You Gotta
I’m not being bossy, just cutting to the chase:
- I’m assuming you truly want to build a long-term music (or artistic) career and that you:
- Understand that this is going to take work beyond being a great musician, singer, songwriter or entertainer and:
- You know the ultimate responsibility for your own success lies with you.
So when I say, “you gotta,” I mean you gotta have all of those in line before I tell you NOBODY cares about any of that.
Serve
With the exception of your family and a few close friends (maybe), nobody cares about your desire for a long-term music career nor how many hours you’ve dedicated to becoming a great musician, singer, songwriter or entertainer. All they care about is themselves.
This does NOT mean that you have to give up your artistic dreams and pander to the whims of the public in order to succeed.
It means you gotta:
- Know exactly what you offer as an artist in specific and complete detail. You are not a guitarist, you are a Pop/Rock guitar player influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughn, Slash and Steve Vai who plays in clubs in the greater Washington DC area. Or, you’re a session guitarist who can play it all, has a collection of vintage guitars and amps and a home studio, and works on internet collaboration projects with people all over the world. Note: Knowing the specific details does not mean you have to narrow WHAT you do in order to succeed. It means you have to KNOW what you do so you can:
- Market what you do so you capture and grab the attention of:
Somebody
Notice that I did not say everybody.
Most musicians fail to build long-term careers because they never take the time to (a) consider the specific needs, wants and/or desires of the specific somebody(s) they are going to serve and (b) develop a plan to reach those specific people with everything they do, say, write and play.
Without those two steps, most musicians spend their lives screaming at the world about their existence and again, nobody cares.
So I ask you, who and how ya gonna serve somebody?
