When you started singing or playing your instrument there was probably a strong reason why you picked it up. You probably had a feeling inside of you that you needed to get out; a drive to express yourself. Chances are, the only problem was that you lacked the skill to really communicate what you wanted to say. Getting from that point to “success” can be a path that’s lined with challenges.

Along the way you might get frustrated with your results. You might struggle with what you should say or do. You might find yourself trying to figure out what people want to hear or how to get them to listen. A lot of artists get lost on this path and some never find their way.

To get back on the path, you need to realize that all your real power as an artist comes from the reason why you do what you do. The feeling that made you decide to become a musician in the first place. Every one of us has our own truth that’s both deeply personal and universal at the same time. This is where all of your power lies and this is the light that will guide you on your true path.

No amount of talent can compensate for a lack of connection to your personal truth. No one else can or will ever know your truth as you know it. No one else can tell you what to create or play. You’re on your own with this one – it’s something only you can know. The artists who understand this at their core are the artists who can move mountains.

Sometimes the truth is hard. Sometimes the truth is ugly. Sometimes the truth hurts. The truth might scare you and it might make you insecure, but the truth is the most powerful thing you can ever express. The truth can be a power chord, or a melody or a lyric, but you’ll know it when you feel it. The next time you hear a song that moves you, think about the feeling that created it. Realize that all the lyrics, all the music and all the other elements come from the desire to express that feeling.

When Lady Gaga wrote “Poker Face,” you can bet she wasn’t trying to figure out what anyone else wanted to hear. It was her own truth that manifested itself in that song. It was an intoxicating blend of sexuality and ego that was a feeling that resonated deep inside her before anyone else. It wasn’t the instrumentation and the production and the mix that gave that song its power, it was the truth that gave it its power. The instrumentation, production, and mix were all manifestations of that truth.

Anthony Keidis didn’t write “Under the Bridge” because he wanted to buy a new house. He wrote it because he was trying to stay sober while his closest friends were using drugs in front of him. He felt alienated and depressed and it triggered dark memories of shooting speedballs under a bridge in downtown L.A. He’d spent so much time walking through the city and felt so alone that it seemed like the city was his only friend. He really meant it. That’s why you’ll never forget it.

U2, Aretha Franklin, AC/DC, Mary J. Blige – these are all artists who have deep connections with the sources of their true power. They didn’t make a career by chasing what was hot on the radio at the time. They made themselves legendary because they had the guts to give the world their truth.

We all know our own truth. All we need to do is to learn how to say it.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

I know that’s the kind of platitude you read in stupid self-help books, but this Oscar Wilde quote is good career advice. If you do what everybody else does you’re going to learn quite quickly that it’s hard to stand out.

I was at a demo review panel at a music conference once. As the panelists reviewed the submitted demos, they kept coming up with one recurring verdict on the various bands. So much so that they just called it “Problem A.” “Problem A” was this: There’s nothing bad about this band, there’s also not anything different.

What ever it is you do, chances are very good that somebody else does it better than you. And even if you sound more like the Black Keys than the Black Keys do, it doesn’t matter. You weren’t first.

The good news is you probably already have the tools in your toolbox to fashion a unique voice. Those same things that made you woefully unpopular in High School may just be the ticket. You got a Richard Marx fetish and play tenor banjo? Run with it! Christ, the most ubiquitous single last year* featured a ukulele and a Mr. Mister reference. Mr. Mister! They’re like the second worst band ever**

Short-term success can come from sounding exactly like someone else (i.e. Bush, All-American Rejects) but real longevity is going to be hard to come by (i.e. Bush, All-American Rejects). There’s a modest living to be made as a poor man’s [insert band here] and there are even whole genres (bluegrass, reggae and ragtime, for example) where your “authenticity” is essentially based on how much you sound like one guy. But if your plan is to make music as a career, there had better be something unique about you. Something more than “Well I do what they do, but better.” Remember, a lot of bands that are considered “mainstream” now (Dave Matthews leaps to mind) didn’t start out so close to center.*** It’s true that they may have moved that way throughout their career but the mainstream also met them halfway.

And anyway, I’m not talking about a record deal, or a hit single. I’m talking about a career. Bob Log III has a career, B-O-B? Well, we’ll see.

Of course, if you do get signed to a record deal, the first thing they’ll try to do is to get you to sound less like yourself. But if you don’t sound unique to begin with, you’ll never get that call.

The punk movement was a revolution at its time. Punk’s main ideology was to operate outside the establishment. Punk wasn’t only about music; it was a whole cultural movement. It included and inspired many art forms such as fashion, literature and visual arts. Punk’s DIY ideology made it contagious. People who lived at the time are endlessly telling stories of the amazing era, when everyone was creating what they wanted, and putting it out. They didn’t need anyone’s support or approval. They just went ahead and did it. Punk allowed everyone to express themselves, whether they were skilled or certified to do it or not.

The punk artists were proud about the fact that their art was home made, and that they would do whatever the heck they wanted. Punk was seeking alternative ways of expression, aesthetics and distribution. Punk didn’t censor anything. Therefore it inspired many types of people and artists.

Since Punk wasn’t part of the establishment, it needed to find it’s own distribution network. Many small record labels, clubs, record stores and magazines mushroomed. People wanted to find and share the cool stuff they’d seen. They wanted to spread the good stuff that moved them. Punk bands joined forces and toured squats and living rooms.
If you look around, we are living a similar era. The amazing digital tools have made music production, distribution and marketing possible for everyone. You no longer need tons of money to produce a professional sounding record. You don’t need a label to distribute or market your music. You don’t need the approval of anyone but your audience. How cool is that?

And it’s not just musicians. You can find inspiring visual artists, photographers, video makers, and web designers doing exactly the same thing. They are right at your fingertips – just a mouse click away – and many of them would love to collaborate with a band. The DIY movement of the digital era is the new punk. Everyone is allowed to join, publish their own work, network with other like minded people and spread the word of those that move them. Just like punk did.

Now go out and join the revolution!

*thumbnail image by Jonas Bengtsson

As an artist you hold a lot of power. It may not feel like you have much power if you find yourself banging your head against the wall trying to be heard, trying to get paid and trying to grow your audience in vain. But sometimes with a little shift in perspective you can see just how much of a difference you can make. That change in perspective starts by taking a detour from what may be the normal approach of trying to ‘get’ ahead, ‘get’ to the next level, ‘get’ some more fans or ‘get’ paid.

I’m asking you to suspend, for a moment, your desire to ‘get’ things and instead to think about your opportunities to give. Forget for a moment about what’s in it for you and instead imagine what might happen if you decided to shift your attention to all of the opportunities you have to use your music to give to the other people in your life. You just might be surprised by the results. Here are some different ways that you might consider using your talents and resources. Try them with the true spirit of giving and you’ll find out just how powerful you really are.

1. Write a song for someone who could use a boost. If you want to see the power your music really has then write a song for someone who would never expect to have a song written for them. They will never, ever forget it. Even if you’re not a great writer or performer, the gesture alone will likely have quite an effect on them. Sometimes the real power comes from turning your focus away from the faceless masses and towards just one person.
2. Get to know the club owners or promoters that host your shows. Some of them are ungrateful scheisters, but a lot of them are honest people who genuinely enjoy and appreciate the privilege of putting on live music events and working with artists. Keep an eye out for the good ones. When you bring people into their venue you help support their business, their passion, their family, their lifestyle. If you take the time to get to know the club owners and/or promoters where you play then you’ll find ones who you really care about you and you’ll form real friendships with some of the people whom your music helps to support – and that’s something to be grateful for and proud of. Never forget that there are real people involved at every step of the way. They all have hopes, dreams, family and friends. When you care about how you affect their lives then you’re more in tune with the power that you really have.
3. Decide to write and record a song and donate all the profits to an organization like “Make A Wish” or “Save the Music”. If you’re passionate about the cause then the feeling of purpose could really inspire some of your best work. If you really believe in what you’re doing then you’ll find others who will conspire to help you. You might find a studio owner who’s sympathetic to your cause or some high-status musicians who’d like to contribute to the recording. You’ll certainly have the appreciation of the organization that you’re supporting and they and others will likely promote your song, especially if they believe in it. In the end, you just might help other people’s dreams come true. How cool is that?
4. Go out of your way to help another artist you care about. You know how hard it can be out there in the jungle, so take the time to make it a little better for someone else. Introduce them to your audience. Help promote them. You have relationships and resources, so take the time to connect other artists you believe in with people who can help them. It’s a win-win for everyone.
5. Show your fans how much you appreciate them. Respond to them. Tell them individually how much you appreciate them. I follow Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue on Facebook. He really doesn’t need to say anything to any of his fans if he doesn’t want to. He’ll do just fine financially with or without engaging with them directly. Instead of being totally self absorbed and ignoring his fans, he sees Facebook as an opportunity to talk to his fans and to individually answer their questions, encourage them and inspire them. Day after day, over and over again.

One way or another, it’s what you GIVE that makes you powerful. I’ve listed 5 ways you could do that. What would be your #6? Leave a comment and let us know!

This post was written by Hunter Wade

Is music a responsibility? Specifically, as a musician do I have an obligation to honor the power of communication that music is?

I studied music therapy in college and we were taught a lot of things about the physiological effects of music. This article isn’t about showing or proving those effects.. I mean, if you are playing music there’s a good chance that you have felt connected, linked in, rooted in an energy beyond anything experienced in the ‘normal’ world and thus I don’t need to provide much evidence.. I’ve personally experienced altered states of consciousness from both playing and listening to music, that’s enough for me.

So if music can do this for us, don’t you imagine it has a power to affect everyone in this way?

A song is a structured form in which each participant gets to bring forth their own creative expression inside of a context that unites all participants in a single meaning.

Whether we are doing so deliberately or not, we are uniting a lot of people in a meaning every time we play a song. We are infusing them with an energy and sending them off programmed with that emotion.. We are handing out drugs.. literally aligning people with an idea.
Do we get to play an ignorance card here, or do we want to be held accountable to ourselves for what we are communicating? Maybe it’s accountability to the eternal idea of music.. I mean, what are we in our skin if not music, vibrations, rhythms, energy infused with meaning..
Now, for those of you who answered yes to the above, WHAT do you think we could do with music that would have a lasting positive affect in the world?

Many already are doing their best to share stories that shed light on the human experience. Composers are evoking emotions that have been dormant since we were kids. Bands are showing us the synergistic effects of creative teamwork..

What if we come together and state an intention to use music deliberately to encourage empowered thinking?.. empowered behavior?.. And I speak here of authentic empowerment, which is a self awareness and confidence that encourages individuals to bring their best self forward in every moment.

I’m curious how it may look. Do you think it’s already happening? Do you even think it’s possible? If not, what else do you suggest? Because I live in a really awesome world, and I feel like it’s in pain.. And I think music is the cure.

Maybe our Youtube videos could start going antibiotic. =)

I look forward to your thoughts and ideas because EVERYTHING, including this author here writing, the reader reading, and the very writing being read, started out as a thought.

Peace to the Single Cell!

This post was written by Hunter Wade

Well, Saint Patrick’s Day is just passed and like many of us, I indulged in an annual tradition: playing to a bunch of drunks who couldn’t care less about who I was or what I had to say.

My gig was at my local, and its open mic is the heart of this city’s music scene, so this show wasn’t the ego deflating sack kick that it could have been. But also because I’ve learned that it isn’t me, I was reminded last Thursday that I’ve played this kind of room more times that I can count.

For years, a gig like this would kill me. I’d make the long drive home asking myself, “Have I wasted my life?” and “What was I thinking, trying to be a musician?” One bad gig could convince me that my songs weren’t good enough, my voice sucked, that I was terrible, unlikable. More than once I vowed that I would never play another show again.

I’m not alone in this, I once told a friend that as a child, I wrote in a diary that when I grew up I wanted to be either a Rock Star or a Truck Driver, jokingly adding that I had no idea how closely related those two careers were. He responded by saying, “Yeah, but the truck driver doesn’t get his ego beat up for 45 minutes when he reaches his destination.”

Ouch!

The truth is sometimes you can’t win. The room was never a venue to begin with (did you have to move a table to set up? That’s a clue). In my case the local was a small tavern, it has TVs; it’s the middle of March madness and it was a drinking holiday. There was no chance that THIS would be a listening room.

It’s important in situations like this to remember that it ain’t you. A reformed Beatles couldn’t have turned this room around (and a reformed Wings wouldn’t have fit). Some rooms can’t be won. Maybe the owner isn’t a music lover. He just thinks it’d be cool to have music. But he doesn’t know what that means, doesn’t get original music and he certainly doesn’t understand why you don’t feel privileged to play in his piece-of-shit establishment.

It’s also important to keep your eyes on the bigger picture. Your ultimate goals and how the gig fits in. In my case, it continues to solidify a solid working relationship with a guy who books multiple rooms in this town (and is a real music lover), plus it’s dinner and a free Guinness at a decent paying gig five minutes from my house. But sometimes the gig is a Tuesday in Albany gets you the gas money to get to the opening gig in Paramus, which buys you the hotel that you need to be well rested for that showcase gig in Manhattan.

On the other hand, maybe it is you. Maybe you’re not ready: you haven’t practiced enough, or the songs aren’t there, you need to work on your voice, your instrument, your show (yes, that’s a skill too). Worse yet, maybe you—seeing it as less than a career move—phoned it in*. Every gig counts**, but if you didn’t play the room, you didn’t have a chance. Maybe this was a covers room and you insisted on debuting your four-part requiem to your favorite, but recently deceased, dog***. OK, fine. But remember, you don’t get to pick which songs are great, the audience does.

The point is, we don’t always get to play the most ideal rooms or the best gigs. Jewel opened for Peter Murphy, back when the highlight of her show was yodeling. Can you imagine trying to win over 1500 Goth kids with yodeling? Tom Waits opened for Frank Zappa (he refers to is as being Frank’s ‘rectal thermometer’). Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees, all with fairly disastrous results. There will always be unwinable shows, but it’s what you make of that experience that defines you, that’s the difference between Lady Gaga and Stefani Germanotta.

* But you took the gig. So, no, you’re not above it. And if you think you’re ‘too good’ for a gig, it’s a sure sign that you’re not.

**More on this in a future post.

***Based on the true story of a shelved album by an artist more famous than you.

The cry resounds across the land – The King is dead!

Although he occasionally degenerated into addiction, despotism and self-parody, he has been widely regarded as a good and noble king. He bestowed countless audio treasures upon us which we listened, danced and copulated to.

But, despite occasional rumors of sightings at Starbucks, he’s dead now. Or mostly dead. Or at least really really sick. In fact he never even finished his low-fat no-whip mochaccino – so, you know, he must at the very least be in the grip of some fair to middlin’ mid-morning ennui.

As good as dead for sure.

You’ve all heard the grim prognosis and predictions about the music industry. I don’t need to get into that here. And I certainly will not try to deny that things have certainly changed in the brave new world of this spanking new millennium.

Some things have changed. The labels, big and small, are scrambling to reassess their business models and income streams.

And some things have gone away, or at least there’s no new ones being born, which is basically extinct. Extinct like the dinosaurs and red-headed humans. Say goodbye, because they aren’t going to be around for long.

Really cool stuff. Really great-sounding stuff. The stuff of dreams. Things like analog tape machines, and large format consoles, and a shit-load of really great studios.

Yep, studios. The temple where the music of this sphere is crafted and nurtured. Getting smaller and smaller and going away. Replaced by an iPhone loaded with Garageband.

Mostly going away. There is still a need for studios. There are still some big-budget productions.

But there has been a fundamental change in how music is being made. And there is no going back now.

Music has become primarily a Socialist art form.

Oooops. Just got a memo from legal. They say I can’t use the word “Socialist” because it has been copyrighted by the far right and they only allow its use it as an accusation, threat, or in reference to a totalitarian dictatorship.

Too bad. It fit pretty dang well. Especially in light of how important Social Networks have become for Independent Rockstars. C’est la vie. Instead we can call it the Democratization of Music.

So what does that mean? It means that the tools of production are now in the hands of the workers. The artists. You.

Meaning that in the 21st century, 95% of all music is recorded by the musician that plays it. And I’m pretty sure that’s a conservative number.

In some ways it’s a nightmare scenario. Like if you can have all the medicine and any surgery you might want or need for next to nothing.

Only catch is, you have to diagnose yourself, anesthetize yourself and perform the surgery on yourself.

Sound like fun? And no, you don’t get to choose your own anesthesia.

But in some ways it’s what many of us have wished for our whole lives. A level playing field.

Mostly level. Still some stoney patches. Watch where you’re running. Those stones are all that’s left of the King’s fortress.

Don’t cry for him though, he’s fine. He still has his penthouse apartment, summer chateau and private island estate.

But he has sobered up. A little. The King’s old lady, Queen Fate, hit him upside his head with his gold-flake Les Paul dang-near hard enough to knock some sense into his drug-addled head.

Dang near. But that’s just fine.

Rock and Roll was never suited for royalty anyway. It is a living animal, with teeth and claws and a thick matted coat to thwart its enemies. A rough beast that slouches into London and LA and every podunk town in between, hoping to piss on the place harder than whatever tattered dog it’s following.

It is often at its best and most savage when it’s hungry. And believe me, it is hungry now. It’s a guerrilla warrior poaching on the King’s estate.

So watch yourself out there. Keep your eyes peeled because it’s coming at you. The next big thing. The band that changes how we see music and how we see ourselves.

And more than any band that came before them, they will be in the driver’s seat with a firm grip on the wheel.

The King is dead. Long live the King. All hail the new King of rock and roll.

You.

The music business as we know it is dead. A recent study showed yet another year of declining record sales. Even digital music sales are slowing down. News from the largest music industry event MIDEM reveal that many companies still seem to hold the idea that the only way to turn things around is to punish users for not buying music. They are still convinced that piracy has ruined a perfectly good business and we need to turn back the clock to save music.

But there’s no going back. The way people interact with music has changed for good. It’s no longer about owning music. It’s about having a living, breathing relationship. That is something that can’t be canned and sold in convenient packages. And no one else can do it but the artists themselves.

How people discover music has changed too. Being featured on the magazines and TV shows still has a big impact, but it’s no longer the only way to get noticed. You don’t need to get pass the media gatekeepers to reach an audience. That’s because the media industry is in the same boat with the music industry. People no longer rely on what the “pros” tell them. Instead they discover cool stuff through their friends and pass it on.

Getting signed is not a guarantee of anything

A record contract has never guaranteed money or success. 90% of signed artists don’t become massively successful. Just try it. Visit a major label website, and click “all artists”. How many bands are there that you have never heard of? Even worse, I know many artists that got signed and made an expensive record that never got released.

Even if you did do well, there is no guarantee that your relationship with your label will continue for the foreseeable future. Labels come and go. Artists get signed and dropped. Ultimately you need to take care of yourself and look after your own business, because no one else is going to do that for you. The sooner you start considering yourself as an entrepreneur, the better chances you have in making your career sustainable.

Of course getting signed can help you, there’s no doubt about that. Getting involved with people in the industry can help you a great deal. There is a whole new school of labels that work more like content spreading blogs, not pirate-hunting prosecutors. There are also many other ways to partner. Try promoters, distributors, agents and managers. These partners usually don’t insist on owning your work, they are happy with just a slice of the profits. That is the way all other businesses work. Isn’t it time music business caught up?

Produce, produce, produce

You don’t need to have a degree in Business Studies, in order to be able to take care of your music business yourself. A laptop, internet connection and a bit of your time can get you far. New great services are popping up all around that will help you to release your music to the world and connect with your audience. In the olden days that was called distribution and marketing. Nowadays it’s much more than that. It’s about creating and maintaining that living, breathing connection.

So in the end you as an artist need to focus on producing more stuff – all the time, every day. Being a musician is a lifestyle. Celebrate it! Use your life as the building blocks of your career. Have personality and let it shine. Know where you’re coming from and who you are talking to. Create a scene and find like minded artists to collaborate with. Release a track per month instead of an album per year. Make videos, post photos and write your thoughts in your blog. It’s a lot of fun to connect with your audience, and incredibly rewarding. Stop waiting for that big bang and hoping to “make it”. Instead live your life creating cool stuff.

Show me the money

As an artist you need to keep giving for a long time, before you can start even thinking about making money. It has always been like this. The record contract advances might have given you a little bit to live on, but it took a lot of records before you were able to get any money beyond that. There are and never were any quick wins. Establishing yourself comes from producing a steady stream of quality stuff.

There are many fascinating stories of how artists have been able to make money from that precious connection with their fans ranging from special edition collectables, to playing golf together. Get creative and see what your audience is willing to pay for. The good news is that record companies or rock magazines are not able to make that connection for you. They can do the introductions, but the rest is up to you. Nowadays there are many ways to make music and reach your audience.

So, what do you think? Should you get signed or should you just get on with it?

You’ve probably seen marketing for products that in one way or another promise to reveal ‘The Secret’. The one thing that will part the seas in front of you and make the angels sing and will end with you riding victoriously into the sunset. If you just knew that one thing then everything would make sense! You would get the girl (or the guy) and the public would shower you with adulation and praise and everyone would recognize you as the uniquely talented genius that you are! Sounds like a good deal, right?

Well, it’s a tough reality for a lot of musicians right now. There are a lot of growing pains going on both for the industry and for artists themselves. We’re at a stage where independent musicians have to develop knowledge and skills in areas that might be uncomfortable, like sales and marketing, in order to survive and thrive. There’s a lot of confusion going on. We have all this technology and potential power, but a lack of good training on how to use it. There’s a lot of opportunity, but few have what it takes to even see that opportunity, much less take advantage of it.

So wouldn’t it be nice if you could just buy the secret from me and then all of a sudden you would be able to see these opportunities in front of you and move forward triumphantly with confidence towards everything you desire?!

Well I’m here to tell you that there is such a secret.

The problem is that I can’t really package it and sell it to you. In fact, if I could sell it then most people probably wouldn’t want to buy it anyway. The truth is, it’s not very sexy. In fact, it might even look pretty ugly from where most people in our instant gratification oriented society are standing.

To understand the secret is to let go of a lot of comfort and seductive fantasy. There is no finish line. There is no ride off into the sunset. It involves discomfort and work and it can be scary at times and it never ends. Have I sold you on it yet?!

The good part is that the secret will make you more powerful than you’ve ever been. It will bring you success and it will positively influence the people around you. It will make you happier and it will give you a better appreciation and understanding of nearly everything in life.

So what is the secret???

It’s not a piece of information. It’s not a video that you can watch or a book you can read. It’s not something you can find anywhere in the outside world. It’s a habit. It’s a paradigm.

It manifests itself in different ways. Sometimes it’s about fighting through the frustration. Sometimes it’s about not listening to your friends. Sometimes it’s about confronting deep fears. Sometimes it’s about having patience. Sometimes it’s about being honest with yourself. Sometimes it’s about practicing. Sometimes it’s about reading. Sometimes it’s about getting up after falling down for the 900th time. Sometimes it’s about letting go.

It all comes down to this. We all experience pain and confusion and hopes and dreams. We can either bury our heads in the sand and look for quick fixes and accept substitute gratifications when things don’t happen the way we want them to or we can look the world in the eyes and go after the real answers. This means committing to personal evolution against all opposition. If finding the truth is more important than comfort then we can find all the answers we need to get what we really want.  But we’re going to have to earn it.

That’s the secret.

We’ve all seen and read posts and eBooks about how to ‘succeed’ as independent artists and to be honest, I’ve even written a few.  But what about those of us who are bent on failure?  Those of us who would like to know how to shoot ourselves in the foot as efficiently and painfully as possible?  Those of us who would like to be more unsuccessful and confused?  Well this post is for you!

Some of these things I’ve done myself, and I can assure you – they work amazingly well!  Others I’ve merely watched in admiration as true masters of blunder and confusion have performed their magic before my very eyes.

So here it is, my guide to failure for the independent artist:

1. Steal Your Own Thunder

Got a new Cd in the works?  Awesome!  Make sure you release every version of every demo and every mix you record during the process on Facebook, Reverbnation, Myspace and anywhere else you can find.  Try to confuse your fans so that they’re not really sure if you have a CD out yet or not.  Don’t set a release date well in advance or plan your promotion to build anticipation.  Try to make your release as flat and confusing as possible!

2. Don’t Sell Anything!

You’re definitely going to get signed by a huge label in less than three months anyway, so why bother?!  It’s much better to just wait for other people to come in and straighten things out.  Taking responsibility for your own career is hard work and it might lead to success, so try your best to avoid it.  Try to keep it real and stay as broke as possible.  If you have any money then you’ll be less needy and you’ll have more leverage, which could lead you towards success, so stay away!

3. Hide Your Best Stuff

Try to make sure that people have a hard time getting to your best songs.  Hide them on your online music players by either shuffling your songs randomly or putting them way down on the list.  This will make sure that they’re less likely to get the best possible first impression.

Also, make sure you stop playing your best songs live as soon as possible in favor of new material.  Remember, new is better than good.  After all, you’re sick of your best songs by now anyway, so why should you go out of your way for people who haven’t heard your music yet?  Besides, that would just draw in new fans, so don’t do it.

4. Don’t Deliver For Your Fans

It’s generally best to reach for the stars and swing for the fences as soon as possible.  Try to see if you can drag all of your fans out to the ‘big venue’ in town well before you’re ready to play there.  That way you can make sure that your fans overpay to see you at a venue that doesn’t care about you and will cut your set short.  Bonus points if your fans have to pay for parking.  The whole experience should go a long way towards losing your audience.

It’s always best to make sure your relationship with your fans is based on them doing you favors as opposed to a mutual exchange of value.  People will willingly come back to see you if you focus on their experience and deliver the goods, so it’s best to make sure you focus more on having them do you favors.

5. Impress People With the Volume of Your Content

If it’s good to have a YouTube video on your home page then it’s great to have 37!  Try to mix in unprofessional and amateur content as much as possible.  If you’ve done it – then why not show it!  Obviously the big record companies are going to be way impressed when they see just how many ‘things’ you’ve done.  If people have no idea how to digest the massive amounts of unorganized content on your page and tend to leave in frustration then you know you’re on the right track!

6. Don’t Tell Anyone Your Name

When people come to see you it’s best if you keep a sense of mystery about yourself.  Whatever you do, don’t give yourself away by showing or telling people the name of your act.  Try to make them work for it.  Remove any visual evidence that you even have a name and try to make sure that if you mention your name you do it in a way that’s garbled and difficult to hear and understand.  Bonus points if your name is hard to remember like Anne Kalshzyagrakaviczich.  In that case you can tell them your name once just to dare them to try and remember it.  They won’t be able to!  If they like you then this should piss them off.  Awesome!

Also, try and secure a confusing URL for your website that’s spelled strangely and has numbers and dashes and is not memorable.  Extra credit if you can make sure that the URLs for your YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter account and other social networking sites have nothing in common with each other.  If someone wants to follow you then you certainly don’t want to make it easy for them!

7. Don’t Let Anyone Have Anything for Free

Whatever you do, make sure that no one gets their hands on your music without paying you.  If more people got a hold of your music then you might generate more demand, so cling to your music with an iron fist.  And whatever you do, if you ever do give away any of your music, make sure you don’t get an email address in return.  That might start you in the direction of adopting habits that lead to more money and more people coming to your shows.

8. Don’t Facilitate Long Term Relationships

Your relationship with your fans should be all about one-night stands.  Anything beyond that will just ruin the experience.  If you actually look for ways to stay in contact with them like collecting their email addresses and finding creative ways to engage with them on Facebook and other social networking sites then one day you might wake up and find yourself gaining positive momentum and building a sustainable path of continued growth and success.   So make sure people don’t have an easy way to stay in the loop or to find out when and where you’re playing next.  If they do find you online, say on your website,  make sure that it’s confusing and doesn’t have any dynamic content or a reason or means for them to stay connected.

9. Try Your Best to Be Vague and Confusing When Describing Your Music

When someone asks you what you sound like, try to make sure they won’t understand, remember and/or be excited about what you say.  You don’t want to be painted into a corner by a concise and interesting description of your music.  It’s best to try and give them a long-winded summary of every way to conceivably describe everything you will ever play.  And whatever you do, don’t compare yourself to anyone else to give people a frame of reference.  It’s best to tell people that you don’t sound like anyone and that you’ve invented a new kind of music.  This should sufficiently confuse and frustrate them to the point that they don’t care to find out any more about you.

10. Talk About Yourself.  A lot.

Finally, it’s a good idea to make sure that you don’t talk about anyone or anything else besides you and your career.  If you stop promoting yourself for even a minute and start talking up others and remarking about interesting subjects then people might actually start to think you’re a real person and listen to what you have to say and want to hear more from you.  It’s best to avoid this scenario by incessantly blasting your ‘friends’ and fans with promotion.   This should lead to nausea amongst anyone who decided to give you a chance –  a great weapon in your quest for failure.

For bonus points, throw in a few complaints and guilt trips into the mix.  This should make sure that even the few people who tolerate your interpretation of how to use social media won’t like you or want to see you succeed.

So there you have it.  10 powerful tips that are sure to help you fail!  Use them well and use them often.  Try and combine different tips and see just how quickly or painfully slowly you can run your career into the ground.