No Regrets

One of the greatest teachers in life is experience. We can study and read to become knowledgeable but it takes experience to acquire wisdom. I've heard football players talk about having to have a short term memory as not to let a bad previous play affect the next play. I've found that in the pursuit of a successful life and career we have to be able to do the same thing. We must be able to live with no regrets. The music industry is such a self motivated business so your focus is probably the most valuable commodity you have. Let's face it, we have all made mistakes or made some decisions that we were not happy with or have wished that we could have done some things differently. From to today forward I want to let you know that it is a must for us to live our lives and pursue our goals full out and you can't do that buy looking back and having regrets. Thoughts are things and true energy. The more time you spend thinking about how you messed up or how you wish you could change the past the less time you have to focus on getting to your goal. We have to be able to value ALL of our experiences because they make us who we are. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. We have to look at each experience as a building block or lesson. The only way I've learned and continue to learn about who I really am is through some of my mistakes and more importantly how I recover and use the lessons from those experiences. The only way you learn how to get up is by falling down and just because you get up once doesn't mean that you won't fall again. Living life full out requires us to embrace every experience as something great. This is how you develop wisdom and wisdom more than anything else is the key to reaching and maintaining your goals and guaranteeing a certain physical, mental and spiritual quality of life. Remember you can't win a race by focusing on the runner behind you. You have to stay focused on what's in front of you and run the race with all you have. There really are no mistakes just experiences that teach us and help sharpen our focus. Enjoy the journey for it is a great one.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

There Are No Shortcuts

In this industry, as well as many others, people are always trying to find ways to improve the path to success. One thing I've found to be universally true is that there are no shortcuts. The best way to understand where you want to go is to have some knowledge of people that have achieved the same success you are pursuing. There are many lessons to be learned from these people. There is no one way to do or achieve anything but nothing is ever just given to you. If you want to be a great musician, artist, attorney, manager, producer, engineer. . .etc, there are some universal fundamentals that you have to adhere too. It is important to know what you want but you must start at the bottom and learn all of the basics of that career. If you aspire to be a CEO or label head, you will be in charge of a lot of different people doing vastly different things. How can you truly know who to hire and what their qualifications should be if you have not taken the time to truly learn the job yourself. I'm not saying that you have to be an expert at everything but you should spend SOME time learning any and everything that has to do with YOUR goals or career. This will only help you maintain control and insure that you are truly competent. The music industry has so many different divisions and there is no way for any one person to do all of the jobs but we should all have some basic knowledge of what it takes to make, market and distribute a record, what does the producer do, what does the songwriter do, what does the engineer do, how do you choose the right musicians, what does a manager do, what does a promoter do, what does a booking agent do, what does a graphic artist do, why is the right photographer so important, how do you choose a web designer, how does social networking apply to the success of your record and the list can go on and on. You have to take time and get some basic understanding of how all of these areas work. Even though you won't have to do each job it is important for you to know how they are supposed to be done and what to expect from a person in each position. This is the only way to know if your people are giving you the best work. Also developing good reading and communication skills are vital to any level of success. It takes hours of study and patience to truly be at the top of this and any other career. This is not a game. Anything worth having is worth working for and there are no short cuts. Knowledge is POWER and it can never be taken from you.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011

Blatant Disrepsect

It is always amazing to me how people perceive musicians, artists or creative people. There seems to be an overwhelming misunderstanding or just blatant disrespect for what we do. As artists' we are some of the most talented and intellectually sound people on the face of the earth but it seems that by the mere fact that we are passionate about what we do and we actually enjoy it, most people feel that it is ok to devalue our service. I mean I can't tell you how many times I've booked shows and had to haggle over how much we wanted to be paid. In one instance this lady had seen my show and was very complementary and wanted me to play her convention. Now keep in mind she came to me. I quoted a more than fair price and initially she agreed but later told me that because she had spent most of her budget on the stage and decorating the room and I had to take a pay cut. I thought this was ridiculous! I kindly declined her offer and told her I felt that it was disrespectful to approach me in that manner. People think that because we enjoy our craft and we are entertainers that we should be doing it for, well I guess FREE (LOL). Now you don't ask a doctor to do surgery for free or at a discount or you don't ask an attorney to litigate for free. These professions are respected because of the years of preparation you know it takes to become a doctor or attorney. Well for those of you that don't know, let me tell you that musicians/artists also have the same amount of investment in our craft and it is worth just as much. People have just become so comfortable with disrespecting musicians by terms and phrases like "starving artist" or "every musician needs a spouse with a good job." These things are just down right ignorant and disrespectful and I'm here to tell you in love that it has to stop. Musicians are not slaves or doormats to used at your whim. We are qualified entrepreneurs and professionals that deserve to be respected and paid our true value. As musicians it is up to us to start demanding this respect from every situation because it might sound harsh but we don't HAVE to be at these gigs. If we are not being paid and respected we can book our own shows and make our own money. I mean if we are going to make a sacrifice why do it for someone Else's benefit. We need to make the investment in ourselves. It can be done because I've done it. When someone tells you how they love what you do and would love to have you in there establishment but they can't pay you what you want because they are not sure of your value to their clientele, just say well give me the door and you take food and drinks and let's go. Promote yourself and build your own value. If what you have is good then the people will come and you will have built your fan base and your value without being disrespected. There has to a mutual respect. Clubs, festivals, parties ... etc, depend on great entertainment to draw crowds and make money and we as musicians understand that this is a business transaction as well. All we are saying is that if the whole event is based around having entertainment on the stage then the artist should be respected and valued because without the musicians and artists' what do you have? NOTHING! So again I am appealing to you in love to change your perspective when it comes to how you view musicians, artists' and creative people because it is art that truly makes the world go 'round.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2011