Longing for the day ...

Introduction

- Lao Tsu

Thanks for reading this workbook. It aims to help you define and achieve your musical life goals and by doing so you are helping me achieve mine. I am very grateful that you have given me that opportunity.

This workshop is about you, not me. I can only guide you through the process and coach you along your journey. The answers and the energy that will take you to your Glorious Musical Future (GMF) have to come from you. Your peers will share their answers and the energy that a group exercise can generate. But everyone's journey is unique - your answers must come from you and only you can follow your path.

There has never been a better time to be in the music industry. Never before have artists, musicians and songwriters had technology that provides so much opportunity to create, connect and convert. The people who dominated the music industry in the 20^th century look at the technological and market changes as disruptions to their business. Successful 21^st century musicians, songwriters and artists see the changes as opportunities. This is not a revolution so much as it is an evolution and you have to keep up with the constant changes. A lot of what worked before doesn't work today and what works today may not work a year from now.

Some people will be able to make the most of these opportunities and some will struggle, fail, and hopefully try again. Your willingness to learn and try again is the key. There are two types of musicians in the 21st century:

1. those who create a system and work hard to build their GMF, and
2. those who wait around for someone to hand them a miracle.

The two have the same amount of talent. Both make wonderful music that is very appealing to their audience and both have a GMF ahead of them. The difference is in how they approach their GMF: one understands that their destiny lies in their own hands and the other thinks it is given to them by someone else. This workshop is designed to help you become a career builder because I can't help you with miracles.

When we leave here I will always be available to help but it is up to you to follow through on the journey this workshop lays bare before you. This is an opportunity that will take time to set up, time to practice, time to adjust to. Hence, this is not just about music, it's about changing your life in ways that will make you more successful in everything you do and happier in general.

A little theory ...

These steps and the exercises that help you reach them are built on the concepts I wrote about in How the record industry got it so wrong (and how their mistakes point to your glorious musical future), which you can read online for free here or can purchase from http://www.huge.id.au/shop. This workshop aims to put you on the path to your Glorious Musical Future via an evolved version of the 10 steps in the book's conclusion.

A summary of the key points:

• The music industry is reverting to a cottage industry, in which most musicians will be amateur, part-time or at best semi-professional - but no-one will be able to stop musicians from getting the rewards their work deserves.
• A growing "Musical Middle Class" will be able to make significant income from their music and the best of these will be able to make a living as a musician. There is nothing to stop you joining their ranks.
• Building a music business means understanding that your music is not a product that can be sold; it is the service of entertaining people and touching their lives with your art. It is used to sell the things that can support a musician's career.
• Like all businesses, a music business is built on relationships. The best way to build relationships is to make a gift of your digital assets. Trying to enforce your digital copyrights with your fans is usually counter-productive.
• Your Glorious Musical Future depends upon the network of people and resources you can tap to help you achieve your goals. Your job is to build a far-reaching and powerful network ...

This is not an easy process, nor a quick one. It will take a lot of work and will probably involve steps forward, steps back and repeated attempts before you succeed. The music industry is not as big as you might think and the sheer volume of amateur talent means that musicians are not given the respect and rewards their efforts would earn in other industries.

Reality Check #1: Less than 200 Australian musicians and composers earned
more than $100,000 from their creative practice in 2007/08 -
the median creative income for performing musicians was
$7,200 - (Australia Council 2012).

So where's the career? That's not promised to anyone. You have to love what you do and excel where other people struggle - and that takes a particular kind of person. Here's a few characteristics of successful people:

• Big vision
• Motivation, about a passion
• Organisation
• Discipline
• Commitment to continuous improvement
• Fearlessness
• Willingness to bring others into the fold
• Gratitude and humility
• Unwavering faith that they can succeed

Some of the characteristics on that list may make you uncomfortable because you look at them and know that you don't have those attributes. THAT'S OK! The great thing about creativity is that we're all in it together. You can develop these with the help of this workshop and/or you can find people who have them via this network. The great thing about this journey is that you have lots of fellow travellers and music is best when it's shared.