I wanted to share the following story with you. In my recent workshops in San Francisco an artist came up to me afterward and said, "I'm concerned that in the workshop you said if I want to be successful with my music I need to be serious about it and dedicate time to it everyday. Even if it is only a hour a day." "In essence you want me to change my life." I said, "tell me about your life right now." They stated they hated their job but kept it to pay their bills and they weren't excited about playing shows because its either the same people who always come or no one new comes because they didn't have time to promote the show. Then they gave me every other common excuse they could think of that everyone else uses to limit their life.

After they got done with their statement that they weren't happy with a lot of things in their life I said, "if you took your music seriously you would have to get rid of all the things you hate! What kind of life would that be!" If you are serious about anything, you have to change to accomplish it!

Which brings me to the following point. If you are serious about anything, you have to change to accomplish it. If you hate your current job or don't see yourself doing it for the next 20 years, then change. Focus on your music. Do something different. Something exciting. Something you have a passion for. Stop making excuses for why you can't do your music for your full time job!

At Music Strategies (http://www.MusicStrategies.com) I will teach you what you need to focus on and do.

While many artists try to initially compare Music Strategies to other conferences, let me be the first to say you can't. Other conferences focus on "showcasing" where someone may see you play and that will somehow magically influencing them into signing you. In my 20 plus years in this industry and having attended over 116 music conferences, I have never seen or heard of any artist being signed from just showcasing.

As a consultant to major companies including 4 major labels and their sub-labels, there is one motivating factor I have seen over the years that makes these companies give independent artists "Priority" record deals: your ability to sell 10,000 CDs on your own and have a dedicated fan base.

While it may sound impossible right now, the difference between the limited amount of CDs you've sold already and your current fan base and selling thousands of CDs and playing bigger shows is to know where to focus your limited time to get you the most impact.



Best Regards,
Tim Sweeney