Touring tip: Find a day job that travels
A DIY musician always needs more money, and more time; yet the biggest challenge for the touring songwriter is quitting the day job to hit the road, losing the dependable income.
What if the Internet can help replace your day job, and go with you on the road?
Kathleen Farley, the owner of the label Maisonneuve Music, uses uDemy to teach online classes. I wish I had more examples of musicians using the Internet to not only promote their music, but replace their day jobs.
(Have any examples? Email me at polarvortex.songwriting.game@gmail.com)
One thing I declined to do was teach online courses, which don’t pay well; but a musician who teaches online courses can take the classroom on the road with a laptop, and a diversified income creates a stronger band.
The Internet isn’t only a way to promote or sell your music, but it’s also an opportunity to replace that day job that funds those recordings, videos, and tours.
Tip for teaching musicians: uDemy.
Nick Drake’s post humorous success
When Nick Drake released his last two albums (1969 & 1972), neither sold more than 5,000 copies on initial release.
Now, every month, his music has close to a million listeners on Spotify alone.
Pink Moon was recorded in three late mornings. He was previously disappointed in his previous albums (that I think are great) because he felt his compositions were lost under the production. So he did a solo, acoustic record. The guitar is partially out of tune. His label had no idea he was even doing it. The imperfections are abundant; which makes it even more beautiful.
Nick Drake died on Nov 25th, 1974, thinking his music was a failure; now, his art is a success.
It’s sad he’s not here to see how his music has outlived him; but he’s decisions with Pink Moon reminds us to aim to make music that makes us content, to trust that instinct of your vision.
We can’t measure success only by sales; but just maybe, our music will outlive us a bit.
Adele’s 21 & 18 charted in the top 20, probably because of streaming
Lots of talk about Adele sales. Not much talk about Adele music.
— Paul Cantor (@PaulCantor) November 29, 2015
Guilty here!
While the music industry either applauds or criticizes Adele for withholding 25 from streaming sites, it’s important to notice that both 21 & 18 charted in the top 20 this week, probably because of streaming.
Hypebot reported these numbers:
Adele “21” – 45,270 album project units (#8)
Adele “19” – 26,227 album project units (#17)
Am I reading that correctly? Less than 50K of units during the holiday season charts in the top 20 this week?
First off, I’m wondering if that continues with the trend of anemic sales.Secondly, I’m wondering how much of those project units came from streaming numbers!
Consumption total (album project units) = album sales + (song sales/10) + (on-demand audio streams/150)
It takes 1500 streams to equal one album sale. Note, Adele is getting 25 million listeners on Spotify this month, 1/3 of the entire platforms listeners! “Hello” accumulated another 25 million streams on Spotify in the last six days. It’s almost to 200 million streams.
* * * * *
Again, how many music consumers are still trading hard drives of music, copying CDs from the library, pirating music from download sites? Streaming killed those actions!
Adele is the biggest artist in the world right now. The last time we had this phenomenon, Michael Jackson ended up accumulating 60 million sales of Thriller.
I don’t see Adele’s new album 25 reaching anywhere near that 60 million sales equation, unless it moves to streaming.
Fans of art don’t look or act the same way.
We know many, rabid music fans buy vinyl records. Jack White expanded Third Man Records in the Cass Corridor of Detroit. Music fan paradise!
But what if you don’t own a turntable? Are you a less fan?
I don’t buy vinyl. (New baby here, folks. Need I say more!)
I’m probably not alone. Here are two ways to look at the vinyl comeback. So let’s pick a few ways music fans support art:
- some listen to a song (hopefully) 150 times on a streaming site; others make playlists and share them with friends
- some are concert goers; some bring a whole row of friends
- some are house concert attendees, and even rarer, some are house concert hosts
- some buy music on iTunes; fewer, but more rabid fans, buy on Bandcamp
- some don’t buy music but will buy the production stems and make their own videos using your music as the soundtrack
- some fans watch online concerts; others travel hundreds of miles to catch your show
- some hire you to sing at their wedding; others hire to sing at their divorce party
- some buy a CD, a few are intrigued by your cassette tape; others leave a tip in the tip jar; the blessed support that crowd funding campaign.
- some commission you to make them a song
- some volunteer at a nonprofit theater…
Avoid assuming all fans look the same way.
And, if you want to reach them, it’s good to offer a lot of different options for them to get closer to your art, and dare I say, buy it.
Last updated, Nov 4, 2015.
Here’s what I’m working on now, in no particular order:
1. Enjoying time with Ginny, my almost seven-month-old!
Current challenges: sleep schedule with time zone change!
2. Rehearsing for third leg of my tour, doing tour PR, and traveling to gigs in MI, IN, OH, PA.
3. Writing poems.
When I get 40 or 50 poems finished, I’m going to self publish a poetry book. I’m not rushing it, just doing it for fun. Here’s some.
4. Running with my dog Lois, usually through the woods.
5. Taking two online classes to keep my teaching certificate current.
(I’m taking a history class and poetry class.)
6. Teaching guitar lessons at my studio, Dixboro Guitar Lessons. Creating some promotional events for DGL.
7. Working on some guitar lesson videos for DGL.
8. Writing blogs, posting one every weekday.
Current Reading List:
- Essays: Stranger than Fiction: True Stories by Chuck Palahniuk
- Poetry: The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins
- Poetry: Best American Poetry 2015, editor Sherman Alexie
- History: Lies My Teachers Told Me, by James Loewen
- History: People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn
This now page was inspired by Derek Silver and Gregory Brown’s tweets. Go make a “now” page, then get working!
Archive:
Nov 2015 – Now
October 2015 – Now
