5 STEPS TO SUCCESS

Here's 5 steps to success from Musicians' Exchange

1) Define Success
How far do you want to take your music? Is it a joyous and rewarding hobby, are you making it your career, or something in between? Setting specific goals and giving them regular attention is vital to achieving success at any level. Goals give direction to your action. Furthermore, achieving goals is a tasty reward that will build your esteem and motivate you to reach even higher. Guide Dawn McKay at About Career Planning can help you plot your own course.

2) Spend Time, Not Money
How long has it been since you saw a rookie musician with stacks of absurdly expensive gear? Not long, I'm sure. Each of us is guilty of walking into a music store and ogling the top-end instruments, convinced that if we could afford that stuff, our sound would improve by leaps and bounds. "If I had that guitar, I'd practice every day." If you're not practicing every day already, a new guitar won't change that.

The only investment that improves our success as musicians is time - time spent practicing, time spent learning, time spent pursuing our goals. The lure of expensive gear is a tempting but false road to better musicianship.

This is true for bands, too. Many, many bands rush to record a CD at the expense of hundreds and even thousands of dollars, only to find that they have trouble selling more than a few dozen copies. Producer Jack Endino, the mastermind behind Nirvana's first album, reminds bands that all they need to start is a simple demo of any quality. Only after using that tape to get lots of gigs and find legions of fans, he says, should a professional recording even be considered. If you don't have hundreds of fans ready and waiting to buy a professional recording, don't spend the money to make one.

3) Get Informed
There is simply no substitute for knowledge when it comes to navigating the complex and confusing avenues of the music industry. Fully exploit the free resources at this site and others (such as Peter Spellman's Music Business Solutions) to plot the best and safest road to success. Hunter S. Thompson is credited with writing, "The music industry is a cruel and shallow money trench; a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs." Although Mr. Thompson's assessment may be extreme, the wisdom behind it is worth heeding.

4) Play With Others
Music is a form of conversation between human beings. It may well be the oldest language, used for millenia by musically inclined people to jointly convey their own rage, sorrow, hope, and joy to other human beings.

Learning music without this community is as futile as learning to play football by yourself. Although hours spent alone with your instrument are certainly necessary for success, engaging in musical conversations and performances is an equally vital element to your progress. A very common weakness among amateur musicians is their inability to make music with other artists - a flaw which can be easily remedied with experience. Even if you are a beginner, get out and play with others and stage a few performances if you can. Without even realizing it, you will begin to assimilate fundamental lessons about listening, interacting, and performing in a live setting that are critical to your future success.

5) Practice
Practice, practice, practice! There is simply no other way to ensure your own progress as a musician. Have you been spending hours on the Internet, combing for information on how to market your music, or cheaply record a CD, or win a music competiton? That's great! Have you been spending as least as much time alone with your instrument? If not, you should reconsider your priorities. If you aren't practicing several times a week at least, the music you market, or record cheaply, or submit to a competition isn't going to get very far. As a musician seeking success at any level, practicing your instrument should be your #1 priority. For my full rant on this topic (yes, it's entertaining), read this article.

[Resource http://musicians.about.com/b/a/111856.htm]

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