Wednesday
Mar242021
March 24, 2021 5 things to help you keep going as a musician
If you want to stay encouraged and motivated as a musician, I have five resources to share with you.
Check them out below…
Entries in Realizing Your Goals (20)
March 24, 2021 Wednesday
Jul222015
July 22, 2015 The Art of DJing | Getting Into The Hobby
For many musicians music is a way of life, but for aspiring DJs music can be more than just that: Music is an obsession.
in Realizing Your Goals tagged DJing, hobby
Realizing Your Goals tagged DJing, hobby Monday
Aug122013
August 12, 2013 Setting S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Your Music Career
This is a chapter from my book The Independent Musician’s Survival Guide. You can see more chapters here.
So now you know that it’s possible to make money from your music career, and you also know you should take things one step at a time. But before you go out and start trying to earn money from your career, it’s important you take time to set goals for what you want to achieve.
While it’s easy to say, “I want to get a lot more fans” you have to ask yourself, how is saying this actually going to help you achieve your goal? It’s a non-specific “want,” rather then a well thought out business plan.
in Musician, Realizing Your Goals tagged setting goals
Musician, Realizing Your Goals tagged setting goals Tuesday
Feb052013
February 5, 2013 10 Questions Artists Should Ask Themselves at the Beginning of Their Careers (To Increase their Chances of Success)
Every young artist has their reasons for working hard at their music, yet so rarely do they ever define these reasons to themselves, bandmates, and their team. Some reflective thinking and sharing could lead to a great deal of clarity when running your business (well, band). I’ve seen success get in the way of an artist’s core values and goals too many times. Sure, goals are allowed to change and augment, as circumstances do, but too often do great goals get lost, and that bands fold on the brink of their success, and abandon everything they have worked so hard for. Thinking about these questions and sharing the answers with your team might be hard, but it could help bring you back to what’s important OR save you from wasting your time with the wrong team, and pursuing your career aimlessly in different directions that will never connect.
Tuesday
Jan152013
January 15, 2013 There is No Magic Formula For Success
The urge to believe there is a magic formula for success, and that it can be deduced from studying past hits, is powerful. Strategic Communications Group CEO Mark Hausman believes he has distilled The 3 Hallmarks of Exceptional Content. Columnist Marcel Williams is convinced he knows The Essential Features of a Hit Record. Using the so-called Nickels Paradox, we show the fallacy of such beliefs, how correlation with the past seldom predicts future success.
Tuesday
Jul312012
July 31, 2012 4 Steps to Convert Goals into Results
It’s not about the goal, it’s about the work you do in its honor. Cut yourself some slack. It’s hard to determine exactly how long it will take to achieve something. The goals you create are your game. You can change the rules, as long as you are still in the game.
Friday
Dec302011
December 30, 2011 Goal Setting Workshop For 2012
Many people start thinking about their goals on New Year’s Day, many start thinking about this 3 months ahead and start gearing up for it and preparing to have it. This is the best time to start, it helps you think ahead, gives you more time to prepare and gives you extra time to think about strategy. 2012 is a few days away but of course it isnt too late to start thinking about what you want for the year!
Thursday
May052011
May 5, 2011 5 Easy Steps To Making Your Dreams Come True
Humans have the amazing gift of dreaming. It allows us to imagine things that are absolutely crazy, and completely out of our reach. Like flying, staying hours under water – or world domination. That’s what we do. Ambition is a great source of energy. Being able to dream big will give you guts and make smaller dreams feel much more attainable. Ambition will make you creative and more resourceful. Dreams are only dreams until you write them down. Then they become your goals. – Anonymous The difference between a dream and a goal is just a question of attitude. Dreams are by definition something that’s out of reach. A goal is something that you plan and work towards. If you start treating your dreams as your goals, then you have already taken the first step towards making them come true.
Wednesday
Jan052011
January 5, 2011 A Musician's Guide To Setting And Achieving Goals For 2011
It’s a new year and a clear slate is in front of all of us. The turning of the calendar from 2010 to 2011 is an ideal time to set your goals. I see a marked difference between artists who set finite goals and those who do not.
Many of you may have seen a previous version of this article (or another one) on setting goals as they crop up at this time of year.
Ask yourself: Is this the year I want to make a difference for my musical career? And if so – what difference and how?
Think of goal setting as if you were driving in a foreign place - You wouldn’t get where you expect to go without a clear set of directions.
Goal setting is like drawing a map for yourself.
Tuesday
Nov022010
November 2, 2010 An Argument Against Fan Funding
Anyone can make a record for next to nothing these days. Almost any other hobby is more expensive: photography, mountain biking, even video gaming. When a teenager singing into a webcam gets exponentially more views on YouTube than your latest “professional” video, the answer isn’t more money.
You’re just not there yet. (hey, don’t feel bad - I’m not either) Tracking at Abbey Road Studios won’t get you there. Hiring T-Bone Burnett to mix your album won’t get you there. A full-day mastering session with Bob Ludwig won’t get you there. 10,000 pressed CDs with 18-page inserts won’t get you there. A $5,000 promotion budget won’t get you there either. No matter how much money you throw at your project, we’re all limited by a stubborn principle called free market pricing. People are only willing to pay what a product is worth to them, not what it costs to produce. The intrinsic value of music is in free fall, and people won’t pay for it if they’re just not that into you. So why are musicians flocking to fan funding (also known as “crowdfunding”) sites like Kickstarter, Sellaband, Slicethepie, PledgeMusic, and artistShare in droves? My guess is that they figure “why not give it a shot”? Well, I’ll tell you why not, and offer a better option.Thursday
Oct072010
October 7, 2010 20 Alternative Ways To Create A Sustainable Career In Music
The idea that any emerging artist can become the next multi-platnum recording artist is null and void. Save for very rare instances, there is just not the level of demand in music that creates the necessary environment for a superstar to develop, and those who do break through at that level either had the connections or the marketing team that was smart enough to mold the musician to look and sound exactly how the labels want them to. But this is nothing new.
As the DIY Musician movement strengthens, musicians are continually gaining more understanding as to how they can sustain a career in music without the need to sign to a record label and sell over 1 million copies. There is a seemingly limitless way for musicians to use their knowledge of any and all aspects of music to create a sustainable career doing what they love:
Music Licensing
Music licensing is a great opportunity for any aspiring musician to get paid for their recorded works to appear in TV and film. Helen Austin, a musician who has dedicated her career in music to licensing her works has put together a wonderful article on laying out the 4 Steps to Film and TV Placement.
Tuesday
Jun152010
June 15, 2010 After 15 years of practice...
Since 14, I was determined to be a great singer. But my pitch was bad, my tone was bad, and everyone said I was just not a singer.
At 17, I started taking voice lessons, and practicing two hours every night. I’d go into a soundproof room for two hours of long-tones, scales, arpeggios, and practicing specific song phrases over and over.
At 18, I started touring, doing two to four shows a week, always as the lead singer. Often they were outdoor shows, sometimes with no PA system at all, so I really had to learn how to project to be heard.
At 19, I was still practicing two hours a night, but still having a problem with pitch. People kept telling me I was just not a singer - that I should give it up, and find a real singer.
Then I heard a man giving a demonstration of Indian vocal music, and his pitch was so perfect, I went rushing up to him afterwards to ask how he did it.
I said, “How are you able to hit the notes so perfectly dead-on? Are you just natually good at this?”
He said, “No! When I first started singing, not only was I not within an inch of the note - I wasn’t within a football field of the note! I was horrible!”
“So how did you do it?”
He jabbed a finger in my chest, and looked me in the eye. “Practice. Thousands of hours of practice, and eventually I got it. I can show you how.”
Tuesday
May252010
May 25, 2010 How I became Ryuichi Sakamoto's guitarist
Enough people have asked how I became Ryuichi Sakamoto’s guitarist, so I thought I should write down the story, in case it’s useful to anyone.
In 1991 I was 22 years old, and had moved to New York City to be a professional musician. I had a little home studio, and was doing some random gigs around town.
My roommate, Hoover Li, was an assistant engineer at a huge recording studio in midtown. Ryuichi Sakamoto was there recording his new album (Heartbeat).
Ryuichi mentioned to Hoover that he was looking for a guitarist for his next tour of Japan. Manu Katché on drums, Victor Bailey on bass. But no guitarist chosen yet. OMFG!
Hoover said, “My roommate is a great guitarist.”
Monday
Dec282009
December 28, 2009 The case for online-only promotion
I promote to establish and nurture a genuine relationship with my fans. I measure my success by the number of subscribers to my mailing list. Notice I said mailing list, not Twitter followers or MySpace “friends.” I’m talking about the people who grant me permission through a double opt-in process to email them directly on a regular and consistent basis. Right now there are just over a thousand, but there are plenty more out there who might love my music if they heard it. So how do we reach those potential fans?
