beyond creating music. Or, was the predicable path established long ago by the music in-
dustry a better way because of its predictability? That’s a question each musician must
answer for themselves. I suppose there are no right or wrong answers. It depends on a
solo artist’s or band’s personal definition of success, their goals and drive. It rings back to
the Tubes and “What do you want from life?”
Advice From the Trenches
During the course of writing this book, I had the opportunity to interview several working
professional musicians. Some are in bands. Others are solo acts. They run the gamut of
musical genres. Here are some of the thoughts and advice they shared about starting and
developing a career in music.
“I would say learning as much of the business end of things as possible. You are ulti-
mately building a brand, your brand. I would get educated in both the music and music
business sides of the industry. Whether you want to be a studio musician or songwriter
for other musicians or just become a hired gun. Read every book possible about the sub-
ject, but don’t get just book smart get street smart. And what I mean by that is there is no
better way to get out there and do the things that you need to do by just doing them in a
real world setting, your world.
That’s how I learned every aspect of the music industry was by wearing those differ-
ent hats. I didn’t have the luxury of having a major record label marketing department
coordinating my marketing plan for my release that was me. I also did not have the lux-
ury of hiring a top publicist to generate press about my music and my story that was also
me. Do you see the ongoing theme here?