Is it possible to become a Fastlane musician?

[Guest3722A]

I think you have talent. But there's millions out there also with talent. My suggestion would be to build yourself a foundation of some sort so that you can support your living expenses on your own. Figure out a way to get yourself shelter, income, food and medical where you can rehearse and be free to continue on your path. Once you have this, you'll have separated yourself from the majority of those who also have talent. And then from there you'll have a home base to network and grow from or change course.

Opportunities to get record deals come in many shapes and sizes and your story reminds of the way it used to be in the 90s, and I can use Kid Rock as an example. For years he was on the scene here in metro-detroit as an independent label rapper and had a name that was known among several musicians and was able to get his stuff played on local radio and such, but I think it was like 8-10 years between his independent label stuff up until Atlantic records really started focusing on Detroit talent and Kid Rock was one of several locals who had Sony Atlantic contacting them. He hammered away at this for years with an above average amount of traction but it took that one little magical time here when for some reason, label scouts were swarming. To be honest, I don't think kid rock even had a band put together at the time. But what he did have was a recording studio, The White Room. And a TON of contacts built up over the years along with business knowledge.

Last thing I think I remember about this is with the money he was given to record, he used to buy his own cd's which in-turn caused the record company to put more money into him because they saw he was selling. For some reason that always stuck out with me about the guys business sense and his ability to hack the system.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[Tony I]

For the past 4 years, I've made it my #1 goal to make a living off music production and DJing. I've spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours in my room making music, and have reached a pretty significant amount of recognition online and locally. I've met a few locally recognized DJs and producers, and they all want to "put me on" because of my fairly young age (18).

I would continue with the music and see where it goes. You've got over 100K views on your songs, which means that the market likes what you produce. You're not starting from zero.

you've put 4 years in of mastering your craft. While it would maybe also work to put it to the side and work on a fastlane venture, it takes time to learn those skills as well. And there's not guarantee you succeed, either. If you truly want to do music, I'd focus on it for a few more years. If you fail, who cares? You're young, you have tons of time.

you just got to find a way to monetize. Have you heard of Ryan leslie & his renegades venture? He has a awesome model of how he generates revenue from his music. He mentions that even artists with very small fan bases can make a living off music, if done right. Look up his YT interviews, there's some gold.

article: http://pando.com/2014/11/20/with-th...t-the-record-label-for-the-new-music-economy/

 

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[jason91]

Hey guys, I seem to have arrived at a fork in the road.

For the past 4 years, I've made it my #1 goal to make a living off music production and DJing. I've spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours in my room making music, and have reached a pretty significant amount of recognition online and locally. I've met a few locally recognized DJs and producers, and they all want to "put me on" because of my fairly young age (18).

I've got a choice to make.

I either go back to what I was doing, and continue producing music and practicing DJing. Get my first gig in a month or two, and continue grinding and talking with booking agents about possibilities of international bookings, or being a tour support for a bigger artist. Continue to make friends and meet other producers, grow my fanbase, and create music.

The other choice is to drop music, keeping it as a side hobby, and begin interviewing influentials entrepreneurs and founders (IceCreamKid's idea). Build a brand around that by providing value through the interviews. Basically the easiest fastlane-esque venture for someone with no real-world entrepreneurial experience (I've only done flipping on craigslist and building websites).

I'm having a lot of anxiety because of these two possibilities. I know that if I keep being worried and do nothing, that it won't matter what I choose, since nothing will happen. Only by choosing one will I be able to create value and build wealth.

The reason I'm anxious is because I've spent years on this, and pretty much everyone knows me as the "producer/dj" person. Even my own parents expect me to become "famous", which is ridiculous because it's basically impossible unless you have a breakthrough management/marketing team. People have called my music all kinds of nice things, but the songs themselves have never made a musician a living. All value is created at the live shows and concerts, and coincidentally that's how you get paid.

I love making music and have been involved musically since I was a little kid. But I also dreamed of building a business as a little kid. This has very little relevance in the real world, but I'm still that little kid.

You can see my music here: https://soundcloud.com/syremusic (This is not for self-promotion, I just want to share as much detail as possible)

What would you do if you were in my position? I'd love to hear your responses. Thank you guys.

As far as I can tell, you're having great traction in the music / DJ world.
I've Dj'd for a year before and it was interesting. I sucked. I stopped because it just didn't fit what I'm good at. Although I landed an opener at a Manhattan nightclub becuase I knew another DJ. I didn't pursue it any further because it just wasn't for me.

What is for you? Don't be so inspired by the entrepreneur next door that you drop what you are great at - what you add to society simply because they did. For me, launching a company is exciting and fits me. Does that fit you?

There's many musicians who've gotten wealthy through music. Perhaps there is a huge element of luck - and perhaps the more key locations you perform at, the luckier you'll be.

Take Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, and many others. They've taken their musical recognition and made fastlanes relative to their brand. Music is an industry. Why can't you be a musician and innovate the industry? I dislike Tidal. Why don't you come up with something better? Lol, but on a serious note - I don't think it's for anyone here on the forums to make your decision - or anyone other than you to make that decision. Just remember the actions and decisions of today will stay with you in your later years.

What do YOU really want to do?

 

[Disciple]

Dude. I just saw your SoundCloud - my last post would have been totally different if I'd known. You have over 100k hits on your songs. What are you waiting for!?

Views are great and all, but let's not forget the number of followers, which is just over 10,400. That alone is a pretty big milestone.

Taking those over to YouTube and grabbing more followers could bring up the numbers.

 

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[Nightshift]

Hey dmiytrib!

First off, thanks for posting the SC link. I really enjoyed all the tracks you had uploaded.

On the matter of what course you should take, I believe JasonR and the rest have already provided plenty of great insight. You are obviously talented and have polished that talent with countless hours of HARD WORK. I believe that the most important take away here is that you have the dedication to improve your craft. Of course you never stop improving, but from what you have shown us I can definitely say that you will be successful in whatever endeavor you try as long as you apply the same work ethic and passion.

In my humble opinion, I believe you should take the opportunity presented to you and run with it.

Play awesome gigs.
Meet new people everyday.
Travel the world.
Grow your brand, as you yourself grow.

Whatever you decide to do though, just remember that success is ultimately a matter of reaching and succeeding YOUR goals. Don't allow another person's idea of success to influence your decisions.

 

[Shdreams]

I'm no expert in what is and isn't fastlane. But if the masses are downloading, watching, purchasing your music. It's fastlane material in My Books. ANd I'm pretty sure MJ touched on that in His Book to.

 

[Guest3722A]

overwhelmingly supportive

Something else to keep in mind - if you can find the management or manager of groups you would like to tour with, it's a great way to get opening spots in large venues. Also, if you have a rehearsal space business in your area, one that can cater to several artists rehearsing at the same time, these places are gold mines for networking because they usually have groups in there practicing that have been around the block a few times and have management and connections and shows and radio etc etc. Some bands might even be signed by majors and the practice space is being financed by the label.

At your age, this might not be a bad way to start building up a network if it's available

 

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[BigBrianC]

"Be so good they can't ignore you"

 

[Dan1]

DJing, to me, seems like something you could always eek out a living doing part time if you are a good at it. Even if you never "made it huge" at that you would be able to live off it while pursuing other stuff- perhaps. Just something to think about.

 

[Draven Grey]

I didn't mean to imply that all of your fans would happily pay a $5/mo membership. Going by typical sales numbers, 3% to 6% would. Once your extremely focused on your ideal fan, and have clear and solid value, those numbers easily go up to 10% to 30%. I know that's a large margin, but 3% and 10% are the expected minimums, respectively. Social Media numbers don't often reflect reality either, since it's easy to like and forget a page. Done right, however, I imagine you'll be able to capture quite a few emails (perhaps more than you mentioned) that better reflect the size of your fanbase.

Message me your email. I'll send everything over. It's a lot to swallow all at once, and it's geared towards bands. A good percentage of it is likely directly relevant to you, and the rest not too difficult to translate over.

Draven, thank you. This was an amazing amount of information to wake up to.

I fully understand the importance of having a strong team. I recently ended my relationship with a management company that found me locally... It was a nightmare. Our visions were completely different (they wanted me to become a pop musician), their feedback was always focused around being "safe" and how my music should be more mainstream, overall a negative experience. I allowed them to get too close to my creative process. and they completely disassembled any confidence I had left. Massive depression. Took me over a month to rebuild the mindset of a musician.

I have about 10,000 fans on SoundCloud, and about 2,000 on Facebook. If I could monetize each fan at $5 a month, I'd be living the life of my dreams. For my upcoming release, I've created an email opt-in download on my website, in an attempt to transfer my fans over to a platform where I have Control (CENTS). If things go well, I should have around 300-500 emails within a week of release.

Would you mind sending me the resources you mentioned? The only ways I know of monetizing my music is the good old, "tickets and booze" that every artist manager preaches. You can only make money by playing shows and letting the venue sell booze, they say. However, I still haven't played a show yet. I'm aware of Patreon, but would rather not use it, as it only promises value. I'd rather deliver value directly to their email.

As far as becoming more of an artist than a producer, I completely agree. I recent;y teamed up with a singer friend to create my latest original song, and it went on to hit 600,000 plays in a month and doubled my fanbase. I think it's because it was more a song that people could connect to, because of the voice. Definitely going to work with another singer soon.

Thanks again Draven. You've been a great help. I'd love to learn from the resources you mentioned.

 

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[db7903915]

I know 11 people who are trying to make it as music industry:

4 are in a band and do gigs around London, they have an online presence. They might do a gig and sell 10 albums if they are lucky so 100$ gross between 4 people. Probably losing money.

1 sings/guitar made it on to a TV show where the contestant wins a record deal, came in 4th. = Still putting youtube videos hoping hell be the next Justin Bieber.

5 do gigs in my city don't get paid whatsoever, have no real future/talent/value.

1 produced an album, 2 hit songs that went on top 20 on billboard one of which sold over 2.2 million. He emigrated to LA with an O-Visa (for exceptionally talented people in music/sports/entertainment) and he his living well now better than any 20 something I know.

His soundcloud has under 400 views, youtube has 100 subs (So don't think that has anything got to do with success).

HE MADE IT BY NETWORKING GETTING ARTISTS TO TAKE A CHANCE ON HIM AND MAKING HIT MUSIC, WHICH LED TO DEALS WITH VARIOUS ARTIST AND ULTIMATELY A MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY.

HE NOW GETS PAID WHEN HIS SONGS ARE ON THE RADIO AND IS SIGNED BY SONY.

This guy took massive action emigrated his quiet country to move to LA and make his dream a reality. He's been in the studio with Tyga and on Chris Browns video set.

I suggest you go out into the world and get your music to the right ears, don't be like the 10 people who are spinning their wheels not getting anywhere.

Study the art of making a "hit", listen to the songs that sold 1,000,000+ the past year mostly pop/rnb/rap songs. Get in touch with any singers who will talk to you and work with them, email them your beats. Someone will take a chance on you. This life aint no dress rehearsal get on it

- Music/Movie Lover

Thanks for this advice. I bookmarked your response and kept coming back to it every 6 months or so to remind myself what I'm doing. Check out my previous post for a fun read :}

 

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[GuestUser113]

http://www.helpmydecision.com/matrix-1.php

 

[DaRK9]

Have you ever thought about licensing your music? Cloud rap is trending right now and I could see you producing tracks.

Sounds great! Can't really give advice about the money side of music.

 

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[Disciple]

Last thing I think I remember about this is with the money he was given to record, he used to buy his own cd's which in-turn caused the record company to put more money into him because they saw he was selling. For some reason that always stuck out with me about the guys business sense and his ability to hack the system.

That's a fascinating bit you got there.

 

[db7903915]

You can definitely make your music into a Fastlane business.

I've coached musicians for over a decade, some high profile, some DJ's (The DJ's were much more compact, had an easier time moving fast, and didn't have to deal with as much drama as bands). For the last 6 years of coaching, I teamed up with a few high profile musicians, including a multi-millionaire. I've been a professional musician for most of my life too. It wasn't until recently that I gave up on trying to grow my coaching business because of the small market of musicians who are looking for that. I almost started a management company instead (where the market really is), but decided it was time to get back in the game myself. I've played quite a few good-sized gigs in prestigious venues with the band I started, implementing what I coach bands in, but didn't truly lock down on our true vision until this year. Comparing that vision against TMF , I have no doubt this will become something much larger than I previously anticipated.

For years, I put most of my time into finding the right people to team up with. That was my work-around from any shortcomings. And it worked. It took time, and a lot of friends I had to let go, but I found a solid team of people with whom I share my well-defined core values with and how those values are lived out. That is the absolute most essential part of a solid foundation to build from in the music industry.

We sought out a ton different ways to add value that wouldn't just cause a ton more work. We came up with a huge back-story, launched multi-level memberships, and found ways to collaborate with others for just about everything we do. It led us to a rebranding from "band" to "Modern Vaudeville" group. Now, we're about to launch a large scale production this August, with rock music, horror theater, acrobats, and more. We have a professional light rig and show for it as well, not to mention the costuming and props. We have several films in the works, a story-based podcast, short stories, novels, and even some slower moving pieces in the hands of our fans, like live action role-playing and table-top games. The live production is also the humble beginnings of a larger vision too, one that allows us to scale far beyond our own music group.

NONE of that would've been possible without the right people, the right team. And getting the right team of people together took not only time, but some deep defining of core values, focus, goals, and more.

Do the math on your current fans, and what it would take to monetize them. Not for money's-sake, but out of giving them ways to support you. I'm friends with a band that is incredible at gaining and engaging with fans. They have over 40K fans and yet still don't utilize their mailing list. All they need is 4K or 5K fans at $5/mo to all go full time in their music (incl. their crew) and still have plenty left over. They're reluctant to even do a "pay what you want" for their fans, thinking that they don't add enough value to justify making their fans pay for what they offer. Sadly, they'll will continue to struggle until they allow their fans to support them.

If you don't know your current fan-base or their size, then find a way to start collecting emails. Offer a free album for signing up. Find more ways to add value to that list and more incentives for signing up. Start building a valuable relationship with your fans. Every few weeks, touch base with them, share stuff with them they will think is really cool (not just your own stuff), and ask them questions. Build friendships with your fans. They get enough spam already.

If you don't feel you have a way to build your fans because you're focused more on being a producer, then start teaming up with singers and artists that will help you reframe what "producer" means into something much more desirable and familiar to potential fans.

Take some time to write out your core values and how you live them out. I used to teach a method called Appreciate Inquiry to really dig deep into your values and define them.


If you're a self-starter, and have read TMF , I'll send you an overwhelming amount of resources for building a solid foundation, if you ask. I have proven tools for building the foundation that highly successful musicians have used to get where they are now. Usually they call it "pure dumb luck", but that's just because the media likes that better than the truth -- defining your core values, how those values are lived out, performance agreements that list out the roles of your team in a powerful way, a 3-fold laser-like focus to compare all your decisions against, true goals, tangible goals, and the difference between them -- everything you need to begin building an amazing team around you and have a rock-solid foundation to build from. A lot of musicians fall back to a manager to do this stuff for them, or a record label. And they get royally screwed over because they didn't take the time needed to build the right team from the beginning. You need a team around you that truly aligns with your core values. Start there.

Draven, thank you. This was an amazing amount of information to wake up to.

I fully understand the importance of having a strong team. I recently ended my relationship with a management company that found me locally... It was a nightmare. Our visions were completely different (they wanted me to become a pop musician), their feedback was always focused around being "safe" and how my music should be more mainstream, overall a negative experience. I allowed them to get too close to my creative process. and they completely disassembled any confidence I had left. Massive depression. Took me over a month to rebuild the mindset of a musician.

I have about 10,000 fans on SoundCloud, and about 2,000 on Facebook. If I could monetize each fan at $5 a month, I'd be living the life of my dreams. For my upcoming release, I've created an email opt-in download on my website, in an attempt to transfer my fans over to a platform where I have Control (CENTS). If things go well, I should have around 300-500 emails within a week of release.

Would you mind sending me the resources you mentioned? The only ways I know of monetizing my music is the good old, "tickets and booze" that every artist manager preaches. You can only make money by playing shows and letting the venue sell booze, they say. However, I still haven't played a show yet. I'm aware of Patreon, but would rather not use it, as it only promises value. I'd rather deliver value directly to their email.

As far as becoming more of an artist than a producer, I completely agree. I recent;y teamed up with a singer friend to create my latest original song, and it went on to hit 600,000 plays in a month and doubled my fanbase. I think it's because it was more a song that people could connect to, because of the voice. Definitely going to work with another singer soon.

Thanks again Draven. You've been a great help. I'd love to learn from the resources you mentioned.

 

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[Growth & Learn]

Just out of curiosity do you use just samples of others in your writing or can you play real instruments as well?

As I'm sure you know, there are plenty of additional revenue streams in music if you can actually play a real physical instrument as well.

 

[db7903915]

I didn't mean to imply that all of your fans would happily pay a $5/mo membership. Going by typical sales numbers, 3% to 6% would. Once your extremely focused on your ideal fan, and have clear and solid value, those numbers easily go up to 10% to 30%. I know that's a large margin, but 3% and 10% are the expected minimums, respectively. Social Media numbers don't often reflect reality either, since it's easy to like and forget a page. Done right, however, I imagine you'll be able to capture quite a few emails (perhaps more than you mentioned) that better reflect the size of your fanbase.

Message me your email. I'll send everything over. It's a lot to swallow all at once, and it's geared towards bands. A good percentage of it is likely directly relevant to you, and the rest not too difficult to translate over.

PM sent! Thanks again man, really looking forward to it.

 

[Kelly C]

Do the math on your current fans, and what it would take to monetize them. Not for money's-sake, but out of giving them ways to support you. I'm friends with a band that is incredible at gaining and engaging with fans. They have over 40K fans and yet still don't utilize their mailing list. All they need is 4K or 5K fans at $5/mo to all go full time in their music (incl. their crew) and still have plenty left over. They're reluctant to even do a "pay what you want" for their fans, thinking that they don't add enough value to justify making their fans pay for what they offer. Sadly, they'll will continue to struggle until they allow their fans to support them.

This is my Husband..but he is finally realising his value and accepting it. He recently was looking for some equipment for his guitar - I think maybe pick ups - I can't remember - but some guy had exactly what he wanted and said that he would send them to him on the promise he gets an album sorted. The pick -ups were worth over £100 and he sent them over from US to UK. My Husband insisted he at least pay shipping but the guy said not worry about it. This isn't the only thing that has happened in this regards. He is frequently shocked by how many people know him who he has no clue about lol.

He hasn't really been active on forums/with his music over the last year but people still remember him and are waiting...He has a lot of material but I think his problem was trying to find the right people to form a band. Over the last year or so he became part of a covers band, that literally fell together...and he is getting his fix of playing live via that. He also has the benefit of being able to introduce his own music this way too...but having looked at the way other people are doing things - being solo seems to be how a lot of people do it and then get a band behind them later once they are progressing.

 

[TG_Hawk]

@dmitriyb Check out what this guy recently did. Similar to your story. Maybe it'll give you your "aha" moment or something to build on. Good luck.

http://www.businessinsider.com/grah...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

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[The-J]

http://incompetech.com - Ugly website but don't let it fool you... this guy is all over Youtube right now in ways you might have heard, but not even noticed.

 

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[fxmm]

dmitriyb

I see you are still active on your soundcloud. How's your journey going?

I am new to the forum and know that this was posted in 2015.

Not sure if this company will be able to help you out, www.LOLInternational.com , if they can, let me know and I'll get you in contact.

Either way, good luck on your journey!

I listened to your SC, love the tunes.

Hey guys, I seem to have arrived at a fork in the road.

For the past 4 years, I've made it my #1 goal to make a living off music production and DJing. I've spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours in my room making music, and have reached a pretty significant amount of recognition online and locally. I've met a few locally recognized DJs and producers, and they all want to "put me on" because of my fairly young age (18).

I've got a choice to make.

I either go back to what I was doing, and continue producing music and practicing DJing. Get my first gig in a month or two, and continue grinding and talking with booking agents about possibilities of international bookings, or being a tour support for a bigger artist. Continue to make friends and meet other producers, grow my fanbase, and create music.

The other choice is to drop music, keeping it as a side hobby, and begin interviewing influentials entrepreneurs and founders (IceCreamKid's idea). Build a brand around that by providing value through the interviews. Basically the easiest fastlane-esque venture for someone with no real-world entrepreneurial experience (I've only done flipping on craigslist and building websites).

I'm having a lot of anxiety because of these two possibilities. I know that if I keep being worried and do nothing, that it won't matter what I choose, since nothing will happen. Only by choosing one will I be able to create value and build wealth.

The reason I'm anxious is because I've spent years on this, and pretty much everyone knows me as the "producer/dj" person. Even my own parents expect me to become "famous", which is ridiculous because it's basically impossible unless you have a breakthrough management/marketing team. People have called my music all kinds of nice things, but the songs themselves have never made a musician a living. All value is created at the live shows and concerts, and coincidentally that's how you get paid.

I love making music and have been involved musically since I was a little kid. But I also dreamed of building a business as a little kid. This has very little relevance in the real world, but I'm still that little kid.

You can see my music here: Syre (This is not for self-promotion, I just want to share as much detail as possible)

What would you do if you were in my position? I'd love to hear your responses. Thank you guys.

 

[V8Bill]

I met a guy in Haiti (of all places) who was a trumpet player in the 80s. He recorded some stuff as a session muso and one of his riffs was picked up by an ad agency. Just one riff of his was (and is still) used in jingles and movies and has now become a recognisable riff. He gets a few bucks in royalty every time it's played. So what was he doing in Haiti? He was sailing around the world and had been since the 80s. His little riff has been paying him thousands a week for over 3 decades. I asked him "what riff" but he was so sick of it by then (2008) that he wouldn't tell me and rolled his eyes but he said "trust me, you've heard it - everyone has".

As @theag mentioned...

Seems to me like there is a lot of luck of involved

But it's possible. They might stop playing his riff eventually (although it's so entrenched that he doubts it) but he's saved a lot of his money which is just sitting in his London bank account and lives very cheaply (he sails to a location and generally stays there) so he's calculated that he'll be fine forever. I'm not 100% sure about that but he hasn't worked in over 3 decades unless he was bored. He didn't really care how much he got paid - he just wanted something to do. Looked like a very ordinary guy but was probably one of the "richest" people I've ever met.

By the way, he was a teenager (or very early 20s) when it was picked up.