The Freelancer Mindset, Pt. 3
Of all the challenges that freelancers face, nothing matches in difficulty the everydayness of business ownership. It exists from the moment you wake up until the moment you collapse in exhaustion at the end of the day. It’s exhilarating, terrifying…..and constant. What keeps this relentless routine from taking undue toll on you is the management systems you put in place. Good planning...
Read MoreThe Freelancer Mindset, Pt. 2
If you’re going to be on your own, you won’t have a boss setting agendas and assigning projects. You will be the chart-setter. You will be the time organizer. You will be the gig-creator. This means planning, and planning means first setting goals. Some people absolutely love this part of freelancing. They’re planners at heart. They enjoy describing themselves as...
Read MoreThe Freelancer Mindset, Pt. 1
In a sense, we are all freelancers today. Whether you live week to week on short term projects, or work as a minion in a corporate department, the challenge is to manage your projects like an expert juggler and nurture your relationships like Dr. Phil. It is this continuous and creative orchestration of work and relationships which helps us thrive, and allows us to contribute our own special...
Read MoreFinding Your ‘Adjacent Possible’
Forging creative alliances is key to building a multi-dimensional music career. Teaming up can multiply your efforts and move your career in an upward trajectory. Traditionally, musicians joined with “professional” teammates like management companies, high-level booking agents and established record labels. This still goes on, but in the DIY era we’re increasingly seeing artists and...
Read MoreWhat’s Your Hook?
Imagine for a moment you’re attending a music conference and you meet several individuals for the first time. Each one tells you what he or she does as follows: Person A: “I’ve started a business offering private music instruction, selling guitars, and repairing amplifiers.” Person B: “I do a variety of things: notation, sound design, performing and some music therapy, when time...
Read MoreSmart Tip for Hooking Media Interest
Media coverage remains one of the best ways to get your signal through all the noise out there. As we daily battle with “data smog”, people are finding themselves gravitating to reliable media sources for news, for information, and for point of view. So media in all its forms remains a valuable channel for exposure and promotion. Today there are more media than ever before and they all need...
Read MoreMusician – Act Like a Business?
We’ve heard it before. A musician must “act like a business” or risk an impoverished existence. I appreciate the thought: Without ceaseless attention to things like planning, budgeting, organizing and marketing a music career will more often careen off course, and be thrown onto the rocks of good intentions. Granted. But “act like a business?” Why aim so low? The metaphors we live by...
Read MoreInch Wide, Mile Deep
In study after study of successful individuals, one trait found to be common among them is this: they were all highly focused. At some point along the way, they had each realized that they had to make a commitment to one business idea. And, in fact, many of them had to make difficult choices and let go of some possibilities that seemed appealing. People don’t focus for a number of reasons:...
Read MoreHow Artists are Standing Out Today
Last week I was a keynote speaker at the Musik & Talang (Music & Talent) conference in Vasa, Finland. Besides the great times romping around the city watching live music and swapping NY stories with fellow-keynoter and all-round fun gal, Ariel Hyatt, I endeavored to inspire my audience with examples of artists who are cutting tributaries off the mainstream. Here is what I shared on some...
Read MoreHow Do You Make $$$ From Music?
In case you haven’t heard about this, the Future of Music Coalition (FMC), in collaboration with The American Federation of Musicians (AFM), is conducting an unprecedented , large-scale survey on U.S. musicians’ income. The criteria of the population they’re studying is listed on the site and is not limited to union musicians: Musician or Composer US citizen or...
Read MoreContext and Career Opportunity
Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection. Our e-mail, voice mail, and cell phones, our twenty-four hour trading markets, instant around the clock ATM and online banking services, all night e-commerce and research services, 24/7/365 television news and entertainment, twenty-four hour food services, pharmaceutical services, and maintenance services, all...
Read MoreMusic Career Resilience
Especially in the early stages, a career musician must wear a number of hats. You might be a Performer-Writer-Teacher, or an Arranger-Mixer-Editor, or, more likely, a Singer-AdminAssistant-Barista or Producer-Babysitter-Sales Associate. That’s appropriate; all of us have done it. Some have called the current times we’re living in the “Age of Ambiguity,” an era of “boundaryless...
Read MoreThe Relationship Barometer
Recently, someone asked me, “Is there anything an aspiring musician should try to get out of the way before even thinking about making a career in music?” Lots of things came to mind: not having a plan, not perfecting one’s craft, not being business-savvy, etc. You know the list. However, if I had to pick just one obstacle that short-circuits music careers more than anything else is...
Read MoreThe Intentional Musician
While the music industrial complex gets knocked about by technochanges, and slogs through the inevitable phases of late capitalism, the musician, that is, the music “tradesman” can take a more intentional path. Musicians aren’t bound to follow industry trends – they needn’t be shills enslaved to corporate imperatives wreaking havoc with human values and moderate goals. Nor are...
Read MoreWhy Am I Not Famous Yet?
First, let’s dispel of some myths. Musicians sometimes fall victim to the notion they are doing something so precious and valuable that they can’t understand why the world isn’t shoving money in their pockets and adulation on their heads. “Why am I not famous yet?”– a question rarely asked out loud but certainly poking around inside many musicians – especially those aspiring to the...
Read MoreKey Points of Contact in the Job Search
During the writing of Career Management for the Creative Person, author Lee Silber surveyed hundreds of people working in the creative arts. This is how the people he talked to found their positions: Networking Targeting companies directly Job postings Employment agencies and headhunters Job fairs As I wrote in a previous Music Career Juice post: 70% of open positions never get posted 80% of...
Read MoreFailing to Succeed
Last week, on Father’s Day, my daughter, her friend, her friend’s father and I took a trip to the Crane Estate above the bluffs of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Richard T. Crane’s property (also known as Castle Hill) came to exemplify the American Country Place Era with its farm and estate buildings, fashioned grounds and gardens, and diverse natural areas. During the Great Depression Crane did a...
Read MoreThe Long Wait of “Artistic” Careers
Artists tend to be slow starters but good finishers if they take the long view and stick to their knitting. A musician confident in her skills, creativity, contact network and personal drive might sometimes wonder, “Why am I not yet famous?” All the pieces seem to be in place, but fame still eludes. Even if “fame” be defined as “simply supporting my life and paying my bills solely...
Read MoreChopin’s Niche
Audiences had one complaint about Frederic Chopin: He was too quiet. His piano playing failed to fill a concert hall, and his restrained compositions got lost in big spaces. Of course, low volume was all of piece with Chopin’s personality. In an era dominated by such over-large composers as Liszt and Berlioz, Chopin stood out for his restraint. He lacked the ego to organize massive,...
Read MorePenetrating The “Hidden Job Market”
If you’re on the job search, you’ve probably encountered this phrase: the hidden job market. Oooo…sounds pretty mysterious, huh? Sort of like an impenetrable curtain only the select few can get behind. Are you feeling left out of this secret land? First, let’s demystify the hidden job market; then look at some practical strategies for conquering it. The hidden job market is all the...
Read MoreHow Do You Get the Interview? Create Resonance.
In my eighteen years as a hiring manager, I have probably reviewed several hundred cover letters and resumes while hiring people for various positions. I don’t have that much to say about the resume. I see the resume as a basic ‘catalog’ of your experience and achievements. Formats and styles vary, and there will be certain emphases and orderings of content depending on the...
Read MoreCareer Notebooking: Staying Curious & Recording Ideas
Information and ideas come at us fast and furious. So it’s smart to jot down ideas and insights when they pop up. Book them before they flee. Leonardo da Vinci is one of history’s most famous note takers. His notebooks overflowed with observations on nature, art, and architecture. Thomas Edison loaded thousands of notebooks with insights and diagrams. Create your own Career Notebook to...
Read More5 Essentials of Music Career Success
Music is too big a world for a one-size-fits-all model of music career success. Musicians’ career paths are as unique as their individual fingerprints. Nevertheless, there are a few guidelines that I believe apply to anyone trying to make a living career out of their love of music. Here are five: 1. Hone your talent and realize there is a place for you. Not everyone is a Quincy Jones, a...
Read MoreMusic Careers Today: Up, Down, In Between
Here’s an article based on a recent interview with American Songwriter magazine. It addresses music career opportunities in a transforming business. Hope you enjoy it.
Read MoreShy Self-Promoters
“Self promotion” isn’t something we were encouraged to pursue. Even today we tell children, “Don’t talk about yourself; people won’t like you.” Or maybe you’ve heard: “Don’t put yourself out front; you’ll show up your little brother;” and, “People don’t like show-offs.” Subtle but powerful messages. And then there’s “networking”. Do you get that hollow...
Read MoreCreation Drain
Someone once said, unlike the insect world, humans begin as butterflies but end up in cocoons. Ouch. Author Skip Ross describes the problem in his book, Say Yes to Your Potential: “A survey was done to discover the creative level of individuals at various ages. After all the testing, the statistics indicated that 2 percent of men and women who were in their forties were highly creative. As they...
Read MoreAn Interviewing Blind Spot
“The worst assumption you can make is that your interviewer already knows everything about your major. In fact, it’s possible that not only is your interviewer not familiar with your major, but he or she may even harbor some negative or inaccurate views of it. So you need to become a star salesperson for your major and college degree.” (You Majored in What? By Katharine Brooks) This is...
Read MoreCareer Serendipity
Serendipity often plays a role in our unfolding careers. Just think about the “hinge” moments, significant events and unexpected encounters that set you along the path that brought you to where you are today. In one study of university graduates almost 70 percent reported that their careers were significantly influenced by unplanned event – in other words, the ‘butterfly...
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