The David Andrew Wiebe Show

What’s the right way to look at building a music career? How do you make sure that you create long-term results for yourself?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:26 – Exciting new course (now available)

00:53 – Christopher Sutton’s masterclass introduction

05:05 – Entrepreneurial essentials for musicians

05:29 – A musician is a small business owner

07:35 – A statement that could change your life

10:37 – Adopting a long-term mindset

13:55 – What can you accomplish in 10 years?

16:44 – Episode summary

Transcription:

Hey, it's David Andrew Wiebe.

What you're about to hear is a segment of my course, the Entrepreneurial Essentials for Musicians Masterclass. You can find it at davidandrewwiebe.com/Masterclass.

The price goes up every week, so if you'd like to save a bit of money, head on over there sooner rather than later. It's davidandrewwiebe.com/Masterclass.

Enjoy this segment from the Entrepreneurial Essentials for Musicians Masterclass.

This is Christopher Sutton, director of Musical U, a community dedicated to teaching musicians the inner skills that grant them the confidence they need to improvise, perform, and more. We LOVE what Musical U is up to!

Christopher Sutton: Hello and welcome. We are live. Sorry for the short delay and thank you for your patience, we were fighting some technical gremlins. Technology is incredible when it works and incredibly annoying when it doesn't. Thanks for bearing with us. Sorry to be starting a little bit late. I guarantee it will be worth your while waiting a few minutes. Very welcome. Very warm welcome to you all here today, whether you are a Musical U fan or even a Musical U member, if we have any members give a shout out in the chat box. I'm sure we have a few who have come along. Today we are joined by a very special guest. I am delighted to say we have David Andrew Wiebe, author of The New Music Industry and The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship. David say hello.

David Andrew Wiebe: Hello everybody.

Christopher: David is the man behind The Music Entrepreneur HQ website, which is a fantastic blog and also hosts a podcast, and he is himself a guitarist and songwriter based in Canada, but he's really made a name for himself online with his writing on modern music entrepreneurship and what it means to try and make a living with music in this day and age. I recently grabbed a copy of David's new book, which I highly recommend. It's The Essential Guide to Music Entrepreneurship and I just totally loved the way he talks about this topic of entrepreneurship.

If you've come along today, then I know that that word entrepreneurship didn't totally put you off, which is good, but I know that a lot of people assume a lot of things about it, and so I hope you've come today with an open mind because what I love so much about David's book was that it wasn't kind of the traditional just how to make money or how to make a business kind of entrepreneurship teaching. He really goes into the mindset, and the habits that make for success in life in general, to be honest. It's definitely framed as entrepreneurship, but there is a ton packed in there that's useful for any musician whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur or not.

So I was super excited to have David come and present this masterclass for Musical U members and anyone who's joining us live today, because this is stuff that will help you transform your success in any musical endeavor, I think. In a minute I'm going to hand over to David to share his insights with you, and before we do, I'll just explain the structure of today's call. In a second I'll hand over to David and then at the end of his presentation we're going to do some Q&A. So you should be seeing a chat box on your screen live chat thing, so if you're watching Musical U, I think it'll appear to the right hand side of the video. If you're watching on the public website, I think it might be below, and if you're watching on YouTube it'll be wherever YouTube decided to put it today, but look around and you should see a white live chat box.

Please don't be shy. Do say hello. We've had a bunch of people saying helloin there already, which is fantastic. I will give a few shout outs to Glenn from Minnesota, [Meddy 00:02:51] from Europe, Scott from Texas, USA. You look familiar, Scott, maybe from a previous masterclass. Peter Pool from the Netherlands, Jamie from San Francisco, Maximiliano from Venezuela. Terrific crowd here from all around the world today. You're all very welcome, Stephanie and Jim as well, and that MC Nick, you're all very welcome. Thank you for joining us today, and I can see we have a ton more tuned in live that haven't yet said hello in the chat. So if you're feeling shy, or you haven't said hello yet, please do say a quick hello and tell us where you're from or what instrument you play, and we'd love to hear from you.

That live chat will be running throughout today's session. So please do use it. You can make comments, and you can ask questions. If it's a certain type of question, I might throw it at David and interrupt him midstream, but most likely I will be holding them back until the end of his presentation and then we'll have some time for Q&A at the end. That's it for me, without any further ado, I will hand over to our speaker and presenter today, David Andrew Wiebe. Thank you David.

David: Thank you so much for the great introduction, Christopher. I will say that Christopher has quickly become one of my favorite human beings even in the few interactions that we've had. He's such a kind and wonderful person and so it's a real honor, and a pleasure to be presenting here a masterclass for Musical U, which I would definitely recommend checking out. Today, of course, we'll talking about entrepreneurial essentials for musicians and I'm going to be covering the basics here, so do not be intimidated. Can everybody see the slides okay?

Christopher: Yep. Showing up well.

David: Okay, perfect. Yeah, so don't be intimidated. I think any information that I share with you today is totally applicable, and I am going to have a little challenge for you later on if you choose to accept it, so as an introduction to this material, a musician is effectively a small business owner, whether they know it or not. When you're first getting started, no one knows who you are or what you're about. They don't know what you sound like. They don't know what kind of music you play, basically, you have to begin creating your fan base, but if you want to sell your music, first you must record it, then publish it and then market it to your prospects, or at least that's the traditional way of thinking about it. I'm going to present a different way of thinking about that whole process. If you want to book gigs, of course you must approach venues and event organizers and strike up a deal, which can be nerve wracking and pretty scary at first.

When you begin reaching out, you realize a lot of people are friendlier than you might expect them to be, but when you're ... It's easy to conjure up in your mind images of failure or rejection as you're going about that process. So similarly, a small business owner doesn't have customers when first getting started and no one knows who they are or what they offer, what kind of products or services they have for them. Maybe their immediate friends or partners or affiliates might know something about what they're offering, but most people don't know who they are, what they're up to, especially if they're new to the entrepreneurship. So a small business owner must determine what their product or service is going to be and then market it to their target audience. Similarly, musicians must market their music to their target audience, which if you're just starting to make music, you have no idea who that is, and you may take a while to decide on a direction whether that's country music for people that live on farms, or rock music for people that love city life or things like that.

So if you understand the core fundamentals of running a small business, I believe that you'll achieve more in your music career, that's certainly been the case for me. There's a lot of stuff that I really didn't know, especially mindset wise, and that's some of the stuff that we're going to be talking about today. So even if your only goal right now is to learn an instrument, this information could change the way you think about practice, and the rate at which you progress, and that's what we're going to look at today.

If you understand the core fundamentals of running a small business, you'll achieve more in your music career,Share on X

This is the statement that absolutely changed my life. Employees work for money and other people, entrepreneurs have money and people work for them. I believe I first heard it from Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. When I first heard it, I was getting into a business model called network marketing, but it ultimately led me down the path of creating The Music Entrepreneur HQ and that's because I realized the value in what I was learning and how pertinent it was to building a music career. I got an education, what I was missing, which was primary mindset, and I'll be covering a lot of that here.

I had been pursuing a music career for over 10 years at that point without any major success, and gradually I began to realize why that was. I was missing a lot of keys to getting to where I want it to go and so many bands that I joined and participated in and been a part of had ended up breaking up usually within a year to a year and a half, and that's going to happen to you too if you choose to go that route with being in a band.

The key point there is that you can't give up. You have to keep looking for people,...

Have you ever thought about leaving your day job to pursue your passion? What are you willing to do to create the life you love through music?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at this episode in The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:27 – Jonathan Barwick of Fierce Deity

02:24 – Investing in yourself and your career

03:56 – Heartbreak and breakthrough

07:04 – Playing major supporting spots that went nowhere

12:43 – Taking chances in life

17:45 – How did Jonathon’s perspective change over the years?

23:43 – The parallels between education and the music industry

25:39 – Sex, drugs, and rock and roll

26:50 – Fierce Deity

33:03 – Passion and success

37:16 – Traveling and appreciating life

40:55 – Arriving at the starting line of your life passed 30

43:11 – Security blanket

44:46 – Jonathon’s vision and music production

53:44 – The way people use smartphones and social media

57:44 – Closing thoughts

Transcription:

Coming soon.

Conclusion

Did you enjoy this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast? Well, there’s a lot more where this came from. And you don’t want to miss out on another episode, right? Then take a moment to head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/join to get on the email list. While there, you can download the guide that interests you most from the eBook library, alright? So, take a second and head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/join to get your free guide and join the email list.

This has been episode 222 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

Things have been kind of interesting as of late. But that doesn’t mean you should feel down and like it’s all coming to an end.

If you’re feeling discouraged or unmotivated right now, have a listen to this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast to get pumped up!

Podcast Highlights:

00:17 – David’s purpose

01:57 – Interrupting the current series

02:50 – There has never been a better time to express yourself creatively

03:59 – Don’t be a lone wolf

04:56 – Concluding thoughts

Transcription:

Hey, what's up. It's David Andrew Wiebe. Thanks for joining me.

This episode is completely unscripted. I just want to be real with you today that I am feeling exhausted. I'm feeling tired. And as a result, this episode's going to be going out late. I just haven't quite gotten the sleep that I've needed lately.

Although last night, I had a great sleep and a nice little dream as well. So, let's hope that continues. But today, I'm just not feeling it. And that's okay. There are days like that.

When I have days like that, I just go back to my purpose and my mission. The number one thing for me, especially lately, it's become clear, is to inspire creatives and creators. If I'm not doing that, then it's kind of all for naught. That's where everything stems from. That's the umbrella under which I create. That's why I do podcasts like this. That's why I blog every day.

If you didn't know I did, I’m blogging over at DavidAndrewWiebe.com. You're welcome to check that out. That's where some of the action is happening. I'll probably talk more about where some of the action with the community is happening but I will say this, that there's been so much support and so much engagement and so many more people that seem to care about what I'm up to, what I'm sharing.

It's not about me. it is fundamentally about you. And again, that's why I'm showing up today, because I want you to be encouraged. I want you to be inspired and maybe even empowered. That's why we talk about tactics and strategies and tools and things like that.

I'm interrupting a series on what to do with your music in 2021. I'm sure we'll get back to that soon enough. It's a multi part series. There may even be a few interviews coming up that sort of interrupt the flow of that.

I actually need a little more time to think on part three, though, to be honest. I just wasn't feeling like I could go ahead and script that entire thing today. After doing episode two or part two, rather, I realized that there were more tools to share about. And then, I promptly forgot them.

This is kind of rare for me. But based on how tired and exhausted I've been feeling, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that whatever is in my head and not written down, I forget. I always try to write down everything I can.

The main thing I wanted to share with you to encourage you and to inspire you today is there has never been a better time for you to fully express your thoughts, your feelings, and whatever it is that you want to do musically. I even talked about that in part one of what to do with your music in 2021.

But I'm telling you, no matter how weird things get out there, and I understand, trust me, I know how weird things are getting out there, there's still has never been a better time for you to be fully expressed in your music and in your own personal expression in your relationships and your life. Because that's what it means to be a leader. A leader is somebody who is fully self-expressed.

Whatever you're afraid of is 10 times more afraid of you than you are of it. That's just the way it is. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. You don't have to give in to the false evidence.

We could all just sit here and shake in our boots, but I'm telling you, right now is the right time to connect. Stop isolating, trying to be a lone wolf. Instead, come and join the action.

Come and join the action on Twitter. If you haven't found me yet, I'm twitter.com/DavidAWiebe or @DavidAWiebe, if you will.

And some of the other action's happening on Medium. I'm also DavidAWiebe on Medium. I believe the address there is DavidAWiebe.medium.com. So, don't be a lone wolf right now. Come and join the community. Come and join the action. Be a part of the conversation.

It's okay if we don't see eye to eye on everything. That's not what humanity is about. It's about appreciating the differences that we have and valuing each other regardless of how differently we see things.

Thanks for joining me today. I look forward to sharing more with you on what to do with your music in 2021. This was just a quick recording and a brief message for you, a message of encouragement and inspiration that you can be you authentically and fully. Thanks for joining me.

Tools aren’t everything when it comes to growing your music career. But if you aren’t aware of the opportunities available, you are almost certainly missing out.

In this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, we look at what more you can do with your music in 2021.

Podcast Highlights:

00:29 – Tools to use to promote and share your music in 2021

00:48 – Web hosting: SiteGround

01:17 – Sharing: Songwhip

01:47 – Social network: Drooble

02:28 – Live streaming: StreamYard

02:50 – Influencer marketing: TribeFluence

03:22 – Audience insights: SparkToro

04:11 – Multimedia distribution: Repurpose

04:42 – Old standbys

05:05 – Episode summary

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

And we’re ready to pick up where we left off with part 1 of this series on what to do with your music in 2021.

In part 1, I covered some high-level mindset and strategic things, and in this episode, I focus on tools. And I can almost guarantee there are some you haven’t even heard of and will appreciate big time.

So, let’s dive right in.

1. SiteGround

In the last episode, I talked about setting up your WordPress site but didn’t even mention where to go to do that.

My top recommendation is SiteGround. Their hosting is affordable and easy to use, their customer support is great, and sites on their servers load fast.

So, if this is the direction you’d like to go in, head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/SiteGround. We are an affiliate of SiteGround, and if you purchase anything through our link, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

2. Songwhip

You can share your music, or you can share your music with Songwhip. I’d recommend getting acquainted with Songwhip.

Using this free app, you can easily create music links to every platform, be it Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, or otherwise.

This comes in especially handy when you don’t know which platforms your fans like to use, or when you want to make sure the recipient can find your music on all platforms.

Check out Songwhip at Songwhip.com. Learn it. Use it. Benefit from it.

3. Drooble

Drooble is a social network that’s been developed specifically with musicians in mind.

Let’s face it – now that we’re stuck inside, it’s never been more crucial to get connected and to collaborate, so it would be worth signing up for this reason alone.

But Drooble has also got some amazing features in the form of song reviews, EPKs, radio broadcast, and more. I’ve checked out some of these tools, and they’re great.

Even if you’ve already got an EPK or electronic press kit, who cares? Set up another one with Drooble and A/B test it alongside your other EPK.

If you’d like to learn more about Drooble, you can have a listen to episode 82 of the podcast with Melina Krumova.

4. StreamYard

There are many tools you can use to stream your live shows or Q&A sessions. My favorite is StreamYard.

With StreamYard, you can stream to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Periscope, and Twitch all at once. It costs a bit of money if you want to stream to more than one profile, but it’s super easy to use.

Create maximum coverage for your live streams with StreamYard.

5. TribeFluence

You are the CEO of your music business. And it’s important to recognize you don’t need to build your audience from scratch. Chances are, someone already has built your audience for you. All you’ve got to do is work your way in or buy your way in.

You are the CEO of your music business. And it’s important to recognize you don’t need to build your audience from scratch.Share on X

TribeFluence gives you easy access to social media influencers at a nominal rate. If you’ve got a message to share, and you want to get it seen by more people, you can easily buy your way in using TribeFluence.

If you’d like to learn more, you can listen to episode 113 of the podcast with Johnny Vieira.

6. SparkToro

I often suggest – and have even helped – multiple musicians find their audience online. This was typically done with a mix of tools like Alexa, SimilarWeb, Facebook Insights, and others. And these are still great tools to use.

But a recent discovery that I rather like is SparkToro. With SparkToro, you can learn more about your audience based on what they frequently talk about, what words they use in their social media profile, who they follow on social media, what websites they visit, or what hashtags they use.

Basically, if you’re ever lost, and only have a couple of data points on your audience, you could easily find out more about them using SparkToro. You could also use it to further flesh out your audience profile.

When it comes to target audiences, the more you know about them, the better, so check out SparkToro. They let you do a few searches for free.

7. Repurpose

If you’ve got video or podcast content you’d like to slice up and repurpose, you probably won’t find a better tool for the job than Repurpose.

I like to use it to turn podcast content into videos or video clips. But there’s so much more you can do with videos, since you can turn videos into clips, audio content, and more.

If you’d like, you can support us through our affiliate link at davidandrewwiebe.com/Repurpose.

8. More Tools

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others can still work if you’re using them the right way. If you’re just going there to post and creep on others, good luck. But if you’re going there to actively engage an audience, create discussions, and collect more data points on your target audience, you’re going to see results.

Anyway, if anything else comes up tool wise, I will be sure to mention it later in this series. But that’s what I’ve got for now.

Episode Summary

Here’s today’s episode summary:

SiteGround is the perfect place to start a new website. It’s affordable, fast, and easy to use.

Songwhip is perfect for creating music links that allow users to listen to your music on their favorite platform.

Drooble is a social network for musicians with added functionality that makes it especially appealing.

StreamYard is basically the best streaming service available, and it allows you to stream across all the popular social networks and streaming sites.

TribeFluence is a great tool for spreading your messages through influencers for a nominal fee.

SparkToro allows you to learn more about your audience with ease.

With Repurpose, you can take your multimedia content, create clips with it, and even syndicate and distribute it across popular social media.

Old standbys can still work. Just make sure you’re being disciplined and intentional with your use.

Conclusion

If you’re ready to find even more tools that will help you take your music beyond in 2021, head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join to download your free guide and join the email list. As a subscriber, you get access to even more bonuses. So, head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join and grab your free, value-adding guide now.

This has been episode 220 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

2021 is here. Are you ready to crush it? Are you aware of all the opportunities available?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:26 – David’s new Twitter thread

00:59 – No live music in 2021?

01:29 – No more holding back

02:41 – Get into the publishing habit

04:30 – Grow your online presence

06:06 – Episode summary

06:46 – Closing thoughts

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

Happy New Year!

So, I wanted to get into what to do with your music in 2021. I even posted a thread on Twitter detailing some of my thoughts on this.

I had 13 some odd points in that thread, and the truth is, I probably have more to share.

So, I thought I would break this up into a multi-part series. That way, you can listen to each episode and action a few steps before you listen to the next in the series.

I’ve got at least a dozen tips, probably more. So, this will likely be a four- to five-part series. We’ll see how it comes together.

But let’s get into this because there’s a lot to cover.

Preface

I wanted to preface all this by saying that, while I don’t have a crystal ball, I’m starting to get the sense that live music may not be making much of a return in 2021.

Now, anything can happen. So, I’m not writing off the possibility that things will get better soon.

Trust me when I say I miss live music as much as you do right now. I would love just to go to a concert, never mind playing my own.

But we’ve also got to be realistic. Which is why I’ve identified multiple things you can do with your music this year, even if you’re stuck inside.

1. Don’t Hold Back

My number one tip for music makers in 2021 is to stop holding back.

If there’s something you’ve always wanted to say with your music, but have never gotten around to saying, now’s the time to bring your ideas to life.

Whether it’s declaring love, protesting current events, sharing your innermost beliefs with your fans, whatever you feel you need to say, get it off your chest as soon as possible.

Just pretend like you’re on borrowed time and you’ll be in the right spirit.

Also, don’t hold back in your marketing, networking, outreach, or any other area of your career.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how amazing we all have it here in the digital age. You can interact with high level executives on Twitter. You can read the stories of successful musicians on blogs. You can take advantage of the latest apps and tools to share your music.

Now’s the time to get back in the game and leverage all the connections, resources, and tools at your fingertips.

Don’t cower in fear. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Don’t give up on your dreams.

Get up, get going, and don’t hold back!

For more inspiration in this regard, have a listen to:

Episode 73 of the podcast with DeCarlos Garrison

Episode 108 with Jules Schroeder

Episode 122 with Richard “Younglord” Frierson

Episode 135 with Matt Starr

2.  Make More Music

Let go of perfectionism. Learn to identify when your music is “good enough” and get comfortable publishing it as is.

As artists, it’s easy to obsess over every little detail. And I get that many experts out there are saying there’s no excuse for bad quality production.

But when we think like that, we end up handcuffing ourselves to limitations, because we think we’re going to have to spend a fortune on every new release.

It’s never been easier or cheaper to set up a home studio and put together a quality recording. And even if that doesn’t interest you, there are so many other ways to get your project off the ground.

You can find a friend who’s looking to bolster their portfolio and pay them in beer and pizza. You can start a crowdfunding campaign. And maybe, if you just asked your parents nicely, they’d be willing to fund your next release as well.

But if production were all that mattered, I’m not sure Helen Austin, who I interviewed in episode 19 of the podcast, would have a successful career.

And it might sound crazy, but in my catalog, the album that repeatedly gets the most praise from others is Fire Your God. Which is bizarre to me because it’s basically a collection of lo-fi basement demos. And that has me looking at the possibility of releasing more music in that vein, as opposed to the pristine production heard on my No Escape EP.

I’m not the only one, either. People love to listen to Rivers Cuomo and John Frusciante’s lo-fi demos.

I’m going to tell you right now, if you don’t make more music, executing against this series is going to prove difficult. Because you need more product.

Not that music is the only product you can create. There was time, not too long ago, when music was basically reduced to a form of content marketing. It drew people into the brand and lifestyle, so that you could sell them a T-shirt.

But if you want to get into some of the things I’ll be talking about later in the series, you’ll regret not putting more energy into your music.

For more inspiration, check out:

My interview with Jack Conte on the blog at davidandrewwiebe.com

3. Set Up Your Website

It’s amazing to me that in 2020, artists still miss the point of websites and blogs and come up with completely illogical, ineffective ways of thinking about and using them.

If you’ve been listening to me for a while, then you probably know by now that a Facebook page, SoundCloud profile, or free Wix website is just unacceptable.

You need to buy hosting and a domain name and build on WordPress. At the very least, sign up with Bandzoogle, because they have an easy-to-use interface that even non techies can figure out.

I know that event organizers or A&R reps might feel differently, but if I’m working on a marketing campaign with a band, I could care less what their social media following is. I would still leverage it, especially if they had an engaged following. But I would be far more concerned with how their email list is doing. That’s what I care about.

Your website is the best place to build your email list. There’s no substitute, except for maybe a tool like Leadpages, which I also like a lot.

But then you also want to sell your music, don’t you? It just so happens that your website is the best place to do that.

And that’s not all…

In building awareness and exposure, sharing updates, getting people out to shows, growing your email list, expanding your social media following, and even selling your music, there is simply no better tool than your website, especially if you keep it updated.

Make your website the definitive destination for everything to do with you and your music. There’s just no excuse anymore. You’re a professional now. You are the CEO of your music business. Get cracking on this.

For more inspiration, have a listen to:

Episode 3 of the podcast with Ross Barber

Episode Summary

Here’s today’s episode summary.

Don’t hold back. Now’s the time to move forward with all those crazy ideas you’ve been dreaming about. You’re on borrowed time. Go and do everything you’ve always wanted to do with your music now!

Make more music. There are many ways to leverage your content and having more of it opens the door to more opportunities. Learn to recognize when your music is “good enough” and get into the publishing habit!

Get your website set up. You’re a pro now. And if you’re taking your music seriously, and you want others to take you seriously, buy hosting and a custom domain. Start populating your website with fresh content every week.

Conclusion

If you’re ready to make 2021 your year, head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join to pick up your free guide. We’ve got a few to choose from, so take your pick. How to Earn Real Money from Your Music might be a good one based on the contents of this episode. Again, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join to get your free guide now.

This has been episode 219 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

A significant part of building a music career is facing things that are outside of your comfort zone. So, how can you keep rising to new levels without losing momentum?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:30 – A new distinction

00:47 – What is unfamiliar? What is uncomfortable?

01:10 – How to think about unfamiliar

03:55 – How to think about uncomfortable

05:50 – Episode summary

07:03 – Thoughts on today’s episode?

07:24 – Final thoughts

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

I recently stumbled on a distinction I wanted to share with you. I think it will prove beneficial in your creative efforts.

Today, we’re going to be looking at the difference between “unfamiliar” and “uncomfortable.” And while the difference might seem subtle, it’s critical if you want to perform at your highest level.

The Difference Between “Unfamiliar” & “Uncomfortable”

Unfamiliar is when you’re treading into unknown territory.

Uncomfortable is when you don’t know how to act in a situation.

You can certainly feel uncomfortable when something is unfamiliar, and you can also feel unfamiliar when something is uncomfortable.

But when you see that the two don’t need to be collapsed onto each other, you’ll be better equipped to deal with the challenges that arise in your music career.

Unfamiliar

When something is unfamiliar, it means you’ve probably never experienced it before. You haven’t been in that situation. So, you don’t know what to expect.

If you’re trying to get your website set up, but have no idea how to use WordPress, you would be unfamiliar with WordPress.

It would be strange to say you’re uncomfortable with WordPress at this stage, because you haven’t even used it yet. You know as well as I do that you can become comfortable with anything if you just spend enough time with it.

When something is unfamiliar, the learning curve seems the steepest. But it’s also where the most learning tends to happen.

When I was teaching guitar, I always found it amazing how I could take a student from not knowing how to play guitar to teaching them finger exercises, scales, and a few basic songs in a matter of a few lessons. If the student were especially attentive, they could pick all that up in one half-hour lesson!

So, unfamiliarity is not bad. But you must recognize your human tendency to avoid what’s unfamiliar.

You may say, “networking is so hard,” when you’ve never attended a networking event. It’s unfamiliar, and until you’re used to introducing yourself, talking about yourself in a compelling away, and listening to others as they share, it’s going to seem daunting.

Go to enough of these events, and you will get the hang of it. No need to be scared. You’re just unfamiliar. Uncomfortable is when you’ve done it once or twice, and you have a better sense of what to expect, and what you’re expecting is the worst, which is human.

Procrastination often stems from what’s unfamiliar too. You don’t touch it, because you have no idea how, and you have some strange expectation of yourself that you should already know how.

When it comes to anything unfamiliar, you need to give yourself some grace. Have no expectations. Make mistakes.

When I don’t know how to do something the right way, I find tremendous value in making all the mistakes upfront. It helps me avoid those mistakes in the future.

If you’re messing around with new software, click on everything and see what it does.

If you’re trying to install new pickups in your guitar, watch some YouTube videos to get a better idea how it’s done.

Learning and gaining new skills is always valuable. You have no idea how many ways it might end up benefiting your music career long term. Trust me when I say you can leverage everything you learn to multiply your productivity, output, and influence.

At 15, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life performing. Sure, I’ve written and published plenty of music, but I’ve also written five books, something I would not have even expected of myself at 15.

When something is unfamiliar, it just means it’s something to be learned. If we don’t learn, we stagnate. See the unfamiliar as an opportunity to learn, not as an excuse to run away.

Uncomfortable

Uncomfortable denotes familiarity. Meaning, you’ve been in a situation before, and you know it’s uncomfortable.

Now, you can certainly walk into any situation, and know whether it’s uncomfortable to you in a short amount of time. So, you can transition from unfamiliar to uncomfortable relatively quickly.

The good news is whatever seems uncomfortable to you doesn’t need to stay that way forever.

When you were first learning how to swim or ride a bike, no doubt it was uncomfortable to you. But as you kept at it, eventually it became comfortable.

Some of you may have never learned to swim or ride a bike, so another example would be learning to sing or play an instrument. Since you’re teaching your body to do things it’s never done before, of course it’s uncomfortable. But with practice, you got better.

Many of the things we need to do to grow our careers will seem difficult at first.

You know how asking someone out can feel quite uncomfortable, especially if it’s your first time asking?

Much of what we need to do in the music business is kind of like that. You’ve got to introduce yourself, make connections, compliment others, follow up, risk rejection and failure, make bold requests, send out demos, book gigs, reach out to radio stations, submit our music to bloggers, and more.

It will be uncomfortable at first. And because it doesn’t feel good, you won’t feel like putting yourself through it.

But maybe the reason it feels uncomfortable is because you haven’t been doing enough of it. I would challenge you to send 10 emails to people in the music business today to introduce yourself. One of those 10 can be me. Then I’ll also know you’ve listened to this episode. My email is [email protected].

Remember – if swimming, riding a bike, or learning an instrument can eventually become comfortable, so can creating connections, promotion, building a team, and so on. You just need practice!

Episode Summary

Here’s today’s episode summary:

There’s a difference between “unfamiliar” and “uncomfortable” and distinguishing the two can help you overcome inertia, laziness, stagnation, ruts, and so on, and get into action. To overcome challenges, you need to be in action.

Unfamiliar is when you’re treading into unknown territory. You might feel anxious, just as anyone would feel anxious going bungee jumping or skydiving for the first time. But to say that you’re uncomfortable is not quite true, because that would mean you have experience. Give yourself grace when you’re facing something unfamiliar. Don’t have any expectations for yourself or how you’ll do. Just go into it, make mistakes, and figure things out as you go.

Uncomfortable is when you don’t know how to act in a situation. But we all know from experience that we can gain confidence with repeated exposure to similar situations, be it asking someone out, networking events, playing a gig, or otherwise. If discomfort is holding you back, spend more time in those situations instead of avoiding them. Start practicing and be intentional about the process.

Feedback

As always, I look forward to hearing from you. I already shared my email in today’s episode, so feel free to reach out and share.

What did you get out of today’s episode? Did you find it helpful?

What has your experience of unfamiliar and uncomfortable been like? Did you find this distinction helpful?

Is there an unfamiliar or uncomfortable experience you’d be willing to share with me and other listeners?

Let me know!

Conclusion

If you’re ready to tread out into the unfamiliar and begin embracing the uncomfortable, then head on over to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join and grab the guide that interests you most. I’m confident you will find something that appeals to you personally, whether it’s growing your Spotify following or increasing your subs on YouTube. Again, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join to get your free guide and get added to our email list.

This has been episode 218 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

Is talking about music like dancing around architecture? It is a waste of time to look at what it takes to be a modern music maker?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:27 – Introduction

00:50 – Rant

03:46 – Closing thoughts

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

While I was writing my November Life Update, I ended up going on a bit of a rant. And I thought this would be worthy of sharing everywhere, including the podcast. I’ll probably put this in video form as well, and maybe I’ll recite it elsewhere.

But for now, here it is in podcast form, and this is simply titled: Don’t Make Me Laugh.

[The full transcription for the rant is available in the Life Update: November 2020 post – simply scroll down until you see the “Don’t Make Me Laugh” header.]

If you think music is worth talking about, show that you care by heading over to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join and pick up your free guide. We’ve got several to choose from, and they’re all high quality. Again, go to davidandrewwiebe.com/Join to download your gift and join the insider’s circle.

This has been episode 217 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

Is constant rejection and criticism getting you down? Does it seem like others go out of their way to offend you?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast.

Podcast Highlights:

00:26 – Sensitivity and offense

01:16 – Don’t take it so personally!

02:32 – Get a second, third, and fourth opinion

04:11 – Use negative feedback to improve

06:31 – You can only feel offended inside

07:41 – Episode summary

Transcription:

Hey, it’s David Andrew Wiebe.

Today I wanted to share about sensitivity and offense. Because as artists we always seem to base our value or outlook on what someone else thinks or says.

At the outset, let me tell you that you’ll never know what anyone else is thinking unless you ask them. It’s impossible. So, everything you’re thinking is probably based on a story you’ve constructed in your head, and you’ve either got to a) ask that person what they’re thinking, or b) let go and be complete with it to move forward.

But being butthurt over everything is so common and so counterproductive that it can end up wasting a lot of precious time. It can easily ruin your life and your career.

So, let’s talk about this.

Interpreting the Comments of Others

The first thing I want to get into is how we interpret the comments of others. Because we would never feel rejected or criticized if not for things others have said.

1. Ask Yourself Whether the Comment was About You

So, it’s been my observation that as creatives we’ll often enter conversations not informing others of our intention. But we’ll steer the conversation in such a way that we’ll get the answer we think we want. We do this without establishing any context, so the person we’re talking to isn’t even sure of our intentions.

It’s like a girl asking a guy “is there anyone in your life you think is worth fighting for right now?”

What she’s really asking is whether she’s worth fighting for. But that’s not what she asked. So, she will interpret the answer “no” as meaning she’s not worthwhile, or she will interpret the answer “yes” as meaning he has a girlfriend already.

Either way, she’ll take it negatively.

By the way, I’m using the pronoun “she” here, but guys are just as likely to ask ambiguous, leading questions like this, so don’t take this in a sexist direction.

So, the first thing to understand is that in a conversation like this, whatever response you get, it was not about you. Because you did not ask about you, you asked generally.

It takes courage to ask what another honestly thinks about you, but it’s not worth the offense if you haven’t done the hard work of asking about yourself specifically.

Before you take anything personally, first ask yourself whether it was said about you.

2. Don’t Take What One Person Says as Final

You’ve probably heard stories of people who got a diagnosis from a doctor. But they were compelled to get a second, and a third, and a fourth opinion, because either they did not trust what they were being told or thought there might be another way to combat their illness.

Yet, what I see all the time is artists taking one person’s opinion as final.

They’ll hear “you’re too young, you’re too old, you’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you’re not experienced enough, you’re too experienced, your music’s not good enough, you’re not marketable, you’re not our style” or some variation thereof and take it personally.

First, just as I said in point one, we’ve got to check to ensure this comment was said specifically about us, right?

But beyond that, no matter the authority of the individual, if it’s just one opinion, it’s just one opinion.

So, one booking agent or publicist or promoter rejected you. What does that mean?

It means you were rejected by one agent, one publicist, or one promoter. And it doesn’t even mean that, because if you create something better and come back to them later, they might still give you a “yes.”

And as already suggested, you’d be better off getting a second, and third, and fourth opinion. Because who knows? The right opportunity might be with Jessica rather than Mike. Mike may not have taken a liking to you, but maybe your music floats Jessica’s boat.

And remember. You’re not talking to labels or agents or managers. You’re talking to real people just like you. If what you’ve got is compelling enough, it’s bound to be for somebody. If you’ve got fans, then you already know your music is for somebody, and it’s all about finding more people like that!

3. Turn Negative Comments into Fuel to Improve

Okay, so there are basically three possibilities here. One is that a someone said something relatively general that you took offense to. Two is that someone gave you a general expert opinion but wasn’t necessarily addressing you specifically. The last possibility is you receive a direct comment from someone influential.

I see a lot of artists butthurt over this because they were told one thing by someone, like “you’re not going to make it” or “you’re too old” or “you’re the wrong sex, so you’re going to be mistreated” or whatever.

And the first problem is we often interpret things incorrectly. Neuroscience expert Dr. Joe Dispenza often says we don’t even remember 50% of our pasts correctly. And as artists, we tend to remember the feeling of events rather than the contents of them.

So, even when a negative comment is aimed at us directly, there’s still the chance that we’ll take it the wrong way and make something out of it that was never intended.

The next thing is we don’t confirm the state of the person saying these things. So, we just examine the content of what’s being said, rather than getting a sense of whether that person was having a bad day, whether they were having troubles at home, if they’d just received some bad news of their own, or whatever.

Hurting people hurt people, and if you were to reflect on your own past, you’d probably see that you’ve said things that were hurtful to another, intentional or not. And quite likely, you weren’t in the best space when you did it.

Finally, the problem is we end up taking whatever was said as gospel, which is connected to an earlier point. We think because one person told us it was going to go badly for us, that this is the inevitable outcome.

Supposedly, there are nearly eight billion people on earth. I have not confirmed it for myself, but I cannot even fathom that number. The sentiment here is that your opportunities are basically unlimited.

So, even if it’s Max Martin, or Dr. Luke, or Diddy, or Timbaland telling you “this is the way it is,” it’s premature.

Even if they do tell you “you’re not going to make it,” they’re just waiting for you to use that as fuel to prove them wrong. Because they’re never going to work with anyone that doesn’t get up after being knocked down. And trust me, they’ve probably been knocked down more than anyone else. It’s how they got to where they are.

So, you can give up, or you can use what was said as fuel to better yourself and your music.

Your Offense is Your Own to Deal with

Another important point is that your offense is your own to deal with. Meaning even if someone else intended for their comments to be hurtful or offensive, how you take it is entirely up to you.

Artists get so butthurt over what someone else says that they let one comment ruin their day, or week, or month.

What’s interesting is that whoever said those things to you is probably over it, doesn’t remember it, and is busy working on themselves and their project.

So, it seems foolish to let something like that hold you back. Because you could be doing the same thing – getting over it, forgetting it, and getting busy working on your own projects.

Remember. Someone else can control what they say. But they cannot control how you feel about it. Ever. And it’s up to you to do the investigative work necessary to know what their intention was if you want to find out.

Couples who want to stay together need to do this all the time. You can say, “when you said X, it made me feel Y.” And that can open a meaningful discussion about the intention behind the message.

Try not to make your offense someone else’s responsibility. Because it isn’t. Whatever you’re feeling is inside you, and it can’t be found within someone else. So, only you have the power to do something about it.

Episode Summary

Alright, to summarize today’s episode:

Don’t worry about generalized comments and advice. Generalized advice might apply to 60 to 80% of people, but it might not apply to you. If you want to know how someone really feels about you, ask them directly. Don’t beat around the bush.

Don’t take anything as final. Assuming your heart is still beating in your chest, there are always opportunities. Yes, you may need to pivot. You may need to adjust your goals. But that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve success on your own terms. Shift your paradigm and keep going.

Use it all as fuel. Sometimes offense is intentional. Or, at the very least, you may be tested by others in the industry. Use it all as fuel to improve, to get better, to become the best version of yourself. My friend Chris Naish did exactly that when he got a scathing review from a journalist, but years later got a positive review from the same journalist who admitted defeat.

Don’t blame anyone else for your feelings. Victim mentality is unproductive. Recognize that whatever you’re feeling is within you and that’s only because you gave your own power over to it.

Remember – you can be butthurt, or you can keep making progress in your music career. The choice is yours. You can be butthurt if you want, but the only thing it can do is stop you dead in your tracks and rob you of time, joy, and fulfillment. Better to reframe, use it as fuel, and begin moving in a productive direction, even if you have to pivot and adjust course slightly.

...

What if you could turn your love of music into a career? What if working with your favorite artists and bands was just a project away?

That’s what we’re looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast where I chat with professional marketing consultant Michael Brandvold.

Podcast Highlights:

00:28 – Every day is Monday with Michael Brandvold

01:54 – Michael shares his epic story

22:21 – KISS School of Marketing

25:49 – Branding in music

28:37 – Music Biz Weekly and what Michael has learned from podcasting

36:29 – Michael’s perspective on prioritization and productivity

38:32 – Embracing the music business

40:37 – Michael on the importance of pivoting

45:07 – Has Michael created the life he loves through music?

48:34 – Having a front row mentality

50:18 – What’s the last YouTube video Michael watched?

51:11 – What is Michael’s daily routine like?

55:19 – What is the greatest challenge Michael has overcome?

57:49 – The greatest victory Michael has experienced

1:00:21 – Messages of encouragement

1:01:25 – Michael’s recommended resources

1:03:10 – Taking inspiration from parallel industries

1:03:50 – Closing thoughts

Transcription:

Coming soon.

Closing Segment

Are you ready to begin creating the life you love through music? Check out our new eBook library at davidandrewwiebe.com/join to grab your free guide and get the latest updates regarding new blog posts, podcast episodes, and videos. I look forward to connecting with you.

This has been episode 215 of The New Music Industry Podcast. I’m David Andrew Wiebe, and I look forward to seeing you on the stages of the world.

Do you wish you could do a better job of engaging your fans? Have you ever thought about starting a fan club?

That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this episode of The New Music Industry Podcast, featuring Sarah Beth Perry of With the Band.

Podcast Highlights:

00:27 – Our special guest, Sarah Beth Perry of With the Band

02:11 – How and why was With the Band created?

05:41 – What is Fan Crews?

11:20 – Fan clubs – an opportunity many artists are missing

13:35 – What else is happening with With the Band?

15:48 – What was the last YouTube video Sarah watched?

16:22 – What is Sarah’s daily routine like?

18:02 – What’s the greatest challenge Sarah has overcome?

21:54 – What is Sarah’s greatest victory?

23:59 – How can listeners collaborate with high profile artists or clients?

26:01 – What pain points does Sarah have as a music entrepreneur?

27:56 – Sarah’s recommended books

33:10 – Closing thoughts

Transcription:

David Andrew Wiebe: Today, I'm passing the mic with founder and CEO of With the Band, Sarah Beth Perry. How are you today, Sarah?

Sarah Beth Perry: Doing great. How are you doing?

David Andrew Wiebe: I'm doing well. Thank you for asking. This has become an obligatory question as of late, but how have you been holding up during the pandemic?

Sarah Beth Perry: You know, it has been a whirlwind to say the least. I feel like everyone is saying the past six months, and now it's just been more than six months. But you know, I feel like we've hit some of our like high-highs but also those low-lows. And, you know, it's just trying to remind yourself that there is no limit to how much you can do in a day working from home and really trying to get somewhat of a work life balance, but overall, you know, really can't complain for how we're doing in the pandemic.

David Andrew Wiebe: That's good. Yeah. It really is altogether too easy to push the limits, which is exactly what I ended up doing over the course of the summer, which is why I needed a break. But it's good to find a sense of balance or whatever that looks like during these times because it's easy to overwork for sure when you don't have anywhere to go or anything to do necessarily.

Sarah Beth Perry: Oh, yeah. I know I definitely struggled with that too. I've been trying to limit myself on certain times I'm not allowed to be on the computer. Because if you don't, you just are in front of a screen the entire time you're up.

David Andrew Wiebe: Yeah, which I'm starting to suspect isn't great for you. I've kind of gotten used to it. Other people say I'm exhausted staring at the screen that long. How do you do it? And I'm like, I don't know. I just gotten used to it. But I think it's still good to have limits. Yeah.

So, your website states that there's an opportunity for artists to better engage their fan base. You won't hear any disagreements from me, but what opportunity did you see and how did that lead you to creating With the Band?

Sarah Beth Perry: Yeah. So, growing up I actually grew up in Nashville. So, like, I always knew I wanted to work within the music industry. I didn't exactly know what. And then as I got older, I have a younger sister. She and I became the typical fan girls of, you know, some of the classic boy bands. And that was really when I first got a taste of what fan engagement should be, but also what I felt like was lacking from a fan's perspective. And then, I didn't really think too much about it until I went and studied at Belmont University and was in a music business class. You really don't realize until you really try to dive deep in the industry, how many different types of jobs there are. And so, it really wasn't until that point that I realized, like, wait, someone is doing fan engagement. Like, that is someone's job out there. That's really when I realized that that's what I wanted to do. And then, I went searching for this company that I thought had to be out there, had to exist, to help artists better engage with their fans, and was super surprised to find nothing that I thought really solved that problem in the way it should be solved. I literally just research for a year before I started the company really trying to figure out what is out there and really where that big gap was in the market.

David Andrew Wiebe: Yeah. I think a fan's perspective is certainly valuable. I think there are people in this space who are now experts who basically started out promoting other bands or building fan clubs or things like that for their favorite artists. So, to me, it makes sense having that perspective going into business like yours. It just makes a lot of sense.

Sarah Beth Perry: Yeah. And it's just so valuable too because even everyone else on our team has been a big music fan before. And so, it's just nice when you are like, either DMing these fans on Instagram, or just really even writing a blog post, interacting with fans in any way. It's so good to know like what their mindset is and really try to kind of get to their level on that. Like, almost a friendship type BFF thing and come from that point of view from a company. So, it's been really a great background experience to have from all of our team members.

David Andrew Wiebe: Yeah. And I think many of us do start that way. I certainly started as a fan of music before I got into playing music or talking about digital marketing within the music business or anything in that capacity. Looking back, I can see that a big part of it is just interpreting or understanding culture through music. I grew up in Japan. So, I knew that side of things. When I returned to Canada, I had no idea who any of these artists were. I thought I might have a better handle on that but I didn't. So, it was from step one. And at the time, it was Chumbawamba and Will Smith, and [unclear 05:23] and stuff like that. So, that was kind of my entry point back into the North American music scape. Eventually, I went a little more obscure as I tend to do, but it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.

Sarah Beth Perry: Yeah, that's awesome.

David Andrew Wiebe: Yeah. I hear you're also working on fan cruise, modern fan club concept. What does that look like and how does it work?

Sarah Beth Perry: Yeah. So, what we, as a company, had done before COVID is we created these, basically fan engagement campaign. We call them fan activations. We are creating these large fan projects and fan meetups. Thus far, we had only done different shows in Nashville but we are doing these arenas as shows. We did one at the Jonas Brothers concert, and then one for Kacey Musgraves. It was her first headlining show at the arena in Nashville. We were scheduled to do different campaigns like that for different artists through the spring and summer. And then, of course, COVID hit. We were completely live events at that standpoint so we kind of had to step back and really analyze, okay, how long do we think this is going to last? Do we kind of come up with a Plan B on what we can do until we can get back to the shows?

And so, I had actually had some different managers. And so, heads of ad digital of labels reaching out to me just saying like, “Hey, Sarah. We know you've done this in the past. What can we do with our artists now besides Instagram Live Stream?” I was honestly having a hard time trying to come up with ideas for them because when I was really trying to just research, I really realised how few tools there were out there for artists in this time to really engage with their fans besides Instagram Live Stream, or all the, you know, the now like 10,000 other live streaming platforms. That's really where this kind of idea sparked is, even, you know, me thinking about starting With the Band all the way like three years ago, I always wanted to kind of create a modern-day version of a fan club because when I was younger, I was in, I feel like kind of the last few fan clubs that were super popular.

Today, there still are some fan clubs but it's very much like older rock bands or there's some male country artists. And that's really it. I just felt like for such a modern time, we needed an update on this technology that has not been updated in like 20 years. And so, we really sat down and started researching what would a modern-day fan club look like. We really realized that when talking with artists teams that there was this association of fan club with like pre-sale tickets, because that was, you know, like the older traditional model paid 40 bucks a year and the fan club can get pre-sale tickets. We really realized in order to modernize that we had to change the name. We decided to change it to fan crew because we felt that it really encompassed the new modern-day era of a fandom of like, you think of the BTS fans. It's just like this rabid pack of fans. We thought that fan crew really embodied that. So, that's what we are calling the new platform.

What it does is it enables artists to create their own fan crew where they can create different membership tiers and price levels for their fans. They actually get complete customization over it. So, they can change everything from how many tiers they are offering, what price they are offering to, what are the actual benefits they're offering their fans. So, they can do things like private live streams. They can do virtual meet and greets. They can do early access to new music. They can really pick and choose what they want to give to their fans. And then, we sit down with them and really say, “Okay. Well, how much value do you think fans see this for?” Whether that's like $499 or $999 a month. We made it into a monthly subscription model because if you look at all the other things, especially like Gen Z and Millennials are purchasing, its very subscription model based. We felt like by doing a monthly subscription model, it's not only enabling the fans to pay a lesser amount just more frequently