From: “Tom Hess” <[email protected]>
Date: 10 April 2011 20:25:14 GMT+01:00
To: [email protected]
Subject: Do You Have What It Takes To Make It As A Professional Musician?

Hi Sarah,  

Do you have what it takes to make it as a professional musician?  

I’m not talking about musical talent or an image, or even your drive
and level of motivation. I’m also not talking about music industry
contacts. All of these things can be factors in reaching your music
career goals, but they mean nothing if you are not the “right person.”  

So what do I mean by the “right person”? Musical talent is definitely
important, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. You must conduct
yourself in a way that makes it obvious to important music industry
people/companies that investing their time, money and resources
into you will be safe, secure and profitable for them.  

You need to remember that record companies, publishers, producers
and music career managers are all in business to make money. As
businesses they are not willing to gamble on risky musicians or
situations. Yes, there are some exceptions to this, but as the music
industry is evolving they are more and more rare.  

It is very important for you as a musician to understand the changes
in the music industry. Music industry professionals are looking for low
risk investments and people (musicians and bands) are their greatest
risks.

This is why it is highly important to become the ‘right person’. Once
you have this foundation in place, you are ready to work on developing
the additional skills and tools to advance your future (or current)
career in music.  

So what can you do now to start your path to becoming the “right
person”?  

Make an honest assessment of yourself. What value do you have to
offer to the music industry? Do you have any personality traits, habits,
or situations that would make you a risky investment to companies? If
so, work to rid yourself of these risk factors.  

Continue to work to improve your songwriting and musicianship.  

Learn all you can about the music industry, but make sure that you
aren’t taking advice from anyone who hasn’t actually been involved in
the music industry and/ or has done what you want to do. Most
university professors are not (nor have ever been) professional musicians,
so they cannot give you advice based on real world experience.    

Thanks,  

Tom Hess  
http://www.tomhess.net
http://www.practicegenerator.com

Tom Hess Music Corporation
Po Box 113 Cary, IL 60013-0113
United States of America

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