What do musicians and entrepreneurs have in common?
2009-06-01
I decided at 14 I was going to be a full-time musician.
Because of this, I knew:
- I'd never have a job
- I'd never have a salary
- I'd never have insurance
- I'd never have a boss
- I'd have no security - no guarantees
- Nobody would help me - I'd have to bootstrap everything myself
- Fighting against apathy and gatekeepers would be a constant struggle
- I'd have to be one-in-a-million brilliant to achieve this incredibly difficult goal
But I was psyched about this! This was my dream-come-true scenario. I told everyone I was going to be a successful musician.
And I did. I worked nonstop. I started touring profitably when I was 18. Moved to New York City. Did whatever it takes to make a living as a musician. When I was 27, I bought a house in Woodstock with the money I made touring. I was living the dream.
Today, the amazing Carla Lynne Hall asked me why I chose the entrepreneur path instead of the 9-5 job mindset.
But look at that list, up top, again. It all applies to entrepreneurs, as well.
If you decide to start your own company, you're not going to have a job, boss, or guaranteed income. It'll be a constant uphill struggle, without help from anyone.
No wonder I fell into being an entrepreneur so naturally.
All those negatives are my dream-come-true scenario.
being both an entrepreneur and a musician, i agree - it's basically the same thing. and i've never had a "real" job either - or owned a tie. woo!
Unfortunately, in today's scary economy, all those factors also apply to a lot of people who never had any desire to be an entrepreneur.
a music career for a band or solo artist, is a startup business. so every musical artist looking to make money from their art, is an entrepreneur.
ha .. i've been working on a similar thought process for a while! I TOTALLY AGREE. It's amazing how an artist is essentially a startup.
digging deeper, it's amazing the parallels later stage as well. Startups/entrepreneurs usually shop their ideas to investors in the same way artists shop their demos to labels. Both are looking for someone with more experience, resources, and connections to give the idea/music a chance for a big break. They give up a lot (equity/royalties) for the initial investment/advance. The list goes on and on ..
I've often thought that if there's enough meat to this comparison, one day i might write a book about it .. who knows if it'd be interesting.
Anyway, thanks for the post!
I have recently switched from musician to entrepreneur, and yes the similarities are striking.
But the picture you've posted is one of the most delightful things I've seen in a while.
What made you think about kids Derek? hehe
Steve
Cool idea....I relate to it a lot. I teach guitar, play in a bunch of bands, run a studio, run sound, play in a church band, do tunes for film, and sell tunes on CDBaby. Ever heard of CDBaby? But I'm booked hardcore 7 days a week and don't know how to stop! I'm terribly sleep deprived and zombified as well as slightly mummified. So beware, you may live your dream, but get so caught up in it you can't do anything else!
aaah, so true! Great post, AWESOME picture!
Derek - Thanks for a great post and an interesting take on subject that is near and dear to our (mine and my colleagues') hearts. If you substitute the word 'musician' with 'music educator' in your post, you get the life we've been leading here at the Dallas School of Music and MusickEd.com for the past 15 years. You are one of the very few people we've come across from 'inside' music that truly 'gets it'. I hope you'll take the tour of our work below and see how a group of music educators have passionately attempted to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship and music education. Continued success to you and yours.
http://www.musicked.com/demo/musicked.htm
Just wanted to say that I think it's pretty funny that my husband (Steve) and I were apparently reading this post and commenting at the same time. Trippy
I laughed at the cat in the picture. That cat sometimes represents my life dealing with vendors who can not understand just send the payment to the address on the invoice/w9. Not the old address from the past years information on it.
That cat made me laugh out loud. I love it man. Great thoughts. I agree completely.
That's all fine and dandy and all, but not quite grounded in reality. I took the leap years ago and lived the life of a total artist not answering to anybody. I struggled, slept in a van, got fired from numerous part-time jobs and never had enough money to even go to the movies, a true artist fuck up. I was always the poor artist guy that had to bum drinks off my friends at the bar. Then, I started having dental problems and hemmorhoids and had to use my credit cards to pay for it all. But now I'm glad to have some security and health insurance. Yet, I understand the power of positive thinking and the Secret and all that shit, but come on people... life is a yin yang symbol... there's good and bad in everything. Grow some balls and get real people.
Oh so true! A very inspiring article for those who may not have seen it that way.
I write poetry, fiction and songs, and I write for Fortune 500 companies. I've been a freelancer for the past 23 years, and I found far more security working for myself than I ever did working inside. That being said...
Today, any artist who thinks he/she does not need to know marketing and be boldly entrepreneurial is a) out of touch with reality, b) very lucky, or c) out of the game.
Hi Derek.
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of what it takes to be an artist and an entrepreneur, but I also think that your point is incomplete for those of us whose life involves raising a family.
Before I had kids, I too, like you, happily and consciously decided to forgo a job, a salary, insurance, bosses, guarantees, and embarked upon the entrepreneurial/artist path. In my case, I graduated from a conservatory, quickly paid of all of my student loans, freely traveled around the world (with my wife), performed often, and made a good living making music in a wide variety of ways.
It was easy for me to embrace the challenges that came with being a professional musician because I always believed that being an entrepreneur and an artist are not choices, they are "callings" (or destinies, if you prefer).
From the age of six, I was fully in touch with my desire to build my life around music and I just assumed that if I followed my calling, success would follow, and it usually did.
Then, after five years of marriage, in my late twenties, I made a profound decision: to raise a family with the woman that I loved.
This changed everything and it changed nothing.
None of my basic intentions changed. I was (and still am) 100% artist and entrepreneur, just now with a wife and three children (ages 16, 12 and 6) to consider daily in addition to myself. Still no job, no fixed salary, no boss, and no guarantees.
Given the wild ride inherent in the artist/entrepreneurial path, I have often struggled with integrating the responsibilities of having a family with the freedom of being an entrepreneurial musician.
I have found that there is no blueprint for this type of life! You have to rise to the occasion and be it all...and this takes a ton of faith and well as a strong will and quite a bit of courage.
It is a serious commitment to live the life of an entrepreneurial artist, and even more of a commitment to do so with a family.
I would love to hear what other artists have to say who have (or are considering having) a family to care for, how they have reckoned with the challenge of being a musician/entrepreneur as well as a parent and spouse...
I can't stop laughing at the picture... thanks for that.
Great thoughts as well, naturally.
I have made a living with music for 40 years.
BTW - The cat is 'shopped.
I love this post.
And, I think one aspect of the shifting business model in music today is that musicians are becoming, by necessity, increasingly entrepreneurial.
Ironically enough, those are the same things I used to be threatened with if I didn't find a job or do what I was told when I was a kid. I guess it depends on your outlook.
I am a Classical musician. I didn't like begging and didn't feel it right to ask others to pay my way. I got a family and was always conflicted between freelancing, with it's lack of security, and supprting my family, which required a secure income. So I work for someone else and choose what musical projects I want to do. At the current time I enjoy a collaboration with a local singing Professor, who has provided me with some opportunities as well as some credibility in the Artistic community in this town. I do this collaboration because I enjoy the opportunities. I don't want someone else to call the tune I want to play. I don't know what else to say about this subject.
Nice one man. I am writing this on my last week of working in a 9-5 job (ever!). I tried it out for 1.5 years and it really was not for me.
Luckily I had spent a lot of time at Grad school doing a PhD. In those years I learnt a lot, I joined student politics clubs, live music clubs, sports clubs, language clubs and more...most importantly I learnt to live my life to fullest on a shoestring income.
I now know for sure that I am an entreprenuer. Thanks so much Derek for being one of my inspirations! You pointed me to Tim Ferris's book which is awesome!
Joshua's post reflects my concern. It's nice to see a post like that by a man. It's very very hard to be the family breadwinner (and I'm a woman) as a working musician. Just yesterday I was thinking how much more musically productive I might be if I once again had a day job. In fact, I wrote a song about it. Wanna hear it? Here it go...
Seriously, it's on my YouTube page. But I don't want to be a lame-o linking to myself... If it is truly good it will find its way to the right ears ;-)
The road is wicked rough but I do find your attitude inspiring and in a world of motivational bloggers you're the best because you make me sit down and write songs and hone my craft and that's cool!
Well said Joshua. Well said indeed..
Thank you for this post. Entrepreneurs are artists! You've crystallized something I understood only subconsciously. I've had a full-time job for 10 years, and I have a family, so I'm taking things slowly and becoming a part-time entrepreneur first. I just earned my first $100 as an entrepreneur, but you have to start somewhere. It'll be an interesting journey for sure. And the funny thing is I've noticed this shift in my mindset actually helps me perform better in my "regular day job".
nice post from my point of view. thanks
That picture says it all. Hilarious!!!