Investment for the future

Music business is a funny old business. You can’t just dabble at it for a bit and expect the fame and fortune land on your lap. Today we live in a new world. Sure enough there is a good living to be made in the music business for those who are willing to put the work in. But I think it is safe to say the scale of superstardom we have seen in the second part of last decade is going to be a whisper from the past. Music goes back to being art and a trade, not necessarily a bad thing.

The problem all along have been the distorted perception of what the career path looks like. So many young people enter the business in the hopes of seeing that overnight stardom. Most become very disappointed very fast. Those few who slip through the cracks mostly get gobbled up by the leftovers of the major label monsters, and eventually get spat out when the money runs out. It’s hard to explain the moral inequality record contracts hold to those who are not willing to give up on that old dream.

In the other hand we have tools that allows us  completely bypass the “system.” The “system” is not happy about it at all. You see the these tools let us build a relation ship with our fans, where the labels spent years trying to reduce the music fan just down to a number.

If you really want to give it a go, it will require sacrifices. It will require you to invest in your future today. It requires you to work hard on something that you have no guarantee of getting return on. And if you think a band rehearsal once a week will shoot you to stardom, you will be sorely mistaken. You need to get your hands dirty in the business. You need to be willing to build a fan base from ground up.

If you are a solo artist, it is going to be a full-time business. If you are a band, make sure every member of the band will carry their weight. Nothing builds resentment like you working harder than anyone else for a common cause, and everyone expecting to collect the benefits equally. Pull your weight!

It’s like you are on a long road that disappears in the distance. To get where you need to go seems too far a way right now. You know you won’t make into the destination today, tomorrow, next week, month, year… But if you just concentrate today taking on the road one step at the time, eventually you start to make a headway. And everyday you get little bit closer to the destination, as long as you are willing to do the walking.

What I am trying to say here is if you want to give it a go, be realistic. Know you need to work harder than you probably have ever worked before. You need to be innovative and inventive. You need to be able to produce a lot of stuff, and make the most of every minute of your waking hours. It is an investment for the future.

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get EIGHT of his songs for free go HERE