Today I’m answering another question on the podcast:

“When you’re booking a show, how can you guarantee that the bands you book will have a draw?  Do  you require that they bring so many people to the gig when you reach out to them?  Here many venues here will ask about your draw before booking you.”

To answer this question about whether you can guarantee that the bands you book will have a draw–you can't! I know some venues will ask for that kind of information, but if they're doing their jobs right, they really shouldn't be putting that on your shoulders. They should be promoting the show and running a solid enough business that THEY attract people to your show. It's really bad form when a venue puts that kind of pressure on musicians.

I would definitely recommend you try and find venues to play in that don't ask for your draw. There are venues out there that support artists and want to help create great shows, and, unfortunately, there are those out there that just want to make a buck. 

I also wouldn't ask other musicians what their draw is. But I WOULD encourage them to promote the show leading up to it and send them a couple of reminders to do that. 

The best way to create *the best possibility* of a good crowd is to focus on choosing the right bands to play with (something I teach in my course How to Book a Great Show in a New City and Book Your First Tour.) Their style of music is more important than their draw. Collectively, if you can build a bill of bands that fit well together musically (and of bands that already know each other, play together regularly, and are familiar with the venue you're booking the show in), it's very likely you'll have a good draw.

If you can find a group of bands that play together regularly and match up with your style of music well, that's your gold mine. (You can usually find active music scenes like this by looking at local show calendars over the past few months and seeing which combinations of bands seem to keep playing together.) Typically, these kinds of active, local music scenes have a built in crowd, usually made up of the various bands' friends and friends of friends. 

All in all, remember that the most important thing is to find other musicians and people who will value your set, and enjoy meeting you and listening to your music. Whether the crowd is big or small, if the night is meaningful and you're making great connections with musicians and new listeners, that's what matters most. When you string together a bunch of nights like this, you'll start to see traction. And this will build your own unique draw as well. 

This is about having a people-and-art-centered approach. Very different from venues pressuring you to just get bodies in the door. Night and day, really!

And of course, this is just one way to get your music out there. There are lots of different approaches you can take. 

XO,

Julia Lucille

“Keep checking with yourself and make sure that you’re having fun and a meaningful experience. If you like it, keep going.” –Adelyn Rose

Today on the podcast I’m interviewing super-talented songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Adelyn Rose. Besides creating albums under her own name, she also tours internationally with bands Tomberlin and Humbird.

We cover:

• How a music residency she did in New York ended dramatically with a fire
• Why she thought she couldn’t keep touring because of mental health issues, and what changed everything 
• What her journey as a producer has been like, and why she recommends “crashing into it”
• How she lived in Germany on an artist visa 
• How one particular musical friendship has deeply shaped her artistic life
• What inspired her new album Any Way
• Her upcoming tour with Tomberlin opening up for Tegan and Sara
• Where her heart is at with music and how she’s forming new goals around that

“It feels like a very rich experience. There’s a lot of potential to just figure out who I am musically, and I guess that is the real goal.” –Adelyn Rose

Enjoy the interview!

XO, Julia Lucille

P.S. I’m giving away a free copy of Chthonic on vinyl (plus free shipping)! Enter to win now at julialucille.com/giveaway. 

Meet yourself where you are now: At the venues where your current shows are booked, with the audiences that are in attendance, and with your music as it currently exists now. It doesn’t matter whether your “now” is open mic nights or SXSW. 

Lots of musicians at the beginning of their performance journey have the attitude of, “These shows that I’m playing now, they aren’t that great. So I’m not inspired to give it my all just yet. But once I get that great show opportunity I’ve been dreaming of, THEN I’ll really try to put on a great performance and it will be awesome.” 

What most musicians don’t understand is that less than ideal shows are your performance bootcamp. And if you don’t dismiss them, but instead harness them to hone your performance abilities, they will get you in incredible performance shape for the ideal shows of your future. 

Every show is an opportunity to become a better performer. You can use each and every show experience to practice something important and develop yourself as an artist. 

And when you do step into those show experiences where everything is coming together–the audience is great, the venue is great, you’re playing off of the audience’s energy and you’re achieving a laser focus that’s elevating the experience of everyone around you–when you pair that with the hard-won skills you’ve built at some of your more modest shows–THIS is when you start to have explosive shows that change how you experience yourself as an artist.

XO, Julia Lucille

Buy How Performing Works here: https://www.julialucille.com/store/How-Performing-Works-by-Julia-Lucille-Paperback-p432474187

Today on the Living as a Musician Podcast I’m talking to my dear friend singer songwriter and sound designer Karima Walker.

In today’s interview we talk about

• How her Catholic upbringing influenced her early relationship with music
• How her birth-mother being a singer created a complicated relationship between Karima and her singing-voice in her early years, and how she came to respect the path her birth-mother chose as a singer in the diva lineage
• How a Martin parlor guitar that had been tucked away in a closet for years changed her life
• What her process was like creating her critically-acclaimed album Waking the Dreaming Body

We also talk about...

• Balancing collaborating with other musicians and “holding the reins” as a producer
• How Karima makes her video projections that accompany her live performances
• Why it’s important to pay attention desire, resonance and enjoyment as an artist–and the power of trusting what you’re drawn to

“What you pay attention to, what resonates with you, and what you’re interested in–that is often telling you something about yourself just as much as it’s telling you something about what you’re seeing out in the world. Those resonances are things that are alive in you that if you want you can cultivate and you can create space for–simply by spending more time in them.” –Karima Walker

Listen to the episode “Interview with Singer Songwriter and Sound Designer Karima Walker” now!

Enjoy the show! 

Julia Lucille

P.S. Have you ever thought of creating videos or projections to accompany your work? Here’s Karima’s best advice for you: “Notice what you enjoy and push into that with none of the guilt or shame. And then trust that what you’re noticing is a form of composition. What you’re drawn to is you shaping your world in a way that your brain and your eyes and your mind are creating in real time.”  

Your Artistic Lifecycle: A Free Workshop julialucille.com/lifecycle

In this workshop we're going to unpack the artist's lifecycle, from birth to death. From childhood, to the artistic initiation phase, training, and finally into domain manipulation, creating your body of work and submitting it to the greater culture in the hopes of making a meaningful cultural contribution. Along the way we'll tackle what makes a person a "real artist" (the answer might surprise you) and how artists who succeed in making a cultural contribution live their lives out.

Once you have a roadmap...

1) You know where you are on it

2) You have clarity about what to focus on right now

3) You know where you're headed next

Ready to get started? Get access to the free workshop at julialucille.com/lifecycle

Today we’re talking about something that keeps a lot of artists up at night. And that’s the question of sharing their work with other people.

Do you HAVE to share your work with other people? Is it okay to keep your art and your artistic life private? And which is better? 

If you choose NOT to share your work with the world, is it still real art? Or do you need to have a dialogue going with the greater subculture to qualify as a true artist?

We’re going to be unpacking all that and more in today’s episode of the Living as a Musician Podcast, “Do You HAVE to Share Your Art?”.

In this episode I’ll cover

• The highly important role the subconscious plays in the artistic process
• Why it’s important to “make it personal” when it comes to your artistic path–no matter what you decide about sharing your work
• How to know if what you’re making is real art–and how that’s measured by psychologists
• How art is inherently experiential–and the critical role of the other in that experience
• How to know when you’ve had enough training in the arts
• How to guard against “getting messed with” in the arts
• Why it’s important to stay grounded as an artist, and what that looks like
• The #1 thing that will poison your own personal relationship with your art 

XO,

Julia Lucille

P.S. Have you checked out my FREE workshop, “Your Artistic Lifecycle”? In this workshop we unpack the artist's lifecycle, from birth to death–from childhood, to the artistic initiation phase, training, and finally into domain manipulation, creating your body of work and submitting it to the greater culture in the hopes of making a meaningful cultural contribution. Along the way we'll tackle what makes a person a "real artist" (the answer might surprise you) and how artists who succeed in making a cultural contribution live their lives out. Once you have a roadmap… 1) You know where you are on it. 2) You have clarity about what to focus on right now. 3) You know where you're headed next. Ready to get started? Go to julialucille.com/lifecycle. 

“As a songwriter, there’s an immersive moment where the words are flowing and piece together in the melody. That process makes me feel more aligned to my true self.” -Sara Noelle in Lyrics as Poetry, Vol II

Today on the podcast I’m interviewing ambient folk musician Sara Noelle, who’s also the creator of the beloved music journal Lyrics as Poetry. 

In this episode we take a deep dive into all things art, including…

• The relationship between the process of creating and alignment with self
• Where true artistic confidence comes from 
• Sara’s story of how she became a musician
• The importance of screening out outside noise and focusing on what matters most
• Viewing yourself and your work “through a lens of compassion” (Sara’s words 🙏)

At the end of our talk, I asked Sara to give us her best advice for creatives wanting to create great work and put it out there. She said this:

“With music, and with everything, just try to release that judgment on yourself, and view your work and yourself through a lens of compassion. Focus on what you can control, which is making the work and putting it out there, and trying to be honest, and real, and meaningful. And if you do that, people will resonate with it.” -Sara Noelle

Listen to the episode “Interview with Ambient Folk Musician Sara Noelle of Lyrics as Poetry” now! 💫

XO, 

Julia Lucille

Can only artists who are on really big labels tour? 

In this episode we’re going to be debunking this common misconception about touring. Spoiler alert: My best advice is this: Don’t wait to tour! 

You can tour while you’re still in the process of building your business as an artist. And in fact, touring is a really great outreach mechanism. It can give you a big boost in exposure. 

Why should you tour?

Besides the more practical, career-related benefits of touring, a lot of musicians start touring for artistic reasons. You might dream and long to have the experience of touring as an artist. You might want to have that real-life experience of playing night after night, traveling, and being with friends. (Artistic reasons to tour are the best motivators in my experience.)

Touring also makes you a better performer. Touring is basically performance bootcamp. When you perform every night for 45 days in a row, you can’t help but strengthen your performance. 

There are lots of great reasons to tour. 

Everyone has different reasons why they want to go on tour and what they’re hoping touring will achieve. If you know you’re ready to start touring, today’s episode is for you. We’re going to be talking about how to book a great tour even if you’re a new artist.

Ready to get your touring journey started? Listen to “How to Book a Great Tour (Even as a New Artist)” now!

Listen to the Episode

XO, 

Julia Lucille

P.S. Want access to my mini course Making a Cultural Contribution? It’s all about the co-learning, co-helping process of creative community and why that’s so, so important. 

(By the way, touring is a great way to build out your artistic network—arguably the BEST way to build that out.)

Join Vision, my online membership for musicians, to start taking the mini course Making a Cultural Contribution now. (Vision also includes my online course Book Your First Tour as well!)

Learn More

Do you struggle with not knowing what to put in your music membership site? 

Today we’re going to talk about 5 content ideas for your music membership site to…

• Keep it engaging 
• Keep people coming back
• Give people the behind the scenes experience that they’re looking for when they join an artist’s membership site

I think you’ll find that using some (or all) of these in combination will help you create an inexhaustible stream of content for your site (without the overwhelm).

After you listen to this episode, you’ll never again wonder “what in the world” to add to your membership site!

I’ll go over…

• Why your music membership content doesn’t need to be like a VH1 Behind the Music episode (and what you can do instead)
• How you can create everything you using ONLY your phone 
• How to recycle material you already have (like demos, lyrics, photos) to create a living archive of your artistry
• Why it’s essential to find what works for you when it comes to your membership site

Ready to dive in?

Listen to “Creating Consistent Content for Your Membership Site” now! 

Today I want to talk about vanity metrics. 

What are vanity metrics? They’re things like the number of Facebook followers, Instagram followers, or Spotify followers/plays you have.

Here’s the thing: VANITY METRICS DON’T MATTER.  

Too often people conflate running a business as an artist with a lot of attention and focus on these vanity metrics. It DRIVES ME CRAZY when I see music business trainings called things like “How to Get More Spotify Followers” or “How to Get on More Spotify Playlists.” 

Because they’re perpetuating the myth that “If I have a really high social media following, THAT builds my business.”

In this week’s podcast episode, “Why Facebook LIkes, Spotify Follows, and Instagram Follows Don’t Matter (And What to Focus on Instead)”, I want to unpack this myth, talk about business as a whole, and share HOW BEST to fit these social media sites into your artistic business model (without losing your sanity).

Because the fact is, building up these vanity metrics—having higher and higher Facebook likes, Instagram likes and Spotify follows—DOESN’T replace building a business.

And by the way…

You can have a really high follower count and have a business that isn’t doing well. 

…And…

You can have a really successful business that has a really small social media following. 

And that’s the really important thing to understand: Having a successful business and having a high social media follower count are not necessarily correlated. 

If you REALLY want to build a successful business as a creative, it’s important to choose metrics to focus on that actually move your business forward. 

This isn’t always easy. It can take effort to resist vanity metrics sometimes. 

They’re SO SHINY… 

They’re so very tempting! 

You may get a hit when you get more followers. It can make you feel great when you get more likes. 

But you have to ask yourself, are you building popularity just for popularity’s sake? Or are you truly building a business that’s going to support you in making more art that’s meaningful to you, and creating a true cultural impact on the world during your lifetime?

Confusing those two things—thinking that you are making a cultural impact by building followers—is ultimately a trap. (A trap that can FEEL like eating a whole box of cookies. 😛🍪🍪🍪 But still...a trap.)

In this NEW podcast episode, I’ll cover...

• The most effective role for social media in your business (and how to keep it in its place)
• The top mistake most people make when it comes to social media 
• Why the “what happens next” is the MOST important thing to master to make the most of social platforms 
• What social media metric ACTUALLY matters for your business (this one will lead to real business growth)

Listen to the episode “Why Facebook Likes, Spotify Follows and Instagram Follows Don’t Matter (And What to Focus on Instead)” now!

I want to talk a little bit more about one of my favorite topics—membership sites for musicians. If you ask me, behind-the-scenes artist-created music membership sites are a no-brainer if you’re looking to increase your income.

Today I’m sharing some quick tech tips for starting a music membership site. We’re going to talk specifically about six practical tips to get your membership up and running quickly (without sacrificing user experience or good design). 

If you’re ready to start your music membership site and start creating recurring revenue for your music business, this episode will also help you avoid some common pitfalls people make when starting a membership.

Ready to get started? 

Listen to the episode “6 Tech Tips for Starting Your Music Membership Site” now!