12 Keys to Building a Thriving Music Career

1) Embrace the New Gatekeepers

2) Understand the Real Key to Creative Success and Fulfillment

3) Treat Every Day Like You're Bill Murray in 'Groundhog Day'

4) Carve Out Your Slice of the Pie

5) Have Specific and Measurable Goals

6) Engage Your Fans and Get Personal

7) Question Everything You're Ever Been Told About the Music Business

8) Learn How to Deal With Criticism, Bad Reviews and Rejection

9) Define Your Musical Identity

10) Put Fringe Fans in Their Proper Place

11) Let Go of Your Need for Certainty

12) Have a Meaningful Purpose That Drives You

-Bob

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7 Simple But Effective Steps to Reaching Your Music Career Goals

Last week I posted this question on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites:

What's the #1 Thing That Keeps You From Reaching Your Music Goals?
I received a flood of great responses, most of which I posted here. I encourage you to look over the list and see how many of them you can relate to. But don't use the list to get comfortable and think, "I'm in good company when I don't reach my goals, so I should just relax."

Instead, use the list to realize that you are not alone when it comes to distractions, resistance, and excuses. People who succeed at greater levels don't have some secret code and aren't immune to the everyday obstacles we all encounter.

What they do have is a different mindset and a different approach compared to the masses that get lulled into accepting stagnation as a way of life.

Since this is such a widespread issue (and one I wrestle with myself), I wanted to share my version of the Cycle of Success -- a concept I first heard from Jack Canfield. It's a bare-bones outline of the simple steps you must take to accomplish worthy goals. It may appear simplistic at first glance. But I ask you ...

Honestly, how well do you embrace each of these steps ... and on which ones do you typically get hung up?

1) Decide

The first step to reaching any goal is to know where you're headed. The clearer the target, the more purposeful your actions will be. That's why the first step to accomplishment is to set a specific, measurable goal (or set of goals). "Be a successful musician" is a nice idea, but it's a fuzzy goal. A more concrete goal would be "Perform four live shows a month that generate $3,000 in total revenue" or "Sell $1,500 a month in live show CD/merchandise sales and $1,000 a month in digital downloads." Decide what you want and be crystal clear about what it is.

2) Plan

Once you know exactly what you want, the next step is to craft an action plan that will move you toward it. Take some time to brainstorm on paper. Make lists of the different types of activities you will need to engage in to reach the goal. Who will you need to contact, what do you need to learn, and what tools will help you get there? Work backwards from the goal and determine the specific steps you'll need to take.

3) Start

Now it's time to dive into the step that holds back most human beings: taking action! Look over your grand plan and ask yourself, "What's the very first thing I need to do in each category?" Focus only on those initial things and ... do them! Don't worry about the entire project or the immensity of your goal. Just do the very thing that needs to be done today: make a phone call, send an email, design a web page, repair your equipment, or sit down to write a new song (or finish one you started).

4) Continue

Taking those initial actions in the Start phase may actually come easy if you're exciting about the goal. Your enthusiasm is running high and you're eager to get busy. But what happens after a week or two, when other life demands grab center stage or when you don't make as much progress toward the goal as you had hoped? This step is another biggie that trips up many musicians. But people who succeed muscle through the distractions and "continue" taking action, even when they're short on time and energy. If your goal is truly important, you will find time to chip away at it and make progress -- on a consistent basis.

5) Evaluate

If you get this far, congratulations! You've accomplished more than the majority of creative people (as sad as that is to say). You have decided what you want, created an action plan, started taking action, and have continued to work toward it, despite many temptations to do otherwise. Now you must take a little time to measure the results of your efforts. Don't just stay busy for the sake of movement without knowing how effective your actions are. Are you moving closer to the goal, or further away? What has brought the best results? Now is the time to evaluate your progress.

6) Adjust

Once you look at the actions you've taken thus far and measure the results (as in number of live shows booked, number of new fans on your mailing list, amount of music and merch sold, etc.), you'll have a clearer picture of where you stand. Then look over your plan and tweak it. How you do that is super simple: Do more of what's working and less of what isn't working. Also, this is a good time to introduce a new goal or strategy that makes sense based on what you've learned from your actions so far.

7) Continue

Once again, consistent action and progress is key. So with your adjusted plan in hand, continue to move forward. Another trait that will help you in this phase is the ability to simultaneously see two contrasting perspectives: 1) Keep the big picture vision alive of where you are headed -- the specific and measurable goal you have set, and 2) Focus on the micro task at hand and realize where you actually are on the path. There will almost always be a wide gap between where you are and where you want to be. But don't let that disparity frustrate you. Instead, let it pull you toward the goal even more fervently.

Bonus Step: Repeat Steps 5 through 7. From here on out, your progress will be a series of evaluating your efforts, adjusting your goals and action plans, and getting busy pursuing them again.

There you have it: 7 Simple But Effective Steps to Reaching Your Music Career Goals.

Are you truly incorporating all of the steps? Where do you get hung up the most? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the Comments section below.

-Bob

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What Keeps You From Reaching Your Goals?

I posted this question on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites this week and got a flood of great responses.

Below you'll find a summary of the top reasons people cite for falling short of their goals and not making as much progress as they'd like.

Recognize any of them?

• Lack of time
• Lack of money
• Lack of confidence
• Self-sabotage
• Not setting goals to begin with
• Not planning well enough
• Procrastination
• Having too many goals
• Not prioritizing my goals
• Spreading myself too thin
• Lame but convenient excuses
• Popular trends not going my way
• Not knowing where to start
• My day job
• Not putting what I know into action
• The government and its stupid rules
• Setting really BIG goals
• Perfectionism
• Fear of failure
• Not knowing how to raise things to the next level
• Clutter
• Me, Myself, My own mind
• Facebook

If I missed something, please add your own obstacle in the Comments section below. Also leave some extra thoughts on what holds you back, along with any tips you have to overcome these hurdles.

I'll post my own ways of conquering these personal demons in future blog posts, and may even turn this into an ebook some day.

-Bob

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7 Ways to Destroy Your Music Career

Everybody wants to know the easy, proven steps to music success. Therefore, every expert offers tips and strategies to help you reach your goals -- including me.

Well, it's time to shake things up and serve a new audience -- which explains why this post takes a look at the dark side: How to ruin your music career in seven easy steps ...

1) Give Away Your Personal Power

The first step to destroying your music career is to realize that your destiny is in the hands of other people and circumstances beyond your control. Fully embrace the fact that you need to be in the right place at the right time to get your "lucky break" and be "discovered."

Industry people and music critics must deem you worthy of success for you to have value as a musician. Also, cling to the belief that all the answers are "out there" somewhere and you will be incredibly successful at failure.

2) Turn Marketing, Promotion and Sales Into a Huge Burden

Do you really wanna fall flat fast? Then start referring to marketing as a "necessary evil" quick. Realize that you don't have what it takes to "sell yourself" and reach more fans. In fact, there's probably a biological reason you hate promotion: you were born without the critical marketing gene that all those "gift of gab" people have. Therefore, you are destined to live a lifetime of hardship as you struggle with having to engage in the ugly chore of self-promotion.

3) Be Fearful of Being Perceived as a Greedy, Capitalist Pig

Paranoia will go a long way to helping you fall short of a thriving music career -- especially when it comes to earning money. Just know that every one of your fans is watching you and waiting to jump ship the second they smell any scent of capitalism. Therefore, if you make any sales pitches at all, they better be so low key as to be barely perceptible.

In fact, it would be best not to even make people aware that you have things for sale. Just wait till they come to you. If they're interested, they'll ask. And if you want to score extra points, when they do ask, tell them you left all your CDs and T-shirts at home.

4) Use a Lack of Time, Money and Connections as Your Biggest Excuse

Here's a surefire way to go down in flames. Have convenient scapegoats based on scarcity. Tell anyone who asks (as well as a lot of people who don't ask or care) how lousy your career is because of all the lack in your life. Frequently use phrases such as "There aren't enough hours in the day," "If I had that kind of money, I'd be a rock star too," and "It's not what you know, it's who you know." To spice things up, every now and then throw in an angry reference to "The man."

5) Market Yourself to the Faceless Masses Using Traditional Big Media

Why spend all that time dealing one on one with fans, when someday someone could just throw a bunch of money (you know, the funds you don't have enough of now) into a massive marketing campaign? Realize that it takes big bucks spent on radio promotion, retail placement, billboards, and paid display ads in national magazines to succeed. This mass media mindset is your ticket to success ... at hitting the fast track to failure.

Bonus tip: Never answer your email from fans, and rarely -- if ever -- log into your Facebook, MySpace or Twitter accounts. Better yet, don't even start these accounts.

6) Promote Yourself Sporadically and Only When It's Urgent

If you have a mailing list (and with sucky email delivery and open rates these days, why bother?), be sure the fans on your list don't hear from you very often. One of the best "road to ruin" marketing tactics is blasting your fans with urgent "come to my show" or "buy my new album now" messages when they haven't heard from you in months. Your ultimate goal is have fans read your promotions and go, "Who is this band again?"

7) Know That Everyone Owes You Something Simply Because You Exist

I've saved the best way to destroy your music career for last. Simply know that everyone will care as much about you and your music as you do. Understand that complete strangers will indeed listen to every note of your 70-minute concept album and read every word of your 10-page bio. Be sure to send long, in-depth emails and leave lengthy, rambling voice mail messages for the imbeciles who don't recognize your greatness. Also, be sure to insult anyone who doesn't get back to you within 10 minutes.

There you have it -- the top seven ways to ruin your music career.

So ... what are you waiting for? Now get out there and demote yourself!!!

-Bob

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John Mayer, Augmented Reality, Music & You

Ready for the next generation of computer interactivity? Say hello to Augmented Reality! And start thinking about how you might some day use it to promote your music.
Not sure what it is? Don't worry. It's only recently become a hot buzz word (or phrase), even though the term has been around since about 1992.

Here's the most basic way to describe it: Augmented Reality (AR) involves the combination of real-world, real-time activity with computer-generated elements. It's the merging of the real and virtual worlds.

If you watch pro football on TV, you are probably familiar with the yellow first down line that appears across the playing field on your screen. The field and the players are real. The yellow line is artificially created to "augment" your perception of what is happening during the game.

John Mayer made news last week when he released the first AR music video. If you think this is like those JibJab or dancing elves videos where you insert your face into a motion picture, think again. With those, you take a still picture of yourself that was taken in the past and insert it into a video that can be shared with others.

That can be a lot of fun, but Augmented Reality takes it a step further by inserting people into videos in real time using only a webcam and a simple physical "marker."

Here are the instructions from Mayer's web site:

1. To view this augmented reality, you must have the special Battle Studies icon. You can print this PDF (or open it on your mobile device).
2. Turn on your computer's sound and webcam and turn off any pop-up blockers.
3. Wait for the flash player to load (if prompted, authorize access to your webcam).
4. Make sure the icon on your screen and the image you are holding are completely lined up (and don't move the icon until you see John).
5. Enjoy the experience of augmented reality!

I haven't tried it myself yet, but apparently the live video captured through your webcam becomes part of Mayer's music video -- in real time. (Here's a video that shows a similar process.) Talk about interactive!

Honestly, I'm not sure yet how you go about creating an AR video on an indie budget, or even who offers this service yet. But I wanted to at least bring this technology to your attention.

Here are a few other articles on the topic:

John Mayer’s Augmented Reality Video Puts Fans in Picture

Lost Valentinos Augmented Reality Music Video

How Augmented Reality Works

Wikipedia's Augmented reality page

Augmented reality's time is coming thanks to smarter smartphones

-Bob

The Mike Doughty Guide to Interactive Live Shows

I was all set to enjoy a mellow Sunday night at home, when Pooki got a call last night. It was her son, Matt, letting her know that Mike Doughty was about to play at the Duck Room.

Doughty was the creative force behind the band Soul Coughing (signed to Warner Bros) in the 1990s. In 2004, he became a touring solo act and soon started releasing albums on Dave Matthews' ATO label.

We've become big fans of his gravelly, low-pitched, half-sung, half-spoken vocal style -- therefore, the mellow Sunday night plans quickly went out the window. And I'm glad they did.

It was an intimate show with perhaps a couple hundred people comfortably squeezed into the Duck Room basement bar. Doughty and his long-time touring partner Andrew Livingston put on a good, stripped-down show.

But here's the thing I really thought was cool -- something I've never seen a performing musician do before ...

Mike Doughty is a smart guy with quick wit who knows how to banter with a crowd. But instead of simply winging it or relying on well-worn stories, he asks for questions from the audience.

But most of these questions aren't shouted out. He asks people to write them down on slips of paper he provides and to throw them into a jar on the stage. Every two or three songs, Doughty and Livingston take turns reading a short stack of questions and answering them rapid fire.

The Q&A segments were very insighful and entertaining -- and made for a lot of funny moments. What a great way to personalize each live show (and he has a lot of them on this current tour with nearly one every night in a different city).

Dozens of questions were read and answered last night. How to you think the fans who submitted them felt about playing a small part in the show? You can bet they told their friends about it and are now more likely to spread Doughty's music to even more people.

Another smart thing he does is record each live show and make it available that night on CDs for anyone who wants to go home with it.

That's how you involve your fans and make music personal -- as it should be!

-Bob

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Made-To-Stick Music Marketing

Everybody these days wants to create buzz. They want to grab people's attention on a large scale. And they want to do it sooner rather than later.

Therefore, everyone wants to know the secret steps they can take to ensure their marketing idea sticks -- that it gains traction and reaches the people who need to hear it the most.

A good lesson on this topic comes from musician Paul Hipp. Check out his YouTube music video called "We're Number 37" -- which, as of this writing, has nearly a half million views.


It's a rockin' original song that tackles the current health care reform debate in the US with a decidedly liberal slant. And it's been seen by a LOT of people.

You may think you know where I'm going with this, but I guarantee there's an unexpected twist coming. So stay with me here ...

If I were to ask you why this song has been watched by so many people, you'd probably say because it's a decent tune about a timely issue. Plus, it features some clever editing and funny moments throughout -- which makes it more likely to be enjoyed and passed on by those who watch it.

Correct! You can't go wrong with songs about current events, especially when they are done in a creative way that elicits a reaction from people who are exposed to it.

But here's the thing ...

This is not the only music video Paul Hipp has posted. He has several others, most of which also deal with current events from a liberal perspective. And those have respectable numbers -- from 1,000 to 18,000 views each. But they pale in comparison to the half million views that "We're Number 37" has earned.

Here are three lessons we can learn from this:

1) You have to throw a LOT of stuff out there to find something that sticks. Sure, some people hit on something big right out of the starting gate, but that's rare. The usual pattern with artists who create popular viral videos (or songs, blog posts, ideas, etc) is a history of trial and error.

The more active you are in creating a volume of content to share with your audience, the greater your odds of producing something that will spread on a larger scale. So stay busy creating new stuff!

2) Regular output hones your craft. "We're Number 37" is Paul Hipp's 18th and newest video. Look through his previous clips and you can see an evolution. His most popular video is his best one, because he learned by creating all the ones that came before it.

Learn as you promote yourself. Consider it a living, breathing classroom.

3) Being bold and specific helps. "We're Number 37" is not a generic rockabilly song. It's about health care reform -- a polarizing topic being hotly debated these days -- and Paul makes it clear where he stands on the issue.

Don't be afraid to take a stand or directly appeal to a specific slice of the population with your art.

Another quick example comes from Maria Andros, who has posted 47 YouTube videos on social media marketing and other topics. Most of her videos have between 50 and 25,000 views each. Not bad.

But one stands out at 151,000-plus views. The title? "How to Get Rid of a MIGRAINE Headache."

Who knew? I'm sure she didn't.

So ... Throw a lot of stuff out there, hone your craft as you go, and don't be afraid to be bold and specific!

-Bob

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