Why Musicians Who Are Cool Suddenly Start to Suck

If you've ever wondered why musicians who are really talented, come up with great songs, do great performances, and have their fingers on the pulse of what is happening lose the ability to do any of this within a very short period of time, here's why...

They get busy doing other things.

When your music business grows, what you're expected to do changes. For example, when you're first breaking, you write songs, you record them, and you perform them. That's what gets you to the next step.

Unfortunately, for most bands, the next step is everything except writing, recording, and performing. It's stuff like doing interviews where you talk about writing, recording, and performing. And you hang out with guys like me instead of your fans.

Guys like me don't buy music; we get promo copies.

If you're looking for a longterm career in the music business, here are two rules to follow:

1. Dance With the One Who Brung Ya - What got you here is connecting with fans. Don't forget about them when you're trying to make industry people happy. Focus on the fans and everything else will take care of itself.

2. Outsource - Right now, regardless of where you are in your music business career, is the time to bring in somebody to help you with all the "non-connecting" tasks you have to deal with. Your focus should be on things that nobody else can do, which for most musicians will be writing, recording, and performing.

What music business tasks should you be outsourcing to somebody else? Answer below...

Comments

[Carol]

Logistics, anything non creative, communication with venues, handling finances - however this is the hard part. Find someone who really is a big fan, thinks your talent is incredible and nothing less - then make sure they are trustworthy. Don't work with anyone who is dishonest. This isn't easy to find but makes all the difference in the world.

[Chris "Seth" Jackson]

I'd really love to try outsourcing for the annoying band stuff. I read Tim Ferris's "4 Hour Work Week", and it has a chapter on using virtual assistants.

Though I'd personally want to talk to individual bookers after the initial contact, I'd love for someone else to spend hours finding venues, researching them, finding their contact info, and sending regular e-mails to these venues for recurring shows. I'm wondering if I could train a VA to do all this for me.

Hmmm...maybe this will be an experiment for my band...

[David Hooper]

If you're looking for somebody to research venues and do booking, that's specialized knowledge that most "virtual assistants" won't be a good match for.

But...

If you're looking for somebody to do link exchanges, do blog commenting (for links), or anything like that, you can find some really good people who will work hard for not a lot of money (for somebody in the US).

I have a friend who runs an outsourcing company in India. Will see what kind of options he has for musicians.

Not to say you shouldn't have somebody do venue research and bookings, of course. You should probably get a college intern or something with music business experience for that though.

[KayDee]

Hello

Instead of VAs as you will have to pay them and some bands dont have the cash, why not VIs (Virtual Interns)? We have just hired one and will be getting some more.

[Angel Martin]

It just so happens that I used to do that sort of thing. I was a "Virtual Tour Manager". I wasn't supposed to be virtual, I was supposed to be in Atlanta, but since the position was not paid I couldn't afford to move from Chicago. I created a database that had all of the venues within a certain area, that played that band's genre of music. I was pretty successful for the short time that I did it, and had a ball! Keep in mind that we all need to eat so if it is not a paid position your VA, VI, or VTM will need to work else where; my boss was not accepting of that fact, which is why I ended up not keeping the position.

If you decide to go in this direction I would actually love to be considered for your Virtual Assistant!
-Angel-