Self Sufficient Musician

I’m sure we’ve all done it: playing to an empty house. And my story is probably a familiar one, if not mirroring your own.

Back when I was performing as a solo singer/songwriter, this is what happened all the time.  I was getting whatever gigs that I could get, thinking that a little exposure is better than no exposure.  And I was counting on the club or the coffeehouse to have a “house crowd” that I could play to, because while I always had friends, the kind of people I associated with were seldom bar patrons or live music enthusiasts.  But the venue was counting on the acts to bring in the crowd — thus, both parties looking to the other to produce the audience.

On another level, I knew that playing with an acoustic guitar by myself, I was never that good.  While I could write songs that sounded good with just an acoustic guitar, it sounded so incomplete and boring to my mind.  And my singing isn’t my strongest suit — I would never impress anybody with my vocal= prowess alone.  I knew that my strength was in songwriting and arranging and without a band to bring out the intricacies of my songs, my performance was flat. 

The whole time I was doing this, my wife kept shaking her head saying “this is not you.  It’s not you.” I took that to mean that she didn’t think I should pursue music, since that was the only way I knew to pursue it back then.  Stung at the disapproval, I would argue with her about how I need music to survive, like fish needs water.  I developed the act to a point of having a rhythm section play with me, but the member squirmishes really did me in, and when I let go of the drummer and the singer I brought in to take over vocals disappeared, I couldn’t go on.

Years later, when I developed the skills to put together web sites, I used it to offer my production and film scoring services.  And I used my web site as my brochure, letting prospects listen to my work online.  I did get gigs that way — I’m sure that my professional looking web site helped me get those gigs.

One Strategy Does Not Fit All

Some musicians say to play all and every gig you can get, even those empty houses.  Playing to 3 people or even just the bartender is better than not playing at all.

That’s true for some musicians, but not all.

That’s true for musicians who’s starting out and who needs the experience of playing out.  It’s also true if you really thrive in the night scene — if you are a bar/club patron yourself, if you frequent coffeehouses even when you’re not playing and listen to live acts.  In the other words, you feel home in that environment.  Or you know in your heart that this strategy is the best way for yourself, and your attitude is such that you can pour your all into every performance, even when there’s nobody there to listen to it.

For others, this is what I learned: if you’re not excited about being there, what little audience you may have certainly feel your unexcitement.  They will not be impressed.  If you’re not enjoying yourself, then how can you expect your audience to enjoy you?  Worse, continuing to play music in ways you don’t enjoy will lead to resentments toward your very own passion and sooner or later you’ll burn out.

On a related note, I heard of advises that say go to MySpace and list up as many “friends” as you can.  This strategy worked for some acts very well — it worked amazingly for Your Favorite Enemies.  But that takes a lot of time, commitment, and diligence — once again, if you really aren’t enjoying it and forcing yourself to do it, then you’re heading for burn out.

What Do You Enjoy?

The reason these strategies don’t work for everyone is because it really doesn’t take into account your own personal strengths, styles and preferences.  Music is a labor of love — but which part, exactly, is the part you love the most?  Which area is your strength?  You see, in order to win fans, you need to show your best sides.  The aspect of you that you feel most comfortable with, excited about, or proud of.  Are you a live act through and through, thriving in the heat of the moment of performance?  Then by all means, get out and play all the gigs you can.  Or are you more of a tunesmith, carefully marrying the right words to right music to tell stories?  Then you are a songwriter — do you even care to perform your songs yourself, or would you rather just write and write?  Or maybe you are a teacher — you’re most turned on by showing something to your students, seeing the spark go inside their heads when they get it?

Whatever it is that you love about making music, you need to identify and focus on that.  Give yourself permission to disregard all other good advises, because while they may have worked for others, they will not work for you.  The rule of thumb is this: the place where your enjoyment and your strength meet is where you need to be.  If you enjoy singing but if you know in your heart that you’re not exceptional, then don’t pursue your career in a way you have to depend on your vocal performance, and write the kinds of songs that still sound good without a virtuoso singer singing it.  On the other hand, if people tell you you’re a terrific guitar player, but you really don’t feel all that passionate about guitar playing — then go easy on that aspect, too.  The sweet spot lies in the place where you know you love it and you’re good at it.

For me, my love and passion lie in songwriting, arranging, producing and coaching.  I love performing, singing, and playing the guitar, but those are not my strongest suits — they still need further development before I can start relying on them.  Also, I knew that my songs were complex enough where unless I assemble a top notch band, they really can’t live up to their full potential in a live setting.  So for me, focusing on writing and recording and presenting it online (because I enjoy and am good at putting together web sites) is the right strategy.  It may take longer than some other strategies, but I don’t care — I just enjoy pursuing music this way so much that I can see myself doing it for the long haul.

Develop Your Own Plan

Whatever worked in the past for other artists may or may not work for you, because they are not you.  You will do better by researching various approaches, particularly those by artists whose styles and careers are similar to you or what you want to do.  But ultimately, this is all up to you.  You have to become a pioneer, the one who has to figure out the path for yourself.

But there’s really no need to think too hard about it.  Just figure out the things you love and you know you’re good at.  If you are honest with yourself, it shouldn’t be hard to find out what they are.  Once you identify your sweet spot, then it’s time to get creative — how can you do that, and promote yourself?  What you need to do is to do what you love and let others experience it.  It’s that simple.

So stop slaving yourself away at approaches that are really taxing your soul, robbing the joy out of the very thing you love to do the most.  One method does not fit all, but if you get creative, you can concoct your own unique method of doing what you love and letting people experience it.  Your audience will feel you joy and excitement, and you can sustain that approach because it fulfills you, too.  Everybody wins.

Do You Need Help?

All that said, it’s often hard to figure all this out by yourself.  It took me years myself — where a coach/mentor can really help you formulate your own strategy in a much shorter time frame.  If you keep hitting a wall with your musical pursuits, you can talk to me, and together we’ll figure out where your sweet spot is and what approaches have the maximum chance of you achieving a long-term, sustainable success.

Or you may just be in need of a more fundamental overhaul — to really build from the ground up the skills it takes to build a successful career in the music industry.  If so, I recommend you check out Tom Hess’ Music Career Mentoring Program.  This comprehensive two-year course will shape you up in all aspects — your mindset, goal setting, time management, establishing authority, and more.

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