Recalibrate Your Music Career

The writing has been on the wall for years. But it's amazing how many people are still stuck on the old ways and outdated paths to music success -- they need to impress gatekeepers, they need massive radio and media exposure, they need to sell out stadiums, yada yada, blah blah.


For a little insight into this, check out the latest rant from the ever opinionated Bob Lefsetz. The thing I like about him is that he's polarizing. You either love him or hate him. And when it comes to his take on the state of the music business, I am definitely a member of the choir he's preaching to.

Here are some gems from his Nov 24 post, called "It's 1968 All Over Again":

It's time to recalibrate. Don't even worry about hits. Uniqueness plays to your advantage. It's about growing your niche to the point it can support you.

Focus on how you can keep your core satiated, how you can grow that core, not how you can leapfrog into major media exposure.

It's not about impressing the gatekeepers, but making sure your audience has enough music to listen to, to pass along.

It doesn't pay to spend a fortune to reach an ever-shrinking audience of singles buyers. What you need is a higher price point. You need fans to generate revenue from multiple streams.

Amen to that, brother!

Wake up and smell the gigabytes. Today it's about serving your audience -- which, by the way, does NOT include everybody.

Today it's about finding the intersection where your style, substance and talent overlaps with a particular slice of the music enthusiast population.

Today it's about growing a core audience of true fans who will enjoy and support you, and will spread the word to their friends.

Read Lefsetz entire post. Absorb the articles, podcasts, videos, and music resources on this site.

Then get busy honing your sound and connecting with your core audience!

-Bob