Earlier this year I had one of the best single months financially I’ve had in my adult life.  Multiple things were firing on all cylinders.  I got a big fat licensing check.  My business was rocking. I was making good money from performing live.  Money from a few different endeavors I invested in started to come in. Things were going so well that I decided on a whim to take my girlfriend on vacation for a week in the Caribbean.  We spent the week surfing, eating out, drinking beer, watching movies, reading and relaxing.  It was a magical week.  One of the best weeks I’ve had in a long time. Maybe ever. You ever have a week like that? Where everything just seems to line up.

The best thing about this week was I felt like it was well deserved since I had spent several months, and really several years, leading up to this and planting all the seeds that came to fruition.  I didn’t just go drink beer on a beach.  I worked really hard and then went and drank beer on a beach.    There’s a distinct difference in feeling between the two.  The latter being much more rewarding.

In contrast to earlier this year, last month was one of the slowest months I’ve had in a long time.  By this point, I’m used to the ups and downs and the highs and lows of being a self-employed musician/entrepreneur.  It comes with the territory. In fact, I’ve been through this cycle of things going up and down so long, that it no longer really fazes me the way it used to.  Of course, I prefer it when things are going “well”.  I’d prefer to have more money than less.  I’d prefer to sell more songs than fewer songs.  I prefer being up to being down.  But these ups and downs no longer really stress me out anymore, at least not nearly as much.  I don’t even look at “down” periods anymore as failing.  It’s just part of the cycle of life.

I haven’t had a boss in ten years.  I’m used to dealing with the stress and uncertainty of being a self-employed musician at this point.  However, it used to really get to me.  I used to sort of freak out and panic a little (ok, a lot) whenever things took a turn for the worse.  It took me years to build up enough confidence in myself and my endeavors to be able to relax and ride out the down periods.  I had to live through the periods of things going up and then down and then up again, enough times, to realize that it’s really just the nature of life.  Especially for the self-employed among us.  Things fluctuate.

So, I think one of the first steps to dealing with “failure” in life is to step back and really think about what it means to “fail”.  Last month was really slow in terms of both licensing music and my businesses.  Through some sort of strange confluence of cosmic events, everything just seemed to slow down last month.  Interestingly, I went back and looked at my records, and last June more or less the same thing happened.  So, this could just be a seasonal thing. Or perhaps the warmer weather makes me a bit less motivated.  Either way, when things slow down, for whatever reason, it gets my attention.  But I don’t panic anymore, and I don’t take it personally.

After all, did I “fail” because I had a month that was slower than previous months?  Of course not, after all I didn’t make nothing.  I still was able to pay my bills.  I just wasn’t as successful as other periods.  Both success and failure are relative.

The other thing to realize, is that even when you do “fail”, by your own standards, it’s still just a stepping stone to future success, if you keep moving forward.  Like I said, the first part of the year was one of the best periods I’ve had in business and music, and just things in general, in a long time.  But this “success” was really the result of having lived through a lot of periods of “failing”.  I had to try a lot of different things and fail many times in the process, in order to arrive at what worked.  You have to “fail”, in order to succeed.  In fact, you could really just look at your temporary failures as a part of the larger process that leads to success.

None of us are hitting home runs 100 percent of the time.  We all have ups and downs in life.  Stay strong during the periods where you feel like you’re “failing” and stay humble and grateful during the periods you feel like you’re on top.

In the past, whenever things weren’t going the way I wanted and I would start to get stressed, I would imagine a time where I had the financial stability I craved and the external success I imagined I was working towards.  Only then, I thought, would I be able to experience the sort of mental and emotional stability I thought having more money would bring me.  And don’t get me wrong, having more money does bring a sense of relief and a sense of freedom, especially if you’ve been stressed about not having enough.

However, the real power, I would eventually learn, isn’t so much in trying to control the size of my bank account.  The real power is in controlling my reaction to the events that occur on a day to day, week to week and month to month basis that are outside my control. After all, this is the only thing we can really control.
Because, at the end of the day, we can’t entirely control our external reality.  Sometimes things just happen, things outside of our control that effect both our bottom line and our sense of how “successful” we feel.  Sometimes we lose clients.  Sometimes we lose partners.  Sometimes opportunities come and go.  Sometimes, despite our best efforts, things don’t go the way we want them to.

There are few things you can always count on in life.  But you can always count on yourself.
​
Stay calm and keep hustling.
 
 
 

There are a lot of different niches within the niche of music licensing.  There’s “stock” music, “production” music, artist music, trailer music, ad music, video game music and more.   How do you know where to start?  What kind of music should you be writing if you’re new to licensing?

When you’re first starting out, if you’re not writing music for a specific person or a specific project, you’ll most likely just be writing the kind of music you’re inspired to write and the styles of music you’re good at.  That’s how I started.  I wrote a batch of pop/rock songs and sent them to the person who ended up becoming my publisher.  Of the initial batch of four songs I wrote, my publisher loved one of them.  I signed one track, she pitched it to a TV Show and within about three weeks I landed my first placement.

Over time, as I figured out the needs of my publisher’s clients, I was able to write more and more music that worked for the places and projects my publisher pitched to.  A lot of the songs I wrote were simply songs that I was inspired to write, that I intuitively felt would work.  Other songs were songs that I wrote “on spec”.  Meaning my publisher would give me specific assignments and specific music requests, based on what she needed and thought I would be a good fit for, that I would create music for specifically. 

Over the years, I’ve written Goth Rock, Punk Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Christmas Music, Folk Music, Ad Music and more, all on spec.  A lot of these tracks have gone on to be placed, and many of them are still being licensed frequently.  By anticipating the needs of publishers and supervisors and creating music that you know they are specifically looking for, you increase the odds of your music being used substantially.  If you just write a song you just feel like writing, and then pitch it after the fact, you may or may not find a home for it, depending on a wide range of factors, like the style of the song, the subject matter, the mood of the song and of course, the needs of those you’re pitching music to.

When you write music on spec, you’ll know that there’s an actual need for the kind of music you’re writing.  Right off the bat, your likelihood of licensing your music goes up, because there’s an actual need and demand for the music you’re writing.  You’re not just shooting in the dark. When you’re not writing for a specific project, it’s more of a crap-shoot in terms of if and when the music ends up being synced.  You can of course anticipate the general types of situations and themes that tend to come up within the context of licensing, but how these songs end up being used is anyone’s guess.

These days, I write a lot of music.  I write music almost every day.  I write music that I feel like writing and I’m inspired to write, and I also write music for specific projects, specific publishers and so on, whenever I’m asked to write something that’s in my wheelhouse.  I like the challenge of being given a specific theme, style or topic and then trying to get inspired around a specific idea.  It’s different than they way my creative process tends to work by default.

Normally, when I sit down to write a song, I pick up my guitar and start strumming a few chords.  Once I lock into a chord progression I like, normally I’ll start developing a melody to fit the chord progression I’ve come up with.  Then, after I’ve established a chord progression and melody, if it’s a vocal song, the lyrics will be the last to come.  Usually the lyric is the most challenging part for me.  I’ll typically just write a few “dummy” lyrics that work rhythmically, and then once I figure out what the song is actually about, I’ll start crafting what hopefully, in the end is a poetic and impactful lyric.

When I’m given a specific topic and/or title for a song, it changes the creative process substantially.  Instead of embarking on a journey of discovering what a song is about, and letting the idea and lyrics come to me, after the music is written, I’m starting with a theme and/or lyric suggestion and then writing music to fit that.  It’s more or less turning the way I tend to write songs on its head.  It’s not necessarily good or bad, it’s just different.  The challenge is making sure these songs don’t sound forced or contrived.
 
Here’s an example of a song I just finished that I wrote on spec for my publisher.  This song was written based on a conversation my publisher had with my producer and I regarding the types of songs I’ve been placing the most through her, and the types of songs she needs going forward.  It’s a good idea to touch base with the publishers and libraries you write music for, every few months or so, and try to get a feel for their needs, what’s working, what’s not working and so on.

Here were the notes from the call, that we based the following song on:
​
"I'm looking for songs from Aaron that have to do with first love, first date, spark of romance, but not love yet." 
 
"Something About You - that would be a good working title. Perfect first date song. Have him write a song called Something About You.  People are still strangers wanting to get to know each other. First spark. Forward motion, earthy, acoustic, like Headed Home." 
 
"Something good for Hallmark, Valentine's Day, any new romance or relationship." 
 
So, based on this conversation, and the notes we had, I got to work writing a song called “Something About You”.   This particular song took me a little longer to write than what’s usual for me.  I spent a good week or so fleshing out the chords and lyrics.   I felt a bit stumped at first, but it ended up being one of my favorite, recent songs of mine. 

It’s a song I probably would have never written had I not been given the “assignment”.  That’s the fun of writing music on spec, you end up with music in your catalog you never would have created had you been left to your own devices.  Sometimes the results are less than spectacular and other times you end up surprising yourself, by writing a song you never knew you had in you.

Without further adieu, here’s my latest track, “Something About You”.  We just finished this one a few days ago, so no word yet on where it will be used.  This track, as usual, was produced and engineered by Gary Gray, and also features harmony vocals by Chicago based musician “MJ”.

​The year was 1989.  I was a Sophomore in High School, 15 years old, attending “The Chicago Academy For The Arts”.  The Chicago Academy For The Arts is Chicago’s version of New York’s Fame.  An arts high school where all the students who attend, major in one of four things;  Visual Art, Dance, Theater or Music.  I went as a music major and it was a magical year for me that in many ways helped shape the person I would become.

In the mornings at the Academy we took our core required classes.  English, History, Math and so on.  Then, we would break for lunch.  It was an “open campus”, so we were allowed to leave the campus for an hour to eat where ever we wanted, which was extremely liberating to my 15 year old self.  Then, we would all return and spend the rest of the day taking classes in our chosen field of study.  I had guitar lessons, music theory classes, ear training classes and so on.  It was an incredibly inspiring and informative year. ​

When I was at the Academy, I became friends with someone who would become my first songwriting partner, and ultimately a life-long friend, Mike Malone, or as his friends refer to him, MJ.  MJ and I would spend countless weekends together making music, during the one year I attended the Chicago Academy For The Arts and for a couple years after.  We would hole ourselves up in MJ’s home studio for the weekend and stay up until the wee hours of the morning working on music together.  We wrote and collaborated on dozens of songs during this year.

These songwriting weekends were magical times.  Music was still relatively new to me at that point. I had only been playing guitar a few years and I was brand new to songwriting.  I was filled with a sense of wonder and awe about music that perhaps only someone who had recently discovered music can feel.  This was long before the days of worrying about how to make money from music and long before the days of trying to write specific styles that have the greatest chance of “commercial success” and so on.  These songwriting weekends were simply about making music for the sheer joy of making music.  Nothing else.  Sure, we would sometimes fantasize about how rich and famous we would one day become, but ultimately, we were just two friends getting together to share our passion for music in the purest way possible.

After my sophomore year in High School I chose to attend my local public High School where I was living in Kanakee, IL.  You see, I lived about 50 miles south of Chicago and as much as I loved attending the Chicago Academy for the Arts, I had grown tired of getting up at 5 am to get ready for the commute, getting home around 5 PM, or later, then proceeding to study and practice until bed time, go to bed and then get up and do it all over again.  As much as I loved the experience, it was also pretty grueling. That, and I didn’t have any friends in the town where I actually lived, since I wasn’t attending school there. My family and I had just relocated to Kankakee, from Florida where I lived previously. I wanted to get to know people locally and finish my high school years making friends in the town I lived in.

So, I made the difficult decision of deciding to switch schools and spent the next two years attending Kankakee High School.  Ultimately it was a good decision and I ended up forming a lot of great friendships over the next couple years in Kankakee. I also continued to study and play music locally.  But I missed going to the Academy and even would have dreams of being back there for the next year or so. It made that big of an impact on me.

MJ and I kept in touch and we kept collaborating as often as we could for the next couple years.  Then, after High School, I went to Boston to attend Berklee and we ended up drifting apart for a number of years.  Quite a few.  A good decade or so.  We would occasionally call to say hi and catch up, but we didn’t really start hanging out again regularly until around 2006 or so.  MJ had gotten married and had a child.  I had lived in a few different areas over the years and by the time I resettled in Chicago again, in 2000, after having spent time in Boston and southern Illinois, I think we were just in different places in our lives.

MJ and I have recently started writing and collaborating on music together for the first time in 30 years.  Of course, MJ, has performed on many of my songs over the last few years, including on “hits” (to me) like “Headed Home”, "Falling Down", “Where We Were” and “Nobody Knows Us”, all of which have been licensed repeatedly.  But this is the first time in three decades that we’ve been writing music together and we’re preparing to release an EP together in the Fall.  We’re both excited to be working on music together again, and as a result of our collaboration we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, in the studio and just hanging out as friends.

​My collaboration with my friend MJ has really gotten me thinking about the many friendships and relationships I’ve formed over the years as a result of playing music.  In many ways, when I reflect back over the last couple decades, I feel like these friendships and connections with people have really been the greatest gift music has given me. 

Throughout both my adolescent and adult life, music has been the catalyst the has allowed me to form dozens of friendships and relationships with other musicians and people in the industry.  Some of the friendships have lasted for a brief period of time, while we were performing or working together, others have lasted many years, and others, like my friendship with MJ, have come in and out of my life at different points.
​ 
But music, consistently, has been the thing that gets me out of the house and motivates me to get out there and “make things happen”.  Whether it’s the desire to get a band together, the desire to go into the studio and record new music, or even something as simple as going to play at an open mic, music has consistently been the magnet that has attracted many of my closest friendships and relationships over the years.

As cliché as it sounds, life really is about the journey and not any particular destination. A big part of what makes a journey so enjoyable are the people we meet and connect with along the way. But the catch is, it’s hard to embark on a journey if you don’t have a specific destination in mind.  So, set your sights high, and go for your dreams.  Just don’t forget to enjoy and embrace the journey along the way.  Because, chances are, when you look back on your life, from a future vantage point, it will be the journey you took to get to your desired destination and the people you met along the way that you cherish the most.  Even the challenges and obstacles you overcome will be appreciated, if you overcome them with the right people.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes, by Freud, which is:

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

Musically Yours,
​Aaron Davison

Speaking of the EP I’m working on with my friend MJ, here’s one of the tracks that will be featured on our upcoming EP.  We’re calling our project "Zen Folks".  Our music consists of spiritually themed lyrics with elements of folk, rock, new age music and more.

Listen to our first track, "Slip Away (North Light)" here.

Follow me on Spotify and hear our full EP when it's released.

Back in December of 2017 my girlfriend of about two and half years, and I broke up, rather abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly. I’ll never forget that day.  I went to a café a few blocks away from our apartment for a couple hours so she could move her things out of the apartment we were sharing together.  I sat in a state of shock alone, drinking a cappuccino, as waves of grief, confusion, sadness and a tiny bit of relief that months of arguing had come to an end, washed over me.

I got a message from my now ex saying she was sorry things didn’t work out and that all her things were out of my place and that it was “safe” to go back.  I went back to my place and opened the door to a now half empty apartment.  A row of empty clothes hangers lined half of the closet, where a few hours earlier my girlfriend’s clothes were.  All of her trinkets, photos and “girly” things that she spent months decorating our apartment with were now gone.  There was a palpable sense of loneliness in the air, in my now sparsely decorated apartment. 

As I sat on my un-made bed, my acoustic guitar laid next to me, out of its case.  I picked up my guitar and I played with a sense of intensity and purpose that I hadn’t felt in years.  I played guitar as if my sanity and emotional well being depended on it.  I played for about four to five hours straight.  The more I played the better I felt.  It felt as if I was “exhaling” my grief with each note I played.  The phrases and ideas I played that night felt imbued with a sense of meaning and power I hadn’t felt in a long time.  It’s hard to put into words exactly.  All I know is by the end of the night, I had a strange sense of peace about things.  I wasn’t over the breakup obviously, but I went to bed with a knowing that I would get through this experience and that, as they say, “this too shall pass”.

Over the next few months, I returned to playing music with a vengeance.  I regularly practiced guitar for several hours each day.  Something I hadn’t done in many years.  I played out every chance I could and developed a tangible sense of momentum, not just with songwriting, which I had never abandoned, but with my guitar playing and overall musicianship.  This sense of progress and forward movement really helped me get through the next few months.  It gave me something to focus on and channel my energy towards.  It kept me busy and occupied.  Whenever I had a free moment, or a feeling of boredom or loneliness, I would pick up my guitar and get lost in hours of improvisation and practice. 

The great thing about music, is that it will never leave you.  It’s there in the good times.  It’s there in the bad times.  No matter where you are in life, or what you’re going through, if you’ve been blessed with a passion and gift of playing music, it’s always there. 

About six months after my ex and I broke up, I met my now girlfriend, Shantal, who is hands down, without question, the most stunning and beautiful woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending my time with.  As my good friend Francisco always says, “Life has a funny way of working itself out”.

John Mayer is one of my favorite contemporary artists.  He’s both an amazing guitarist and songwriter.  He writes great, catchy pop songs and also has the ability play long, extended, improvised guitar solos with “The Dead & Company”.  He’s also really funny, witty and I’m going to say it, pretty damn handsome.  It’s true, I have a bit of a man crush on John Mayer.

Here’s John Mayer on a recent podcast explaining how whenever things are difficult in his life he always returns to his love of music.  He describes playing the guitar as “hammering out the dents” in his psyche. I love that description.

Whether it’s getting through a break up, making sense of the world around us, or simply celebrating the good times, music and our passion for music has the ability to help us transcend the ups and downs we go through in life.  Music has the power to both save our lives and help save the lives of others. 

Here’s a song I wrote during my months as a single man in early 2018, about my ex-girlfriend.  This one, as always, was produced by Gary Gray.  We just signed this one to a publishing/licensing deal a few days ago.

I just finished a new song called “Breath Divine”, which I’ll be sharing below.  It’s one of the more personal, introspective songs I’ve written in quite awhile.  It’s about, you could say, the search for divinity, the search for something pure, something beyond the day to day monotony of life.  Perhaps you could say it’s about the place “just beyond”.

I’m really excited about this song because I feel like I captured, or at least got a little closer to capturing, “that place” music has the potential to take you to.  I put “that place” in quotes because I can’t fully put into words what I’m trying to say.  I think that’s sort of the point of music, it allows you to express emotions and feelings that are beyond words and language.  Music, you could say, transcends language. 

It reminds me of a scene in the documentary about the band Phish called “Bittersweet Motel”.  A Phish fan was asked why he goes to see Phish and prefers to see them sober and responds, “There’s less restriction to “that place” you need to go to appreciate music”.  The interviewer asks, “What’s the place?”.   The Phish fan responds, “The place? It’s in your soul.  That place”.  

​Music takes you to "that place". As comical as this scene was to me when I first saw it, that about sums it up as well as I could.  Music takes you to “that place” in your soul.

I spend a lot of time writing about and doing courses and podcasts about things like licensing, music streaming and music marketing. I tend to focus on how to make money from the music we create.  I plan to continue doing this, because getting our music out into the world and marketing our music services a very practical, necessary purpose.  We need, as professional musicians, to learn ways to monetize and promote our music.  This is the practical and realistic side of being a musician.  We’ve got to pay those bills!

I have a real passion for sharing what I’ve learned about the music business and helping other musicians get their music out there and make money from their passion.  The world needs our music and if we as musicians don’t have the ability to earn a living from our craft, my fear is that fewer and fewer aspiring musicians are going to go into the music business in the first place, and fewer and fewer great songs are going to be shared with the world.

So, it’s an important mission to me, because in a sense, the future of music is at stake.  And you could, somewhat easily, argue that we’re already seeing the result of a music industry that has become harder and harder to make a living in.   Most people I know would agree, that at least the music that is making its way into the “mainstream” isn’t what it used to be.  It’s somewhat subjective and if I had the time I could easily write a very lengthy book on this topic alone. But let’s be honest, the mainstream music of today, compared to 20 or 30 years ago, it kind of sucks.  

And that leads me to the point of this blog.  Which is that even though figuring out how to make money from music is an important part of the conversation, there’s an even more important element to all of this, that I sometimes don’t talk about as much as I’d like.  I fear that there’s something that maybe gets a little lost in all of this talk about different ways to make money from music and the music business.

And that is, simply the music itself.

There’s a much more important side to music than just figuring out how to generate revenue from it.  There’s a magical side. A mystical side.  My guess if you’re drawn to making  music, you sense this.  You can feel it.  There’s a reason we’re all so drawn to something that is in many way, a much more difficult and uncertain career path. 

Music feeds the soul. 

And I think we’re living in a time where the world needs great artists and creative types, perhaps more than ever.  Let’s not forget that as we all continue forging our way “ahead” in the music business. Let’s not forget that our true mission as musicians is to touch people and move people in a way that only music has the ability to do.

And yes, people may seem a little less likely to be moved by music these days, but perhaps that’s only because they need it now more than ever.

Let’s not forget that there’s a “place” beyond making money and paying bills, beyond the man-made system of currency, credit and debt.  A place beyond the day to day grind.  Let’s not forget that music transcends all of these concerns.

Don’t forget the power and magic of music.  Don’t forget what it’s really about.

Check out my latest song, "Breath Divine", below.  

[As always, a huge shout out to my producer Gary Gray for helping me bring my music to life. A great producer (like Gary), is like an extension of whatever band or project you’re in and he’s a huge part of helping me see my musical vision through and bringing my songs into the world.]

Without further adieu, here’s my latest track, Breath Divine.

I recently had two new tracks of mine on The Young And The Restless.  These placements were particularly exciting because they were both tracks I sang lead vocals on.  I haven’t had a ton of tracks that I sing vocals on placed over the years.  I’ve had a lot more success with having other vocalists sing on my tracks and licensing instrumental music, so it was really exciting to see two new placements on my most recent ASCAP statement that both featured my lead vocals.

I’ve worked really hard over the last few years to improve my singing.  I would say it’s been the single biggest challenge I’ve faced as a songwriter/performer.  I started learning how to play guitar when I was twelve, but it wasn’t until I got into my twenties that I started, reluctantly, singing.  It took me a long time to feel comfortable as a vocalist.  

A lot of times I would end up singing on my recordings just because it was easier to sing my own tracks than to find someone else.  I was the lead singer in my first band in Chicago, URB, until we found our front man a few months later.  In my second band, Continuum, I shared lead vocal duties with our keyboard player.  Same thing in my third band.

So, over the years I’ve sang a lot.  But it’s always been something that I’ve sort of struggled with.  Singing never came naturally, like it seems to for some vocalists.  I’ve had to work really hard at it.

I’ve taken vocal lessons at different points over the years and those have been helpful.  There are definitely techniques, like learning how to breathe properly and doing different vocal exercises, that can greatly improve your vocals.  But like a lot of things, I feel like what’s helped the most, is just doing it, a lot.

Over the last couple years I’ve been singing every chance I get, both in the studio and in live situations.  I’ve been singing at gigs and also trying new songs at open mic nights.  Open mic nights are a great way to try new things and practice in a front of a crowd.  Over the last couple years I’ve been hitting open mic nights pretty regularly, to specifically practice singing in front of people.  It’s a great, no pressure way, to work on new material in front of a live crowd.  If you’re not great, it’s not like anyone paid to see you!  But of course, you should work on getting great so people will be willing to pay to see you?

I still have a lot of room to improve when it comes to my singing, but I’m making verifiable progress and for me half the fun of being a musician is the journey and the process.  It’s exciting to reach new heights and be able to look back and see how far you’ve come. 

All of this is to say, I placed two new vocal tracks.  I might not yet be a good enough singer for The Voice, but I’m good enough for The Young & The Restless, and for now at least, I’m happy with that!

I’m working on creating new podcasts, videos, etc…  I’m excited to see where our musical journey will take us in 2019!

In the meantime, check out the two tracks I placed recently.

This track, Headed Home, was used recently in one episode.

This track, Nobody Knows Us, was used in four episodes.

I often get asked to share more of my music with readers of my site and blog.

I just got my newest song, "Another Way" back from my producer, Gary Gray.

This is the first track from a new album in the works that marks a return to my roots of more guitar oriented, bluesy, "jammy", rock tracks.

I'm sharing this with you before I share it with anyone else. I wanted you to hear it first.

I'm really excited about this track and the entire project.

Check it out below and let us know what you think.

Another Way
I dreamt of you again last night
It’s been so long
time just moves on
And though I chose to walk away
I wish you knew
that I wish I stayed
But all the choices that we’ve made
Have all been made

And yesterday is gone
and tomorrow waits
and right here where I am
I know it’s not too late
to turn this page
and find another way

And in my dream it felt so real
It felt just like
It used to feel
And all my sorrow went away
when I realized
it was not too late
But then my dream it turned to grey
I lied awake

And yesterday is gone
and tomorrow waits
and right here where I am
I know it’s not too late
to turn this page
and find another way

​One of my favorite quotes about music, came from Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, he said, “When you treat it like a job, they pay you like it’s a job.”.   I always loved this quote because I think it really sums up the mindset you need to have to turn your passion for music into a full-time career.  If you simply dabble in music, whenever inspiration strikes, and take a half-hearted approach to your music career, chances are your income that you generate from your music is going to reflect that. 

If your goal is to make music a full-time job, that you can live from, you need to approach it as such.  This entails getting up every day with a strategy and a game plan that you execute on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  I think where a lot of musicians get stuck, is not knowing exactly where to focus their energy and not know what the best plan of action is.  Making music is sort of the easy and obvious part.  But what do you do once the music is made?

As I’ve often said, music is different from other, more traditional professions, in that there isn’t always a clear and concise path to success.  This can be confusing and frustrating.  If you’re not sure what to do on a regular basis, that will help get you closer to your goal, how do you know where to best focus your energy?  How can you confidently work towards the realization of your goals?

Well, there isn’t one clear answer to this, but in the hundreds of interviews I’ve done over the last decade, and in my experience with all the musicians I’ve connected and collaborated with in a variety of different capacities, there are a few clear commonalities that most success stories share.

For the sake of this article, I’m going to assume you already have music that is amazing and ready to be shared with the world.  This is obviously a gigantic subject and one which is ultimately subjective.  Which makes it sort of hard to talk about in the context of a “how to” article.  How do you make “great” music?  How do you know if your music is “great” and ready to be shared with the world?  Well, I’ll leave that up to you as an artist to figure out.  I personally think you sort of just know.  When you write a great song, or complete an amazing composition, you can sense it.  If you’re not really sure whether or not you have great music, there’s a pretty good chance you don’t, yet.

Marketing And Connections
Success in the music business, apart from the music itself, comes down to marketing and connections.  That’s really it.  Look at the music business around you.  Look at the acts that have become enormously successful.  Start to ask yourself why certain band and artists are successful and you’re not.  Start to actually investigate the back stories of what led to successful artists becoming successful.  You can often times reverse engineer the relationships and connections that led to an artists’ success.

For example, did you know that Taylor Swift’s Dad was an early investor in Taylor Swift’s record label (until a few days ago), Big Machine Records? Swift’s Father reportedly invested around 120k in Big Machine to help launch the label and Taylor’s career.  Does that mean that he bought her career?  I don’t see it that way.  The public voted a resounding yes on Taylor Swift and I think it’s her music, drive and personality that ultimately cemented her success.  But did her Dads connections and money help get her started?  Absolutely and I think there’s a good chance you would have never heard of Taylor Swift had her parents not invested in her career early on.

For an artist to become successful in the mainstream, there needs to both be a “product” the mainstream public wants, and it needs to be marketed successfully.  Money and connections open certain doors, but the music itself obviously plays a huge role, that really can’t be denied.  Whether you like music that becomes popular or not, there is something about popular music that works and results in becoming successful.  For example, in the case of Taylor Swift, her Father’s support in launching her career no doubt helped, but it’s undeniable that Taylor Swift is immensely talented as a songwriter and performer and has an incredible work ethic.  Money and connections alone don’t create one of the world’s most successful artists.  If they did, there would be a lot more Taylor Swifts.

Apart from the actual music itself, the common denominator I see that separates the vast majority of successful artists from those who are not successful, all other things being equal, is how well their music and brand is being marketed.  If no one knows you, then you’ll never become “successful” in the public eye.  The public needs to know about your music, to know whether or not it likes it in the first place.  Part of your job, if you’re an indie artist, is to figure out how to better promote and market yourself to more and more people.

HOW??
Now I know what you’re thinking.  Ok, great, it makes sense and is sort of obvious, but how?  How do I get my music noticed and heard in a sea of unknown artists?  Well, that’s the 64 Million Dollar question we’re all trying to figure out.  If it was as simple as do X, Y and Z and then you’re a rock star, we’d all just do X, Y and Z and be rock stars already. 

It might not be simple or easy, but I do think a few conclusions can be drawn.  Here’s what I see working among all the success stories I know of, both in terms of mainstream success and success on a smaller scale, among indie artists who are able to make a living from their music.

These are the areas you should be focusing your time, every single day, if you want to make a full time living from music:

The Music – Again, it all starts with the music.  Regardless of what your thoughts on contemporary music, whether or not you like it, and whether or not you think the public has “good” taste in music, the music itself still plays a critical role.  Public tastes change and trends come and go, but the performance, emotion and feeling you put into your music matter as much as ever.  Focus on the music you make, first and foremost.  Write great songs and build up a body of work you can license, stream, perform, sell and so on.  Without great, marketable music, nothing else you do will really matter.  Whenever I’m not quite sure what to focus on, I focus on simply writing the most amazing music I’m capable of. 

Money/Connections/Networking – Money and connections help, as they always have.  Knowing the right people or connecting with the right person, can make a huge difference in your career. We might not all have rich fathers that are willing to invest six figures in the launch of our careers, but all of us can do things like attend industry events, network, shake hands, make phone calls and so forth, in order to connect with more people in the business.  Don’t come from a place of trying to use people or get something from them. This is almost always the wrong approach.  Instead aim to make connections with people that are genuine and authentic. 

Money, as in the case of Taylor Swift, can buy promotion and attention.  Money buys things like recording time, promotion, advertising and on and on.  Of course, if we all had an unlimited supply of money, we could simply buy our way onto the public’s radar.  But, do your best with the resources and money you have. 

Things like Facebook advertising, google ads, Youtube, Reddit and more, can all be great ways to promote your music on a small budget.  Of course, it will be harder with a smaller budget in many ways.  But the good news is that you won’t be able to simply waste money on a product that isn’t ready to be promoted.  Hone your music and your marketing skills and make every dollar count, winning over new fans, one at a time.  As your success in music grows, you can increase your marketing budget accordingly. Working on shoe string budget will force you to really focus on what works.  (Yes, my glass is half full.)

Outside The Box Thinking (Branding) – This is probably my favorite part of the conversation in terms of marketing and branding.  It’s what I call “outside the box” thinking.  This is my favorite part of the discussion, because it’s something we all have access to.  We don’t get to choose our parents or what kind of wealth and connections we’re born into, but we can all choose to look at the world in a more creative, “outside the box” sort of way.

For an artist or brand to become talked about in the press, there needs to be something extremely compelling to discuss.  Again, clearly the music you make needs to be great.  But, the problem is that there is so much music out there, that even if your music is amazing, it can be hard to break through the barrage of music that exists, if you’re not doing something unique and original and branding yourself properly.

Having an interesting and compelling story and brand, will make it easier for people to remember you and make it more likely that you’ll get featured in the press, on people’s blogs, playlists and so on.  Don’t just release your music and hope that’s enough. It won’t be. Tell people why you’re creating music.  Reach out to bloggers, playlist curators, press outlets and more and tell them what makes you different and unique.  Be creative not just in terms of the music you make, but how you present yourself and your music to the world.
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I find that often times adding fairly minor details in terms of what inspired you to write specific songs and release specific albums goes a long way in getting bloggers and play-listers to pay attention.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a super elaborate back story. 

For example, I’m going to be releasing a new EP of all instrumental, ambient guitar music soon, and I’ve been contacting blogs and playlists to get some help in promoting my new release.  In the last few days alone my first single, Rays, was picked up by two new blogs and is going to be added to a pretty large playlist (several hundred thousand followers) next week!  I simply reached out to a few different places and told them about my new release and how I’m inspired and driven to create music that is positive and uplifting, in order to combat all the darkness and craziness in the world.  Which is entirely true, but I had never really taken the time to articulate that until recently. 

What’s your story?  Why is making music so important to you?  How can you better convey what inspires you and motivates you in your branding?  Improving your branding and marketing can actually be a really fun and insightful process. It forces you to really get in touch with what motivates you and drives you.

Check out the first single from my upcoming, instrumental, ambient guitar release, called “Rays”.

Follow me on Spotify.

It’s important that you have clear and consistent branding.  Think about the kind of images, artwork and story would best fit your music and the message you’re trying to convey with your music.  Good branding will help you stand out and make it easier for people to remember you and the music you create.  There’s a reason major corporations work with ad agencies to help promote their products; because it works.  Advertising and branding are a huge part of success in any industry, including of course the music industry.

So, what’s the ultimate takeaway?  Does success in the music business simply come down to luck and being in the right place at the right time?  I don’t think so.  It’s clear in hearing Christoffer’s story and the countless other success stories I’ve heard over the years, that success in the music business is usually the result of both hard work and often times, what seems and feels like luck.  Perhaps it’s better to say that success in the music business often arrives in unexpected ways, but if you re-trace the steps that led to most artists becoming successful, you’ll find that a lot of hard work was done along the way.

A few days ago I sent out an article I wrote, called “The #1 Problem With The Music Industry” to my email list.  In that article I articulated why I think the biggest problem with the music industry is that there are too many musicians, in the sense that the supply of musicians outweighs the demands of the marketplace. I see this as the biggest hurdle most musicians will face, when it comes to creating a career in the music industry.

This was a really well received article, I received quite a few positive responses via email and many people who were in agreement with my assessment of the music industry.  However, I also received a few replies from people who seemed pretty discouraged by some of the statistics I pointed out.  I even got one response from someone who had decided to basically quit the business because of the statistics I pointed out.

I would like to address those that were discouraged by that article in today’s post.

Knowledge Is Power
In order to make an informed decision about anything in life, we need to take in as much data as possible.  Of course, we’ll never be able to assess all the data related to any given situation.  There’s simply no way of knowing all the different variables that are at play in something like the music industry.  There are far too many people involved in the industry, and far too many factors at play to be able to dissect all the different moving parts that make up the music business.

It's sort of like sizing up a potential dating partner.  It’s impossible to know everything there is to know about another person.  So, instead, we get to know people the best we can, we meet their friends and family, we spend quality time with them, and in the end we make decisions about people using a combination of logic, intuition and heart.  If we’re lucky, we make good decisions and surround ourselves with quality people and with quality partners.  Sometimes we let our emotions over ride our logic and we ignore red flags that are warning us to move in a different direction.  Conversely, sometimes we let our logic and intellect convince us to not give people a chance that would actually be very good for us.  We don’t always get decisions right.  We live and learn.

But, the more information and data we have going into a situation, the easier it is to make a decision that is right for us.  There are a lot of marketers and bloggers that gloss over certain realities of the music business in order to sell books and programs.  It’s easier to sell a program about how to make money in the music business, when you convince people that it’s easy to make it in the music business. 

But, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my primary goal with my website and resources isn’t to make money.  My primary goal is to educate and inform people about the realities of the music business, and in particular the music licensing business.  The good, the bad and the ugly.

I don’t think the competitive nature of the music industry or the fact that it’s a relatively hard industry to succeed in should be overlooked.  In fact, I think it should be embraced and fully understood.  You need to be able to look at this business, for what it really is, square in the eye, in order to make an informed decision about whether or not you want to enter into it. You’ll also have a much better chance of success if you fully understand the reality of the business and what you’re up against.

Perspective
With that said, you still need to have a healthy, big picture perspective of the music business.  For example, in my previous article I pointed out a study that indicated that 90% of artists are completely unknown.  Some of you took that to mean you only have a 10 % shot at any sort of success in the music industry.  But, of course, that’s not how statistics really work.  The study I pointed to simply reported that the vast majority of music artists out there are basically unknown.  But that doesn’t reflect your individual odds of succeeding in the music business.

Maybe 90 percent of the artists surveyed are completely slackers with no work ethic.  Maybe the vast majority are hobbyists who are also balancing families and careers.  Maybe half of all the artists surveyed don’t even aspire to be full time musicians.  The problem with statistics and data is that it’s impossible to tease apart all the different variables.  Can we really know hard the competition wants to succeed?  Can we really quantify how badly someone else wants to make it in the music business, compared to your own desire to make it as a musician? Maybe you are part of the 10 percent who have what it takes to succeed?  Or, maybe you’re part of the 1 percent that go on to become ultra-successful in the music business.  There’s really know way to know these things using statistics alone.

Defining Success
You also have to really look at the big picture, in terms of how being a musician factors into your overall life satisfaction.  In other words, how much happiness do you derive from spending your time playing and writing music?  Do you prioritize money and security over pursuing meaningful work?  Would you be happy earning slightly less than the typical American or European (or elsehwhere) worker if you were able to make your living doing something you love?

The average professional musician earns $39,899.00 per year in the USA.  That’s not a ton of money, relatively speaking.  But the average person in the USA only earns $44,564.00. For an even larger, big picture perspective, consider the fact that if you make over $32,400.00 you are in the top 1% of income earners in the entire world!  I realize that in certain areas of the USA, or other parts of the world, that would be very hard to live on, but I find it incredibly helpful to take a step back and look at just how much money, even a modest salary in the west is, relative to the rest of the world.  Part of being successful is having perspective and knowing just how good you have it, even if you haven’t “made it” on the level of someone like Justin Bieber or Ariana Grande.

Again, these statistics are averages, and you could earn much more or much less than these figures, in or out of the music industry.  But, success isn’t just about overall money earned, it’s also about other things, that are harder to quantify, like a sense of personal meaning and overall life satisfaction; things that are harder to measure, but are of vital importance to the quality of your life.

Summing Up
My goal is to provide the most accurate, up to date information about the music licensing business and the music business at large.  It’s easy to get cynical about the music business and it’s easy to get discouraged.  But in many ways, I don’t think succeeding in the music business is that much different than succeeding in other industries.  A small percentage of people make it to the very top of most industries.  How many multi-millionaire CEOs are there compared to minimum or low wage workers?  How many rich entrepreneurs are there compared to entrepreneurs that struggle to get by?  I’m not going to bore you with more statistics, you can look them up if you're interested, but I think you get the point.

Succeeding at a “rock star” level in the music business is hard, because it’s special.  It’s not something everyone gets to do or can do, and that is what makes the goal so appealing.  If it was easy, everyone would just decide to be a rock star, and then it wouldn’t really be that special. 

Being a musician isn’t for everyone.  In order to know whether it’s right for you, you need to deeply understand both the business and be very self-aware about how much talent you actually have.  Do you have something truly unique and special to share with the world?  Do you have a burning desire to share your talent?  If so, in my opinion, you owe it to yourself and the world to chase your dreams!

Because remember, even if you don’t “make it” in the way that maybe you dreamed about when you were a teenager, even if all you ever become is a musician who succeeds on an “average” level, you’re still doing pretty damn good by virtue of the fact that you’ll be making way more than 99% of the entire world, doing something you love.

Think about that.
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Here’s a video that sums up this article pretty well that I posted to my Youtube Channel recently.

On a positive note, here's a video I posted to my Youtube Channel a few years ago, that breaks down a straightforward way of making 60k a year as a musicians working 25 hours a week.

In my most recent webinar for How To License Your Music Premium, with composer Dario Forzato, one of the topics we discussed was the idea of luck vs hard work in the context of licensing.  One of the topics Dario focused on in our webinar is how having a consistent routine and schedule that facilitates creating a consistent output of music will lead to consistent results over time.  Of course, along the way, you might just get lucky here and there and stumble upon the right opportunity at the right time.  There is an element of luck in the careers of most successful musicians and artists.  But it’s the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly work you do, that over time will lead to the most consistent results and will greatly increase your “luck”.

My favorite expression about luck, that I’m sure most of you have heard, is that “luck is when preparation and opportunity meet”.  I’ll give you an example.  When I first got into licensing, I was lucky in the sense that my former songwriting teacher had gone on to form a successful publishing company and was in need of the exact kind of music I was making at the time.  It was lucky, you could say, that I even knew her in the first place and that she just happened to need the kind of music I was into at the time.  Of course, I had spent years writing and recording songs prior to our working together, which is where the work part of it comes in to play.  Had I not been diligently working on the craft of writing songs and recording music for several years prior to reconnecting and working with my former teacher I wouldn’t have been prepared for the opportunity that presented itself.

According to Dario, and I concur 100 percent, hard work and consistency is what separates those that are able to do licensing full time from those who just get lucky and land a placement here and there. I did a podcast with Composer Eddie Grey recently where he more or less said the exact same thing. 

If you make enough music and submit it to enough places, chances are you can get “lucky” and license a few random things.  But it’s the composers and songwriters who diligently set out to create an amazing catalog of music and build ongoing professional relationships they cultivate and nurture over time, that end up in the “lucky” position of creating music for a living.

I recently created a Youtube video talking about this topic and someone left a comment along the lines of “Here’s another video that doesn’t really reveal the “secret” of licensing and doesn’t really say anything”.   It was something like that.  I sometimes get the feeling that musicians imagine there is some sort of insider, top secret, confidential knowledge, that only musicians “in the know” are privy to, that if they only knew would instantly lead to success in the music business and in music licensing.  Maybe there is.  Maybe the Justin Biebers and Bruno Mars of the world know something myself, and the hundreds of musicians I’ve worked with over the years don’t know. 

What I aim to do with my website, podcast, webinars and so forth is share what’s worked for me over the years and also to find other successful musicians that have carved out successful careers in the music licensing business and find out what’s working for them.  I came up with the novel idea of simply asking people who do music for a living to tell me how they do it, and I share that information with the growing community of musicians who read my blogs and are members of my website.

We all have slightly different paths and we sometimes get “lucky” in different ways.  But what I know is true, across the board, of all the different people I’ve interviewed and worked with over the years who are successful in licensing, is that they’ve worked hard to get where they are.

If I discover some sort of “top secret” formula to success in licensing, believe me, I will gladly share it with you via my podcast, courses, webinars, etc.  But, in the meantime, keep putting in the work.  Hard work is the only thing that I know that works consistently and it's much more reliable than luck.

I've had a nice string of placements over the last several months. I've had songs placed in commercials, several tv shows and even a video game recently. I thought I'd share a few of my recent placements, so you can get a better idea of the kind of tracks I write and some of the places my music has been used recently. 

Here are some of the highlights in terms of placements I know about.  I've had a few other incidental uses of my tracks, but here are some of the more prominent placements I've had recently....  Note the diversity in terms of styles, vocals, instrumentals, etc.
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Joy To The World (Instrumental Rock Guitar Version​) - I recorded this version of Joy To The World a few years ago on spec for one of my publishers.  It took a few years, but last December this track was used several times in different ABC promos for the movies Mary Poppins, The Great Christmas Light Fight, The Middle and ABC World News Now.

"Where We Were" - I recorded this track in LA with producer Gary Gray back in 2015.  This was licensed for use a few weeks ago in a new VR video game called "Catch And Release".  This was my first video game placement!  I sing lead vocals on this one and my buddy MJ, sang the harmony vocal part. I never imagined, when I wrote this, that it would end up being used in a video game, no less a video game about fishing.  But, now that I think about it, it does have a sort of, spending a day on the lake with a friend, casting out the line, drinking a couple beers, sort of vibe.  This track is also featured on a corresponding soundtrack for the game, so in addition to an upfront licensing fee, I'll also be getting payments for the soundtrack going forward.

Closer To You Now - Here's another one that I sang lead vocals on.  This was recorded a few years back with a full band in Chicago. You can really hear my Phish/Jamband influence come through on this one.  I never imagined when I recorded this that it would end up on an episode of The Young & The Restless, but there it was on one of my recent ascap statements with a corresponding payment for a usage on The Y&R.  

How Many Times? - For this track I recruited a friend of a friend to sing the vocal part.  For certain songs, my voice simply doesn't work. I try to be as objective as possible about vocals and find the best vocalist for each track.  Sometimes that's me, but a lot of times I use outside vocalists who can better capture the vibe of what I'm looking for.  This track was also used on a recent episode of The Young & The Restless.  I've had a lot of music used on this show over the years.

Falling Down (You Went Away) - Here's yet one more track that has been used on The Young & The Restless recently.  I recorded this track with producer Gary Gray in 2015.  My friend MJ sang lead vocals on this one.  This one was has been used several times on The Y&R over the last two years, including a recent placement several months ago.

Up To You - This song holds the record for the single track of mine that's had the most placements.  I don't know the exact number, but hundreds of uses over the years. This song has been heard on Fox Sports, The US Open, Rangers Insiders and several other sports shows I'm drawing a blank on at the moment.  I just got my most recent Ascap statement, and sure enough, there it was again!

Retail Outlets - Blanket License Deal-Here's a few more of my songs that have been recently licensed into a blanket licensing deal for use in retail stores around the world.  I don't know the exact details in terms of stores/locations yet, but should be receiving payment for these later this year.  All of these tracks were produced by Gary Gray.  I sing lead vocals on all of these, with the exception of "I Will Fly" and "Shooting Stars", which features vocalist Travis Nilan.

Awakened

​Venus And The Moon At Night

​I Will Fly

​Shooting Stars

I'm Gone

Do you feel like your music career is on the right track?  Or, do you feel like your spinning your wheels, not really getting anywhere?  Are you sure your on the right track with your music career? Are you sure your pursuing the right goals for your particular set of talents? How can you be sure? 

I had the revelation many years ago, that as long as I feel like I’m moving forward and making progress towards my goals, I feel satisfied.   I’ve never been overly concerned with reaching a specific destination, as much as simply wanting to continually progress.  For me, it’s always been more about the journey than the destination.  Not that I don’t have specific goals, I do, but my over arching goal is to keep progressing and growing.

But how do you really know if you’re making progress in something like the music business?  Is it enough to just have a vague sense of moving forward, or should you have specific, concrete goals you can gauge your success by?  Is it about financial success?  Is it about artistic satisfaction?  Both?

Enjoy The Journey, But Know Where You’re Going
Ultimately, I think you need to have both specific goals and targets you’re shooting for, as well as a deep appreciation for the journey.  The mistake many musicians seem to make is setting goals that are too distant and too lofty and then getting disappointed when they don’t reach those goals quickly. 

If you’re obsessed with the idea of playing stadiums like U2 or The Rolling Stones, you’re probably not going to really enjoy playing small bars and clubs for many years, although it will be required in order to reach your ultimate goal of playing stadiums.  If you have no appreciation for sweating it out in smaller venues and paying your dues, you’ll likely get burned out and give up way before every reaching your goal.

If your goal is to make a full time living licensing music and that’s all you think about, it might be challenging to appreciate the years it takes to get there by improving your tracks, writing more songs, spending days and months networking and building relationships, and so on.  If you don’t truly enjoy the process, it will be much harder to push through the challenging times and ultimately reach your goals, whatever they are.

Redefining Success
I used to fall victim to this sort of thinking in the past and it derailed me for several years.  I felt frustrated because I wasn’t moving forward fast enough and wasn’t reaching my, admittedly, very big goals.  It wasn’t until I redefined my own definition of success and changed my approach to making music and the music business, that I started to actually make progress and began to appreciate the journey.

Now, I know what you might be thinking.  Because I’m thinking it even as I type this.  Isn’t this just some sort of a trick to get your mind to accept settling for less?  And the answer is a definitive no.  I don’t want you to settle for less.  I want you to push as hard as possible and give everything you have towards reaching your goals.  In fact, you might even need to set bigger goals for yourself, to give yourself the proper motivation to truly grow and move forward.  BUT, you also need to be truly in touch with yourself and with where you are in the grand scheme of your career and life, in order to set the right goals. You need to learn to enjoy the daily, weekly and monthly process of grinding it out and moving forward.  And most importantly, you need to be sure you’re pursuing the right goals, the ones that are a best match for your particular set of skills, your personality and your desired lifestyle.

Part of success, in any industry, is being realistic about where you actually are and the things you need to work on to improve, on a daily basis in order to reach your goals.  If your dream is to perform in stadiums in front of 50,000 people, but you can barely muster up the courage to perform for 40 people at your local bar, you clearly have some work cut out for you.  If you don’t look forward to the incremental steps you need to take to inch your way towards your bigger goals, it’s going to be hard to move forward at all. Even if you get extremely lucky and somehow manage to skip the necessary steps you need to take in order to achieve success, there’s a good chance you won’t be ready for it when you get there, if you’re not prepared.

Self-Awareness
You also need to be realistic about how much you actually enjoy the work required to reach your particular goals, whatever they are. If your goal is to become a famous touring musician, but you don’t actually like being on the road and being away from your home for extended periods of time, you might need to reassess your goals. If your goal is to perform for thousands of people, but you don’t really enjoy performing or feel comfortable in front of large crowds, you might need to reassess you goals.  If your goal is to license music full time for television, but you don’t actually enjoy the kind of music that’s used in TV, you might need to reassess your goals.  If you want to be a famous songwriter, but you’re not comfortable with periods of struggle and uncertainty, you might need to reassess your goals.

Even though we live in a time where there are, perhaps more musicians than ever before, making a career out of music is still a fairly unconventional and risky career path.  Although there are plenty of examples of people who have figured out how to turn their passion for music into a viable career, doing music for a living requires and enormous amount of both self-discipline and self-awareness. 

You might have a dream of becoming a famous touring musician, but do you really, truly want that deep down?  Is your passion and love for music strong enough to overcome the enormous obstacles and challenges that will inevitably present themselves on your journey?  Only you really know the answers to those questions.  Only you know if you really have what it takes to make it in the music business.  Only you know what part of the music business your particular temperament and interests are a good fit for. 

If you’re not sure what you really want and what you’re a really good fit for, perhaps some soul searching is in order.  It took me many years to really figure out where I fit best in the music business and to learn how to turn my passion for music into a viable career. I’m still tweaking and modifying my particular formula for working in the music business, to this day.

Changing Goals
Also, keep in mind your goals and interests may very likely change as you move forward and grow as both a person and musician.  When I was younger, I was dead set on forming a band and becoming a famous rock guitarist in the vein of Carlos Santana, Trey Anastasio, Jerry Garcia, etc.  So after I finished Berklee I formed a band in Chicago that lasted several years and played a lot regionally.  After this first band broke up, I formed another band and continued to perform.  This band lasted about two years. After that band broke up, I formed yet another band, that lasted about a year and a half.  After that band broke up, I formed yet one more short-lived band, that only lasted about six months.

After a decade of playing in different bands, none of which became “rock star” level successful, I was forced to reassess my path and goals.  I loved my time playing in bands, but as I got older, there were things about this lifestyle and path that started to feel incongruent to me.  For example, when I was younger, I used to get pretty bad stage fright and my solution at the time was to simply drink alcohol until I felt comfortable enough to perform.  After all I thought, I’m working in an environment where drinking is not only permitted, it’s given to me for free!  Drinking alcohol is a really effective short term solution to stage fright.  It works in the moment to relieve nerves, but like many “quick fixes”, it comes at a price.  Negative health consequences, hangovers and social costs, are all part of the fun of using alcohol excessively.

So, after a decade of performing live I decided to step away from playing in bands for awhile.  In retrospect, it was a much needed break, because it allowed me to really focus on myself and get healthy.  I took a trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua during this period, where I ended up actually performing a lot, particularly in Nicaragua, where I befriended a fellow musician and bar owner.  Except this time, I was performing mainly for fun, so I didn’t really feel the pressure I felt before when I was trying to “make it”. 

I played a gig a few nights ago that was one of “those” gigs.  If you’re a performing musician you probably know the kind of gig I’m talking about.  It was one of those gigs where something just clicked between myself, the other musicians on stage and the audience. During gigs like this it feels like I couldn’t play a wrong note if I tried.  All apprehension and nervousness fades away, and the music seems to flow out of me, without my thoughts or ego getting in the way.  It doesn’t happen every time I perform.  Sometimes multiple gigs go by without getting into that “zone” or reaching that place.  But when it happens it’s undeniable and palpable and the crowd responds accordingly.  This feeling, this “zone”, whatever you want to call it, is the feeling I’m chasing every time I get on stage. 

Things didn’t click until the second set.  It started during the opening song.  A song I sang lead vocals on.  I could tell the crowd was into the song, which gave me the confidence to sing with even more conviction and excitement as the song progressed.  The song ended and there was thunderous applause.  I can’t remember ever getting that enthusiastic of a response to my vocals.  To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd’s over the top reaction, which set the stage for the rest of the night.

As I thanked the crowd, a huge grin came over my face and we launched in the next song, an instrumental funk number that lasted about ten minutes and was built to a dramatic climax.  As I launched into my solo, I stumbled upon a simple, but catchy melody that I continued to come back to throughout the jam.  The saxophonist in our band latched onto the same melody and together we weaved in and out of this motif for the next several minutes.  We played it in different octaves, with different rhythmic variations, sometimes together, sometimes more of a call and response, for several minutes, until the jam seemed to reach a natural conclusion.

Again, when the song stopped, there was thunderous applause.  Mot of the second set was like this, until things seemed to peter out a bit towards the end.  But by then, it didn’t seem to matter.  Every one was clearly enjoying themselves, band and audience alike. 

After the show, different people came up to me to tell me how much they enjoyed the show.  I got a lot of “great job”, “you play great” sort of compliments, which is always nice to hear.  But one conversation in particular struck me as particularly poignant.  A girl I’ve know for a couple years came up to me and said how much she enjoyed the show.  I thanked her and said something like, “thanks, I love to play”.  “Well”, she said, “it shows”. 

I had an end of the night drink after the show with a few of the musicians I performed with and went home.  When I got home, I still had so much adrenaline and excitement from the gig that I couldn’t sleep.  It was strange, because I’ve played so many gigs at this point that I’m usually not that amped up after shows anymore.  But for some reason I was strangely excited and my mind was racing more than usual.  It reminded me of how I felt when I was younger, in my early twenties, after a really good gig.  I used to get so excited that I would stay up until the early hours of the morning, reflecting on the night’s performance and de-briefing, in my mind, the good and bad elements of the show.

When I woke up the next morning, my mind came back to my friend’s comment about how she could see how much I enjoyed playing music and it struck me, that that was probably about the best compliment anyone could give me.  The show was great, because myself and the band I was performing with, we’re having a good time.  The audience had a good time because they fed off the energy of the band.  The band picked up on the audience’s response and we got even more excited and as a result played even better, with more confidence.  And that, is essentially, what live music is all about.  It’s an exchange of energy, if you will, between musicians and audience.  It’s an opportunity to escape from the problems and stress of our day to day lives for a few hours, let our proverbial hair down, and simply have a good time.

When I was younger I used to be really into the band Phish.  I saw them live dozens of times.  Love them or hate them, in their prime, they were an amazing live band.  They toured with Carlos Santana in the early 90s and Santana had this great way of explaining the live concert experience at a Phish show, and at concerts in general.  His analogy was that music was like water, the band is like a hose, and the audience is like flowers.  Yeah, it sounds like some super hippy, stoner talk, but it’s a beautiful analogy if you think about it.  Here’s Trey  Anastasio from Phish on Santana’s idea:

“When we went out with Santana, he had brought up this thing about the Hose. ... where the music is like water rushing through you and as a musician your function is really like that of a hose. And, and well his thing is that the audience is like a sea of flowers, you know, and you're watering the audience. But the concept of music going through you, that you're not actually creating it, that what you're doing is -- the best thing that you can do is get out of the way. So, when you are in a room full of people, there's this kind of group vibe that seems to get rolling sometimes.”

I love this idea that as musicians, especially during moments of improvisation, we’re not actually creating the music.  It’s more like we’re channeling the music from a deeper part our ourselves, or from somewhere out there in the cosmos.  This rings true to me in my experience, because in moments where I feel in the “zone” and things are flowing particularly well, a guaranteed way to screw it up is to start thinking too much about what I’m doing or over analyzing things.  It’s better to not think about things at all, or as little as possible and just let the music come through.  If you think about it, that’s what stage fright or nervousness is all about, it’s about focusing too much on yourself.  When you an learn to redirect that energy towards the music, your stage fright and nerves will naturally dissipate.

I think that’s why music, at its best, is so enjoyable.  It’s a way of getting outside of our egos and problems and transcending them, to experience even greater joy and reach greater heights than possible, when we’re stuck in our egoic, “monkey minds”.  That’s why playing music is so enjoyable.  Because, when we’re truly in the moment, in what’s known as a “flow state” we’ve transcended, albeit temporarily, the stress and problems that tend to permeate our day to day lives.

When I was younger I used to have this grandiose concept of what it meant to be a musician.  I looked up to artists like Hendrix and Dylan and saw how music, at its most impactful, could change the world and impact culture.  Of course, that’s still true.  Music and art have that potential.  Music and art have the potential to both reflect and shape culture in profound ways.  The Beatles certainly impacted culture. Beethoven certainly did as well.  As did Dylan, The Stones, Pink Floyd, Coltrane, Radiohead, Paul Simon and countless other great artists over the years.

But music also serves a much more practical and perhaps less dramatic function, which is to simply lift people’s spirits and help them enjoy themselves and well, as Prince said, “get through this thing called life”.  If you accomplish nothing else a musician, other than simply entertaining people and helping to elevate their moods, even temporarily, know that you’ve still done something truly great. 

Life is hard in many ways and on many levels for many people and the world needs as many people as possible sharing their gifts, lifting each other up and inspiring each other.  If you have the gift to do that through music, you should, you know, like, keep doing that.  

I did a live webinar a couple weeks ago, exclusively for members of How To License Your Music Premium.  I’m doing one live webinar a month for members of the new premium site, focusing on different topics related to music licensing.  The most recent webinar focused on how to build connections with music libraries and music supervisors and featured myself, TV composer Eddie Grey and music producer Gary Gray.

During the webinar, one of the questions that came up at the end was about how to stay motivated when you’re new to the industry and things aren’t going the way you want them to go.  How do you stay motivated when you’re trying and trying to get your music career off the ground, but you haven’t yet achieved the success you’re hoping for? 

This is a good question, because I think it’s all too easy to get thrown off track when you’re new to licensing, or even if you’ve been at it awhile, if you lose sight of a few important things.  If you’re only focused on your lack of results, it can easily prevent you from taking the necessary steps to reach your goals.  So, with that in mind, here are a few things to keep in mind and help you stay motivated and positive, even if you haven’t yet reached your licensing and music career goals.

It Takes Time
One of the things that you have to keep in mind related to licensing, is that it takes time.  Almost everyone that I’ve interviewed and worked with over the last ten years that is doing licensing on a full-time level, has indicated that it took at least a few years for things to get to the point where they could live off the income they make from licensing.  The exact time frame varies from person to person.  I’ve heard two years, four years and even longer as the length of time it took for different composers to reach the point of making a sustainable income from licensing their music. 

As my friend and composer Eddie Grey stated on a recent episode of my podcast, this business is a marathon not a sprint.  Don’t get discouraged if you’re not seeing a ton of results right out of the gate.  It’s normal.  It takes most writers a couple years or more to really get things rolling with licensing.  If you think about the way the business works and the nature of the music licensing business, this makes complete sense.  Even in the absolute best-case scenario of writing a song today and licensing it tomorrow, it still takes time to get paid, collect performance royalties and so on. Music Licensing is a slow-moving industry.  Of course, you probably won’t license your music that quickly.  Most likely it will take time to write and record tracks, build connections, start getting placements and so on.  You can avoid a lot of frustration in the beginning of your licensing career if you’re aware of this fact and go into the business with open eyes.
 
Focus On The Work
Because things do take time to get rolling in the beginning.  The best use of your time will be focusing on doing the work.  Focus on building and growing your catalog, making connections, signing with different libraries and so on.  It makes no sense to get discouraged about not getting the results you want immediately and letting that throw you off track.  Instead, focus on the things that need to be done, that you can actually control.  The more you do this, the quicker results will come.

With a few exceptions, most of the writers I know that make a full-time income from licensing, have very large catalogs.  Think anywhere from 500 to 1,000 or more tracks and cues.  Licensing is a numbers game and the more tracks you have that will potentially work in a broad range of applications, the more money you’ll be able to make from licensing. Again, there are exceptions and some types of placements pay considerably more than others, but you should always focus on growing your catalog and continuing to write great material.  When you write new tracks, you’re exponentially increasing your odds of getting more placements.  Don’t rest on your laurels once you start getting placements and become comaplacent.  Instead, keep writing new music, so that you’ll always have more tracks you can license down the road.

Stay Connected To Your Passion For Music
One of the best ways to stay motivated and positive about your music, when you’re not getting the results you want, is to simply stay connected to why you love music in the first place.  I think most musicians have a love for music that transcends simply wanting to make money from music.  Stay in touch with that. 

I’ve had periods in the past where my frustration about the business of music led me to temporarily losing touch with my passion for music.  Don’t let that happen to you.  The music business and the music you make, that comes from you heart and soul, are two very different things.  Don’t ever forget that. 

Whenever I find myself getting discouraged or down about music, which fortunately doesn’t happen that often anymore, I simply go back to writing music from a place of joy and passion.  I’m more prolific when I’m in touch with my passion for music, I tend to write better music and ultimately I end up licensing more music and making more money from my music as a result. 

First and foremost, I’m in touch and connected with my love of music.  I’ve often said, that as much as I love licensing my music, I’m not overly concerned or even that excited with any particular placement or usage of my music. Don't get me wrong, I of course am super grateful for every opportunity that has come my way and getting paid for my music is extremely satisfying.  But, ultimately, it’s more about the joy of writing songs, building my catalog and trusting the process.

In the end, all you can really do is write the best music you’re capable of writing and connect it with as many people as possible.  If you’re persistent in doing this and you do this consistently over a period of several years, you can realistically reach a point where you can live off the income you’re making from licensing, or at the very least, supplement your income in a substantial way.  But to focus on the business of music at the expense of your love and passion for music doesn’t make sense to me, because even if you end up becoming successful, if you’re not enjoying it, you’ll end up with just another “job”.  I don’t know about you, but that’s not why I got into the music business.

Speaking of my love for music, check out my latest track, produced by Gary Gray, called “You’ll Be On My Mind”.  We just finished this track a couple weeks ago and just signed this to a new publishing/licensing deal this week.

I just found out another one of my tracks was licensed for use in a video game!  My track “Where We Were” (produced by Gary Gray), from my CD "Shooting Stars", will be featured in the upcoming VR video game "Catch And Release" from developers Metricmind and publisher Advanced Interactive Gaming.  This track is one of 30 that will be featured in the game and will also be released on a corresponding soundtrack. 

Check out the song here:

​This latest license is, I believe, the 15th new license in the last three months or so.  I’ve built quite a momentum lately with licensing my own tracks, and as they say, when it rains it pours.  I also have around ten or so other tracks that have been shortlisted for various projects that I should know more about soon.  I don’t say any of this to boast, it’s simply the result of a lot of hard work over the last couple years.

In today’s post I thought I’d explore how to build and sustain momentum with your tracks and licensing.  It’s all too easy to get discouraged when pursuing something like licensing.  Results can be incredibly slow going in the beginning.  There are simply no guarantees in this business and all too often writers sign with a few libraries, sit back and wait and then….. crickets.  Nothing!  I’ve been there and I know the feeling.  It’s not a good feeling!

However, the flip side, is that once you start to see the results of your efforts pay off it’s an incredible feeling.  When you work towards something for a sustained period of time and you start to actually see the results you want, that’s a hard feeling to top!  It also gets easier over time.  Success begets success, and once you start licensing your tracks, it become easier to license more and more.  You still could have times where things slow down, like in all industries, but once you get how the business works and realize what works and what doesn’t, it becomes much easier to build momentum and move forward.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re getting started and building your own momentum.

It Takes Time
Licensing takes time.  You have to understand that going into this industry.  This isn’t an instant gratification business.  Many of my recent licenses have been songs that I recorded several years ago or more that are just now getting picked up.

It takes time to build a catalog, build contacts in the industry and ultimately to get things licensed.  You have to remember this in the beginning when you are getting started.  A great analogy is to think of it like planting a garden.  You do the work now and things come to fruition in the future.  This can be frustrating if you’re trying to turn this into a full-time revenue stream, but it is what it is.  You have to think long term and focus on the things in front of you that you can actually control.  Things like building your catalog, writing and recording new music, making new contacts in the industry and so on should be your focus in the beginning.

Another good analogy is to think of it like dating.  When you’re single you never know when you’re going to meet the next person you click with.  You can’t really control it or predict it.  What you can control are things like taking care of yourself, focusing on your purpose and mission in life, where and when you socialize and so forth.  When you focus on the things you can control, things tend to fall in place. 

Licensing is a lot like that.  There are always things you can do to move forward and set the stage for things to go well in the future.  Too many musicians get discouraged when they don’t see instant results.  Don’t get discouraged.  Instead keep focusing on the thing you can do that will get you closer to realizing your goals.
​
If you’re not getting the results you want, here are things you can focus and work on, RIGHT NOW:
 
Grow Your Catalog
The more songs you have, the better your chances are of licensing your tracks.  Of course the songs need to be good and the production needs to be good.  But, in general, the more tracks you have the better. The more tracks you have, the greater the chance that you’ll have something that meets the needs of different projects looking for music.  Of course, no single artist will be able to cover all the different, potential needs for licensing.  But the larger and more diverse your catalog is the better.
 
Keep Expanding Your Network
Another thing you should focus on, at all times, is the network of people you have pitching your music.  The more tracks you have the greater the chances of something landing, and the more people you have pitching your tracks, the greater the chances of someone landing you a placement.  If you have a great catalog, but it’s not earning you substantial money, focus on growing your contacts.  I have my music with quite a few libraries and publishers at this point, and usually when one quiets down another one will pick up.  Again, to use the dating analogy, think of it like meeting ten people and getting ten phone numbers.  They probably won’t all pan out, but if you meet and connect with enough people, eventually you’ll make a solid connection.  Dating is a numbers game.  So is licensing.
 
Stay Positive!
This part really applies to life in general.  But, while you’re doing all this, stay positive! It’s easy to get frustrated about the things you can’t control in life, but everything seems to flow better when you have a positive mindset.  By simply focusing on the things you can control you’ll get much better results and you’ll be a lot happier. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely been through periods of extreme frustration when things weren’t going the way I wanted them to.  But, looking back, I wasted a lot of energy getting upset about things that I had little or no control over and ultimately, my frustration did zero good.  The only thing that’s really helped me move forward is just doing the work. 

​If you aren’t where you’d like to be, you have more work to do.  It’s that simple.  So, keep putting in the work and effort until you get there.  

Do you ever find yourself feeling discouraged because you haven’t gone as far in your music “career” as you’d like?  Do you sometimes find yourself obsessed with thoughts about when and where your “big break” is going to happen?  Do you wish you made more money from your music?  Do you wish you were more known and respected for the music you make? 

For some reason, a lot of musicians associate being successful in the music business with being “famous” in the music business.  I think a lot of musicians even start with this being their primary goal.  As if being a great musician and being a “famous” musician were somehow the same thing.  It’s sort of weird if you stop and think about it.  There are few other professions where the goal is to get famous for doing said profession, apart from the entertainment industry.  If you aspire to become a great doctor, you’re probably not also hoping to get famous in the process.  Unless you’re Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil perhaps, but do they even count?  If your goal is to open a restaurant, chances are you’re not looking to become famous for it. 

Ideally, fame, if it comes at all, should be a byproduct of being a great musician.  If you’re really, really good at something, and enough people find out and appreciate what you do, there’s a chance fame will come as a result.  But, to pursue fame as the ultimate goal, is a bit like putting the cart before the horse, in my mind.  I’m not really sure if I would even like being famous, it seems like a lot of pressure.  Especially if you’re super famous like Shakira or Justin Bieber.  Although, there are obvious perks, I can only imagine that fame would also come at an extraordinary price, in terms of having very little privacy, having increased demands on your time and the pressure to maintain the success you’ve achieved.

When I was younger I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed and become famous as a musician.  To me, it seemed at the time, to be the ultimate goal.  I wanted to be famous like my idols that I looked up to.  When I didn’t have the success I aspired to have after several years of playing in bands and doing everything in my power to make it happen, I grew disillusioned.  I started to feel really negative about the music business and my role in it.  I can remember the awful feeling of playing gigs that weren’t well attended and feeling like a failure.  This isn’t how this is supposed to be going I thought.  Music, for awhile, stopped being fun and started to feel like a giant source of frustration and pain.  My goal of becoming a famous musician seemed to drift further and further away.

This feeling lasted a few years, until after about ten years of gigging, I took a break from playing live and playing in bands, in my early thirties.  For a couple years I sort of put music on the backburner, not really sure what to do with my passion or love for music.  I still wrote new songs during this period and continued to pursue things like licensing, but music started to seem like more of a glorified hobby than a career.  This feeling continued for the next few years until I noticed something sort of strange, which was that I reached a point where I wasn’t trying to “make it” in the music business anymore and didn’t really think about it anymore.  As a result, I no longer felt the frustration associated with trying to do something and falling short of my expectations, but, my love for music remained.  In fact, untethered from the need to “make it” in the music business, I realized I enjoyed writing and playing music more than ever.  It was as if I rediscovered what drew me to making music in the first place, which, at least in the very beginning, wasn’t to become famous.  I simply loved music!

I think for most musicians, there’s something that drew us to music, before the idea of “making it” in the music business entered our minds.  When I grew up listening to music, I wasn’t drawn to bands and artists because they were famous, I was drawn to different bands and artists because I enjoyed their music.  They became famous, because a lot of people enjoyed their music.  I was drawn to making music, because I simply loved music and wanted to follow in the footsteps of all the great musicians I grew up listening to.  It wasn’t until later, when I was in my early twenties,  that I started obsessing over and worrying about becoming famous.

Benefits Of Detaching From Your Success
I’m about to get all zen and philosophical on your ass.  That’s right, here it comes!  There’s this idea in eastern philosophy, and western philosophy for that matter, of detaching from the outcome of things.  The idea is that as you pursue your goals and desires, it’s best to do so from a place of non-attachment.  In other words, go for what you want, but relax about how things unfold.  This isn’t the same as not caring about the outcome at all, but it’s just that things aren’t always going to go exactly how you want them to go, so you’ll be a lot happier if you just lighten up and not worry too much about how or when things happen.  Do you really want to be successful, but worried and stressed out all the time?

One of my favorite quotes, is a zen proverb that sums up this idea: “the hungry don’t get fed”.  Think about this and how it rings true in your experience.  Think about people who want things so much that they come across needy and desperate, as opposed to ambitious and confident.  You obviously don’t want to simply throw your hands up in the air and become completely apathetic about your life and your goals.  That’s not what I’m suggesting.  But you also don’t want to be so fixated on your goals that the thought of not attaining them causes you to become crippled with fear.  I think there’s a middle ground where you can simply pursue the things you love and let things happen, however they’re going to happen.

Back To The Music
When you shift your focus away from being overly concerned with success and back to your love of making music, you take your power back.  You see, there are people in the music business, who in some ways can hold you back from success, although not as many as there used to be.  But, there are still gatekeepers that can reject your music.  Maybe it’s a music publisher who doesn’t think your music has what it takes, or maybe it’s a music supervisor who doesn’t think you have the right “sound”.   But, when you stop worrying so much about success and just focus on making great music, well, no one, and I mean no one can stop you.  Only you can decide whether or not you’re going to keep making music, keep writing better songs and keep improving your craft.

You are completely in control of how good you become as a musician.  Maybe you haven’t had the success you’ve desired so far, but it’s up to you whether or not you want to keep improving and growing as a musician.  This is what’s so exciting about letting go of the need to “make it”, it puts you back in the driver’s seat and puts the focus back on the only thing you ever really had control of in the first place, the music!

And of course, the better you get as a musician and the better your music becomes, the chances of attaining “commercial success”, or success in general, become greater.  It’s easy to be cynical about the music business and there are plenty of examples of uber successful musicians whose music you might not respect, and we probably all know musicians who are uber talented who, for whatever reason, haven’t found much success to speak of.  But, in my experience, when you work hard, and stay focused on growing as a musician and doing what you can to move your career forward, opportunities do come and doors do open, eventually.  It might not happen exactly when or how you think it should, but when you persist at something like music long enough, success, in varying degrees will eventually come.    And when that happens, you can take a deep breath, relax, and get back to making great music.

Today’s post isn’t directly related to music licensing or the music business, but yet I think it’s completely relevant to all of us as musicians.  The topic I want to discuss, is the importance of being positive in both your approach to making music, the music business and life in general.

A few days ago, I hosted the first in a series of live monthly webinars that I’m offering via my new website, How To License Your Music Premium.  This webinar featured TV composer Eddie Grey and music producer Gary Gray.  As Gary was introducing Eddie and I at the start of the webinar he highlighted how, in his estimation, Eddie and I are positive, optimistic people that others want to be around and how our optimism, in his opinion, is at least part of why we’ve been able to carve out successful niches for ourselves in the music industry.

Later in the webinar, during Eddie’s presentation, Eddie told the story about closing a recent, lucrative deal for one of his tracks, and suggested that one of the main reasons he was able to close this particular deal was that the person he signed the deal with simply likes working with him.  He said that obviously his music was good as well, but that in his opinion his attitude and positivity had as much to do with his success in this particular instance as the quality of the music he makes.

Later that day, I skyped with one of my publishers in LA for about an hour and our conversation drifted to the topic of my producer, Gary Gray, who we both know and work with.  We both talked about how positive and upbeat Gary is and how nice it is to work with people like this.  Then my publisher spent several minutes talking about how, in her own career and life, being a positive person has been a big part of her success and has served her well.

This theme of being positive, kept coming up over the course of this day and it inspired me to reflect on my own life and how positivity, and the lack of it at times, has impacted my life. 

I consider myself a “glass half full” sort of person.  I think most people that know me would describe me as an upbeat and optimistic person.  I always look for the positive in situations and do my best to stay optimistic, regardless of what’s happening in my life at the moment.  I can’t say that I succeed at staying 100 percent positive, all the time, but I definitely lean in that direction.

Endeavors like running a business and working in the music industry, are both pursuits that can knock the strongest of us off our centers, if we’re not diligent about maintaining a positive perspective.  To be honest, this is something I have to work at on a daily basis, despite my own generally positive demeanor.  Sometimes, in life, things happen that challenge our disposition.  It happens to the best of us, which is why it’s so important that we actively work on developing and maintaining a positive outlook.

I think the more we’re striving for in life, the greater the chances of things happening that we perceive as negative and the greater potential for losing a positive perspective.  If you’re the kind of person who has no goals or ambition and are generally content just coasting through life, well, it’s pretty easy to stay upbeat if that’s your outlook on life.  If, however, you care about where you’re going, the progress you’re making and desire to advance in life, it can be easier to get thrown off course when we face the inevitable setbacks, rejection and so on that are part and parcel with a life well lived. 

If you’re aiming for success and growth, you’re going to face setbacks.  It’s unavoidable.  I don’t know anyone who hits 100 percent of the shots they take.  Do you?  I could mention several of the cliché quotes about success and failure that I’m sure you’ve all heard a thousand times.  You know, like, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, and so on.  But, just hearing these sorts of ideas does little to comfort us when we’re in the thick of life, dealing with the ups and downs we all deal with. It’s easy to just tell people they should be positive, but what about when things aren’t going our way and we're feeling really discouraged? 

As I mentioned in a couple previous blog posts, I went through a break up recently.  And by the way, I don’t mention things like this to evoke sympathy, I ‘m just sharing the experiences of my own life, in the hopes that my own realizations and insights will be helpful to you.  I went from seeing and living with someone every day for two and a half years, to simply not having them be a part of my life.  It’s pretty intense, and as anyone who has gone through an experience like this can attest to, it’s something you have to really experience to understand. 

Platitudes like “it’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all”, are of little comfort when you’re dealing with the immediate aftermath of a break up. Advice like “don’t worry man, there’s plenty of fish in the sea”, do little to comfort a broken heart, at least initially.  Although with time, they start to make a whole lot more sense!

When we face challenges in our careers and personal lives, we’re presented with an opportunity for growth and an opportunity to truly flex our positivity muscle.  It’s how we deal with these inevitable challenges and setbacks that define who we are as people and inform and shape our character.  It’s easy to be positive when things are going well, but it’s when the proverbial “shit” hits the fan that we find out what we’re really made of. 

Here are a couple strategies I use on a regular basis to maintain a positive perspective.  Both of these philosophies have served me well and have helped me stay upbeat and optimistic in the face of challenges in business, music and in my personal life.

The Obstacle Is The Way
One of the ways I’ve trained myself to stay positive, in the face of challenges and adversity, is to adopt a sort of stoic philosophy to challenges in my life.  There’s an idea in stoic philosophy, that any challenge we face in life is an opportunity to advance to even greater heights and move closer to our goals.  As the great Stoic, Marcus Aurelius, wrote: "Our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."  In other words, like author Ryan Holiday declares, in his book about stoicism, “The Obstacle Is The Way”.

The idea, and it’s a beautiful idea really, is that any event we initially perceive as “negative” or “bad”, can be turned into a positive and actually help us get closer to our goals.  It’s a matter of perspective and how we choose to look at the situation. 

How can we apply this philosophy to our lives?  Let’s take something most of us our probably familiar with, breakups, to start with.  When my girlfriend and I broke up recently, I was pretty shaken.  I wasn’t really devastated, because to be honest I saw it coming months in advance and had contemplated how I would react if and when it happened.  I had even considered ending the relationship myself for a variety of reasons that ultimately contributed to the demise of the relationship.  It was more or less an amicable decision.  But, I was still pretty upset when it finally happened, as can be expected.

However, with time, I’ve come to see what happened as a positive event.  It’s been an opportunity to grow in many ways that I wouldn’t have, had the relationship continued.  It’s given me an opportunity to really reflect deeply on the kind of people I want to allow into my life on an intimate level.  It’s forced me to grow in ways that I don’t think I was really capable of within the context of the relationship.  It’s motivated to step up my “game” in different areas of my life.  I’ve embraced things like going to the gym, working harder on my business and socializing more.  Part of these changes are simply a result of the extra time I have by not being in committed relationship, but most of the changes have been positive and are leading me to an even better place in life.  The breakup has been a catalyst to move in the direction of my desires.

How can you apply this philosophy to something like music and the music business?  Pretty much the same way.  When you have setbacks as your pursuing a career in music, these setbacks will generally point you towards what you actually need to focus on to reach your goals.  Are you trying to license your tracks over and over, but they keep getting rejected for the same reasons?  Maybe you keep hearing that your tracks are strong but that the vocals are not on point.  Or maybe you keep getting feedback that your production is not up to speed.  Whatever the case may be, whatever setbacks you’re facing will most likely point to what it is you actually need to focus on in order to succeed.  In other words, the obstacle is the way!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve trained myself to look at life this way and it’s helped me stay positive and upbeat, almost irrespective of whatever temporary setbacks I’m confronting.  I’ve faced a lot of challenges and continue to, but I no longer see setbacks as some sort of permanent state or a reflection of my worthiness as a person.  I see setbacks and challenges as feedback.  Our setbacks either point us in the direction of areas we need to focus on and improve, or they indicate we’re simply on the wrong path and need to try something different.  Either way, our challenges can be seen as guideposts, pointing us in the direction of our goals and dreams.

Gratitude
Another strategy I utilize in order to remain positive, is good old-fashioned gratitude.  So often in life, we’re so focused on things that don’t work out, or don’t go the way we’d like them to, that we lose sight of all the things that are going well.  It’s easy to get bogged down in a sea of negativity if all we’re focusing on are the things that aren’t working out the way we’d like.  But, I think if you’re honest with yourself, it’s pretty easy to find plenty of things to be grateful for.

Start with simple things.  Are you alive? Check.  Are you breathing? Check.  Do you have internet access?  Check.  Do you have goals and dreams?  Check.  Do you have at least one friend or someone you’re close to? Check ( I hope, if not go make some friends!). 

​It’s so easy to lose sight of things that we should be grateful for.  As I mentioned in a previous blog post I wrote about gratitude, half of the world’s population lives on less than $2.50 a day.  If you’re reading this, then most likely you’re in the other half of the population.  Be grateful for that.  Be grateful for the many things you most likely already have going for you in life and let that gratitude carry you forward to even greater heights.

I make a list of things, on a daily basis, that happen that I’m grateful for.  This could be a positive interaction with a friend, having a good day in terms of business, having a good date, maybe licensing one of my songs and so on.  I look for things to be grateful for and I take note of them throughout the day.  I find that by doing this, I’m training myself to look for the good in the world and in my life.  It becomes sort of addictive, the more you look for things to be grateful for, the more you’ll find.  The opposite is also true, it’s pretty easy to find things to bitch about.  But, why would you do that? 
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Focus on the things that motivate and inspire you.  You’ll find plenty if you look.

Check out highlights from our recent webinar on writing instrumental cues for Television, available exclusively for How To License Your Music Premium members.

I sent out a survey last week, asking for feedback about the types of issues musicians are struggling with in terms of getting their music licensed and moving forward with their careers.  To my surprise, the issue that musicians brought up, more than any other issue, that they said they needed help with, was help or advice on how to manage their time. 

With so many things to do as indie musicians, it can be overwhelming trying to juggle so many different tasks.  How do you know what areas you should be focusing on or prioritizing?  How do you find the time to do so many different things? How can you best manage your time on a daily basis, so you’re both moving forward, but also enjoying your life and avoiding burn out?

These are the issues I’m going to be addressing in today’s post. As someone who both runs a business and is simultaneously working as a professional musician, both gigging and recording/licensing music, I’ve learned a few things about how to manage my time effectively over the years.  I can’t say that I have all the answers, and every situation is different, but allow me to share some of my best practices for managing time, staying organized and moving ahead, without losing it in the process.

I believe in both the value and power of hard work.  There’s something about the feeling that I get at the end of day, where I know I gave it my all, that I find incredibly satisfying.  It’s one of the things that has allowed me forge ahead and not give up in both business and music, both things that require an incredible amount of dedication. With that said, I also enjoy “down time” and other aspects of life that don’t revolve around work.  Things like relationships, friends, family and just good old rest and relaxation, I find incredibly important and so I do my best to make time for these things as well. 

I’ve been really getting into going to the gym lately and I find the extra energy I get from working out, as well as the changes in my physique and health, well worth the effort I put in. However, as anyone who works out knows, or should know, there is a point of diminishing returns with exercise.  You can work out too much and actually get worse results than you would have had you allowed time for your body to rest.  Or, worst case scenario, you can actually cause damage and injury to your body if you overdo it too much.  Your body needs periods of rest to recuperate and repair itself from the stress and tension working out puts on your body.  Without these periods of rest, you won’t get optimal results from your workouts.

I like to think of work in a similar way.  You need to put in “the work” to get results in anything, whether it’s a business you’re starting, or a new CD you’re releasing.  Obviously, you have to put in effort to get results.  But I think any conversation about time management should take into consideration that you also need to factor in periods of rest and relaxation, in order to get the most out of your periods of hard work.  Like Jack Nicholson’s character famously said in the movie The Shining, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. 

So, with that said, let’s talk about ways to effectively manage your time so you can get the best results, achieve your goals and kick ass in 2018.

Define What Your Goals Actually Are
Before you can effectively organize and manage your time, you need to know what it is you’re actually trying to accomplish with your time.  The more clear you can get about what your goals are and what it is you’re trying to do, the more effectively you’ll be able to break down the steps you need to take to get there. 

I like to think both in terms of long term goals and short-term goals.  In other words, where I want to be, and the steps I need to take to get there.  I have a document that I’ve created, that I go over daily, where I break down my overall “life vision” and then break down things to do on a weekly basis in several different categories, including business, music, health, finances and so on.  I find that by breaking things down into different categories, I get a real clear picture of where I need to be focusing my time as it relates to my most important goals.

Here’s an example of what that looks like from the actual document I use.  I start with my “Life Vision” because I think it makes the most sense to start with an overall vision that I’m trying to realize and then break it down into smaller steps.

Life Vision
Thriving Member site that delivers tremendous value to musicians
thriving indie Music career with lots of placements,
play shows regularly (minimum weekly)
10 K monthly from music and business combined
Nice place that I love living in with a
Podcast / Recording Studio
Three rooms – studio/office, bedroom, guest room
Plenty of money in bank at all times – grow savings
In great shape
amazing primary relationship that I feel great about, trust, love, connection, support
great relationships/friends that I love
Live in area that I love
Travel and connect more
Life that flows with ease and love and peace
debt free
Ability to travel several months a year to cool places
 
As you can see, The Life Vision part of my goal setting is fairly broad and relates to several key categories of my life; business, music, relationships, health and money.  In other words, the areas of my life that have the biggest impact on my quality of life.

After I’ve established my overall life vision and the kind of life I’m trying to create and bring to fruition, I then start to break down each area that I want to focus on, and figure out the things I need to focus on in each category.  Here’s the Music category as an example:

Music To Do This Week
- Finish NCIS Song And Record New Cue”
-One guitar jam recording or video weekly
-Upload music and artwork for new EP, Chill
-And new Vocal EP
-One Youtube video weekly  
-Post to reddit (Weekly)
-Facebook ad (weekly)
-Submit to five new places daily
-upload tracks to Ad Rev
-New Music Video  
-Send Beth Wernick Music
-Get tracks featured on Spotify
 -Launch boom goes the music, podcast and make playlists

Each week, I change the things I need to do and focus on for that week.  Right now, I’m recording an average of two new songs a week, for specific projects I’m working on. I’m also releasing a new EP, working on creating new content for my Youtube Channel and in the process of launching a new Podcast featuring other artists.  I’m also continuing to promote my music and reach out to new contacts as well.  There’s a lot to do, but by breaking down so clearly what I’m trying to accomplish, it makes it much easier to determine the steps I need to take.

After I’ve determined my overall life vision and the things I need to do on a weekly basis in each key area, I then I make a daily list of things to do each day.  I tend to do this each night for the following day.  As an example, here was the list I made for myself for yesterday:

Tuesday
8 am - Workout
get to office
Work on member site
Create new videos, content, add new leads, etc
Music Pitchers
Make 5 submissions
My Music
Submit to five places
Work on new music video
Send 90 day leads
Write new instrumental cue and make demo
Promotion:  Email colleges, universities, etc
6:30 Call with Senne for 90 day challenge
8:00 – Finish recording with Eusebio

I tend to start my day by working out, then head to the office and focus on business things during the day, and then at night I tend to focus on my music, writing, recording etc.  I continue this process more or less the same throughout the week.  I usually factor in at least one day a week, normally Sunday, where I don’t do any work and spend the day, normally relaxing with friends, going to the movies, going out to eat, etc.  I also typically have at least two or three nights a week where I go out somewhere, either on a date, hang out with friends and so on.
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Overall, I would say I’m a pretty busy person, but I feel like I lead a balanced life.  I’m busy, but I don’t feel overwhelmed or out of control. I know what I need to do and I focus on getting things done, but I also make sure to take time to “stop and smell the roses”.  I think when you give yourself regular periods of rest, at least one day a week, when you do return to work, you’ll find that you’re more focused and rejuvenated, and you’ll be able to get more done.