Success v Money

Let’s talk about success for a bit. And even though this is relevant to pretty much any form of art, I’ll concentrate here in the music business. I get tired and annoyed when people try to measure my success by how much money I make. I get to do what I love, and I love doing it so much that from time to time if things get tough, it will not stop me. I don’t release a song a week, so that I can make money out of it. If I do, great! If not, that’s OK too. I just love what I do and love to share the journey with you.

But the vital thing is this, if you want to do something just for the money, sure you can fool some of the people. But most people can see past the pretentious act put on in a hopes of making money. It stinks fake! Music is art, and true art comes from love, passion, the desire to communicate something you just can’t communicate with words. Sure you need to be business savvy and know the ins and outs of the business. But if you don’t whole heartedly love music and are not willing to share it with the world whether you get paid or not, You will not be successful.

Also success is never just money. It does not matter how much money you make, if you don’t feel fulfilled by what you do. If you are just doing it for the money, you might as well find an easier way to make that money. Trust me there are much easier ways to do it…

I also don’t like working with people who only concentrate on money. I believe that if you do something passionately, consistently and out of love, in time the financial reward will come. And if the people who work with me don’t believe this, they are holding me down. This does not mean I believe artists should not get paid, just the opposite. But when you are building a startup (musical project), you will be relaying on people’s good will. If that good will would not be there, we’d have no hope in hell. In fact, often the first people who come to your first show even do this out of good will.

Success cannot be measured by money. You might disagree with me, and I am fine with it. I’ll be the one worrying about my rent, not you. I am also the one who gets to share something I do out of love with thousands of people. That to me is success.

J.P.

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