December 11, 2012 The MusicPreneur - Dawn of The Artist/Entrepreneur
That time in the evolution of history that we’ve been dreaming about as artists and creative professionals, is. now.
For every sentiment echoed since the birth of civilization that a creative thinker or music maker have ever uttered that went like.. ONE day the MACHINE, the system, the big-guy, the boss, the “THEM” will pay!
For the rest of our foreseeable future a new music industry HAS finally emerged.
It’s evolution and opportunities are now readily apparent and self-evident to those that see with any degree of depth.
Yet, in most cases the psychology across the vast majority of independent artists and creative professionals remains unfocused and primitive.
The New Music Industry Mindset = You are both an Artist, AND an Entrepreneur. You are a MusicPreneur.
Those who fail to embrace this mentality will inevitably play for peanuts, and whine about how Amanda Palmer didn’t Pay them THEIR fair share.
It’s apparent that there are certain skills one has no choice but to embrace to survive in today’s music business.
Yet embracing these elements with nothing more than a basic grasp, does nothing for you. We need to stop DABBLING… You might as well just do music as a hobby. Because that’s how you are treating it.
…and there is nothing wrong with that!
But seriously, every business person I’ve studied, and every successful person I know, BUSTS THEIR BUTT! They don’t make excuses, they innovate and they market their innovations.
That’s the only two things that drive a business, everything else is just an expense.
They are forward thinking, strategic in what they learn, IMMERSE themselves into their projects, and then when they receive the rewards, they aren’t surprised.
They are quietly and humbly proud, but they know that they have EARNED IT.
I encourage you to study business and marketing ad-naseum…
I encourage you to WORK when you don’t FEEL like it.
When you get there, you will understand why.
The whole world and the New Music Industry is WIDE OPEN with possibilities, waiting for you to embrace it and contribute something AMAZING!
Don’t get stuck in any mentality of distinguishing yourself by saying something like… “Well, i’m me, isn’t that good enough?”
No. It’s Not.
Sorry.
MusicPreneurs realize that they are worth the VALUE they are able to provide in or to peoples lives.
This is what a MusicPreneur does.
They embrace BOTH sides of their Music. Business. and they creatively utilize their brain in BOTH areas to create opportunity and spread their message.
A MusicPreneur is ANYONE who is in the music industry in the modern world.
This means both Industry Side, AND Artist Side.
It is the 21st century.
The MusicPreneur.
It is the best time ever to be a music maker.
You don’t need to rely on anyone else.
You cannot expect anything from anyone or think that anyone OWES you anything.
You have to provide value.
We are now experiencing the very real shift of actually leaving one WHOLE world of how the music business used to be, and are almost completely setup in a new town with new rules and about as many opportunities as anyone can imagine.
We are Content CREATORS in The Modern World, the new gold rush, is literally upon us, but just like a hundred years ago, you gotta dig, you gotta know what you are doing, and you have to do the work.
Although it can seem like a bunch of people running around with pitchforks and shovels that they don’t know how to use, while the only people actually walking home with cash in their pockets are the ones selling shovels…
YOUR CREATIVITY is the DRIVER. Nobody wants it more than you do. No one else can do the work… BUT we are in The Dawn of the Artist and Entrepreneur, and as more and more savvy artists, songwriters, and musicians start to include their marketing and promotional strategies as a PART of the expression of their message, their story, their music, we are going to see more and more MusicPreneurs striking gold and illuminating all that lurks JUST under the surface…
Be Brilliant,
Jamie
P.S. And for god’s sake, if you haven’t signed up yet, it’s free AND you become a PART OF THE CLUB, girls like you more and money pops out of your printer, so go and DO IT ALREADY! 
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Reader Comments (3)
Love this. Inspiring.
Entrepen-Artist is the term we came up with several years ago here in San Francisco. The dawn actually started in 1999 with MP3.com and CD Baby allowing artists to sell their own music without the confines of no record label contract. Those bands with Entrepreneurial mindsets took advantage of the technology and furthered their careers.
It's Not a new concept, and I'm excited that Jamie has written this article.
It's what we teach our clients here at Independent Distribution Collective.
The music business is a business and each band/artist is their own startup company.
It's no surprise that much of the technology to help these "startup companies/Entrepren-Artists/Musicpreneurs" has come from the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston-Cambridge; Two areas of the country that breed innovation.
Since 1997/98 when Internet Music technology for indie artists became avaiable (thanks to MP3), Entrepren-Artists/Musicpreneurs have been the new paradigm in the business of music and have been scaring the hell out of the RIAA.
Thank you for writing this article to spread the idea and I really hope that emerging artists will see themselves as entrepreneurs.
Kurt Andrew, mba
Founder of chameleon Music and IDCDigital
San Francisco
www.independentdstro.com
www.pbjamm.org
If music is your passion, then live it! A cousin of mine is a musicpreneur. He lived his passion for 10 years before he became successful, and he has become very successful, but because he loved it, it didn't feel like work