It is important for a producer, or an arranger, mixer, recording engineer or anyone associated with creating a recorded work, to understand that the artist has quite a tough job ahead of them. They have to expose their persona. They have to expose their meaning, the intention of their individual work and their overall art, to their peers within the music industry and their audience.

Our Responsibilities

What we have to do as studio personnel or production people is make sure that they’re consistent. We must make certain that the message is always on point and that we’re always headed in a direction that they want to head without killing creativity or spontaneity.

You have to tread a fine line. But, it is the responsibility of the producer to keep someone on point and relevant to their own message. You could get lost in the woods really easy through the process, through any creative process, and then the artist’s intent is never revealed fully.

Music Education

With an online music education you learn the knowledge and skills needed to guide artists during their music career and artistic journey. You learn about these and other important areas that studio personnel and production people manage on a daily basis.

The next thing with social media that also piggybacks on this story is really trying to bring your audience with you on some sort of journey. One of my favorite examples here is the wonderful Vulfpeck. They’re sort of a funk group out of LA. And something they did a few years ago was they wanted to do a national tour. But they were just out of college, and they really didn’t have the size following or the money to pull off a full tour.

So, they came up with kind of a funny idea. They posted a whole album on Spotify of complete silence. It’s called Sleepify. It was 10 songs, 30 seconds each, complete silence, no music. And the idea was they were going to reach out to their audience and say, “Do us this favor. For the next few weeks when you go to bed, play our album and press loop so the album is playing all night. And our hope is that maybe we’ll earn a little bit of money from Spotify, and we’ll be able to go on tour.”

Their fans start doing this, and the money starts coming in. After a couple weeks, there’s a few thousand dollars that have come in through the band. And, so they think, this has been amazing. It’s hilarious. Is there a way we can even raise the stakes more here?

So, they say to that same group of fans, not only if you keep doing it can we go on tour, but if you get your friends to do it, if we can really blow this thing up, we’ll make every date on the tour completely free.

They knew their audience. They knew their audience didn’t have a lot of money to spend. They knew that that would resonate with their audience. If there was a fan of theirs in a far-off city from where they were that never sees this band, they would happily go evangelize and tell their friends to do the Sleepify stunt so they could see the band for free.

So, it really blows up. Tons of people start doing it. The money is rolling in. Eventually, Spotify notices it because it’s a little bit controversial. They tear it down. That gets the band lots of press. At the end of the day, they ended up making tens of thousands of dollars from this. They were able to do the tour for free.

And to this day, their fans that were part of that still talk about it. Their fans feel like they were part of this journey with the band. And especially when you think about fans who might not have as exciting lives as an artist doing things like this, this is an amazing psychological thing to tap into. Make your fans feel like they’re part of what you’re doing.

A lot of what is taught is related to mental health. You have to stay sane and strong if you want to approach this industry. You can begin to feel alone out here. As much as we have a community and a family, and a tribe, we have to make sure that we’re safe and we have to make sure that we’re well.

“It doesn’t make you weak to ask for help,” says Billie Eilish. “It doesn’t make you weak to ask for a friend to go to a therapist. It shouldn’t make you feel weak to ask anyone for help. And you should be able to ask anyone for help. And everyone has to help someone if they need it. Make sure to stay in tune with yourself because it really will benefit you in the end.”

Suz Paulinski explains, “I work with music professionals of all types – mostly musicians, but sometimes managers, label executives, and producers. I help them really take a moment to just step back, hit pause, and really think about where they’re headed, why they’re headed there, and if they need to make some adjustments.” She continues, “There is still a taboo, especially in this industry, about therapy. And I have to be grateful for my boss…for pointing out that I needed to go seek help. I was not well and I was just really overwhelmed.”

I had been in therapy for 10 years before I decided to be a mindset coach. I realized what a stigma it was. So, I just started kind of asking questions. I would meet with an artist and say, “Well, how’s this working for you?” And I’d let them come to their own conclusions that what they were doing wasn’t working for them and just kind of point out how even though they were hustling and were grinding – we were doing everything that the music industry tells us to do – it wasn’t working.”

Music Education: The Role of Substance Abuse in the Industry

How can we manage substance abuse and self-sabotaging?

“You know,” Paulinski says, “I like to point out to both musicians and the music professionals behind the scenes, a lot of the managers and the producers – listen, I’ve walked into studios before. I’ve seen the drugs. I’ve seen what people do.”

There was this wonderful interview with Missy Elliot. She was so honest about getting into that studio for the first time sober and not producing a record high. She didn’t even know if she’d have it. She believed that magic was in the pot that she was smoking, and she thought that without it she’s not going to have her edge. She realized, “oh my god, no.” She had so many more hits and so much success being in the studio sober. So a lot of artists feel – and even other professionals, too – that the drug is what’s causing their talent when really it’s just the drug maybe allowing you to relax and do that. You can relax with meditation, with yoga, and just finding your confidence. If you can work on that, you don’t need the drugs, and you’ll work better. You’ll enjoy it. You’ll remember it a bit more.

“And really, what I say to artists,” according to Paulinski, “We’re not in the rock ‘n’ roll era anymore because you don’t have a label doing everything for you. You have to do the legwork, and you have to be focused to do it. I always say to them, ‘If you want that rock and roll life, then I really hope you have a day job during the week to make up for it because you’re not going to get very far. It will be a very destructive hobby. And that’s all it’s going to be.’”

But if you want to be the Macklemore and Chance the Rapper and make it on your own – you know, they run a business. Like, they are CEOs. And so you have to show up and you have to put in the work. And in order to have that focus and that energy level, you gotta cut the crap.”

A lot of the struggles that entrepreneurs, in general, face is just the emotional roller coaster. “And I mean,” Paulinski continues, “I go through it everyday. I have a successful business. I pay my bills. It’s the only work that I do. But I have a panic attack or stress, you know – balled up on the couch crying at least once a week. And that’s par for the course. That’s just how it is. I don’t stay in the rut nearly as long as I used to and I don’t get as deep in it as I used to. It’s like a real roller coaster. If you’re on a roller coaster and you know that dip is coming, you can brace yourself. And then before you know it, you’re on the upswing. It’s the same thing emotionally. If you can tell yourself, ‘Ok, this sucks right now, but I got here pretty quickly so I can get back up pretty quickly.’ So tomorrow’s a new day.”

Focus on Making Progress, Not Perfection

If you can just remind yourself that it wasn’t always like this and that it’s not usually the same problem. You’re making progress if you’re not crying about the same thing over and over again. Then, you know you’re at least making progress.

Paulinski says, “I think the thing that made me a successful entrepreneur is, I’m like, ‘bring the mistakes on.’ Like, I own my hot mess-ness when it happens. I’ve done presentations online where all the tech falls apart. You just got to laugh your way through it and then say, ‘Alright, now that it’s over, what can I do differently?’ And so when you’re making mistakes, just know you’re getting to your goal faster because you’re going to learn those lessons. If you constantly – I call that perfection paralysis, where you’re so afraid to take action. That’s why my first business failed. We just kept tweaking and tweaking and tweaking. We didn’t produce anything that the public got to see because we were so afraid that we’d mess up.”

You just got to roll up your sleeves and do it. In this industry, in particular, if you think about the film industry, they’re creatives too. But the actors get rejected playing somebody else and reading somebody else’s lines. Musicians, when they get rejected, it’s usually if they’re writing their own songs from somewhere deep down inside. The vulnerability is just a lot heavier and it hits a lot more, which is why there’s so much substance abuse. A lot of what they do is “fraud talk,” where we say, “Why did I even think I could do this? Or you see somebody else get ahead, and you say, well, then they took my spot.”

That doesn’t exist. There is no true competition in this industry because everybody is so different. Learn to ride the coaster, and the minute you hear fraud talk, call up a friend who always compliments you or gives you a boost. Spend time with people who make you smile. It’s been proven in science that smiling can actually – just the muscles and the energy and the hormones going through you – will actually change your mindset. So take a step back, walk away from whatever is making you feel really crappy that day, and get yourself in the right mindset. That’s why it’s so important because that will help you keep going. You’re not going to avoid the bad days. You’re just not. So embrace it and keep going.

Artists and repertoire (A&R) professionals exist to take care of the artists and their repertoire. That means you are making sure that they make the proper records. You got to have an ear musically to make the correct records in any music industry.

The game has changed a lot, and artists are getting signed because they have many followers. A&R has become a popularity contest. The guys doing A&R usually don’t deserve their jobs. They got their jobs because they were homies with somebody at the record company. Also, they know how to find YouTube numbers.

If that’s the case, it’s the reason when you pick up an album, you like two songs instead of enjoying the whole album anymore. Projects aren’t based on the entire package. They’re based on the two singles that they will try to push.

What’s happening with so many artists is they’re getting single deals. Yeah, you can make some money, but the record company is getting burned. It is because they’re not looking for whole albums anymore.

I would have to say hip-hip-hooray for the artist getting paid for your spins. It is preferable to wait until publishing clicks back Spotify paying quickly. It includes all the streaming money that’s there to be made. It’s a great time for artists now if they make great music. If they make great music, it isn’t even a record deal.

You don’t sell your music. No, it’s free. How do you make money? I’m on tour right now. I’m a touring artist. As the music grows, there are always better approaches of releasing. These can include visual albums, concerts, or broadways. There are many ways in which music moves amongst people. I feel like trying to force music into an album intended to be for-sale is obsolete.

There are guys making millions of dollars without selling records. Do you know what I’m saying? Some guys are giving away their albums and making millions of dollars like they sold albums. Some guys are becoming so crucial with their music that they’re giving it away for free. At some point, a kid won’t equate being a real fan unless they’re buying an artist’s merchandise. Some kids will bootleg an artist album in any way they can, from streaming, stripping, downloading, or finding it somewhere. They will not feel like they’re attached until they buy all merchandise.

There are many ways that artists can get right to it, especially without a record company that the game is super-duper wide open. It’s also super wide open for bad music. You had an A&R that had 2,000 tapes on their desk back in the days. They listened to the 2,000 tapes and picked the four that were good. You didn’t have to hear the 1,996 terrible tapes. Now you got to listen to it all.

Considering your attention span is down to eight seconds, you might have something unique in front of you. Then, you don’t hear it because you’ve been going through so much bad music. Once you get to that, you don’t give it a chance. It is because your attention span is gone. You don’t have the time to sit around going through all the bad music again.

We are in a new age, where the artist is in control. The days of finding a manager to save you and get you a deal are gone. You must figure out all the business and make music. It would be best if you found yourself in a position where you’ve been able to generate enough interest and income. You do this to get a bigger fish on the line, to help catapult your career to the next level. Any music education, regardless of it being a physical class or online music education must teach artists to be authentic and independent.

The 1960s brought lots of change and innovation to the music industry. It’s an era of music frequently studied in music education and online music education.

The influential artists of the 1960s are almost too numerous to mention. On the soul music side, we could talk about the genius of Aretha Franklin.

We could also talk about James Brown, a soul artist who fostered a whole other set of rhythmic innovations that came to be a new genre called funk.

We could talk about Stevie Wonder, who helped incorporate the synthesizer into pop music.

We could talk about Jimi Hendrix, who pioneered a new way of relating to the electric guitar, and in many ways helped to ignite another genre called heavy metal.

In this first module, “Building Your Image,” we are going to talk about how we build our audience. We need to define why you do what you do. In the unit “Marketing Your Music in the New Economy,” we look at embracing your first followers. We’re going to think about these areas especially:

• How do we try to guarantee a certain amount of traffic before putting our music out?

• How do we track the sources of big newspapers and blogs to try to get on their radar even when we are still small?

• How do we utilize social media to share stories and empower our fans to market on our behalf?

Leveraging Social Media

I have 1.8 million followers on Twitter, 1.5 million on Facebook, and 1.2 million on Instagram. The fans are more powerful than almost any music industry label. They post my music. They find other people who are searching for new music and send them mine. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get this kind of promotion.

A lot of artists do not need deals. If they can establish a solid touring foundation, they can make money and pay their bills. They crave that freedom. I feel like a lot of artists lose their freedom when they jump straight to a major label.

Choosing the Moment

In regards to the timing of when marketing actually happens, it’s a really big question to ask. On one hand, some of us might think, “I want to be a perfectionist. I want to wait until the song is totally done to ever tell anyone about it.” Some of us might be more open to getting feedback, and we share every version of it.

The truth is that there really is not a right answer. There are different ways of making a decision about it.

Music Education

Our next plan is to look at three different examples of people who have all marketed themselves super-successfully but have chosen very different times to do so.

Quick reminder: These and other modules provide you with a well-rounded online music education that helps you to learn the ins and outs of bringing your sound or songs into the world and sharing your passion with others. They are also designed to guide you in your chosen industry career so that you can achieve long-term success.