Coaching Videos
Your Biggest Obstacle To Achieving Success In Your Music Business
What do you think your biggest obstacle to making a successful living as a musician is? Some of the common reasons I hear are things like: “It's the pandemic. It's the economy. It's the government. It's my job that doesn't pay me enough. It's my boss. It's the music industry. It's Spotify. It's the Facebook algorithm. It's my partner being demanding. It's my family commitments chewing up all my time.”
Where Are You Settling For “Good Enough” In Your Life?
We're often afraid to go for the “great” because we’re reluctant to leave the guaranteed comfort of the “good.” It can be hard to step out into the unknown when what we have is comfortable and familiar, and we’re not guaranteed either of those things in moving forward. Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great, because the good never quite pays off the same way.
Is Your Intuition Keeping You Stuck?
A lot of the time we rely on our intuition. We do what “feels” right and we avoid doing things that don't feel right. We think if it feels right, it must be the right thing to do. But when it comes to achieving our goals, often the reason we get stuck and don't make progress is because we rely on our intuition.
You're Not Selling Music; You're Selling An Experience
How to keep your audience coming back to your gigs and live streams again and again, sell more albums and merch, and make a full-time living from your music... GUARANTEED!
Age Is An Asset, Not An Obstacle, To Your Music Success
Music Business Myth Busters #28: If you haven't made it by the time you're 30, you'll never make it. Do you feel like you've missed your opportunity to have a music career because you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or even your 60s? Do your friends and family tell you you're being unrealistic about having a music career, and that it's time to grow up and get a real job?
How Image & Branding Make Your Music's First Impression
Music Business Myth Busters - Episode 11: Your Music Speaks For Itself. The first exposure most people will have to us as artists is not listening to our music. It will be an image, a story or a written description. So your music doesn't get the chance to speak for itself; you have to speak for it. People won't even get to your music unless your story, image, or branding captures them first.
Social Media Followers Are Not The Same As Fans
A lot of musicians conflate subscribers and followers with fans. A follower is not necessarily a fan. Don't make the mistake of thinking that all of your social media followers are die-hard fans of your music. Just because someone has liked your Facebook Page doesn't mean they're going to engage with your posts or, even more importantly, buy your music and your merch, come to your gigs, or support your crowdfunding campaigns.
Why Your Fans Want Connection, Not Just Music
This myth is one of the more insidious ones because it's hiding in plain sight. It masquerades as passion and so most musicians don't recognise it. We think we're entitled to something just because we create art. The world doesn't owe you something just because you're talented, because you can sing or write songs or play an instrument. So what? There are millions of people who can do that.
Why A Bigger Audience Doesn't Mean Better Music Sales
For decades we've been brainwashed into thinking that a successful music career looks like what the megastar mainstream artists are doing. We see that they have hundreds of thousands or millions of fans, they sell millions of albums, and get millions of streams of their songs, and we think that's what the goal post is; we need a huge audience and that everyone should love our music. This is an obsolete model of success. It's a result of the way record labels promoted artists.
The Truth Behind Record Deals & Real Music Success
98% of independent musicians that do this think it's their surefire ticket to fame and fortune in the music business. They sell their souls only to be enslaved, exploited, ripped off, rejected, and even robbed of their music.
Why Talent Isn't Enough For Indie Music Success
The vast majority of independent musicians seem to think that in order to succeed they just need to be the best musician they can be and hone their craft. The assumption is that if you just make amazing music, the money will automatically take care of itself. This is one of the fundamental myths and mindsets holding independent musicians back from success. It's not the reality of the new music business.
Are you using an old map to navigate the New Music Business?
A lot of musicians are using an old, outdated map of what a successful music career looks like. The territory of the music business has changed enormously over the last few years. But they're trying to navigate the New Music Business with the equivalent of a street directory or a map that's 10 or 20 or 30 years old, instead of using something more up-to-date like Google Maps or GPS.
Is your music career strategy to try to win the lottery?
Too often as artists, we look at things like getting signed to a major record label, getting a lucrative sync licensing deal from getting one of our songs in a movie or a TV show, getting a support slot as an opening act for a massively successful artist or band, having our song included in a popular Spotify playlist, or having our song get into the Top 40 as being our ticket to success in the music business.
The Key Mindset Shift To Make More Money From Your Music
There’s an illusion that holds 90% of musicians back from ever building their fanbase, making more money from their music, and taking their career to the next level. Have you been seduced by this without realising it?
The hidden danger of the DIY mindset
We think that our success with building our fanbase and making more money from our music all comes down to how much we do and what we're doing, and that's true to a large extent. But the thing we often overlook is that a major part of our success comes down to having an environment that supports us to be successful, and part of that environment is made up of the people in your life.
How To Make More Music, More Money & More Fan Impact
There's an idea that can help you make more music, and make music that makes more of an impact on your fans, save you time and massive amounts of money, and ultimately make you more money from your music. It's an approach to product development that comes from the entrepreneurial world.
Working Smarter, Not Harder, To Achieve Music Success
I'd like to give you some concepts that can help you make the biggest difference in the shortest amount of time in your music career. The key is not necessarily working harder, it's working smarter. If you're working hard on the wrong things or on things that aren't going to make a tangible difference in your music career, you're just going to keep spinning your wheels.
What Does It Take To Make A Living As A Musician Now?
If you've struggled to get the success you've dreamed of in your music career, you might be wondering, “What does it actually take to make a living as a musician in the New Music Business?” The answer is deceptively simple: fans. No business can survive let alone thrive without customers. Your fans are the lifeblood of your music business; they are your customers. No matter how great your music is, without fans, you don't have a viable music business.