June 28, 2011 What are you waiting for?
It’s a question that I’ve asked myself my whole life.
I nervously mumbled it before I signed up to play pee wee soccer. I asked it (in my tough guy voice) when my friends started talking about forming a rock band in the eighth grade. And today I’m still asking the same question. What am I waiting for? As a musician, you live in a hurry up and wait world. You hurry up to travel to a gig and then you wait three hours to hit the stage. You hurry up and make contact with a booking agent and then you wait 3 months for them to get back to you. If you’re lucky, you hurry up and record and then you wait for your label to release it six months later. Plain and simple, it sucks! One of the main reasons why artists don’t have success is that they wait on others to do what only they can do.
Completely relying on others is a huge mistake!
Your manager or producer probably doesn’t wake up thinking about how to make you successful in the morning. They wake up thinking about how to make themselves successful and that may or may not include you. No matter what level you get to, you have to be the one driving your career. I understand that you can’t do everything and you shouldn’t do everything yourself, but you should be the one in the driver’s seat.
Here is what every artist should be doing!
Recently, Phil Vassar got on the phones and called radio station music directors all over the nation and he personally talked to them about his new upcoming single. How awesome is that? Every country radio music director gets the thrill of a lifetime by having Phil Vassar call and ask for them personally and chat for a few minutes. Phil gets a lot more plays on his new single and a lot more support from those core stations. Sounds like somewhere along the way Phil learned that if it was going to happen, then he was going to have to do it. You may not be able to call radio stations, but you can call venues and you can make sure that your fans know that they are your priority. (Ever thought of sending out thank you cards to fans?)
Drive your career.
Always be brainstorming on how you can market yourself better. Are you communicating your vision to your team? (booking agents, managers, label, etc.) What if you’re not getting their best because there isn’t any vision? If you don’t set the vision, who will?
No vision equals no success! So, what exactly are you and I waiting for?
The Road to Success tagged music career, success
Reader Comments (6)
Here's to taking the bull by the horns. My new single Yoga Girl is available on iTunes and can be listened to for free at http://soundcloud.com/metapunk/yoga-girl
Let's see how long this comment stays on this blog.
Great article. Thanks for the article I had a good laugh remembering all the hurry up and waits I've experienced in the music business.
Totally agree - "No matter what level you get to, you have to be the one driving your career". That is so important.
That's why its best if you form a business around your band and be the one in control. See my article on Bands and Business in Music Think Tank titled: "Why the Confusion? It Has Always Been About the Business" from June 27, 2011.
Glad to see you are enjoying your journey!!
You can call the radio stations, actually. Not all of them appreciate it but you soon find out.
For the USA get a hold of a Bacon's Directory ($650) Radio/TV/Cable which has most of the radio stations listed, plus genres and quite often staff, including programme director. Ring up and ask when they accept calls from record companies. You can also see how big the station is and what network they might be part of. When you call find out if you have a hope in hell of them listening and if it's yes, promise to call back to see what they thought.
For the UK, I think the Radio Times still prints the names of show producers, if not ring the BBC and ask - there aren't many. You can then, politely and sensibly ring them up to see if they might be programming your track.
Both are an incredibly long shot, but well worth it, particularly in the States where positive audience feedback on a track at some stations can get it played again.
So, in this case, the answer is: 'I'm waiting for $650 dollars'
'm waiting for money to pay for legal advice to run my music company.
I am a solo musician in Argentina, and then ask me "What are you waiting for grab your guitar and make music?" I respond to this, everything who needed to pay for protect my music and my legal entity form and then, live off my music.
From the beginning it takes money. The project investment programs listed on the internet for new artist, not serve to my because I am Argentinian.
I can expect?
Thanks for reading and thanks for posting helpful info guys.
Don I will be sure to check out your article.
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