Category: The Musician Business
By the end of this post, you might be annoyed with me. And that’s good. It means that you’ll be making money very soon.
I know this girl… she sings, and she’s actually a great singer, like amazing.
She wants very, very much to sign to a small label I currently run. But
between you and me, I have no intention of signing her. I get emails
all the time from people who want to be signed – 98% of these people
don’t even have their own websites. Seriously!? Seriously.
So back to this girl…hmm she needs a name…ok for the purpose of this
blog I’ll call her Jen. Jen watches shows like American Idol (The Voice,
X Factor, etc.) and she’s sick of them. She’s so frustrated because she
knows she’s more talented than those
competitors and that she can do what they can do – just better. She
looks at the music videos of popular artists and wonders how come
“sub-par” vocalists are achieving so much success when here she
is, super-talented, and nothing’s happening. Thing is though, Jen’s
idea of a marketing plan is posting a song on Facebook and YouTube in
the hopes of getting “discovered”…and that’s it. Jen suffers from what I
call the Prima donna Complex or PmC, (No it’s not a real disease, but
read on and you’ll see that it makes perfect sense.)
Now you might think, well – isn’t that what a label is for? To help Jen
come up with a real marketing plan that’s better than Facebook and
YouTube? Yes and no. Most of Jen’s success depends on Jen herself, but
she’s not really interested in the dirty work. Hence my lack of interest
in her.
Unfortunately, she’s not alone; I frequently meet singers and rappers affected by this syndrome.
Before I go any further, let me define the term Prima donna in
context. Lots of definitions out there, but this one from Urban
Dictionary says it best: A person who is vain and considers themselves
too good to do certain tasks and lives under conditions they consider
inadequate.
The Prima donna Complex is an attitude. A mentality exhibited by
talented artists around the world who are also LAZY. It’s the real
reason the music industry is suffering today; not the internet, and
certainly not the media.
Here are a few examples that identify an artist suffering from the Prima donna Complex or PmC – and it just might be you:
Too Busy Making Music
The artist with PmC believes his/her talent is “enough” to be
“discovered”. He or she’s got tons of songs written and they just keep
cranking those bad boys out. Without a doubt, the songs are awesome, but
if you take a closer look at this artist’s trajectory, you’ll notice
something curious. The songs never stop coming, but they never seem to
see the light of day. The reason? The artist is unconsciously trying to
avoid getting his/her hands dirty by actually learning how to do
business. The life philosophy of this musician is “the more talented you are, the more successful you should be”.
Talented…and Broke
A primary symptom of an artist suffering from PmC; he’s dead broke.
Talent is never in question. He is undeniably gifted and you often look
at him and wonder, “why in the blue heck is he not famous yet??” then
two minutes later, when you’re all out to dinner and he’s mysteriously
forgot his wallet yet again, you ask yourself “how come he never has any
money?” The reason? This artist likely isn’t very interested in
learning the business he wishes to dominate. Well, unfortunately that
attitude is going to keep our talented and broke musician friend
talented…and broke. I don’t care how phenomenal of a basketball player
you are, if you don’t know the rules of the game, you will lose.
Mama, I Just Want To Be Signed
More than anything, an artist with PmC wants to sign to a label. The
fantasy goes a little like this; “I am crazy talented, so one day a
music exec will be online and spot my YouTube video that I shared on
Facebook or they’ll happen to catch one of my shows, and they’ll make
one phone call and change my life man. I’ll be signed and famous and the
label’s going to give me everything I need to live my dream. I won’t
have to book shows for myself anymore, nothing. I can just make music.”
WRONG. The reason? With labels, nothing for something just doesn’t
exist. No artist should expect a label to invest thousands of
dollars and turn him/her into a star, but then have a problem when the
label takes the majority share from their album sales.
Serious About Music (But Not Really)
This relates back to believing that talent is enough. Often you’ll find
that while an artist suffering from PmC is devoted to his/her music,
he/she somehow neglected to get a website up so that others can stumble
upon their craft in accordance with their fantasy. If you don’t take
yourself seriously, why should the world take you seriously? Really?
So Frustrated With The Business/It’s Not Me, It’s Them
This town just doesn’t know how to appreciate what I offer. That crowd
was just rough; they did not want to be entertained tonight. The sound
technician doesn’t know what he’s doing – he screwed up my show! If
radio would just stop playing the same junk over and over, maybe I’d
have a chance. I just need to be put on. One or all of the above excuses
have come from the lips of an artist with PmC, who is invariably
frustrated with the industry and its total disregard for his/her talent.
The reason? Artists suffering from this syndrome have the bad habit of blaming everyone but themselves for their apparent lack of success.
So…Ouch? Was this a little harsh? If you read the above and are
slightly offended because it sounds familiar, then I hate to break it to
you; you’ve got the bug. PmC is the real reason the music industry is
suffering. But don’t feel too bad; you’ve identified the problem and
there IS a cure.
I hope you’re mad. Now we can start making money.
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