Other gilli moon articles:
Up
inner entrepreneurship
become a great creative explorer
it all is all of me
art of production
make a contribution because it contributes to you
cyberspace peace treaty
freedom
when the going gets tough there's always enough
the indie way
L.A ..silly, eh?
levels to nowhere
Hollywood Country?
self-promotion
a Songwriters Community
songwriting in l.a
spirit
finding truth through stage personas
taming of the music mafia
Napster-Good Vs Evil
You are Your Own Island
podcasting my tastebuds into your mind

The KEY TO SURVIVAL AND SUCCESS in the music business of TODAY is to be a unique artist, in charge of your own destiny. It means you need to be an artist entrepreneur.

I’m from Australia. Grew up in Sydney, Australia. Playing piano since I was 4 years old. Was a singer, actor, dance. I did it all. Like many of us, who come from another country or city to L.A, we usually are A type + artists who come to LA and want to be a star. It took me a long time, though, to find out who I wanted to be, and where I wanted to go.

When I first came to L.A I thought that the only way to be successful would be to do showcases on the Sunset Strip, and send my tape around hoping to get signed to a major label. I had all those commercial notions of success in my dreams, like number 1 hit on radio, a grammy, etc etc. The thought was “sign a deal, get a huge advance, and become an overnight success.”

But when I arrived here, (97-98) the music industry started to change right under my feet. It was like quicksand, and the only thing that was going to survive was a self-thinking, proactive artist who took no shit from anyone. Consider that is the time of the Internet. This was a new era, and the wild west, and my mouth was salivating at the chance to do something without relying on anyone else, because, by golly, I had relied on too many people till now, in my life.

In 2000 I decided to start my own record label, Warrior Girl Music, because I didn’t want to wait around for someone to make it happen for me; to at least start it off myself. It was my life. I started to do something entrepreneurial in a time when most artists weren’t willing to risk going out on their own. So I created my own self-made success, in a way, by releasing my own music, touring across the country, and developing great music concepts. I also developed Songsalive! worldwide which is a non-profit organization for songwriters and it has created a huge community. From all of this, I’m invited to speak about my adventures at workshops and in my books and it’s all icing on the cake. I feel like I’m successful today and I’m sharing with you how I see my life and how I see success as an artist, to hopefully inspire you.

I don’t see myself as any different now as I did then. I’m still the girl with a big dream and adventurous in spirit. I live my life one day at a time, and I’m holding on to my dream like there’s no tomorrow.

To this day, we still live in the wild west of the music industry. In fact, I’d rather call it Outer Space. We’re all searching for Mars and a new frontier. We’re in a flux and it’s a perfect opportunity for independent artists to think outside the box and create success for themselves. Artists need to be entrepreneurs. You need to be self-motivated, and in charge of your own ship.

Yes, it’s a lonely path. You will feel very “alone” in your journey, because it’s unique and untainted with any path anyone has taken before.

In order to be powerful as an artist, you have to be very business artist. You need to be very self driven and business savvy. You don’t need to know everything about the business (you can go to experts for advice) but you are in control.

If you want it to be life long, you have to be a visionary. You have to be able to think outside the box and “feel” it inside. A lot of inner work is required. So while you are working on your craft and techniques on the outside, you have to work on your mindset on the inside. There is a lot of inner work to be done.. Everything that I am is ALL about my mindset, my attitude about myself and where I want to go. So keep that in your back pocket.

A while back, I spoke for my second time, at Berklee School of Music in Boston. It's such an honor to be able to do this and I thank the insightful and prolific Berklee author Peter Spellman for the opportunity, as Berklee is one of the most prestigious music schools in the world. Peter Spellman also gets my vision about the artist entrepreneur. In fact, he inspired me to use the title. It was very timely to speak to students there, not for the sakes of the writing progress of my new book (Just Get Out There), which I always feel inspired to write a chapter or two after a public outing, but also because it reminded me of who I was and what I wanted in life. Speaking and inspiring other artists, reminds ME of why I’m an artist. My audience is like a mirror to my own artistic soul, and my dreams.

I was asked to give my thoughts on the topic of "the inner game of music entrepreneurship" at Berklee. This statement conjured up some fascinating thought and ensuing dialogue. The most obvious cool topic is 'entrepreneurship'. To be considered an entrepreneur in this business of music by Berklee is indeed flattering, let alone the opportunity to speak about it. With everything I do as an artist, musician, author, speaker, label owner, artist community builder, I guess I am indeed entrepreneurial. What is more important here though is that I feel everyone needs to be entrepreneurial, in order to be truly powerful as an artist in this new music/arts business. It's automatic. If we want to lead our lives, or art, our business, we need to be self-driven, business minded, and a visionary. But this cannot be just shown externally. We need to feel it and “be it” internally too.

The next part about this topic that I was excited about was the idea of talking about the word "game".  Dabbling in the music business can indeed be like a game, and it conjured up really cool concepts for me to speak about the game of music, the game of business and finally... the psychological game.

This final part was the clincher in totally jumping to the cause to discuss this topic: The "inner" game is what is so cool. Everything,... everything that we do,…. everything we want,… and who we are,... is based all around our inner work on ourselves, and less on the external. I have written much about this already in my writings. Thought is very powerful, and a mere idea will turn into reality. Thought breeds action. How we perceive ourselves, what we ask for, how we operate our belief systems, everything about our inner dialogue, emotions, desires,... everything internal,... creates the external. So by combining this whole statement together, "the inner game of music entrepreneurship" just made me bursting with excitement to philosophize over and share.

Side note, Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “We do not attract what we want, we attract who we are. And that is a culmination of our belief systems and everything that is about us. And we can change who we are at any tim.e”

That means that how we work on our inner game, who we are in our minds, creates everything on the OUTER. Put that in your back pocket.

So, bringing us to the present, I was invited to speak on the same topic at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood CA last week.

…I don't know who learns more in my workshops: the artist filled audience,/ or me. What I do know is that through my speaking engagements, I'm getting more and more in touch with my higher mission as an Artist and a human being, and much of it has to do with the art of leaping forward by "going within."

So, the premise of this article is to ask: What makes the successful artist entrepreneur? Much of the success of an entrepreneur comes mostly from within. Yes, they have the trappings of being a creator, inventor, warrior, leader… but it all starts with an idea, and an inner knowing and confidence about WHO WE ARE.

THE REALITIES OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS – The business that we know of as the music business has changed. It’s in flux, but it still has conglomerates desperately trying to keep control of it, while the independent artist entrepreneurs are rising like military tanks on a mine field.

We are in a world which I call the “indie music world”, which is so exhilarating, but don’t feel intimidated by it. Although people say that it’s tough to get signed, and no one is buying cds, and sales are down and no one’s making money, there is a whole flip side to it, and it’s not a negative status for independent free thinking artists.

We went from this old model where major record labels would determine what’s played on the label, sold in Stores, and dictate to consumers what they should buy at the store. CDs were between $10-20 and consumers would be conditioned to buy it based on being told what’s good on the radio that was controlled by the labels. We (as public) were spoon fed music.

Then the Internet happened big time for music (around 98-99), and sites like Naspster came about, sharing the music, which wasn’t good for the songwriters and file owner as they weren’t getting paid, but it opened up a can of worms. Consumers could finally find their own music online, in the comfort of their home, and not be dictated by record companies tastes and financial agendas. Consumers no longer had to go to the record store to buy a CD that a record company told me was great. They could find online, thereby destroying the record retail industry. (Cut to today 2009 and the only Cd retail store in L.A is Amoeba, a used cd store. They are all gone)

By 2001, internet sites sprung up everywhere playing music, indie or major, including podcasts, webcasts, internet radio (many run by kids out of their bedrooms). Social networks began to bring people together in online communities.

Then big crack down on Napster happened to stop them sharing music for free (they tried to win by adopting the 1984 Betamax case in their legal case – “yeah we’re just sharing music with friends… only 8 million friends, but still… friends”) Well they lost. (You can read about the case here: http://w2.eff.org/legal/cases/betamax/)

Then what now?

Some Napster style sites trying to survive, like Limewire. – they won’t survive, because, well they are just sharing artists’ music without their permission. But that’s a whole different article… The RIAA are cracking down on them all, and all the music companies are coming up with different laws and rulings on what is a download, stream or whatever. It’s still in flux, but they’ll sort it out. I’m still not convinced the “sorting out” is in the artist’s favor (has it ever been?). But the climate is ripe for different styles of music delivery: Subscription services, radio stations online that have subscribers, selling music in bulk.. Major rec companies are using this model by offering their entire catalogs at a bulk rate.Record companies are scrambling to find out what to do to sell their signed music. It’s definitely a singles market again where you can download 1 song on itunes (like the 60s and 80s singles markets).

Sites like iTunes breeds a new kind of consumer: one who doesn’t really care about the full album anymore, but can search for 1 song, and create their own compilations (playlists) of music based on a mood or style. It does leave a large creative hole though: who will care about the art of the artist anymore? Who will care about what we want to deliver? And who cares about the quality of the sound of music (I personally detest the compressed sterility of an mp3.)

But let’s look at the numbers: If all works out well, artists get paid more for their music (although there are still middle people) and consumers can buy music directly and choose for themselves what they want to listen to.

Indie artists can potentially cut out the middle person, sell their own songs on their website (paypal, itunes etc) or use a digital aggregator (that’s an online distributor but dressed in a new title), with the artist keeping a minimum of 80% of the sale (instead of 12% of the old record company deal model). So that’s good news right?

So, the money making probability is in YOUR hands. Which is great. You’re making more of the money,… So as an artist you may not get $2 million or $200,000, you may get $20,000. But at 80% it’s pretty good money.

However, you may not be getting as many customers because everybody has their music up there. We are bombarded by lots of music. It’s a sea of music (and a lot of shit) to wade through. We are not only bombarded with music, but we are bombarded by Ads and marketing (“come buy my song”, “see my gig”), and even the major labels are using every inch of internet space that for a while was owned by Indies, to sell their latest reality tv star music mogul. So much is thrown in our faces, as consumers, that we have to pick and choose. We want to stay close to just a few artists (or a few dozen). We become… FANS…. Of particular artists, and we stick to them.

So, as Artists, we learn to focus more on our communities to promote our music (on Facebook, MySpace, your website, emails to immediate fan and friends base, etc.) and you don’t need to pay for advertising costs (not really), not having to give away a huge portion or rights of your music. You’re in control of your music (who gets it and who doesn’t) and the sale. You may not have the huge international success (or you still may…. it’s all still possible). BUT IT’S WITHIN YOUR COMMUNITY you created.

NOW, there are great opportunities for artists to think outside the box and come up with interesting ideas on how to get your music out there.

In a few years the copyright laws and the RIAA and all the bodies will all continue to try and keep their pieces of the pie, and a lot is still in flux but it will all start to level out.

And it’s a great time for entrepreneurs, as they rise out of the ashes like a phoenix.  When people don’t know what’s going on with the music biz, and the economy, the entrepreneur comes up with great ideas, and they are the ones that take new risks to make a change.

So if you are willing to be that person, you have a solid chance in being successful.

Being an Artist Entrepreneur means you are in CHARGE of your career: making decisions for your career.

It requires artists to think outside the box (very creative), be masters of their own destiny and to be business people, in charge of your own business. The Music Business:

• Is a business. – beyond playing, you have to understand contracts, keep yourself organized, know how to market yourself, create valuable relationships. Understand it’s a business
• Can be tough. It IS tough. It’s one of the hardest businesses to get into. You have to be ready to put in the hard work (happy hard work, but hard work). This is not for the next year. You have to be in it for life, for the long haul. You have to be convinced this is something you want to do.
• Need money. Can’t do it with no money. But you don’t have to be hugely wealthy or have huge investors. You can do so much on your own.
• People can zap your energy + criticize/judge – they will, and it happens a lot. Be prepared to be criticuse, judged, critiques, knocked back and said “no”. But at some point someone will say yes, and the door will be wide open when you least expect it.
• Seemingly less opportunity (all about perspective/state of mind)
• Internal doubts/torments of the mind

And now, the nitty gritty, splicing and dicing of what it takes, the gilli way

HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST ENTREPRENEUR

It takes Passion – all about how you balance your time: time management. Do it because you love it.

Need to see yourself as a business

• left and right brain thinking

• The 3 Os. Optimism + Organized = opportunity.
• Diversifying – spinning your plates
• Money – get a job
• Be creative with a business mind.
• Be persistent, conscientious and persevere
• It’s ALL about relationships. Find out what you can do for them first.

Know thyself and represent yourself appropriately.

Whether you want to be a rock star, or a consummate artist, or both, you need to be clear and focused with what path you take and how you are going to promote yourself. But it all begins with who you are. If you can’t describe Who You Are well, you could be sabotaging every future step.

"I am" versus "I want".

My first book was called "I AM A Professional Artist" and I titled it for a reason: to empower artists to make a positive, current affirmation about who they are, based on who they want to be. If you only proclaim that you "want" something, then all you will ever get is "wanting" without any actualization. I'm not the first to say this. It's written in many motivational self-help books. Use your words carefully. Introduce yourself to the world as someone who already is. That way you are empowering yourself to be the person you've always dreamed of being. When Tom introduced himself (above) he clearly said he was a "guitarist, songwriter and producer". There's nothing mentioned about desiring something in the future as if it’s a far off dream. Talk about your future as if it's your present, and be convinced as to who you are. Then we will be convinced of you. You have to endow success: which means to “be” successful in your mind, inside. Permeate it in every way in your beingness: the way you walk, the way you talk, and what you do. People will feel it.

Get started – just get out there.

Take small tangible steps. Create a plan. I never knew how to get where I wanted to go, but I always had a dream. So write your dreams down, and be as ambitious as you want. But then, create a plan. The plan starts with some goals that you want to achieve within the next couple of years, and then start writing some strategies on how you think you can achieve them. Remember, you don’t have to know exactly how to get there, but just write what you know, for now. And then the road will begin to reveal itself as you start MOVING towards your goals. The key word here is MOVE. You have to just get started with some steps.

Age doesn't matter.

Let me reiterate something I've expressed before. It doesn't matter how old you are in the world of artistry. Ignore what you hear from hearsay: you can be any age you want to be as an artist in the arts business. It all depends on the market you are targeting. If you want to go for the Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson market, then, sure, being nineteen surely means something, and the major record companies spend most of their budget on the 8-14 year olds. If you want to compete with that, give it a shot, but know what you're up against.  The whole pop radio, video and retail machine is geared towards that age bracket. But you have the opportunity to find so many other markets, age brackets and genres for your music. You can be 65 years old and find your audience. Remember, artistry is for life. This is a life long journey. So take the time you need to learn, be and share.

Learn but also be all knowing.

Be the student of life, but know you have what you need to be who you want to be. I have also always said that we are students of life. Our learning is life long and beyond college we will always be learning something, on a daily basis. Everything we do will provide us insight into ourselves and we will always be "in development". But I believe that we all have the assets and the know-how to achieve whatever we want to achieve and be whoever we want to be now. I use the term "commence-aphobia" with artists at times, when they procrastinate and wait a long time to do something, like perform or record an album. It's like they are waiting for a sign, or someone to say "ok, you are ready now." But what if we are always ready? What if all we needed to do is to take one step. I see that by taking that first step, the other foot will follow, and the seemingly foggy path will clear up and illuminate the way. We don't necessarily need to wait for someone to tell us how to do it, or have our art approved before we put it out there. We don't need to read every single book on the business or go to every class in order to start a project. What we need is confidence and a desire to do the art, for the sake of doing. If we just initiate the step to start, it's amazing how much information, resources, advisors, support and opportunity comes our way, because we have internally opened up to the art of doing.

Seek no one else's approval but your own.

I'm not suggesting that we don't seek advice, or that we have to do things alone, but at the end of the day, you must make the decision as to what’s best for you.

 It's a hard statement to digest at first, but when you really consider it for some time, it makes total sense. I'm not suggesting that we don't seek advice, or that we have to do things alone. Definitely have a core few around you, which you trust, to gain feedback about your work. But at the end of the day when all is said and done, you alone are the one to decide if it's right for you or not, if you are on the right path or not. This ties in greatly to the whole concept about enacting on who you want to be as an artist and the things you'd like to do. We can wait for ages to have some high and mighty record executive, or media critique, to approve of our process, but really, we don't need anyone to tell us we are doing the right thing for us. Once you agree with yourself that you have everything you need to be who you are and who you want to be, then you can enact without waiting for someone else to tell you it's okay. Everyone is unique, and so what you bring to the world cannot really be judged by anyone.

The journey of art is a personal journey, no matter what competitive, commercial or public purpose you may choose to endeavour in.

·         Work with others, just don’t rely on others to make it happen for you.

·         Definitely have a core few around you, which you trust, to gain feedback about your work.

·         But at the end of the day when all is said and done, you alone are the one to decide if it's right for you or not, if you are on the right path or not.

Community and Relationships

I have learned how important community is through Songsalive!, way before there was Myspace, Facebook or Twitter or any social network. Bringing people together, and networking within your community or communities you participate in, is the key to building relationships, which is the key to success. Your music industry is inside your current community, and it’s in this arena that you can develop, nurture and expand. When the social networks came along, I had already known about communities and their strength in marketing: developing loyal fan bases, customers for your music, interaction and such. So now with the online communities so prominent in everyone’s lives, it’s a fabulous way for indie artists to interact in, and find new fans.

Relationships are THE most important aspect of developing your business. Nurture the relationships you make because you never know where they might take you. Remember to ask “what can I do for you” first before you expect something in return. It needs to be a symbiotic relationship.

Enjoy it. It is a game.

How can one possibly proceed into the world of the arts without seeing it as a bit of fun? My gosh, we are so lucky as artists to pursue a life with paint brushes, musical instruments and anything creative. Just think that about ten percent of the world's population has the audacity to make their world revolve around creativity and imagination whereas every child on this planet lived and breathed it before they were 7. What happened to most of us as we grew into adults? The world has gotten so serious! Always business, business, business... mortgages, living on credit, an ever present need for financial security and keeping up with the Jones's. I must admit though, being in the music business, I have had to be more business minded than I ever would have thought. I have had to wear two hats, and artists need to be aware that being in the arts business is about business, not so much about art. But let's use our artistic insights to survive the biz in a cool, creative way. Think of it like a 'game' and know that this game is made up of people playing the game. As my guitarist friend James Hurley says, “it’s a game because people are participating in it”. This business is all about relationships, strategies and dreams. Play it like monopoly or a long thought out chess game, with patience and a sense of humor. Navigate with passion, and joy, and know that at any time you want out, you can. You can always go back to a 'desk' job in the suburbs, right? You have a choice, to play the game or not. Besides, the music business in particular is all an illusion. Everything you read about fame and fortune, the celebrity lives versus ordinary happiness, ... is all wrapped up in an illusion dished out in glossy magazines. The real business is business, and hard work. The 'game' of the music business can be played with tenacity, joy and passion, if you put your mind to it.

Everyone is unique. Know your uniqueness.

We can find it all quite daunting when you consider all t he things we have to do to be creative, promote our creativity and survive it all. There’s a lot of competition too. Many artists all wanting those top 10 slots on the Billboard charts right? Wrong. There is room for everyone at the ‘top’. It all depends on what you want, and what you bring to the table. You may not be Britney Spears or Eminem, but you probably have something very unique about you that can tap into a market all to itself. Consider that there are close to 300 million people in the U.S, heck nearly 5 billion on the planet. You can find your niche for your art, if you know what makes you unique. I’ve always called this, “finding your competitive advantage.” Your talent + your uniqueness = your competitive advantage, or edge. It might be that you play bare feet, or you have an interesting hair-do. Maybe your name is different. Perhaps you cross styles with your music, or have a different stage presence or image/persona. Whatever it is, harness it, focus on it, and exploit it. This will certainly help you find your own audience. In this day and age, for the new artist entrepreneur, you don’t have to conform to a structure as to what you should look like, sound like, be like or the way you share your music or promote. We are in a new era where not only are audiences in control (they search for their own music based on their own tastes online, etc), but they are busting to get something NEW. Be creative and use your imagination to find new ways to present your music and yourself. This is the time to be very imaginative and to think outside the box.

It’s a choice – you “choose” to do it.

Yes, that’s right. You’re not a victim here. You want it? Then do it. but don’t complain about it. It’s one thing to be creative, but it’s another to go into this profession. Remember, you’re a  business person, in the business of music.

And so, I ask you,… “Who are you?”

That's right... how would you describe who you are and what you do to someone in the street, at a party, at a meeting or if I asked you at one of my workshops? The WORDS you use are very important. Here are some examples of what I usually get from artists on first meeting:-

"Hi, I'm Bill. I'm trying to be a better songwriter and working hard at practicing my music. One day I'd like to be a professional musician with my own band, but already I feel I'm too old and I just don't know if i'll get there what with all the learning I have to do."

"Hi, I'm Elaine. I want to be a professional songwriter one day and tour if I can. I just don't know how to get there yet. I just need to find the right people, maybe a manager or an agent. I don't know."

"Hi, my name is Tom and I am a guitarist, songwriter and producer. I run my own production house and am creating new projects on a weekly basis, building my credits and writing songs with a strong global mission of unity and human consciousness. I'm very excited by my journey and am discovering new opportunities on a daily basis."

What is different about the first two introductions compared to the third?

How we perceive ourselves, including self-worth and self-discovery, and how we express it to others, indicates why we create success in our lives or not. Clearly Bill and Elaine are not quite in touch with the law of attraction yet, compared to Tom. Bill is "trying" to be a songwriting and looks into the future as to when he will truly come into his own. He also has issues about his age and feels he doesn't know enough to consciously acknowledge his talent nor his status as an artist. Same for Elaine... desiring to be professional, but feels she doesn't know the way to get there, and feels she needs other people to make it happen for her.

These are introductions from artists I get ALL THE TIME. Ninety percent of the artists I come across introduce themselves with language like this, not realizing that it sabotages their goals and dreams in coming true. Here’s the crux of it: if you put it out there, even just visualizing it, you will get it. If you are not clear with what you want, then what you want may take a long time. So let’s take a look at some of these self-thoughts, and how to overcome some negative patterns, in order to create positive results:

  And then, I ask you,… “What do you want?”

Write down 5 or 6 of your lifetime dreams on a piece of paper – be bold, ambitious and confident, yet write ones that you know you can achieve, even if you have to do it on your own. For example, if you wanted to perform on the moon, you’d be reliant on someone to provide a space shuttle do get there, and the ability for an audience to be there with you…. So that might be a little unrealistic (though, who knows, right?)

Once you’ve written down who YOU are and WHAT you want, put it on a big piece of paper and tape it to a wall in your home where you can see it every day.

Discovering you are already the creative, magical, prolific, talented and successful artist that you are, opens up the largest of doors. This is very much an inward empowerment. “Know” it, “feel” it, “be” it, and it will be realized on your outside.

This is your time to be, do, create, think, visualize, and build your empire. Be the entrepreneur, and be yourself.

 And so, I ask you,… Are you an Artist Entrepreneur?

By gilli moon

© 2009 gilli moon/Warrior Girl Music.  All written matter copyright the author and cannot be printed, disseminated or published unless by the strict permission of the writer.

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