Recording Artist Advocate: Opposition, or just plain rudeness…

If it was easy to succeed in the music business, everyone would do it.

But it’s not easy, and I think that’s the point. A kite can’t fly unless it has wind to rise against.

Opposition will also separate the people with fortitude from the people who just roll up and quit. That leaves more opportunity for you. Success can be like a “last man standing” competition.

If you feel yourself wanting to quit when you run face-first into a wall, resist that impulse. If a snide comment puts you in a tailspin, snap out of it. Some people are naturally tough and others have to develop that strength.

You will face opposition. If you’re not, then you are not trying hard enough. If everything comes too easy, how will you handle it the first time things get hard?

Research anyone successful and if they are honest you will find that it took a lot of hard work and overcoming obstacles. And a lot of manning up! (…that goes for women too.)

It can even come from the people who should be supportive. But wherever it comes from, those voices that say you should quit must be ignored.   

Or you can just fold and get out of the way for someone who is willing to work for it.

It’s ultimately up to you. As for me; I want to work with winners. If that’s you, call and book some studio time. Let’s get you the best sounding recording to promote yourself with and sell at your shows.   

Recording Artist Advocate: Right Left Up Down…

You know that we have a right brain and a left brain. One side is very literal and the other not. It can also be described as above or below the “water line”. Above the surface is the real world, and below is the world of dreams.

Explore the underworld and you can take your listener on a journey. In fact, if you think of going under and coming up for air thorough your composition, it can make for some interesting imagery.

George Martin convinced the Beatles to explore “movements” like a symphony. And you hear that in much of their music with abrupt changes as if two complimentary songs were smashed together.

Try that with your music, but changing from the real world, to the world of dreams… and back.

So much music is the same within a genre; you need to do all you can to stand out.

What could it hurt, and you might find song writing inspiration you didn’t know you had.

Recording Artist Advocate: Cowboy Logic…

Ask someone why they like a particular artist and they’ll either say the artist is like them or they aspire to be like the artist. They listen to a band or style of music to let the rest of the world know who they are, or to reinforce their world-view back to themselves. I see this particularly in “Cowboy” music.

In truth, there are few people in the cattle business, riding horses and rounding up cattle. But there has been a consistently strong market for western clothing and country music. For the most part country music themes are current with the rest of the culture, but true cowboy music is still firmly set in the cattle drives of the old west. The audience requires authenticity to that era above all else. The artists are as likely to break off into cowboy poetry as a song.   

Still, just living a somewhat “western lifestyle” requires commitment. Listening to country music reinforces the audience’s decision.

Several years ago there was a song called “Cowboy Logic” where several scenarios describe why the real cowboy is smarter than the lesser cowboys around him. If there was ever proof of what I’m talking about, that was it. Every time the singer said “He” describing this smartest cowboy, he could just have easily s been saying “You” in the mind of his listeners.

The best songs work when your audience says, “That song is about me!” or “I know that person!” or "I want to be that person!"

You can reach past their minds into their hearts. Do that and you will gather a large group of people who want other people to know they are your fans.

Recording Artist Advocate: Walk through your front door…

When I worked in Radio Advertising Sales I noticed how often the big boss would have a separate entrance near or sometimes in their office. This would seem to be a nice perk to being in charge, but it can be a problem too. If you never experience your business the way your customers do, how can you know what you’re doing right or wrong?

I remember a business with double doors that went into a small atrium with another set of double doors before you got into the main showroom. It’s a pretty standard way to save air conditioning here in the south. The problem was that the employees and owners used a separate entrance in the back. No one from the business ever walked through those doors. The atrium would fill up with leaves and dust from the street. The showroom looked good, but the first impression you had was a mess. Over time it just got worse.

Just like those business owners, we get so busy working and never see ourselves from the perspective of our customers. “Walk through your own front door” applies to all of us, but how do you do it with a band?

I think you start by going to see other bands. Don’t call ahead to get on the list or go backstage to hang with the other bands. Really experience the show as a regular member of the audience. It will open your eyes.

You’ll see artist putting on great shows and you’ll see guys reading texts while they’re on stage. You’ll hear great solos and crappy ones. If you really put yourself in the same place as your customer; your fans - it will change the way you do business. When was the last time you had to wait in line with the regular folks to buy merch? Try that sometime.

I’m not saying you have to do this all the time. I’m not saying you have to do this at all. But the most successful artists and businesses at least think this way.

You can lose perspective hanging out in the tour bus, backstage, or the VIP.

The company I told you about had other problems too. But it all came down to losing sight of the wants and needs of their customers. They had done business for over twenty years and thought they were the only game in town. They thought customers would come to them no matter what. They were wrong.

I got to work advertising their competitors and put them out of business pretty quickly. Now I drive by that building and think how they could have done so much, but thought they knew it all.

You have to live on stage with your mind on the wants and needs of the people watching you. It's not easy, but those who do it right get long successful careers.

Recording Artist Advocate: Taking advice...

I once described how a deaf (mostly deaf) guy made a great producer on his band's CD project. His hearing was so limited I had to face him when we talked, but he was able to perfectly describe what he wanted and even set eq and levels. I had a built-in bias against his ability to even hear but he proved me wrong. I learned a lot from that experience. 

One time I was working with a solo artist who couldn't bring himself to make small changes that would have allowed his music to be played by his friend at a radio station. I tried to convince him that there are radio edits and CD cuts, but he couldn't take that advice from me. His music was so personal he really couldn't take that advice from anyone. Later, enough people told him to make the exact same changes or they wouldn't even talk to him about getting his music played or even reviewed. So now he plays really great music, for himself. There is no audience. He doesn't even play out because no one will hire him. His music is good, but he doesn't have the maturity to take advice that could help him. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum are people who change with every person they talk to. 

Don't be on either extreme. 

Everybody has an opinion and they love to tell you all about it. Know yourself well enough to know what advice to accept and what to reject. Sometimes good advice comes from someone you just don't want to listen to. It takes maturity to get past your own bias.   

Separate the information from the person. There are people who drive me crazy with their advice, but when I get away from them and think about it, they're absolutely right.

Have the maturity to take good advice, even from those people.