5 Tips For Musicians From Music Industry Entrepreneurs
Venture Harbour's Marcus Taylor gathered "pieces of advice" for "aspiring entrepreneurs" from 30 music industry entrepreneurs. I've taken the liberty of excerpting the top 5 that I think musicians will find of use in building their businesses since entrepreneurial thinking is key for artists as well. Plus, Taylor shared some advanced Facebook marketing insights linked below.
Marcus Taylor's "30 Pieces of Advice From Music Industry Entrepreneurs" has some great business advice for anyone following an entrepreneurial path including musicians.
5 Tips For Musician From Music Industry Entrepreneurs
Do the next best thing – every day.
"Every day, ask yourself what is the next best thing the team can do to drive your business forward. The answer tells you where you should be concentrating your efforts and where your focus should be. That question can be applied to the organization overall but also to each team member, and especially yourself. Do the next best thing, and don't do anything else until it's done. Then ask yourself the question again. Repeat until you reach your goal."
Mike McCready, CEO, Music Xray
Know how to pivot and readjust your business.
"Don't overplan. Things don't always come
together exactly as anticipated, and the most successful entrepreneurs
are those who know how to pivot and readjust their business as things
develop."
Allen Bargrede, Executive Director Rethink Music at Berklee College of Music
Listen to your customers, not your critics.
"Listen to your customers, not your critics. Only invest your efforts into something you enjoy, and don't outsource anything until you fully understand the principles of that task yourself."
Lee Parsons, CEO, Ditto Music
Focus on the bottom line & network constantly.
"Maintain a focus on the bottom line, follow up on execution, follow the money, build your brand and network constantly. The music business is a challenging place to make a career, but a fun and potentially profitable one if you have a clear vision of what you want to do and gather the resources and connections to make it happen."
Mark Frieser, CEO, Sync Exchange
Follow your own path, not others.
"Know your competition but focus on your own product and how it can be best delivered to achieve market fit. Follow your own path and not others, everyone achieves success in different ways."
Stan Mcleod, Co-founder, Bandwagon
See Venture Harbour for much more.
Also well worth checking out, Marcus Taylor shared his Advanced Facebook Marketing slide deck from a recent talk at the Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference 2013.
More:
- Top 10 Social Music Brands From Venture Harbour's Music Industry Social 100
- 10 Insights From Andrew Dubber's "The 360 Deal" – Connecting With People Is Part Of The Business
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at All World Dance: Videos and maintains Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Amen.
Do the next best thing every day…
As long as one has a stable definition of what “best” is and a viewpoint that is long term.
Otherwise, just waking up and doing the “best” thing for the day may end up very non-focused and damaging to longer-term, optimal efforts.
You’re quibbling over a soundbite?