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Becoming A Complete Artist |
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Saturday, 12 June 2004 |
As I have talked about in my past articles this year, becoming a
complete artist means learning from others and how they connect with
your music. But that's not all there is to becoming a complete artist.
Becoming a complete artist means commitment. Commitment to yourself and
your art. Too often artists lack the belief in themselves because of
their lack of follow through. It's ironic. Many music artists will
spend 6 months to a year writing songs and producing them in a studio to get
them to be the best they can. However after they get the CDs back from
the manufacturer, they give up on their new CD in only a few weeks.
Usually when the media doesn't immediately pay attention to it or they
get low turnouts at their shows.
The lack of commitment to your art is what is keeping you from being
the artist you really are inside. For example, every year I put on a 4 day
seminar called, Music Strategies (www.MusicStrategies.com) I will get
artists who call or email me and ask if they can come for one or two
days instead of all 4. When I ask why they only want to come for one or
two days, they usually respond with, "I don't want to be away from my
day job too long." The same day job they hate which is keeping them
from doing their music full time.
As you see, they lack the commitment to change. Even though they know
the change will be beneficial, they will sabotage their careers to make
sure they are not successful. They have forgotten the importance of
what's in their music and how it will motivate the people who hear it
to change. In essence, they want people to be committed to change based
upon their music, even though they are not committed to their own
music.
Finally, becoming a complete artist is about business. We have all
heard the term, "starving artist." Well let me say that I believe that this
term is a matter of choice. Artists fail because they want to. The
artists that I work with who learn how to do "business" from me, all
find some level of success. Being an artist means you are there to
inspire and motivate but you are also there to be compensated for your
music, art, insights, and guidance. You have not sold 1,000 or 10,000
or even 100,000 CDs because you have chosen not to. Not because people
didn't like your music, you have not taken the time to impress upon
them the value in your art and how it will benefit them.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 June 2004 )
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