It’s The Music Business Dummy!

A lot of folks out there forget about the “business” in music business. Now don’t get me wrong, if you don’t want to have anything to do with business or corporations or making money from your art, that works for me.

What doesn’t work for me is when you posture as avant garde and then complain about it. That’s right, if you claim you don’t want to “sell out,” you can’t bitch about having no money.

Now for those of you crass enough, or honest enough to admit you would actually like to make a living from your music, you need to learn a little about how business works. You know, that boring stuff like profit and loss, tax deductions, marketing and the rest. To be in business there are a few very basic rules.

Rule #1: Somebody has to want to buy what you produce.
This means you need to have great music and market it so that your audience can find you and want to pay to see you and buy your music.

Rule #2: You have to sell what you produce for more than it costs you to make it.
Your living expenses, your van, your plane tickets, rooms, food, etc., these are your expenses. You need to charge more per month for your product, live perfs, CDs, iTunes, etc., than it costs you to survive.

Rule #3: Nobody is responsible for your business but you.
Not your girlfriend, not your manager, not your label, not your Mom. No, it’s your responsibility. Choose to ignore the business end of your business and you will either fail miserably or you will make lots of money and those around you will immediately steal it from you because you are too stupid or too high to know the difference.

So get over yourself and learn about your business.