Just Work Through It

In the process of pursing your career there are always obstacles. It doesn't matter where you are in your process. Every time you reach a new level, there are new challenges. You are always proving yourself at one level or another. We all experience ups and downs in our careers but as long as we keep moving forward success is ours. Just keep working through it. Every new opportunity is a kind of double edged sword. It's a chance to advance further but it often requires just a bit more work and dedication. Nothing is ever promised so we have to operate largely on faith and have confidence in our own ability to conquer any challenge put before us because failure is simply not an option. Most people don't understand the load we shoulder as creative people, especially those closet to us in business or personal relationships. These people don't understand the amount of courage and focus it takes to get up everyday not knowing what to expect but being able to create something from nothing in most cases and this takes a lot of FOCUS. Any mood, action or word that doesn't support this focus can create HUGE issues for us but that's when we have to maintain our focus even more and just keep working through it knowing that we WILL be successful. I mean we already have success but as I stated before, it never really stops. There is always a new level to reach and new things to learn and create. So don't be discouraged by obstacles, be encouraged by them because they only make us better and inspire us to keep moving forward. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2012

Don't Loose Your Essence

Being in entertainment can be a confusing career. We always want to make people happy. Most of us start out with a clear definition of who we are and what we want but somewhere along the way we start trying to be all things to all people. Growth and change are always good things but only if they add too you. Don't loose your essence. What I mean by this is when your main goal is always pleasing others first, you will eventually loose yourself. I play with a LOT of people and I had to learn a long time ago that even though I want to be user friendly and accommodating, most people were only hiring me for who I was and what I would bring to their mix. I have worked with people that actually had less experience than me but they would try to tell me how to play this or that. Now I'm always respectful in any situation because I feel that we can always learn something from anyone but what I came to learn was people will make you doubt your own ability because of their own ignorance or insecurity. Yes I said ignorance but understand that this is not an insult. Being ignorant about something doesn't mean that you are not intelligent, it just means that you are less knowledgeable about a particular subject. Most people's egos won't let them admit that they just don't know everything so when they are in positions of power and influence they simply abuse the position. We have to always keep our essence as pure as we can. Being a professional sideman may work for some people but if your essence is more that of an artist then you have to seek out situations that will not attempt to quench who you are. It is important to always be humble and gracious but don't ever feel as if you HAVE to sacrifice who you are to be a part of ANYTHING. This is not only creatively destructive but physically and spiritually as well. Choose your projects and tasks wisely making sure they don't require you to sacrifice you. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2012

The Secret To Promoting Your Music

We've had a lot of discussion about getting back to making great music and being sure that the music is first. The music industry is undergoing a huge change with the use of social networking and the Internet in general. In order to be successful we have to have a large presence in this system. One thing that has not changed is the importance of getting your music heard. The secret to promoting your music is money. It doesn't cost as much as it used to but you still need to have it. You can have 5,000 facebook friends and thousands of twitter followers but this will not guarantee you success in selling your music. Most people are on social media for the purpose of being social only. They will only follow you based on what kind of social clout associating with you brings to them. Just because they follow you doesn't guarantee that they will buy your music. This is where hiring a professional publicist comes in. You can pay anywhere from $500 to $7,000 depending on what you want. What this will do is get your music noticed and talked about in several venues. A good publicist can get also get you airplay on Internet and some land based radio stations. This coupled with your own social networking will yield results especially if your music is good. There is just no way for you to do it all yourself and hiring a publicist will insure that there is consistent work being done on a daily basis to market and promote your music. The more people see and hear about your music the more apt they are to buy it. So I'm sorry to say that some things have changed but the secret to getting your music to people is still spending money. Don't look at it as a bad thing because you simply can't get something for nothing. If you are not willing to invest then you are in the wrong business. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions 2012