Week #39 (Sep.24-30, 2018)

Week #39 - What's Your MAIN thing?

 

Week #39 (Sep. 24-30, 2018) - DELEGATE & DO THE MAIN THING!

Here we are again, at the end of another week. These weeks really are flying by - a fact I am now more acutely aware of, I think because of this new commitment to write to you weekly.Anyways, I just returned from a 4 city tour through Texas (more on this another day). It’s interesting that what took 4 day to execute, took about 4 months to plan. Between planning this tour, booking other shows, networking, etc.,  I haven’t really had the time to actually perform the most important function of this job……creating new music. With the exception of collaborating on other artists’ songs and albums, I simply haven’t had time to meet with my producers & sound engineer to craft new sounds.You see, being an independent artist is a monumental task since practically everything falls on you. To give you some context, here’s a list of just some of the roles that major recording artists would have designated staff for;

General Manager (Artist’s point person)Business Manager (Handles the money)Road/Tour Manger (Touring logistics)Booking Agent (Finds & books shows/event)Admin (Nitty gritty communications)A&R (Crafts the sound by finding producers, songwriters, etc)Social Media Coordinator (stays on top of artist’s social channels)Music Publisher (lands song placements on TV, Movies, Video games)Music Supervisor (lands song placements on radio stations & playlists) Marketing (Plans & oversees the execution of marketing & promotional campaigns)

The crazy thing is ALL of these roles are important to the success of an artist. And as a smaller artist, without an army of employees most of these fall to you and your team (if you have one). Sure one person can wear multiple hats, but still it gets to be a lot. And that’s what I found was happening to me.Since becoming an independent artist, I’ve had to take on some roles that others would have previously taken care of. At least for the time being, until I can find suitable people to fill these roles on an independent artist budget 😜.So over the past months, I’ve been hopping from meetings, to planes, to rental cars, to hotel rooms/AirBnBs, to stages, and so on. And that’s not including the regular life stuff like being a half decent husband and father. While I do enjoy the business of music, I found that overtime, filling all of these roles by myself was getting to be overwhelming. I was starting to lose my joy. It was no longer fun. I was tired!I would like to say, this is all in the past tense, but in many ways I’m still in it as we speak. Thankfully, with the tour being done, a big load has been taken off my back and I can now get back to the heart of what I do…….making music. So the other day, I contacted one of my producers, he sent me some SUPER HOT FIRE and I wrote a song to it within a day……I’ve gotta say, it felt like taking a deep breath.At this point, I feel it necessary to say I’m not complaining. This is not a pity party, after all this is the life I chose……..well sometimes it feels like it chose me, but that’s neither here nor there 😏. I say all that, to say this;For anyone with a specific pursuit/passion/purpose along the way, you will inevitably pick up other roles & responsibilities that although are related to your primary purpose, are not your purpose in and of themselves.Take care of those things as best you can (delegate where possible), but be careful not to let those things sidetrack you from the main thing. Make time to do the thing that captured your heart in the beginning. That’s really where it starts & ends. Because if you’re not doing what you set out to do, then what are you really doing?

Until next week, #KnowItsRealAgain, see below for more of my content I'm sure you'll be interested in.

P.S. If you're enjoying these weekly stories/lessons why not forward this email to a friend or family member.

SHORT FILM

I love telling stories. That's why my latest project, "XXY" was both music and a short film. It's cryptic, moody, and most importantly, beautiful.

MUSIC

Without a doubt, "Stay" is my most popular song to date, having been streamed hundreds of thousands of times. So while I was on tour in the UK a little while back, I got together with the awesome people over at The Good Christian Music Blog for a Sinai Session to record an acoustic version of the song. Let's just say, folks are loving this one too.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

Catch me in your city. Click the photo

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