

Get it?

 

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

 

They don’t feel heard.

 

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

 

Responsible Shark Tank MEME

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

Does that make sense?

 

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

 

Responsible Can't Recognize A Good Demo

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible DDHS

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible Communication MEME

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Responsible artist 2 MEME

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Responsible Artist Guitar MEME

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

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Relationships Feature MEME

 

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

 

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

 

 

Have you been there?

 

Why does that happen?

 

Answer: Nonverbal communication.

 

Relationships Cave Man

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships Cat MEME

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

 

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

 

See how important it is?

 

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

 

Relationships Upset Man MEME

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

We all have vastly different emotional experiences.

 

Plain English: You’re always being judged.

 

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

 

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

 

Why should you care?

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships Introvert MEME

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships Big Personality

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is quite empowering.

 

Relationships Schmoozing

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

Statistically, introverts are better at creating more meaningful relationships.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships Social Media

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships John Kern

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

Relationships Patience Reich

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

 

 

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

 

Relationships Orleans Album Cover

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

 

 

 

 

 

Get it?

 

Relationships Bad Band Photo

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

Relationships Band Band Photo 2

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

 

 

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

 

Answer:  Engagement.

 

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

 

Hardly any artists do it.

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

You must be vulnerable first.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Or didn’t up until now.

 

Relationships I Want You To Win

 

 

I want you to win.

 

 

 

 

Stay

 

In

 

Tune

 

 

 

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