That’s How Artists Make Money

By doing something or selling something that people want to pay money for.

Duh.

That’s how artists make money.

It’s so simple and easy to overlook.  You don’t get money merely as a by product of effort, heart, hope, passion, creativity, staying up all night, being on a three month tour, writing lots of songs.

The reason any artist is popular, successful and makes a career out of music is because they do something and sell something that people WANT to pay for.  That people jump at the chance to give their money for.

The size venues you play are an exact reflection of the number of people who want to come see you play.

The tv/film placements you get are an exact reflection of how may supervisors want to pay to use your music.

The number of streams, the number of t-shirt sales, the private events…

If you want to make more money, do something where more people respond in their brains with “Yeah, I’ll pay for that”.

So on the flip side, if you ain’t making any money as an artist, you’re not doing things that people are paying for.

 
p.s. There are two parts of the equation.  The thing you’re doing/selling…and the level of desire people have to pay for it.  

It could be you need to change the thing you’re doing… but it could be the “thing” is great and you need to increase the peoples’ desire via a greater overall number of people becoming aware, or stimulating an increased level for the people who are already aware of what you do/sell.



p.p.s.  I was reminded of all of this today while walking out of an office building for a startup business here in Nashville.  Although, its not so start up anymore as it’s one of the fastest growing businesses in town.

It was a nice office with nice floors, a cool kitchen, good computers, good technology.  They’re all just regular people like you and like me.  And the way they have been able to grow like they have is that they happen to provide goods and services that LOTS of people are clamoring to pay for. 



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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Hoarse On Stage

What if you pretty much lost your voice on stage, right as the band is getting through the intro of the song and the fans have their eyes on you waiting for that vocal to come shining through? 

Freaky.

But you’re already up there, the people are have paid for their ticket and they’re looking to you.

You’re voice has gone hoarse but you’ve gotta come through.

And you would. You would get creative with your communication, creative physically, creative interaction, creative with the audience and with the band.

Because in that moment you would NEED to do all of these things a lot more than usual.

What if you did those things anyway, while still having a healthy voice.

See, handing you a hoarse voice on stage finally stimulates the need.  But the need is there regardless.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

What A Penny Could Be Worth

Life on the road can be pretty blurry, literally and figuratively. The groundhogs day effect, the same ol’ same ol.

Here’s something that might be exciting and meaningful for you on the road.

After each show you give out a penny…to one person, in front of everyone on the road with you.

You say why that person is getting the penny that day. Maybe they had an exceptional performance, maybe they screwed up but recovered well, maybe they’re wearing some new awesome jeans, hit some great lighting cues, or made friends with the ugly nasty bar tender.  

The penny ceremony will go through some phases: it’ll start off a little strange but special, then get really special, then get cheesy, and then find its right place in life on the road.

But through all of these phases, the person who receives the penny, while they’re only one cent richer for the day, will absolutely feel valued and appreciated even if they play it off as no big deal.

A penny becomes worth a lot more than a penny.

Try it. What do you have to lose…It’s just a few pennies.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Getting That Manager

I remember first starting getting into the business, playing in bands, starting a band…longing for that manager, the Brian Epstein.

How is this mysterious miracle worker found.

I asked around. The consensus? You don’t find them, they find you.

I hated that answer so much.  Partially because, in life, I prefer and seek out control, and partially because I came to find out years later that that answer wasn’t necessarily true.

Here’s the truth…

You don’t need to wait for them to find you. 

The trick is coming to them as the wise owner of your career…and not as their potential, desperate employee. 

If you’re looking to be their employee, then yes, you have to wait for them.

If you go to them acting like the owner but actually deep down want to be their employee (hoping they’ll “work their magic” while you relax a little), they’ll be able to tell.  And that’s not exciting.

When you truly own your career, when you know what your product is and deliver it in a way that’s exciting and inspiring, go out and find and pursue whoever you want to manage it.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Best In Class

What are you best at?

This question is feels frustrating and limiting because you want to tell about ALL the things you can do well.  The hope is to somehow squeeze as many elements as possible into the answer…to diversify, to hedge risk, avoid perceived limitation.

But we all know you can do more than one thing.

That’s why we’re curious to know what you’re best at.  

And you should be curious about what you’re best at too.

Practically speaking, almost no one will ever ask you that question.

But if you know the answer, they’ll know the answer before they even think of the question.

Oh, if you’ve been reading on here for a while, go ahead and sign up on the right side of the page.

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

What Makes The Great Artists Great

I’ve had separate conversations with three very different people over the last two days about what makes the great artists great. Particularly in a live setting.

Although I’m not claiming to have cracked the code, I thought it interesting the two main ideas that came up quickly and strongly in each conversation.  And wanted to pass them along…

-The first is “know thyself” or “the inner work” or “personal and spiritual development”.  You get it.  The thinking, reading, listening, introspection, sorting through the voices, wrestling with “who am I” type stuff.  And it’s not something anyone can knock out in a weekend.  It’s a long road.

-The second is knowing what the world wants from you.  I know Dave Grohl, Bono, Lady GaGa, Garth Brooks, Katy Perry, Chris Martin are all very dynamic people, but they understand what the world desires from them when they’re on a stage.  

Yes, the audience desires the entire vibe/aura/energy of the artist (see the first bullet point), but on top of that, they desire one or two of their personality knobs cranked up.

All those artists listed above know exactly which personality knobs to crank up and when.

And the reason why it connects is it’s not fake.  Again, if you do the inner work described in the first bullet point then you know what true, genuine tools you have to choose from, which knobs you can adjust up or down depending on the situation, depending on the vibe of the crowd, the size, the demographic.

It’s just so amazing when an artist walks on stage when they’ve done the work of both points one and two.  It’s immediately noticeable.  Immediately enjoyable.

What do you think?

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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com