I just spent a few days in Kansas City for the 30th Folk Alliance International, a conference where thousands of musicians gather from around the globe — and I got to ask a lot of them a pretty simple question: “Why are you here?”
Simple question. Perhaps tougher to answer.
I noticed a pattern though. The serious artists never answered in vague terms. No “get to the next level,” or “figure stuff out,” or “to see how I can make more money,” or “make some contacts.”
By serious, I mean the ones who’ve already arrived at a stage in their career the rest of us would envy, or those artists who’re on their way, the ones with momentum, buzz, hype, or whatever else you want to call it (I’m not making an assessment about anyone’s skills or intentions).
You get the point. Many permutations of… a specific goal.
On the last night of the conference I had a conversation with Green Room Music Source‘s David Priebe who pretty much said the same thing: there’s no “next level” — there’s only specific goals, plans to meet them, and actions taken to get there.
Of course in music marketing-speak, it’s easy to say “get to the next level.” I’ve written those exact words dozens of times on this blog; it’s a catchall phrase for every possible success that musicians can imagine.
And CD Baby doesn’t have a perfect, concise way to say: hey, we’re here to assist with sync licensing, publishing, info on playlist placements, all manner of monetization, distribution, marketing your music online, building a website, and so much more.
So it’s easy to say we want to help you… get to the next level.
But when it comes to YOU the musician, it does you zero good to cast such a nebulous net with your ambitions while doing little to focus your efforts. So stop wanting to “get to the next level,” and start setting specific goals.
Of course it differs for everyone.
You might be able to set some specific goals for your music by asking yourself a few questions:
These might seem like broad questions, but you probably know yourself well enough to give focused answered.
Maybe you’ve had decent regional success building a fan base and selling merch at shows in three or four towns, and you feel like the next piece of the puzzle is extended touring. Well, maybe your goal is to embark on a tour of fifteen markets that you hit three or four times a year? A whole lot of little things need to come together to make that happen. You’ve got your goal, and you reverse engineer from there to create an action plan.
Actions can be measured. Plans can be changed. But it’s gonna be hard to get to the next level if you’re just wanting to get to the next level. Get to the goal. Repeat.
The post Musicians, there is no “next level”: It’s all about setting specific goals appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.