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Guest Column: Treating Your Art As A Day Job
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Treating Your Art As A Day Job
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by Tim Sweeney
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Page added in
October, 2006
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About the Author
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Author Tim Sweeney is head of Tim Sweeney & Associates, who are entering their 18th year of being, "the only true artist development company in the world."
Tim is one of the music industry's most sought after experts and consultants, and has written several influential books including "Tim Sweeney's Guide To Releasing Independent Records".
Send comments or questions to Tim Sweeney.
© Tim Sweeney
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Is your day job more valuable than your music? While most music artists
immediately say no, the simple fact is they spend 8 to 10 hours a day working for
a person or company that doesn't pay them enough or value their effort. They
will even work overtime at a job they claim to hate yet they won't spend 1
or 2 hours a day of their own time, promoting their music that is supposedly more
important to them!
While you can jump up and down screaming that it pays the bills, the real question
is, "does it give you what you need in life?" Or should I ask, "do you want to impact people with the messages in your songs or have the same day
job for the next 20 years?"
You have to treat your day job as a second job. I understand that most music
artists need one to give them a financial foundation to start with but your music
has to be the"Priority" in your life! You have to spend time promoting
yourself and the messages in your songs to new fans and the media every single day.
You have to educate them about the value you have for them and others. This means
instead of sending emails, faxes and leaving voice mails saying pay attention to me,
you are going to show them results! Here's how you are going to do it.
Start by planning where you are going to promote your music on a daily basis. Go
there and hand out the special kind of CD samplers I talk about in "Tim
Sweeney's Guide To Releasing Independent Records Part 2" (order here). Build relationships with your fans where you get to
know them and they can learn from you while you are handing them out, through
conversations at shows and through your CDs. Challenge yourself to expand beyond the
current form your art is in. Two ways that I help artists like yourself do that
right away is by one, helping them write books based upon the messages in the their
songs and two, creating DVDs of their live shows that include special features where
your fans get to know you and more about your music.
Strive to be "indefinable" like I talk about in the first chapter of my
new book, "Getting What You Want Out Of Life". The term "artist" does not come with a title in front of it! An artist can present his or her art in many different ways. The key is promoting yourself and your music all the time.
While there is nothing wrong with working for a company for the next 20 or even 30
years and eventually moving up to a management position, is this why you got into
music? If you are like me, you got into music to inspire people, to impact them. To
make them stop and realize what they are missing in life because they are focused on
their day jobs that they hate, the hours of wasted time in traffic and the problems
in their lives. It is your job through your music to snap them out of it! To inspire
them, to help them see there is more to life!
Your art is your passion not your day job! Stay focused and use the strategies in
"Tim
Sweeney's Guide To Releasing Independent Records Part 2" to give you ideas
of what you can do everyday to promote yourself and your music and order a copy of
"Getting What You Want Out Of Life" to learn how to reach people with the messages in your songs. You can order both books here.
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Additional Columns by Tim Sweeney
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- And 37 more in the Guest Columnists series, view the index
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