Want to ‘make it’ in the music industry and live out your greatest music career dreams? Are you sick and tired of working full time at your day job when you should be writing records and playing your music on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans? Most musicians never make it beyond simply ‘wishing’ they could have the music career they wanted… but you WILL get the music career you want by applying the concept in this article.
First thing is first: you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself, get up and start taking action to become the professional musician you should be!
One of the best ways to build some momentum for your music career is to emulate the practices of Olympic athletes. If you’ve been watching the Olympics recently, you’ve probably observed how in many games nearly all of the athletes are very similar in skill and intensity. However, the difference between getting a gold medal and no place at all usually comes down to fractions of a second (if it is a racing event for instance) or other small measurements.
For the athletes who come away with a medal, they gain massive popularity amongst their fans/countrymen and end up getting tons of opportunities to sign deals for endorsements or make big money in other ways. For the athletes who do NOT get a medal (for example, someone who misses getting 3rd place by 1/100 of a second in the 100 meter dash), they remain unknown to the general population and lose out on all the opportunities of those who place above them. This can cause them to feel a lot of frustration due to the amount of hard work and effort they put into their training only to come up with nothing.
Just like these Olympic athletes, you have invested TONS of time into your music career. After spending so much time and effort to build your music career, you do NOT want to come away empty-handed because you did not fully prepare yourself for maximum success. If you want to get all the greatest music industry opportunities such as recording contracts, the ability to tour internationally, lucrative endorsements, etc., you need to make 100% sure that YOU are the absolute most prepared for success because you have trained harder than everyone else to get it. Reality of the music industry: NO ONE will come looking for you until and unless you are the #1 choice among all other musicians.
You might be thinking: “What do I need to do to set myself apart from everyone else so I can get all the biggest music career opportunities?” The answer is NOT simply becoming a better ‘musician’ than everyone else. Truth is, musicians who are the most talented are not necessarily the ones who get the most opportunities from music companies. Instead, to put yourself on top of the list above everyone else you must develop a total understanding of how to deliver ‘high value’ while eliminating the ‘risks’ you present for others when they work with you.
You need to understand that all musicians (including yourself) bring various levels of risk to the table whenever they work together with other people in the music industry (music companies, band members, managers, etc.). The worst way to ‘shoot yourself in the foot’ is to be unaware of this. By being unaware of the risks you bring to the table, you will –in turn- be unaware of how to make yourself more valuable to those you want to work with. This all goes WAY beyond just the music you play or songs you write.
If you don’t already understand what makes working with you ‘risky’ or ‘valuable’, don’t feel so bad. Most musicians never think about these things because there are no resources you can find anywhere that address these topics specifically. There simply isn’t a list of risks and values in the music business that you can just look up online. Why is this? The values and risks that will lead you to becoming a successful musician are specific to your personality, situation and musical goals. You need to look into what your personal value and risk is in any given scenario. This is why I haven’t merely written down a big list of risks and values here in this article.
To illustrate this point, let’s return to Olympic athletes for a moment. As I was talking about in the paragraphs above, the difference between a gold medal finish and a ‘no’ medal finish is very small. If an athlete has missed out on even the smallest of details in his/her mental preparation or training, this person will drastically increase the chances of not coming away with a medal. In order to ensure that no stone is left unturned, the athlete hires a coach to train them and keep their mindset in top shape to keep them from committing any errors when the day of competition comes. After getting help from an experienced coach, the athlete will improve on the areas that keep him/her from performing at the highest level possible. Not only does this keep the athlete from making crucial mistakes, but it also helps the person make improvements in much less time than they could without someone there to guide them.
The musicians who become the most successful in the music industry all use coaches in this same manner. Just like Olympic athletes, you will struggle to correct all the errors in your thinking and preparation if you try to do everything by yourself. Fact is, there are so many musicians who are just a step away from achieving great success, but are unable to see a key mental error that is keeping them from fulfilling their full potential. Only the musicians who work with coaches or mentors are able to spot any fundamental mistakes they are making in order to rise above the rest. These are the musicians who reach the greatest success in this industry.
Discover how to find a music career coach who is right for you by checking out this article about succeeding with a career in music.
The bottom line is this: when it comes time for you to develop your music career, don’t go down the same path of mediocrity that other musicians take by working alone. Find a coach who when train you to achieve as much success as possible in your music career. Don’t be satisfied with merely ‘competing’ in the music industry – Go for the podium!
Take this assessment to learn how working with a music career coach will help you in your specific situation so you can become a successful professional musician and reach all of your highest goals.
About The Author:
Tom Hess is an online guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar player. He trains and mentors from all over the world on how to develop a successful career in music. On his musician improvement website you can find a lot of free music career resources and music industry articles.
