The music business isn’t. No one is plotting against you.
It’s just that the broader music ecosystem might not need your thing right now.
You can wait for the ecosystem to bend toward what you’re doing. You can change what you’re doing to try and fit the system. You can quit all together. Or you can simply keep making.
But it’s not about winning or losing or having something rigged for or against you. It’s about playing the game you want to play.
What are you going to do when you get there?
We fight and scratch and show up early and stay up late to get to this mythical place…the top.
Lets say The Top really exists.
What we do when we get to the top has everything to do with who we are when we get there.
And who we are when we get there has everything to do with our trajectory today.
or group meet up
or thoughtful discussion board
or Kickstarter campaign
or WhatsApp community
or skills class
or county fair
there’s a lot of other people thinking that thing just isn’t that big of a deal.
And of course, both sides are right.
But it helps to realize that while you can’t be the expert, top contributor, cheerleader, participant in every niche…it’s worth it to find a few things to make a big deal out of, even though most other people don’t.
It would be cool if there were a podcast where artists call in with the problems they’re having in their live show and the host helps them.
The only problem is there wouldn’t be any callers.
Most artists don’t think their shows have problems. And if they do, that the problem is the audience.
Making a better show first requires you to admit that you have the power to make it better…to admit that it’s currently not as good as it could be…to admit that there are problems.
Seeing the problems is a gift.
If things go extraordinarily well, you will have a window of exceptional success…not a lifetime of constant higher highs, but a period where things really clicked.
You won’t be able to see the window until it has already opened and closed because it pays to think you’re still in it longer than you actually are. But after you’ve realized and accepted the gift of the window, it provides insight into what to do next and why you’re doing it.