I often get asked by fans, students and interviewers, “Do you have any advice for an up and coming musician who’s starting out?”  In lieu of my normal response of “Well, you need to practice, practice, practice and of course be prepared to sacrifice a normal social life because you’ll always have to put your music first if you really and truly want or expect to succeed!”, I’m going to examine and explore one of the most overlooked and yet vitally important aspects of being a professional musician – the business side of things. After all, it is called the “music business” right?

I mean, don’t get me wrong – there is something almost transcendental to performing live, and there is almost nothing I would rather do. The same thing with writing and creating: we slave over the process for hours and hours to achieve the best possible result because we love the process and have something completely unique and personal to share. But, we must allocate a certain number of hours to our business needs. I mean let’s not kid ourselves here – we do need to make money in order to keep making our music. We need to buy new drumheads and drumsticks.  We have to replace that cracked crash cymbal that broke last rehearsal. We need to pay for rehearsal studio rent and gas to get there. The list goes on and on, and if you’re in a band… forget it!!! You’ll need to finance PA gear, staging gear, lighting rigs, monitor rigs… it never really ends. So how do we fund our ever-hungry music habit?  Better yet, how do we get our MUSIC to fund our music habit? (The musical equivalent of nuclear fission.) Well, the best way to maximize your income and opportunities is to get educated in how the music business works.

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