Take this very short music industry pop quiz:
True/false: To get the same opportunities you want in the music biz you must make it past massive levels of competition.
True/false: To make it in music, you need to overcome endless competition.
Both of these statements are completely false!
The music business really isn’t filled with tons of competition. Music companies are in dire need of new musicians to offer great contracts to, but have a hard time finding such musicians. You read that right.
The most successful musicians do not even consider the idea of competition. They spend their time becoming the right musician that music companies are searching for. This is the one thing that sets them apart from everyone else and helps them get the music industry opportunities that no one else gets.
So what makes someone the right type of person to get the most opportunities in the music industry? Specifically, what must you do to become this kind of musician? Fill out this short free music business assessment to find out.
Why Fearing Music Business Competition Sabotages Your Music Career
Reality: The majority of musicians sabotage their music careers before they even have the chance to succeed. They incorrectly think that they are fighting an uphill battle against tons of competition. They end up giving up on their music careers early, because they think they don’t stand a chance against everyone else.
Competition? Where Is The Competition?
Beating competition in the music business is actually very easy to do. You simply have to remove all fear from your mindset. This becomes much easier once you know who your competitors really are.
Most musicians have bad attitudes, mindsets and habits that make success totally impossible for them. These things include:
1. Being Afraid To Fail. A lot of musicians are afraid of what will happen if they try to get into the music business and it doesn’t work out. They fear they will not earn enough money through music alone. They fear that they might look like a failure, be too old, not have enough talent, not get enough opportunities in their local area and other things.
They focus all their time and energy on not failing rather than succeeding. They become paralyzed in their music careers or form backup plans that take them further away from music.
2. Being Afraid Of Success (Yes, That’s Right). The kinds of musicians who fear success, ruin things for themselves just as they reach the brink of a big. They worry about these things:
-Negative thoughts others will have of them when they become successful.
-If they are even worthy of big success.
-If they will be able to sustain success after they reach it.
This fear keeps many musicians with tons of potential from ever achieving their goals.
3. Not Enough Passion And Desire. Countless musicians believe they want to be successful, but just don’t want it enough. The majority of musicians simply don’t take enough initiative to become successful. They wait for success to come to them. Others resort to accepting the life of a starving artist, hoping success will come from their struggles.
Music companies know whether your desire for success is true. They observe both your intentions and your actions. Hint: wanting success really bad doesn’t mean you have to struggle for a long time before you make it.
4. Procrastination. A lot of musicians have complaints about not knowing which things to do in order to become successful. Reality is, it’s not too difficult to figure this out. What’s much harder is actually getting yourself to do the right things to succeed.
Here’s a common example: a lot of musicians will tell you that a music career mentor would rapidly grow their careers. That said, only a fraction of musicians pursue mentoring. Instead they say: “I don’t have the money for it” or “I don’t have time” or “I’m not ready for mentoring right now” or “I’ll try it in the future”.
These are all rationalizations to justify procrastination. We all make time and have money that which is important to us. However, it’s a lot easier to make excuses than to work hard and become successful.
5. Not Being Committed. If you want to achieve big goals, you must be committed. So many musicians lose sight of their goals when faced with challenges and difficulty. Their commitment eventually fades and they quit taking action.
99.7% of musicians have or do at least some of these types of things. These character traits quickly remove them from the pool of musicians who get opportunities in them music business.
Your Key To Music Industry Success
Want to put yourself in the small percentage of extremely successful musicians in the world? Do this: fix the basic issues that ruin music career success. This puts you way ahead of the majority of musicians.
How to end self-sabotage in your music career and prepare yourself for success in the music business:
1. Start choosing the things that matter most. You need to choose to take action on things that move your career ahead. Find out what you need to do to become successful. Then dedicate yourself to taking frequent action on what you learn.
Understand the difference between an expense and an investment. An expense removes money from your pocket and costs time/resources. This money never comes back. Paying rent, buying food or paying your phone bill are examples of expenses. Spending time on Facebook, playing games or watching TV are also examples of expenses.
An investment is something you invest your money (or time) into in order to get long-term value on the back end. Investing time to learn how the music business works, getting music career coaching, and joining a music industry mastermind group are all examples of making investments into your music career.
You must try to eliminate expenses and increase the amount of investments you make.
2. Replace any time you say “I should” with “I will”. For example: “I should invest more into my music career” becomes “I will invest more into my music career”. “I should stop procrastinating on reaching my goals” becomes “I will stop procrastinating on reaching my goals”. Saying “should” gives you way out of taking action. This mindset lacks the urgency needed to take action and succeed.
3. Pro musicians who become successful have more urgency than most people. They say “I WILL invest more time and energy into my music career”, “I WILL stop procrastinating” and “I WILL learn more about the music industry.” This kind of mindset refuses to accept failure. It gives you unstoppable motivation to do whatever it takes to achieve your musical goals.
These basic changes in attitude make it easy to beat your competitors and become a successful professional musician.
Are you on the right track to a successful career in music? Fill out this short free music business assessment to find out.
About The Author:
Tom Hess is a music career mentor, touring musician and guitarist. He teaches online guitar lessons to musicians all over the world and mentors musicians on how to build a successful music career. Visit his website for music instruction to get many free musician resources to help you start a career in music and learn about the music industry.