What To Focus On To Grow Your Music Business Better Than a Major Label Could

  In the traditional Music Industry the term Star was a nebulous concept that in many ways positioned Stars on an unreachable pedestal above their fans..

As a Modern Artist you get paid to be you. You earn a living to do the things you most love, and your job is to develop all 3 dimensions of your brand. You are developing your STARS.

By developing your stories, your team, your assets such as your fan base, your platform, your skills and your revenue streams you take care of the growth and cultivation from all three perspectives of your empire.

Instead of making themselves the stars, and thinking from it’s all about them and the experiences that they are having...

Modern Artists are thinking in 3D. They enjoy the personal experience of creating, performing, and expressing their art...

We certainly get it. It’s fun to show off your chops, or just let loose on your instrument, or just jam for hours with the gang. But modern artists also take into account the other dimension. The dimension that makes their career, life, and influence expand. That provides them with more resources and allows them the freedom to continue to do this amazing thing that they love to do, for a freaking career! Full­-time living and in control unlike any other time in history really...

Of course I’m talking about the other side of the coin. Your supporters. Your True Fans. And regardless of whether or not you view yourself as someone just telling stories, or you aim to be the rock god that guys fantasize about being, and girls fantasize about being with... Truly living the old school rock and roll lifestyle...

Regardless of that, their is an evolved mindset that will keep you doing everything that you enjoy doing, but also keep you focused on the few highly concentrated things that will provide you with long term success, and your fans with an awesome, authentic experience throughout the entire journey you both have throughout the life of your career and your body of work.

What To Focus On To Grow Your Music Business Better Than a Major Label

Going from distanced show and tell....

Being a vicarious fantasy/secretive/hidden/illusive “star...”

To inviting your audience to share the journey together with you...

What we call modern music/content marketing.

Modern Artists are constantly developing their S.T.A.R.S.

Their Stories, Their Team, Their Assets, Their Resources, Their Systems

These are the long term jewels, and if you develop these, you’ll avoid most of the problems that result from not knowing what’s most important to focus on developing....

"But jamie, you didn’t mention FANS!?"

Ah, grasshoppa, but I did. Your Assets include your Fan­Base. In fact, your Fan­Base and the relationships (your Platform) you create are the most important asset that you’ll be developing, (depending on how you want to look at it) but other assets include your content, your skills, your income streams, and your know­ how.

Now obviously this is LOT of stuff. And the good news is that there are people all over the world... that you can go and find starting immediately that through one of many forms of arrangement/employment/ethical persuasion, can help alleviate the burden of such a heavy workload.

Again, this is a central concept that Modern Artists embrace.

We break down the CORE tasks and objectives of a project vs. the Mechanics and determine what we need and want to do. As you learned about in Rule #6.

Modern Musicians don’t want or need to learn how to do everything themselves. Though in most cases we have to build up enough equity and steam on our own first... But it is the disciplined precision of focus that enables you to grow your music business better than a major label could.

But the fact is that you really don’t have to do the things that drain your energy and don’t interest you at all, given you are at least a little resourceful and creative.

Your Role as CEO of your Content Business

Artists are now at the center of their music business, and it all starts with the Artist and the Song.

Again I want you to start to see your role as CEO of your Content Business as more like a general contractor than a specialist electrician for example...

This can seem daunting because every single element of your career is now in your hands. In addition to being a creative songwriter, a recording professional, and being prepared for any and all live gigging situations, you also need to be the manager, booking agent, accountant, social media expert, email marketer, website designer, CD manufacturer, graphic designer, and everything in between.

But actually, that’s not entirely true.

Being independent means you have control over all these things, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself.

There are a specific set of skills you need to develop (called the modern musician skill­set) which you’ll do through targeted experiential learning, but the goal isn’t to overload you with having to know how to wire up the electrical or the plumbing like a dedicated professional, it is to manage and coordinate the project, the house you are building, it is the skill-set involved in realizing and creating the artistic vision of your blueprints.

Are you tracking?

Modern Musicians need to know how the pieces fit together, what to do, or who to call, but very much enjoy the benefits and ease of upgrading from DIY to DIWM.

You want to build the EXACT right team, of your choosing.

You don’t have to do it all alone, but you do/delegate it yourself: And you will want to “cross train” so you know all the roles and responsibilities of each task and how each piece of the puzzle comes together to achieve your goals and targets.

It doesn’t have to be a struggle the way most of us think or sometimes feel it does...

There are creative things that almost any artist can do immediately, starting with simple little things like paying attention to your attitude and your physiology, and all it requires is just becoming a bit more resourceful in how you operate your career and manage your operations that would substantially improve your situation...

In the music biz, there are all sorts of great relationships you can make that can help your career, and not all of them obvious.

Many of us, myself included­-often suffer from the Creative Growth Trap we call Superhero Syndrome.

Creative Growth Trap: Superhero Syndrome = ­ Trying/having to do everything yourself.

Modern Artist Breakthrough: Modern Artists breakthrough this by upgrading from a (DIY) Do­It­ Yourself mentality, to a (DIWM) Do It With Me mentality. Modern Artists build their Global Team of Superstars & create a success structure, an optimized environment to achieve their goals.

LIGHTEN the Workload! (Leverage systems and build a TEAM)

Learn what roles and talent you need for YOUR unique career, as well as understand what kinds of activities and tasks can and should be delegated.

Then assemble and plug­in your Global Team of Superstars. BUILD A TALENTED TEAM to support and enhance your productivity!

Being able to delegate and recognize when you need to hand off a task to someone else – because they are either more adept at it or because you can’t afford the time – is a key element to being successful in anything.

“Being able to hand off a job like CD manufacturing, and just be able to say, ‘Please handle it, here are the components, here’s when I need the project, let me know what I need to do.’ And you know, it just gets done. That’s a big deal, just being able to have someone that says ‘Oh yeah, no problem we can do this. ’When you’re so burned out from recording and mixing, the last thing you want to do is make a headache of the packaging and manufacturing process.”

Spend MORE Time Doing The Key Things You Love To Do Most!

You are like a Gold ­Miner in the new economy. You mine those muse inspired golden nuggets and stories from your experience down into valuable little treasures and then you go and share them with the world.

Better leveraging the tools and resources you already have­to multiply your results starts with an intentional focus on developing your S.T.A.R.S. rather than your STAR.

One of the most incredible realities is that we CAN create a career where we only do what we CHOOSE to do ­ourselves.

The catch is that we don't start there, we have to work up to that.

The primary motto for Artists in the Modern music industry, the New Game, the New Music Business Model-is that it’s about the ARTIST at the center, as the driver and captain of the ship.

Frankly, you are the CEO of your content business, and thus it's first up to you to understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together and to create the ideal music career blueprints that are right for you specifically, personally, individually. (Of course i can save you a lot of time and help with that!)

Then you'll want to build Your Global Team of Superstars! You build a team to support your growth and allow you more focus on the things you do best.

That means that you are going to want to get a basic understanding of each of the roles and responsibilities involved in the entire operation of your business. I can help you cross train across these other areas and learn how to delegate and skill­-source effectively for them as well.

Like a general contractor, you don't necessarily need to know how to DO each and every job, but you need to know the things you need to know about how that job functions in your overall music business operation.

The last element in your STARS is one of the most essential, yet least talked about or understood components of an effective, modern music business. Which brings us to our next step. Stay tuned for Rule #9 of the G-Code.

This may be a new way of looking at growing your career, but as i've mentioned at least a few times by now-that's my goal!

Please share any insights, questions, or comments below to add your voice to the conversation.