A Real Job
The performing bug stretched its little wings early for me. My parents were horrified that I would never get a REAL job. They did not value the creative expression of a musician as a career option and saw no possible reward in financial fair exchange. Stubborn Capricorn ignored their wishes as usual and now this genealogy is well reflected in the voices of millions of musicians and performers around the globe. How many people in this industry have felt creatively stifled in their quest for legitimization of their choice to conduct an enterprise in this fashion?
Writing and performing music is a creative outlet and a channel for personal development.If you want to be paid for it, then it becomes a business. I love taking photographs and spend hours on the weekends locating the perfect shot and then fidgeting with Photoshop.It’s a hobby – a creative outlet and a channel for personal development. If I want to be paid for it, then I need to do a whole lot of other activities to transform my hobby into a business.
So why become a professional musician? The responses to this survey have been varied – Being cool, A strong need for self expression, need for privacy (own time, space, pace and inner world), being able to dive deeply into the sounds of someone else and regurgitate it through your own, the tribal power in mesmerizing an audience with sounds and rhythms, expanding closer to the boundaries of the universe via musical expression and experiencing the addictive high – the change in your physical vibrations when you feel like you are a part of something bigger. It’s almost like a religion!
No one said sex, drugs, rock and roll, fame or money? Oh Ok Manny did! That’s one!
A perception of Cool seems to be very important in this industry and this is reflected in CD sales, Gigs and our obsession with Celebrity. What IS cool anyway? How do you define an aesthetic of manner, conduct, vibe, look, form or style? Such a subjective little word with an enormous power in perception! There is actually no meaning only association which is deemed by some external authority. Traditional associations with cooldom may be freedom, creativity, not conforming and thumbing one’s nose at so called normalcy.
In short, cool, like most other Urban Legends, is bullshit – not real – simply made up. So being the creative little geniuses that musicians are, cool is whatever they choose it to be!
A desire for cool is probably closer to a desire for love and acceptance. Notice how individuals who have created a mythology of rejection as a barrier of protection traditionally seek acceptance in an alternative form? Artists and Musicians and Entertainers seek audiences and markets who desire to purchase their products. They seek acceptance of their creative expression. Love my art love me!
In this current ecosystem, we choose how we wish to run our business in the Music Industry. Challenges are only symptoms of the expansion of the business and the opportunity to create whatever you choose. Creativity promotes innovation.
We used to work in an industry where supply of product (CDs, Merchandise etc) were limited due to shelf space, shipping, storage etc. Now our market has an unlimited choice of what to buy and where to buy from. Product, thanks to living on line, can have a global impact instead of a local one. Anyone can set up a website, register a domain name, register any free social networking or blogging site, create an on line shop, set up a shopping cart and Paypal platform and create an On Line presence.
We live in a digital world. More devices, ever faster broadband, more channels, more platforms, faster processors, endless storage, better search engines. We live in our URLs, our MY SPACE, our FACEBOOKS, our BLOGSPOTS and haggle on E BAY, purchase our movie tickets, flights, concert tickets and sporting events on line, download our Music and Movies, order Office Supplies, Groceries, Gifts on line – let’s face it – we LIVE here! And more importantly our CUSTOMERS live here!
And just by running your music business on line, you create stockpiles of user data, product feedback, and marketing information, and this in turn generates new advertising opportunities for you. We have created a new ecosystem for ourselves.
“It is not the strongest or most intelligent that survives, but the ones most adaptive to change.” Darwin
Look at how our global humanity network is developing. On line communities such as My Space and Facebook are replacing traditional social networks and establishing greater communication and interaction opportunities like never before. The rapid expansion of the internet caught traditional music business companies with their collective pants down and they are still fighting to catch up with licensing downloads and working out Digital Rights Management issues. Is this a problem or an opportunity?
Problem solving is the opposite of creativity. When you are problem solving you are seeking to delete something you wish to avoid – a challenge or a conflict. In the creative process, you consciously take action to birth something new. Traditionally Business identifies a need, a void, a gap and fills it with a product or a service. A problem is found and a solution is offered for sale. What about the entertainment industry (movies, music, theatre, opera, dance)? What solutions does this industry offer? On the surface, none, however indirectly it functions to keep people entertained and distracted FROM their problems - therefore forming the basis of a temporary remedy – a panacea.
Our values (which are the beliefs that we align ourselves with) are driven by our voids – that which we think is missing in our lives. An outward expression of art is one form of seeking love, recognition and acceptance. What greater way to feel loved, recognized or accepted than selling CDs Concert Tickets and Merchandise?
Creating product and gigging live only happens in a business with an effective resource management system in place. Customers everywhere demand faster service. The beauty is that we live in an age where we can EASILY serve customers and run business in a more cost effective manner.
You have everything you need right here right now. You are only limited by your imagination.Imagination is what inspired you to become a musician in the first place.
