[SLICE] Prioritizing in the Music Industry

These days everyone has a side hustle. Actually - everyone’s side hustle has a side hustle. It’s true - talk to any musician or industry person and they will tell you no less than 5 things they are working on. It’s insanity! It’s insanity, but it’s also the reality of trying to build a name and career for yourself. However, just because we’re all playing in this crazy music industry game doesn’t mean that we’re immune to life getting too big to take on. Recently, I know this all too well (hey! Blair here). I just had a baby 4 months ago and I’m trying to make it all work - family, business, hobbies, and side hustle(s). I’ve struggled to get it right, but I’m working on it.

What do you do when it all gets to be too much? Sometimes, you need to realize that certain things have to take a backseat for a bit.

As a reminder to myself and our rad readers, here’s how I’ve started to get back on track:

Ask - what pays me?

While I am ALL about exploring your creativity and thinking through every idea you have, when your time is diminished, you have to prioritize what puts food on the table and pays the rent. Once you’ve gotten to a better place, your additional pursuits can re-enter your life.

Ask - what is ONE thing I can do that will help achieve my long term goal?

Maybe you don't have time to fit in everything, but if there is one thing you can focus on to get you to the next level, then make time for that. If your artist project isn't to the point that it pays you (checking off spot number 1 above) then find something for spot #2 that will help get you there (assuming that's your goal). If you're pressed for time and it seems like all you can do to keep your head above water, maybe you can eek out ONE song a week. Or go to one show. This way you aren't completely abandoning your goals while you sort out life for a while.

Ask - what gives me joy?

Not to be hippy dippy here, but after your financial needs are met, what is the hustle that makes you happiest? Do that. There are so many things that I’ve taken on that seem fun at first and then honestly seem like a chore after I’ve gotten into it. If it’s not paying you and not making you happy, then why the the hell are you putting time and effort into it? Fire yourself from that job and take a mental break.

Ask - is there a point?

What’s the point of what you’re doing? If you can give ANY answer within the first 2 seconds of that question being asked, then keep it on your plate. However, if you honestly don’t know why you’re trying to keep up with something (or worse, it seems like you might be doing something for the sake of appearances), then drop it! It has no room in your precious 24 hour day.

Keep a list.

Grab a notebook (or your handy tiny computer that fits in your pocket) and keep a list of all of the ideas you want to come back to when you’re able to come up for air. Maybe when you come back to it you’ll realize some are genius…. And some not so much! That’s cool too - at least you didn’t spend a whole bunch of time hashing through a non-idea.

Give yourself a lot of grace.

When you have a ton going on, it’s easy to feel powerless to the workload in front of you. If you acknowledge that times are going to be tough for a few days/weeks/months then you can give yourself permission to shift gears for a while. Sometimes you cannot do “ALL THE THINGS!” and that’s ok. Go easy on yourself. 

If you’re a regular reader, you may have noticed that we’ve been a bit off and on with our posts these past few months. While I love writing this and getting feedback from everyone, it just had to take a backseat while I learned my new role (mom). Thanks for your understanding and sticking with us while we figure out how to get back to some version of our new normal! And thanks to Randolph for coming in with his perspective each month! You can check all of those out here.

[SLICE] Chiseling your way to a Career in Music

author: Ron Pope (@RonPopeMusic)

Sometimes we all need a good pep talk. 

This post is more aptly named - "If You Can’t Find A Sledgehammer, Use A Chisel" as that's essentially our business model as independents in the music industry.

Think about your favorite global pop star. When that artist drops a new record, everyone on the planet knows about it; it’s inescapable. The new single by such and such pop singer is on the radio constantly, you see him on TV talking to Ellen/Kimmel/Elmo, he’s on billboards, he’s on the cover of a magazine seductively holding a large guinea pig, every online publication worth its salt has a feature that talks about his childhood/eating habits/ceramic turtle collection. They’re everywhere!

As an independent artist, I’m sure you’ve come to realize, that kind of global major media saturation probably isn’t going to happen for you on your own.

I’m fifteen years into my recording career and we spend a tidy sum promoting my albums and work with a bunch of incredibly hard working, ultra-talented people but I’m certainly not everywhere when my records drop. The major players in the industry use the sledgehammer approach; it’s big, it’s heavy, and it makes a great big dent. Since you don’t have access to that, you can’t make a big hole all at once, you’ll need to pick away at it a little bit at a time. We call that the chisel approach.  

When you’re starting out, you probably don’t have a big time publicist or a powerful radio promoter in your corner. Start to get press by finding someone to write about you; maybe it’s a college newspaper near where you live. Look for a small, independent radio station in your area and reach out. It should be easier to build some kind of hometown love than it is to promote your music on a global scale right out of the gate. Book yourself some shows close to home and sell them out. Get your cousins and all their friends to come out; don’t be afraid to call in favors “Stevie, I bailed you out; come see my band or next time I’m leaving you there overnight!” If you can start a little buzz in your immediate vicinity, you can then attempt to gradually spread it outward from there. The same is true for promoting your music online; you’re probably not going to get write-ups from the biggest publications in the world right away, so look for smaller outlets that seem interested in the kind of music you’re creating. Start small and build from there. You’ll probably struggle to get added to Spotify playlists with three million subscribers, but perhaps there’s a smaller independent playlist that is excited about being a driver of discovery. Find people who are in the business of helping new artists and talk to them.

I know that all of this sounds incredibly daunting. The world is very large, but that’s why it’s best to start close to home. Focus on making a dent little by little, rather than allowing yourself to get despondent because you don’t have a sledgehammer to make a giant hole all at once. It may take you longer to do it on your own, but given time and effort, you can still make a big dent.

31/52: No excuses, just do it! How we got to "Work"

Today is a special day for the ABTS crew! Today is release day for Ron, so we've been crazy this week getting ready for the big launch. Since we started this album about 18 months ago and have been planning out our marketing and promo timeline for about a year, this is a very welcome day! 

When Ron first mentioned that he was already in writing mode for a new record approximately ONE month after we had released "Ron Pope & The Nighthawks" I was pretty reluctant to move forward. I thought maybe we should pump the brakes and ride out the new record for a while. Collect our thoughts. Then he played me the first song he wrote and it was perfect. It was better than anything he had ever written to date. It hit me: no excuses, let's f*cking do this. There might not be a perfect time for creativity to strike. Maybe it's not ideal timing to be promoting an album AND constructing a new album's timeline, but who cares. If it feels right and isn't forced, then DO IT. We have one shot and one career, so we put the wheels in motion. The resulting record is "Work" and I could not be more proud of it. 

This isn't a place where we'll be doing much music promotion, but considering Ron writes the blog with me, I thought it might make sense to let you guys listen to what we've been working on on the music side of things:  http://smarturl.it/workronpope

Thanks for sticking with us!

- Blair & Ron