Why are you a musician? It might sound a ridiculous question - you love music right? But what are you aiming for? Why do you do it? How will you know when you’ve reached your pinnacle?
We’ve spent so many hours with musicians who struggle to articulate exactly what it is that they are trying to achieve that we have come up with 3 “F’s” that help to focus what your aims are.
1. Fortune
The biggy, of course, for pretty much everyone is that you need to pay the bills. Where do you stand on this - Is your numero uno priority to be driving a Porsche to gigs and able to afford smashing your guitar on stage? …Maybe you are happy just to have food on the table and not feel too stressed about subscribing to Sky TV. Are you comfortable talking money or do you shy away from it? The thing is, you NEED to think about it. Sadly no one ever made it in the industry without investing financially in their music (even just to cover publicity, petrol and other costs) - and every major label at the moment, is run by someone from a financial background - not a music background - so are you thinking the way they are? They are unlikely to believe in your music as much as they believe in your earning potential and won’t be throwing freebies your way even if that’s what they look like they are!
If you are keen to attract help from a potential manager, promoter, booker or other contact; it is IMPERATIVE you make yourself look like a financially attractive proposition. Think the way they think and show people how investing in you will help THEM get what they want out of it too.
Whatever your aims it will affect the way you approach your career. If making lots of money is an important driver for you - you need to spend longer calculating the bottom line - how much can you invest in merchandise and how much will people agree to spend on it. How far can you push your fee for gigs and what can you make sustainable and more streamlined…? How much money is enough? How much before you feel you have succeeded? What are you aiming to earn in the next 3 years?
2. Fame
Fame comes with both a price - and a reward. If this is a big driver for you, be aware of that from the start: you will get lots of attention - some of it will be welcome; some will not be. The obvious thing to say is that if fame is your goal, you want to be thinking strategically about how you can get as much attention as possible. Think wider than just getting radio play. Can you give away an album online and get lots of press attention around it? Can you do a rooftop gig for charity or skydive while playing your guitar?
Underneath it all though is WHY do you want the fame? Is it to use it for political, philosophical, religious or social reasons…? Or is it just for the fun of it/ narcissism?! Either will shape how you go about getting it! Are you wanting to be famous so you can show off (yourself and) your music - or are you wanting to show off your music in order to get famous? There’s a subtle but important difference - the former rarely works.
Only then you will be able to answer HOW you will go about getting it in an appropriate way - what if it means at the expense of making the maximum money? How do you quantify success in this context? Can you describe when you have achieved the level of fame you seek?
3. Fulfilment
On some level somewhere we are all in this because we love music - but is this actually more important to you than making money or getting famous? Are you willing to sacrifice elements of the other two for the potential gains of doing what you want to do in the way you want to. For example if making money is your goal you may consider signing to a record label that wants to shape your sound - if fulfilment is more important to you you may shun that opportunity for the sake of staying in creative control. (Of course with Sound Consultancy you get to be successful AND keep your rights!)
But what does success mean when your own fulfilment is the biggest priority?
The bottom line is this: it’s actually a lot harder to define your goals than it might seem, doing this is ABSOLUTELY FUNDAMENTAL to being able to build a strategy in order to grow, improve and succeed in realising your goals and your potential.
Do it now - have a go: Write down SPECIFIC, measurable goals for each three F’s for the next 3 years; AND the next 10 years. Describe what it looks like to be a success.
And then if you want help with this process; or help in building towards those goals get in touch with us. We’d be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss it with you. Helping you take your music to the next level is what we do best.