If you have talent, that’s great, however, talent is not a
guarantee that you’ll make it in the music business. Making it in the music
industry is like running a marathon not a sprint. A marathon is 26miles long
and it literally takes hours to complete. A sprint is almost over just as quick
as it starts. The 40-yard dash and the 100-yard dash are races that are done within
only seconds. In comparison, the two types of races are very different. Also,
“making it”, in the music business can mean different things to different
people. So to make sure that we are all on the same page, let’s assume together
what “making it" is. Let’s define
“making it” as your name, band or group has become a household name. You are
traveling around the country and the world performing and doing interviews.
Your music is being played in constant rotation on the radio and your CD’s sell
in the hundreds of thousands of millions. If this is what we consider as
“making it”, it’s really a process that requires you to grow into this level of
success over time. Sure there are some who come in this business and seem to become
an overnight sensation, however, that very rarely happens and when if does the
chances of it happening again is very far and few in between. I bring up this
point primarily for those who are new to the business, as well as those who may
be still considering this as a career, but haven’t totally made the commitment.
I want you to be fully aware that success can happen for you. Just know that
when success happens for you, it may not happen as soon as you think or even on
the same level that you initially hoped it would. I say this because, if you
understand this coming into the industry, you won’t give up as easy and your purpose
for staying and sticking it out has a greater depth than how you feel
emotionally. You become more likely to accomplish whatever it is you set out to
do in this industry.
I remember very well when I first
began pursuing my dream of trying to “make it” in this business and how soon I
just knew success would happen. Well not only did the success not happen when
and how I expected it to, I also encountered some oppositions and obstacles
that slowed down the process. If “making it” in this business was not a true
passion of mine there is no way I would still be pursuing my dream to be
successful in this business. It’s literally taken me years to get to where I am
now and I am finally closer than I have ever been and I expect to get there. I
have listened to the stories of so many successful artist and entertainers and
the one thing that is almost always consistent with all of them is that the
level of success they were able to achieve happened over a significant amount
of time. This success did not come without a significant amount of difficulty,
but they persevered. Again there are many stories that I have heard over the
years, but there are two that I would like to mention and encourage you to check
out. R & B singers Ne-Yo and Usher, both have very successful careers that triumph
over time and not only because they were talented.
This reminds me of the story about
the tortoise and the hare. Although the hare was the favored and the fastest
and the one who should have won the race, his speed was not the determining
factor. Instead the tortious who was much slower and considered the one in the
race who didn’t even stand a chance ran at a steady pace. Because the hare was
so talented and sure of himself, he believed his talent was enough for him to
win the race so he decided to take a nap in the middle of the race. He
perceived he could nap, get up and still win the race. To his demise, the hare
over slept and lost the race. Instead the tortoise that was much slower, but
ran at a steady pace, over time won the race. I want you to win in this race of
“making it” in the music business. In order for that to happen, you have to
know that you don’t pass this test with talent, but you pass it with time.
