Self Sufficient Musician

There is a right answer to that question — what you must say if you are to become a Self Sufficient Musician.

The answer: “I am.  I am my biggest fan.”

Well, and just saying it isn’t enough, obviously.  You must believe it.  I once read Steven Tyler of Aerosmith saying “You think you’re my biggest fan?  No, you’re wrong.  I am my biggest fan.”

Now, I am not saying that you have to be a narcissist.  There is a fine line between egomaniac and loving your own work.

And there are at least three reasons why this is required for your success in music business:

1. You will lack the confidence required to promote your work.  People are always attracted to confidence.  How can you project confidence, if you yourself don’t feel that your work is any good?  You’ll feel like a phony, a pretender, always afraid that someone somewhere is going to uncover the truth and reveal that you’re actually not as good as you say you are.  Don’t think that you can hide such a fear.  People can smell it.
2. You will not be able to withstand rejections. Because you don’t believe in your work, you’ll base the worth of your work on other people’s opinions.  And you’ll be crushed when you’re rejected.  Even Mozart wasn’t loved by everyone.
3. You can’t understand those who love your work.  As a Self Sufficient Musician, your job is to find others who love your work — your fans.  It’s easy if you are your own fan, because you figure out how to promote to yourself.  Promote where you hang out and promote in a way it speaks to you if you were a music enthusiast in search of new music.  Then like-minded people will get attracted to your work.  This understanding is so crucial — it can make or break a career!

If you are not already your own fan, you can develop your craft so that you can fall in love with your own work.

• Practice and master your craft, whether it’s plaing instruments, singing, or composing.  If your practice isn’t building your ocnfidence, then you aren’t practicing correctly!
• Develop a uniqueness.  When you know that few others in the world are doing what you’re doing, it becomes much easier to find worth in your work.
• Meet a need.  From church to wedding to dance floors, music often serves specific functions in our lives.  Find a need — especially good if it was your own need — that you can meet with your music, and meet it very well.  The usefulness of your music helps establish your music’s value to yourself.

Before you start selling your music to others, make sure that you yourself are sold on it.  That’s the first step to your success.

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