About SUCCESS…

It can be difficult to remain excited about your musical project sometimes. I have certainly found that I often have all of these big bold ideas and want to make them happen immediately without really thinking about all the time, skills and effort it will take to make them happen. I then catch myself in a bit of a spiral, starting with “I can’t do this, what was I thinking?” down to “I’m a failure, I’ll never be successful”.

If that sounds familiar or has hit a little too close to home, then keep reading! I have some tips for you that will hopefully help.

Your definition of success right now may be something along the lines of “I want to play a gig in London and be discovered by a big record label and launch into a full-time music career”. A commendable goal, of course! I would say that if it’s within your means, you should go and gig in London to experience that in any case! But what happens if you hold to that idea of success, and you do a bunch of London gigs, and nothing happens? Have you failed at your dream? Should you give up and get a “normal, stable job” just like your grumpy grandad said you should? Well, feel free to disagree with me, but I would say absolutely not! This whole music thing (at least to me) is about self-expression and the satisfaction you find in making honest art.

It’s rarely as simple as just playing the right gig and boom, you’re famous. There are so many steps between that and where you are now. Recognising that fact is the first step towards redefining success.

When it comes to our dreams and aspirations, we must accept that, depending on the size of the dream, things do take time to develop to those levels. You can’t plant an acorn, water it a little bit, then wake up the next morning and expect a fully-grown oak tree to be there, right? You need to care for it in its early stages, watching closely as it grows. It’s important to acknowledge, however, that even though it won’t happen overnight, it is still very possible to end up with a fully grown oak tree after some time. You may need to learn the skills needed to care for it and cultivate it, but it will continue to grow, so long as you give it the time, care, attention (and sometimes money) it needs. Cliché metaphors aside, your music career aspirations are not as lofty as you think they are if you understand a little bit more about the process.

So, let’s talk about this whole success thing and how we can redefine it within our projects to make it feel a lot more focused and purposeful.

Firstly, success is Self-Defined.

We see people like Taylor Swift right at the top of the pile and think “THAT is what success looks like!”. Well, yes, I’m sure Taylor and millions of her fans around the world would agree, that she is incredibly successful commercially, and she is adored by her fanbase. However, I am sure that she has her own definitions of what her success personally looks like based on what she would like to achieve. It is important for us to really think about our OWN projects and decide for ourselves what WE want OUR music to do, and where WE would like it to take US. Maybe at this stage, success in your project looks fully introspective – perhaps all the music needs to achieve is to help you process your own emotions surrounding a life event or a person. What I am saying with this is that the success of your music career should not hinge on other peoples’ opinions of it. Instead, I think commercial success should be the additional bonus that others who hear your music can hear you and your story and gain a sense of authenticity (and therefore relatability) through what they hear.

If you’re like me, you have listened to some of the most popular songs in the world and thought “That sounds nice but doesn’t feel all that genuine”. Yeah. The big players in the music business know what sells, that’s for sure!

You may have noticed this irritating buzzing sound coming from the bee in my bonnet about this self-defined thing, but that’s because I hate seeing artists fall into the trap of thinking that their music is only successful if people whose opinions “matter” hear it and like it. I wholeheartedly believe that music should always be something we enjoy creating, and the first measure of success for my own music is if I feel like it says what I am trying to get it to say. If I’m not being myself when I’m writing the music, and writing things that simply aren’t true, because I think my own stories or those of people closest to me aren’t marketable enough, then I have already failed in my goal before I’ve even begun. But that is a situation where I have defined the parameters of success for myself, and not allowed anyone to do it for me.

Success Takes Time.

When we look at the chart-toppers at a glance, without taking into consideration their journey to the top, we can forget the very long journey that they have been on to get there. I want us to do some thinking about the concept of being in the right place at the right time. I’m sure you’ve heard success stories where people have attributed a big break simply to being in the right place at the right time, without any helpful or specific way to get there. The secret is that being in that place at that time is not a case of luck. There is no way of measuring or predicting where or when it is, but the only way to find yourself there is to be in places, and often.

That probably sounds like a silly and frustrating thing to be told. Hear me out.

Here is an example. Let’s say I’m a solo folk artist, and I want to support a more established artist in my genre on a tour/show. Let’s think more fundamentally about how I might give myself the best chance possible to make that happen. One approach could be to gig as much as possible in as many venues as possible, blindly hoping that someone who knows them personally will notice me, like my music, and then recommend me to them on a whim. The chances of that happening are impossibly low. We hear it said all the time in this industry that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, and whilst there is truth in that, it does take time and strategy to build up those contacts.

Matt Bacon (@bacon.bits on Instagram – go and follow him!) has a great exercise called the “Dream 100” which is where you write down a list of 100 people you want to work with within the music industry (labels, promoters, other artists, etc.). It must be 100 because the whole point is to do the research it will take to find 100 specific contacts. After you’ve done that, you can figure out the people you can reach out to through a friend of a friend or even a direct connection, or even people that you can reach out to cold with a well-structured email. You would be surprised by how many people will reply if what you write is something better than “check out my music” or “I think I’d fit in well on such-and-such tour”. Check out Matt’s video about it.

Time combined with discipline is a winning combo, especially if you aren’t doing it on your own! The sooner you realise that the process can actually be as fulfilling as the end goal once you achieve it, the less long the journey will feel. And it’s all the sweeter when you have people cheering you on! Thirdly…

Success takes discipline!

This is the most important thing to consider for success in anything, let alone music. There are some things in this section that will be difficult to hear, and even harder to implement! But I believe you owe it to yourself and your artistry to try and put this stuff into practice because it can really help.

If you set guidelines, deadlines, and boundaries for tasks, you set yourself up to not only work towards your goals in a methodical and focused way but also to have a detailed record of what you have done and all you have achieved over time. You could have the talent and ability to be the next big thing, but unless you are disciplined and focused, you’re far less likely to be successful in what you want to do. Everyone’s brain works differently when it comes to processes and frameworks, etc. I personally find them very helpful, but I realise that many people don’t. I’ll give you a couple of frameworks that I use, and you can try them out if you want. If you like them and use them, great! If not, then read on, because there may still be something helpful in a later section!

S.M.A.R.T. goals have been around for donkey’s years. This is a nice simple framework that is used in primary schools and upper-level business management and is universally helpful in those spaces. But what is it? S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that is used to help define goals. The letters stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. The idea is that any goal that you have, no matter big, small, long-term, or short-term, should be specific and focused, measurable by certain metrics (time, quantity, etc.), achievable in realistic terms, relevant to you and your project, and time-bound so that you have a deadline and can be held accountable for achieving it by a certain time. In season 1, episode 5 of the podcast, my friend Stephen Salalila and I talk about balancing different aspects of life and setting these goals within realistic parameters. As an example, he is a part-time session drummer who plays for a few different tribute acts around the UK. Most of his weekends are taken up by gigs, whilst during the week he has a couple of other normal jobs. Go and listen to ‘The FELT. Podcast’ on Spotify if you want to find out more about how he balances his time and keeps focused between so many hustles! Stephen has very specific goals that he wants to achieve in his live music career, as well as limitations on what he can do and when which are dictated by other priorities in his life. Those goals and limitations guide the decisions he makes, such as which gigs to say yes to and which days of the week he can commit to. Of course, it’s never easy to justify spending loads of time on something that isn’t benefitting us financially, and that is a situation that many of us find ourselves in as creatives. That is why it’s so important to be purposeful about organising the limited time we do have so that things get done and we don’t lose our passion, whilst also handling all of life’s responsibilities. That brings us to the other (hopefully) helpful model.

You know the classic 5-year goal that you hear everyone talking about when the topic of people’s aspirations comes up? Maybe you have a 5-year goal in mind for your music, but have you ever considered the steps you’ll take to get there? Eventually, due to the inevitable passing of time, that date in roughly 5 years will swing around. That’s a long time to tackle in one bite! So, we’ll take that 5-year goal and break it down into shorter-term and more focused goals. Have a look at this flowchart to see rough time breakdowns and examples of incremental goals:

Incremental Goals Flowchart Template - email management@felt.live for high-quality image

This can look quite daunting at first, which is fine! It might take you an evening or two to fully flesh this out, but it’s so worth it for a few reasons:  

1.     It can take the uncertainty out of what you want to achieve

2.     It is a visual display of all your goals laid out in a logical way that you can keep referring to as time goes on

3.     You can fill out more than one based on different goals

4.     You can edit it and start the flowchart at whichever timeframe you want

5.     If you use a digital one, you can edit your goals as things change (which is bound to and should happen!)

To finish up, below are a few resources that I have found very helpful and have been instrumental in the writing of this blog, and forming my practices as an artist coach and manager:

1.     The discipline to pursue your satisfaction as an artist is the hardest, and arguably most important of all. Your satisfaction and contentment with your life and your project should be the number one priority, and it is easy to forget this in favour of the definitions of success that society tells you. After you finish here, go and check out this article on the Human Function Curve.

The human function curve is incredibly helpful to assess your stress and productivity levels and to understand why you are feeling the way you are feeling about your project, good or bad.

2.     I first learned about the human function curve through the book “Deep Satisfaction in Life and Artist Management” by Stephen Daltrey – If you are a self-managed artist then I would recommend getting hold of a copy. It helps understand yourself, how you interact with others, and eventually how you can interact with a manager when you get to that stage. It does take a holistic approach to being an artist, but I firmly believe that the personal character growth in being an artist is more important in the early stages of your career than all the business knowledge, facts and figures – the business aspect is still important though!

3.     This brings me to “How to Make It in The New Music Business” by Ari Herstand. This book is crazy. It took me four months to read, and I need to read it two more times cover to cover to fully get my head around it, but it is full of gold. Herstand is a staunch supporter of independent artists and a global spokesperson for reform in laws associated with the music business, as well as an experienced artist in his own right. This book is a culmination of all his experience, along with so many other music business topics. You should buy it and read it. Seriously. It has changed my outlook on so many aspects of my practice in so many ways, and I’m certain it will for you too!

4.     Perhaps a more UK-specific resource is the website “The Unsigned Guide”. For a reasonable yearly fee, you gain access to the UK’s largest directory of contacts from all areas of the industry, plus a great toolkit full of resources. I’m sure a similar thing exists state-side, but this site can be a game-changer.

 I hope you’ve found this post helpful in some way! Remember to check out the podcast here.

 You can also check out the other blog posts on the website! If you have any questions about what you’ve read here or heard on the podcast, then ping an email to management@felt.live.

If you’d like to know more about a specific topic, would like some help filling out the Incremental Goals Flowchart, or would generally like to chat about your musical project, then head to https://www.felt.live/consultancy and click on the sign-up form below “meet and chat” or “one-to-one coaching”, and we’ll have a chat – no topic is too big or small! With all the plugging out of the way, we’ll see you in the next one!

Here are the links to the specific podcast episodes that this blog corresponds with:

Season 1, Episode 1: Introduction and Musings About Success

Season 1, Episode 5: The Multi-Skilled Creative with Stephen Salalila

DISCLAIMER: FELT. is not affiliated with or sponsored by any of the resources or authors listed here. They have all been used by our team and have provided great value.