Chapter 18
Persevering, Problem-Solving, and Retiring
In This Chapter
Staying up to date on recent changes and changing with the times
Continuing to expand your reach to more fans and opportunities
Streamlining and simplifying the workload for the long haul
Knowing when to call it a career or when to stop
Two of the biggest and most crucial traits to practice for success in the music business are perseverance and problem-solving. By persevering with a steadfast work ethic while combining attention to detail and drive in the good times, and practicing creative problem-solving in the bad times, you can sustain successes and contain problems.
Keeping on when the going is good … or bad
Perseverance is really all about tenacity, staying power, and determination in the worst of times, but even more so in the best of times. The ability to keep on keeping on when the rough times hit, but maintain a solid mindset of pushing even when things are good separates the long-term successful musicians from the flashes in the pan. Think of it as reinforcing the good stuff to make those good times last longer. Often when things are going well, and your profile and overall promotion are at a higher level, is the perfect time to reach out to that many more people and music business professionals who can see how well you’re doing and will likely be that much more receptive to working with you.
Enduring for the long term
Your musical, marketing, and networking endurance in both fast and slow times helps to keep a busy booking schedule and other opportunities coming. Even if you booked out the next six months, it’s still the perfect time to push for the six months after that. Using the momentum to entice further bookings, opportunities, interviews, or exposure down the line is easier when you can showcase how busy you are. In turn, your busy schedule makes others want to get on the bandwagon to book, promote, or help you.
When you start to make waves, use the momentum to make them even bigger. It’s easier to create more powerful motion when you’re already in motion.
Changing gears when momentum shifts
As you feel a lull, a pull, or shift when you track your shows, contacts, sales, or fan reach, or when you see reductions and problems arising, get right on researching and analyzing to determine what’s going wrong and figure out how to solve it. By tracking and analyzing your results, you can see when issues arise and when profits or opportunities drop. Changing gears and testing different approaches when things aren’t flowing can help get you shifted back into the right gear.
For example, if there’s a decrease in the number of social media followers on Twitter and conversions begin to fall, consider shifting some of your budget to a Twitter advertisement and attacking a different area. If you’re getting fewer bookings in a certain market, look to booking agents in that area or promoters who might be able to help. It’s all about problem-solving and shifting gears when momentum shifts in order to keep the forward motion going.
Don’t just sit back when there’s a momentum shift and watch it happen. Stay connected, and look at what can be done to correct it. Sitting back and staying on the same course when the direction is leading you off a cliff is only going to set you up for a long fall.
Staying Aware of Trends and Changes
With all the changes and trends in the music business, what you might think is the golden rule one moment could become obsolete and wrong the next. The majority of the concepts regarding business practices, approaches, and habits have stayed true and strong for years, but just as vinyl gave way to tape, tape gave way to CDs, CDs to downloads and so on, a keen awareness and being a constant student of the music industry can help you stay on top — and even ahead — of the changes that you need to consider and make.
Finding your pulse and learning your pace
Every day there’s a different article about how someone is the next big thing, how this is the new product everyone needs, or how there’s no reason to use this social media site, and so on. The truth is that in the middle of all the fast headline statements, before listening to everyone else, the best approach is listening to the pulse around you.
The pulse around you beats with other groups that have similar budgets, similar sounds, and comparable audiences. This information can guide you to knowing the best pace for you for the decisions to make and the changes to take.
For example, if a major artist with a multi-million-dollar budget and a great deal of fame says that download cards are worthless this doesn’t mean you should drop your download cards, especially if an artist that’s closer to your sound and budget with a similar or closer-sized audience sold 500 of them last month.
Each decision you make in keeping your pace, staying with certain items, and changing with others should be based in what’s working for those on the same level and a few levels above you. Following the trends and making the changes of the largest-scale artists without taking into consideration how they affect you could send you off in a more hurtful than helpful direction.
Tracking the trends, analyzing what others are doing, and looking at the genuine results over the marketed hype puts you in the best place to make the best choices for you.
Changing horses midstream
Sometimes things go wrong. The old Tower of Power song says not to change horses in the middle of a stream, but if you can call for another horse that gets you back on a better path and out of deeper water that much quicker, well, Hi Ho Silver … Away!
Take a serious look at what’s going wrong, and if the best fix is a change, determine what kind of change you need to make. Be careful about plugging cracks — they can lead to larger problems down the line. For example, if you find that you’re working with a bad manager who’s doing next to nothing and hurting your forward motion, get out of the agreement and move on. Just do it.
Staying with people, practices, and processes that are working against you for longer than you should creates more and more damage. Identifying issues and seeing if problem-solving is possible for them as you work to remedy what is wrong is a great approach. Still, if you’re avoiding the inevitable because of passive-aggressive behavior, fear, or delusion, it can only get worse. Plan the change, execute the action, and take the motions necessary to move back onto a better path for you. This is one time where it’s all good to change horses in the middle of the stream.
Realize that certain actions need to be implemented and remain consistent for some time before you see the conversions you want. Make sure you’re not impatiently switching up something that hasn’t had the time to develop correctly.
Finding the New Fan While Keeping the Old One Interested
The number one thing in the root of all your marketing and promotion is to engage the existing fan, keep them in touch, in tune, connected, and interested as you simultaneously reach out to build a larger base with new fans. This is one of the biggest struggles both artists and businesses face every day. The content, creativity, and call to action that draw the interest of someone new as they retain the interest of an old fan is a true balancing act.
Constant craving from quality content
To continually push the sell, the existing products, and the requests to add here, buy this, share that, follow here, and every other aggressive push may reach a number of people. After they’ve engaged, however, and after they’ve seen a show, bought an album, and ordered a T-shirt, they might get a little tired of being told to do what they’ve already done. Worse yet, they may lose interest in your selling and disconnect from you.
Think of it like buying an entire wardrobe from your favorite clothing store. Imagine you have everything you need — from dress shirts, to short sleeve shirts, from pants to jackets, ties to hats, and so on. At this point, you have what you need, but you’re still bashed over the head on a daily basis to
- Check out a jacket you already bought
- Try on a pair of pants you already own
- Order a shirt you already have
- Follow a page you already follow
- Donate money to a kickstarter campaign so they can create a new kind of suit
It would get old, and it would make you lose interest. This is exactly what’s happening with a great deal of musicians out there who only push the sell and stop considering the ways to market to maintain their new fans as well as their older ones.
Make new and old fans crave your content and look for information by adjusting and adapting content and even the sales pitch content. For example, if you push a new single on Amazon one week, add in something interesting or funny about the song, like “See if you can hear the drummer sneeze in the song, tell us where and we’ll send you a free download of another song.” The next week, point them to the Amazon store where that song is available and tell a different story to draw new interest from everyone, whether they bought it or not. It’s still selling the song, but you’re putting out the kind of content that people crave and want to connect with.
Watch the tempo of your marketing, especially on social media sites like Twitter. Whereas there are tools to help automatically post every hour on the hour to be seen in as many feeds as possible, it’s important to realize many fans and followers are following fewer people than you. In turn, it makes you come off like spamming as they constantly see you all over their feed all day.
Engage first, sell second
Creating content that people crave consists of interesting posts, blogs, videos, pictures, audios, and links that engage anyone. This means not starting with the sell, but with information that both a new person finds appealing as well as someone who’s been a fan for years.
The close is the call to action. (For more on the call to action, check out Chapter 11, “Planning for Content Marketing throughout the Year.”) Your ability to engage across the board keeps the respect going with the person who just heard of you as well as the person who’s known about you for years. The direct sell posts and marketing are fine, but limit them to once a week at most. With content that’s set up to draw people in as well as maintain people with a call to action that tells them where to get more of you or where to buy this product or see that show, you maintain a much greater interest.
Content that respects, interacts, engages, and connects with both the new fan and the old friend is the most important element of marketing, hands down. Maintaining and sustaining fans as you reach out at the same time and obtain more is the foundation and blueprint of the most successful marketing plans.
Testing New Products and New Methods
New products come on the market at a very fast rate. From customizable golf balls to sunglasses with your logo on them, computer skins to phone covers, there are new options popping up for merchandise and promotional items every day. The same goes with different methods of promotion and technology, such as programs that post for you on Twitter every 30 minutes (don’t use this tool; it’s too much and honks off fans) to electronic and digital resource tools for touring and new social media sites.
Although primarily sticking to a solidified and well-organized plan is best, a truly solid and professional plan leaves room for the new options and approaches to come. The best ways to approach new methods, technology, gear, websites, and anything else is to keep steady on the track as you test the waters in the shallow end and don’t get sucked into a rip tide of change that can pull you and your career under.
It’s new, shiny, fun, and neato!
Take heavy steps around the latest product or the newest social media site, sales site, or opportunity. It’s easy to get caught up in an ADHD-type of madness where you drop everything you’re working on and continue to chase, invest in, or try out the next new thing. In most cases, this sets you up for failure.
This goes for approaches, too. To start a marketing campaign with a set plan and then change up a dozen times in a two-month period doesn’t help you at all. Instead, work with a sense of multitasking when it comes to something new. Stand by your plan, and follow through as you test a new idea in one area without shifting everything all at once.
Try to stay away from the wooing lights and hype excitement of doing something too quickly that might not work and just might hurt what you already have in place. Take the time to do your research, and try to avoid jumping the gun before you know whether or not there’s a bullet in the barrel.
Small chances with small risk to gain reward
Take small steps with new ideas to reduce the risk and test the reward. From joining a new site to testing a new product, give everything a fair chance but don’t gamble all your budget on something that hasn’t proven if it can work for you.
From a new merchandise item to a new promotion campaign to a new way to sell your music or sell your merchandise, test the waters to see what works. If things go well, then up the ante; if things don’t, then go back to where you were before.
As new social media sites comes into play on a monthly basis, don’t get wrapped up in the idea of shutting down your MySpace or no longer using Google+ or another site. With many site aggregators, there are ways to share information and posts to these less-popular sites, but why remove a page when it’s one more place you can be found? When it comes to new pages and sites, sign up for all of them, even if you aren’t posting on them. At least no one else can take your name!
Working to Streamline the Workload
With the array of tasks that need to be done (the lists, the action items, the marketing, content creation, shows, traveling, and yes, we can keep going, but let’s stop here …) in the mix of everything that’s happening on any given day, the ability to streamline and simplify your workload is key to enabling you to accomplish important duties.
Building and implementing elements and tools that streamline work may seem like yet another task that need to be done. But by doing so, you save time, energy, and stress as you get that much more completed in much less time.
To-do lists are great ways to organize and look at the broader scope of what needs to be done in a given time period. From the researching phase to the tracking phase, the soliciting phase to the marketing phase, all of these need to work in harmony. If you don’t have the time to do every task each day, assign specific days to make it easier. However, if you’re a solo artist or a band that doesn’t have a great deal of time, putting in shorter spurts of time more often can open up a lot more doors over spending bulk hours on single items.
Simply broken down, the following are the ten key areas of music business productivity:
- Practicing and creating: Dedicate time every day to practice different aspects of your job — from practicing your instrument, to practicing stage presence, to practicing how you sound on a phone call, or how you come off when asking for a booking, an endorsement, support, an interview. And whether you craft marketing content, solicitation packages, photos, videos, blogs, or songs, make sure there’s always time in the day to create.
- Performing and maintenance: Most musicians want to perform, whether on stage or in a recording studio. Keeping up the ability to perform from your personal well-being to keeping your instrument in performance shape allows for the continuity required for the stage and studio. Other parts of the business that require maintenance include the vehicles you drive, the bills you pay, the computers you use, the website you update, the hardware, software, and even food and rent.
- Researching, soliciting, and networking: Always do your research on managers, investors, booking agents, venues, festivals, cities, labels, publishers, and talent buyers as well as other bands you can work with. After you complete your research, you can decide which ones to reach out and solicit to. This is also the same list of contacts with whom you can network as well as add to social networks and connect with on and offline.
- Tracking: Track the results of your sales, marketing, networking and conversion efforts. You might find this fairly easy, because you just add the data and results that occur from your actions. For more on tracking, check out Chapter 5, “Writing, Rehearsing, Recording, and Performing.”
- Follow up: Follow up with every person, company, and event that was a positive. From booking agents you worked with for a great show, to a band you played with to a magazine that interviewed you to the fans that reach out to you, your follow-up and follow-through actions can give you the greatest benefits.
- Educating: Take the time to read up, learn up, and stay up to date on the changes in the music business and in the law. Learn about what’s happening around you, for you, and against you. Taking those moments each day helps you grow your career by having a better grasp on current and correct information on which you can make better decisions.
Each of these tasks can be color-coded and assigned to numerous members. By understanding the details of all these basic elements that have to be done, it not only makes it easier to break out the responsibilities, but also to have a better idea what to ask for when you look for help from others.
Outlining all the information that you need to track as well as setting up calendars for what you need to post, who you need to call, where you need to be, and what you need to research can make life much easier. A simple checklist can serve as a reminder to handle all the line items that need to be covered.
It’s a great deal of stuff, but broken down, spread out, and checked off, you can make it much more manageable when you see it in small, simple pieces. Then as you look down the line at the bigger picture, you can see just how effective you are both on stage and off.
Staying in Control and Watching Others Who Share Control
As you look for help from others or align with everyone from publishers to consultants, labels to managers, promoters, investors, social media experts, and so on, many of these people look to help you but also look to benefit themselves. As people invest time, work, and effort, they look for a level of control — some with the best intentions and others to maintain a bargaining chip.
You have to share percentages and control with those who help, invest in, and create a business with you; however, a clear understanding of what you have to share helps avoid problems. Knowing exactly what you’re able to retain complete control over, where you’re sharing control, and having access to be able to watch the control others take keeps you from being blindsided or taken advantage of.
Keeping your fingers in everything
Many artists dream of having others take care of all the business aspects so they can focus only on the music and nothing else. The problem is when no one is watching, anything can happen, and those happenings can include someone taking over a social media account to someone commandeering a bank account and finances, leaving you with no control. If you don’t keep an eye on the business side, you can also lose control of your right to sign contracts as well as the percentage amount to which you agreed.
Working with a disinterested lawyer, one who’s not tied directly to a label, an investor, or anyone with whom you’re working, ensures that you have rights to all statements and transactions legal, contractual, or financial. Going over your publishing with a music publisher that organizes contracts can help, too. Learn more about lawyers in Chapter 9, “Securing Your Music and Brand.”
Your attention to detail and perseverance to both maintain access as well as allow a third party to have access to the money coming in and money going out keeps you that much more in the loop. The third party can help you review, explain or look out for abnormalities or patterns that could be potential problems. No one should have a problem with you asking to see your own books and contract. If they do, you could be the victim of a scam.
Ask your attorney to draw up legal documents that outline the roles each person plays and what rights they have within your organization as well as the access they can have to the organizations working with you. Consider when creating these legal documents that a section is added to keep you updated on a regular basis about what’s coming in, what’s going out, what’s on track, and what’s changing.
Make sure when you’re given an update regarding finances, contracts, or any type of information that you can also access your bank statements as well as documentation from iTunes, distributors, and other merchants. Anyone can prepare a beautiful report that looks all happy and hide profits and revenues from you.
It’s not a question of how good or honest people are when they’re held accountable. It comes down to what they do when no one is looking. By keeping an eye on things and adding additional updates and review measures, it gives you a better chance to keep all records in order, in line, and above board.
Defining the roles and the access online
Another common dream is for others to handle all your social media for you, so you can focus on just the music. Know, however, that this can be very dangerous. A great deal of your engagement and promotion is derived from sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
It’s key to have an agreement in place about who has access to what when it comes to your website, your social media pages and your distribution and sales sites. Your lack of access or control can make it more challenging when it comes to removing spam posts and other postings you don’t want to have on your pages. These agreements should also give you the clear ownership of the social media pages, domain names, and hosting for your website.
As you define the roles, it’s also key to have access to reports coming from advertising campaigns as well as sales reports from Amazon and other online merchant sites. The clarity and definition of your continued involvement and access to these sites enable others to help you and work those sites, but allow you to know what is going on when you want to.
There are too many horror stories about artists who accidently and ignorantly gave up their rights to their websites and social media sites, and had to go as far as suing to gain access to them. The biggest problem is that these artists signed away their rights when they signed many of their contracts. Know your role, define others’ roles, and clarify the access for everyone to protect you, your business, and everyone around you.
Take the initiative to set up all your social media sites yourself as owner and admin. Then assign management to others who update and work on the sites. This can help ensure you maintain access and control of your social media pages.
Clarifying the Financial Channels and Return on Investment
Whether you receive sponsorship support, funding, a label deal, or any kind of support money to move your products, touring, and career forward, the understanding of how that money is being paid back, what percentages are being made, and at what point you get to see the greater amounts of it are crucial.
I’ve heard horror stories that stem from people not paying attention to or having a clear idea of exactly what was spent, what’s due, and when a debt is paid in full. With every dollar of support and every opportunity that comes in, before you sign anything, make sure you have a clear understanding that’s down on paper as well as reviewed by a lawyer or accountant making it crystal clear how the waters flow and how they flow to you.
Debts going past the original payback
When people or companies invest in artists, they look not only to make back their initial investment; they want to make money. These labels, investors, and agents take an enormous risk that’s often reflected in the payback they receive.
From demanding a high interest rate to a longer-term percentage afterward, the debts you accrue, especially early on, are with you well past the initial payback. Many artists are so desperate that they sign deals on the front side that don’t sting until well down the road. For example, a high-interest deal where the investor is continually spending money on the artist will keep you in debt.
It comes down to those label-hosted super expensive dinners after a deal or a show. It also rings true when a label or investor ups the hotel room to something nicer than needed. These are all costs that have to be repaid by you with interest on top. Although these amounts might seem frivolous when things are good, a few years down the line when popularity as well as profits fade, that higher percentage can be a career killer.
Say you’re making less than 20 percent of millions and millions of dollars in that top percentage. In the moment of millions, it seems fine, but when times get tighter, and you only make a small percentage on hundreds of thousands, it can be devastating. This scenario happens on a regular basis.
To avoid it, look to lawyers and accountants to help you keep an eye on your finances and carefully explain what you sign on to as well as what it means in the long run. Look to persevere with your investors to allow them the returns they’re looking for while still allowing you to regain more control and pay for necessities without adding interest.
Get those debts paid back as fast as you can, so you’re able to realize more cash in your pocket. Work to take over the costs of items needed as you make money instead of looking to an investor or label for continued support, even when you no longer require the support. Persevere with the most responsible financial actions to achieve the most financial control of your career.
There are only so many ways you can split up a dollar bill. Keep that in mind as you assign percentages. Looking at how it affects you now, in a month, a year, and then five years helps you not only persevere, but also sign the best contracts for the best chances for you.
Taking the reins of your financial future
As you move forward in your career, look to become your own label and own investor as opposed to looking to another investor, another deal, or another option that keeps you in a vicious circle of debt.
As the music industry has changed, so have the options. It’s no longer about needing a record label; it’s about needing all the different elements and pieces a label brings to the table. With a strong music business plan that covers all the elements, services, and requirements that a label provides, you’re on the right track. By creating your music business plan with investors outside of a record label, there’s a greater chance you won’t be stuck paying high interest or losing as much ownership and percentages of profits as you would with a larger label.
If you achieve success with an investor or label and can take control, don’t just look to another deal to make the next record or find an investor to pay for everything. Cover what you can with what you have and look for support with a bank or other types of loans to help with the rest. Keep as much of the control, percentages, and revenues coming to you over going to others.
With the ability to connect directly with all the different sources, services, and resources needed for success and sustainability in music today, work to find those outlets and make as many direct contacts and connections as you can. It works to your favor over someone else being a middle man who’s taking one more piece of the pie that doesn’t need to be fed to anyone else.
Knowing When It’s Time to Stop or Change Careers
As you journey through a career in music, regardless of the best of times, the worst of times, and every experience that you have in between, there comes a time when it is time to stop. Whether it’s viewed as retiring, quitting, or changing paths, knowing that in your heart you are always a musician is fine. But keeping the consideration out there that you can’t do this forever helps you for plan for the future even as you’re in the present still planning on how to build your career.
It’s not about being negative; it’s about thinking in the long term. You can maintain a career for the length of your life, or have an understanding of when to call it a day.
It’s okay to not make it full-time
It’s okay to not be able to make music a full-time gig, just as it’s okay to switch careers to something else or take more of the hobby approach. In many cases, it might make you a happier person in the end.
Going part time or taking the hobby approach doesn’t mean failure. Most musicians who aren’t able to make it to the levels that they dreamed of end up sacrificing way too much, and lose it all. They end up in a dead-end job as they struggle with debts, bankruptcies, and other issues.
This isn’t meant to scare you. This is meant to make you think — regardless how well or how bad things go on your journey, be prepared while planning and persevering for the best and the worst. The end result of that kind of advanced problem-solving and planning allows for transitions to be that much easier to handle.
Don’t get caught up in the make-or-break scenarios, especially if you have a family or children. There are musicians who not only are unable to reach that next level, but as they forget and forgo family responsibilities, they end up hurting those they love. Don’t allow for any situation or any opportunity to break you, especially if you have people counting on you.
Hard challenges becoming impossible tasks and other signs its time to change
Although much of this chapter and book can feel overwhelming, as you see in every section, it’s doable and you can do it, every step. The answers are here, as well as what it takes to build the foundation for the next step and the step after that.
At times those simple steps and directions that you know how to do will feel more challenging. Other times they become confusing, but there is still that fire to push onward. When that fires starts to go out, that’s when it’s time to think about transitioning, changing, or retiring. Your ability to look at back up plans you organize along the way mixed with a simple list of your stopping points can make a transition easier.
These stopping points are made up of a personal list that you create stating if certain things aren’t happening by a certain point, if a certain amount of money has been spent, a defined amount of debt has been reached, and so on, that it’s time to change gears.
Just as you layer out the goals in your music business plan to showcase the marks you want to hit and how you plan to hit them, this list may also show up as part of your failure analysis (discussed in Chapter 4, “Creating a Music Business Plan”) showing that if certain events occur, the positive results or expectations may not happen.
After the love has gone
You never lose the love, and if you’re able to plan an exit or a retirement from music at the right time for you, those memories, that joy, and that love can stay with you a long time. Don’t resent the career you might have had; enjoy all that you’ve done and what you did have. It’s okay to lose the love for the business side of music — and many do — but always keep that love for the music itself, regardless of where you go or what you do in life.
You’re in the music business because it is your dream. If your dream changes or you lose the desire for that dream, look at whether it’s a bump in the road or if it’s time to start down a new road. Don’t neglect your happiness for pride or ego.