The following is an additional excerpt from my free e-book, 8 Reasons I Failed in Music and 3 Ways NOT to Follow in My Footsteps. This is reason number 6. Click here to download a copy of the entire book for yourself. It’s also available in all e-reader formats here.
Long after my career failed and I moved to my position within a corporation I realized one of the reasons I failed in music was because I was dreaming. Here’s what I mean:
My Ideal
I imagined my phone ringing and being asked to play on a master recording session for one of the top acts in Nashville. I’d arrive, adjust my equipment and prepare for a day of creativity.
At 10:00, the other players, the producer and I would listen to the first song sung and played by the artist in the control room. Then we’d discuss various ideas before going out to our instruments where we’d experiment with various killer ideas for an hour or two until we created the “perfect track” that combined the best ideas of these world class musicians into a magical platform for the artist to shine.
The Reality (as witnessed by me as a guest at a session)
After everyone arrived and adjusted their equipment for the day, they all gathered in the control room to listen to the first song.
The engineer hit play and everyone listed to a demo of the song that was pretty good (Note: all demo recordings at the time were cut by people like me: “B and C” level players with less experience that were hired for a third of the cost to record in low budget studios all over town).
Everyone agreed on the key, went to their instruments and played exactly what was on the demo. Then the solos were added. They were working on the 2nd song 30 minutes later.
Bursts of Creativity
I’m not saying there aren’t moments of creativity and “creating the perfect track,” there are. My point here is that not only did I not know how to succeed in music, I didn’t know much about the industry in which I was hoping to succeed.
You?
I hope you’ll investigate it to (a) make sure it’s what you want to do and (b) make sure you know how to make a living within that reality.
So how ’bout you? Do you know much about what you’re hoping to spend your life doing? Do you know what the industry is like on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis?
Be sure to download your free copy of my e-book by clicking here. There’s a special discount code at the end too.
