5 Things Musicians Should Leave Behind in 2023 (DIY Musician Podcast, Episode 331)
Are you holding your own music back?
Whenever we hear an artist rationalize why they haven't achieved a certain level of success, it often seems like they're getting in their own way due to some outdated beliefs or faulty priorities.
And this has nothing to do with the quality of the music. Sometimes people with amazing songs aren't reaching the audiences they could because they're holding too tightly to ideas that no longer serve them.
Is it time to embrace new tools, trends, and mindsets? Time to abandon some stale modes of thinking? In this episode, we'll discuss five things we should all let go of!
Topics include:
00:00 Intro
05:12 Table of Contents
06:07 Why are so many musicians living in the past?
08:59 We’re guilty too!
09:58 Thinking a label will fix everything, one day….
12:39 “From riffraff to chosen few”
13:40 Forget about artist development
15:09 Forget about someone investing in you
17:11 Maybe just say NO to labels?
18:03 “Yesterday’s music industry would’ve worked better for you!”
19:30 “It was better in the 1960s”
21:23 We’re all delusional
22:22 Artists underestimate how difficult it used to be to access opportunity
24:21 Now isn’t a golden age either; make the best of it
25:08 Hiring predatory publicists or promoters
27:10 If someone makes big promises, they’re probably not legit
28:48 Don’t spend your limited budget on promo gambles
29:46 Forget about ROI on PR and playlist promo
31:48 The press landscape has shifted so dramatically
34:04 Your hatred of social media is holding you back
38:17 The frustration of fractured audience attention
40:18 You don’t have to jump ship every time there’s a new hip app
42:29 You’re LITERALLY holding your music back
43:50 Flipping the idea of “releasing music” on its head
45:00 Fear of what happens when the project is done
45:59 When your dream becomes your job…
46:42 No one is clambering for your unlisted Soundcloud link
48:18 Music distribution is not the starting point
49:32 Bonus Gripe: Snobbery + Nostalgia = Bad Music
51:55 Stop complaining about pop music being “stupid”
53:15 Three chords, thirty songwriters? (Artistry versus music manufacturing)
55:23 “Nothing will compare to fall of 1991”
56:47 Listener calls & emails
57:14 Advice on getting instrumental (muted vocal) mixes for sync
01:00:06 Online collaboration and the fear of copyright infringement
01:04:22 Do I have to license a cover song for streaming?
01:06:18 Fake emails “from” Spotify
01:09:30 Episode wrap-up
