How are you keeping positive in today's music market? Tips

[wta]

Being a singer/songwriter/perfomer and an eternal student of commercial song production I'm wondering how everyone is doing in this challenging digital age where the amount of music available and competition is more than ever before but the accessible profits margins are getting thinner and thinner.

I struggle semi-weekly with thoughts of "how the heck am I going to produce hits that will get me out of a part time regional success to national level success?" In my times of dispair and weekness I have trained myself to first recognize that state of mine and immediately address it by doing 3 things...

1) I opne my special folder of genre specific artists and study their recordings both live and studio cuts and most importantly their interviews and rockumentaries and it doesn't take long for me to regain my confidence and inspiration to pick up my guitar, power up my recording rig and get back to work.

2) I spend time learning new tips on writing, recording and producing from industry.

3) I listen to some of my really old recordings and then some of my newer pieces and see how far I'm come from the hundreds and hundreds of man hours I have invested in learning, practicing and working.

What do you guys do to keep productive with a positive attitude?

[Kolstad]

The business politics of music can be quite depressing, but I try to seperate things, sort of like house cleaning where you put things in their right boxes. I'm a musician, and I love to be one. I can make music with nothing, just humming when I drive. My day job is teaching and writing, and I can do that in a musical way, still being the musician. I think about how I pitch my voice in the mix of others, what I record when writing, and how I sequence sections ect. Everything stems from who I am.

The business of music is about exchange for me. I deliver a phrase, and listen for what others play in return. It's call and response. I like to play with the players who provides the best feedback. But it's music, not economics. That's how I like to read the world, because that's what matters to me.

Maybe the economists do these things from an economical standpoint, but that's them. Not me. I'm a musician. As a musical animal, I thrive in my natural habitat, so I try to stay within the mindset of the musician. To retain yourself like that among a billion other voices, is very challenging.

So, I'm a bit careful with where I spend my attention, because I soak it all up, as if information was food. Therefore I don't like to dwell with politics and economy too much, because that's pulling me out of my natural frame of mind and the habitat I thrive in, and I get malnutrition from that.

My cure is to stop listening to all the doomsday talk, and feed myself with inspiring information. The future is not something we consume from experts, it's something we create together. And I know how to create. So I choose to create instead of just being a consumer of predictions.

Sometimes I fall through the cracks, but that's why it needs conscious and ongoing attention. We are neanderthal by nature, so that's why we need to cultivate ourselves. So, I read stuff that inspires me and build me up, in stead of depressing stuff that will tear me down. By doing that I can retain who I am, and help the positive voices inside my mind to be bigger, strnger and more influential than all the bad daily influences and temptations.

So the answer to "How are you keeping positive in today's music market?" is, by being aware and disciplined in my mind. Not an easy task, but definitely worth it.

Here's a couple kick-off sources to read instead of the news:
Eric Maisel "The Van Gogh Blues"
Julia Cameron "The artists way"

What comes in, comes out. So for me it's all about feeding myself with better and more useful information. It is out there, and there are lots of likeminded people. The news media is not a true representation of how the world is, so don't leave it up to them to cultivate you. Take charge of yourself as an artist.

Just my2c

[andygabrys]

well four things help me keep positive:

1) Successes - getting some new placements, royalty income rising, getting some new film scoring gigs, nailing a brief for a publisher, making good on an introduction to a new client.

2) Collaborations - its the easiest thing ever when you don't have to write the whole track, and you get so many things finished quickly. Plus different people hear different things - and they add things you might not have considered. Its fun!

3) Playing some live gigs - No chance to second guess anything - play it and those notes go away. Again Fun.

4) doing things that don't have anything to do with music production - it looks like its going to be a great ski season - and nothing gets me centered and fired up to produce than skiing powder.

YMMV but that's what I feel.

[HectorRContreras]

That is a most excellent Topic to share, dear William, thank you for posting it.

[wta]

That is a most excellent Topic to share, dear William, thank you for posting it.

Life is awesome in so many ways and so many of us are so lucky and blessed to make music and building our dreams and all the while there is the dark side that hits in places no one sees and can take us out if we're not equipped to deal with the hard ships. I've met countless musicians over the years and most are very sensitive people who have high highs and very low lows so I thought a practical thread on how to battle the negative stuff that hits us might help someone and me at the same time

[HectorRContreras]

That is the way to go !

[kclements]

Hi. Great topic. I've spent a lot of time ( too much?) thinking about this stuff.

I try to put a practice in place to help deal with the ebb and flow of it all. I gave up on "goals" last year after a lot of reading and studying about to do lists and productivity and self help stuff... I came across this idea that goals are always forcing you to look ahead. If I have a goal to write 100 songs this year and I don't make it, I feel like a huge failure and let down. If I do make it, the first thing I do is set a new goal - 150 songs. It seems like a never ending treadmill.

Today, I consider my writing a Practice. A system - perhaps similar to doctors (I wonder if doctors set a goal of healing 150 people a year?)

I write everyday. I work my Practice everyday the best way I can. I put my butt in my chair each day at 9 am and I work my system. Some days I have success, some days I come up short. But since I'm not working towards an artificial goal, I don't feel bad about the lessor days. It's all part of the Practice.

I started this on my last library project. I had a hard deadline and was worried because I was behind on my "goal" of having four tracks done a week. So I made another goal; get six tracks done this week and I'll be back where I "need" to be. Things came up and I missed that goal. I felt distressed. Once I remebered my system and took away the pressures of my made up signal posts, I was able to focus on the project, work my system and deliver my project a day ahead of schedule.

So as long as I'm working on my Practice, I feel good about the ups and downs. It helps remind me that there are going to be high and low days and everything in between. When the low day comes, I know by working the system, tomorrow is another chance to get a good day in.

It also helps me remember that it is supposed to be hard. That's what makes it worth pursuing in the first place.

As Andy said, YMMV

Cheers
kc

[TheElement]

I listen and surround my self with positive and successful energy.

To write what I want to write I listen to the radio. For me thats TuneIn UK Top 40. I try to write and mix like what I hear.

I do not beat myself up. Like you I go back to the songs (I don't dwell on old stuff) I wrote in the past and can see progress.

Realize success doesn't happen over night. If you want to write hits like RedOne etc it took him 14 years to get where he is now writing for such artist like Lady Gaga.

Realize the 5 year plan Taxi members talk about. It makes sense. Just like any other business it takes time to make it.

I'm in the swimming pool biz and make good money so its not about the money for me but more the love of writing. If I get a placement here and there I am happy and will continue to keep writing and producing. Who knows maybe one day I can write fulltime. I'd be in heaven if that was a possibilty as writing is like part of my being. just like breathing. I need to write.

Some things I do to keep positive:

1. I work out at the gym and eat healthy. I also go for a run usually at least once a week.

2. I'm part of a positive social group.

3. I watch Joel Ostean on Sundays. His messages always make sense. You can get what he's talking about in 5 mins.

4. I watch a lot of Youtube videos on successful producers

5. I listen to UK Top 40 Radio and dream.

6. I drink too much coffee!

7. Being spiritual I thank God everyday for directions and the success He is sending my way. So far I am on track.

8. And last but not least I count the days until the next Taxi Road Rally!

[HectorRContreras]

This is very impressive, Guys,

[Len911]

+ what KC says!

I like sad and melancholy songs, so I prefer to stay negative,lol! Isn't success really about not doing the things you don't want to do?? or is that happiness? Whether the glass is half full or half empty it doesn't change the fact that the volume is at 50%. Self-help, goals, lists, they're all about getting you to do those tasks you don't want to do so that you can feel like you've achieved something by doing something you hate,lol! Diets, the same thing. It's like brainwashing your soul,lol! The deception is promising people control over things they don't control. For example, a hit song, there are people who have had and have hit songs, but there is nothing certain and they certainly don't control whether a song is a hit or not, though how many songwriting books have something to do with writing a hit song?

The message of "you can control your life, so if you haven't achieved your dreams or goals it's your own fault, and you should be thankful that you live in a country where you control your own destiny, and here's an example where even the most pitiful among us can overcome obstacles", every night there's a piece on either the abc or cbs evening news.