June 24, 2025 • 49 mins
Title: S5 E14 – How to Gauge Your Progress as a Musician Description:
In this episode of Musicians Tip Jar, we dive into one of the most overlooked parts of building a sustainable music career — tracking your progress. Whether you're just starting out or deep in your professional journey, knowing where you stand helps you grow faster, stay focused, and celebrate the wins along the way. We break down simple ways to measure your creative, financial, and personal development. From tracking gigs and income streams to evaluating your skill growth and building a performance confidence log — this episode is packed with practical tools you can start using today. 🎯 Topics Covered:
"You can’t improve what you don’t measure — but you can also get lost in the wrong numbers." This one’s for every artist who wants to move forward with clarity and confidence.
More info at www.muscianstipjar.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/musicians-tip-jar--4698023/support.
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
In this episode of Musicians Tip Jar, we dive into one of the most overlooked parts of building a sustainable music career — tracking your progress. Whether you're just starting out or deep in your professional journey, knowing where you stand helps you grow faster, stay focused, and celebrate the wins along the way. We break down simple ways to measure your creative, financial, and personal development. From tracking gigs and income streams to evaluating your skill growth and building a performance confidence log — this episode is packed with practical tools you can start using today. 🎯 Topics Covered:
- How to define success for yourself
- What metrics matter (and what don’t)
- Creative Output Logs and Confidence Trackers
- Measuring social and audience growth
- Financial benchmarks for musicians
- Avoiding burnout by seeing how far you’ve come
"You can’t improve what you don’t measure — but you can also get lost in the wrong numbers." This one’s for every artist who wants to move forward with clarity and confidence.
More info at www.muscianstipjar.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/musicians-tip-jar--4698023/support.
Visit MusiciansTipJar.com for more resources and tools to empower your financial journey.
Intro & Outro Music Donated by: The Magi https://www.themagimusic.com
Intro Read by: David “DJ” Lee of The Magi
https://soundcloud.com/rockababyrock
Pictures by: Kit Chalberg https://kitchalberg.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies
on rocking the financial side of your music business. With
over forty years combined experience, here are your hosts, Chris
Webb and Dave Tampki.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to Musicians Tip Jar, where we talk about musicians
and money, where we focus on putting pressure on the progress,
not on the perfection. I'm Chris Webb, joined by my
co host and the man who's always under pressure to
be funny, Dave Dampkin.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You think I put myself under that type of pressure.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Just the world around you expects it from you. You've
been holding it up for so long.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I think most people are mostly annoyed by it. So
maybe always under pressure to be annoying.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Dave, That's an interesting type of pressure.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'm definitely under pressure for this episode because when you
sent this idea over and we went through these steps,
I'm in a lot of trouble. I'm just looking I'm
looking forward to because going to be brutally honest to myself,
nice and open, and we'll we'll just go from there.
I'm already sweating a little bit bog offits because I
(01:12):
sweat through.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
My eyeballs so today we get to discuss six measures
to help you keep a clear understanding of your progress
as an artist and in your business. We discuss some
easy strategies that can help keep your confidence that you
are headed to achieving your goals. Today's quote comes from
j Coole. My music is a reflection of my growth.
(01:36):
I'm just documenting the progress.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Today's nonprofit is Backline dot Care. Backline has vetted organizations
across the globe to create a network of care providers
that support the music industry by providing access to healthcare,
financial assistance, treatment options, and more. You may be qualified
to receive free services through these programs. If you're not sure,
connect with the case manager and they'll find you the
(02:01):
best options. Learn more at Backline dot Care. If you
find this information useful, please rate and subscribe to the
podcast and also slam were gently over that like button
you're on YouTube so we can help you up on
the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
We all need some sort of barometer to measure our progress.
We cannot expect there to always be clear signs of
progress right out in the open, so we find this
list of six things to be a useful gauge to
assessing your progress in real time.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Let's go, do you know how to assess your real voice?
How to find your true inner voice?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Right there? That was it?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Deep breath and just let it out to musicians home.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And then as soon as you should be talking in
that register. So I think more of the podcasts moving forward, Chris,
I'm gonna sound more like this because it is just
truly the way I sound. And I learned that going
through these six steps.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, it's funny. I just got back from spending
some time in Europe, and I noticed that when you're
around a lot of people that are speaking a different
language and you mostly don't understand what they're saying, you
really start to notice the way they talk, like the
tone at least, this is how I was starting to put.
My focus was more on their inflection and you know,
(03:42):
their pitch and how fast they talk and the energy
and underneath it. And it was really interesting to kind
of like be able to turn off the actual words
and listen to people's inflections and undertones.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Do you ever unconsciously start to mimic that, oh totally?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, when we by the time we were leaving London,
which obviously is speaking English, but with their charm of
an accent. We were all trying to speak with the
British accent. It's quite fun actually, because then you go
to other countries where they speak other languages and you
get to pretend that you're a Bret and they all
probably know we're totally faking it. But we had a
good time.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Look good. I can't wait to care more about it.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, it's really important this discussion about measuring your progress.
It not because we want you to be concerned that
you're not moving forward, but we actually want to make
sure that you feel okay with the progress that you're making,
that you feel like you're at peace with the progress
you're making, because sometimes it can become so overwhelming that
(04:44):
you feel like you're not getting anywhere, that you stop
getting anywhere. So what we're here to do is talk
about some ways that you can systematically look at your
progress as an artist and as a music business and
find ways that you can implement little strategy jeez, to
help move yourself forward and to make sure that you
feel good about the progress you're making.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
And a few different niches as well, because again talking
about being honest, not playing so much since I've moved
to Madison has been an eye opening experience as far
as how much I loved playing live and how much
I also gauged myself on progress as a musician by
playing live. And if that goes away, then what am
(05:29):
I gauging improvement on? So that's why this was such
a kick in the pant.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, maybe we start with the first one then, because
this one you can do from anywhere. Let's start with
talking about skill mastery. Every breakthrough in your career begins
with the mastery of your craft. Regularly assess how much
you've improved in your core musical skills, whether that's your
vocal control, your instrumental proficiency, your production techniques, or songwriting structure.
(06:00):
It's sometimes that you get so comfortable doing what you're
doing that you kind of stop moving forward. At least
that's where you get to after a long while. Maybe
at the beginning this is an irrelevant thing to say,
but after you've been playing for a long time, it's
quite easy just to sit around with what the skills
that you already have and not keep pushing yourself forward.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Are there any tools you use that you can think of, like,
right out of the gate, that you use to brush
up on techniques or learn new ones.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know. It's funny because I still use Ultimate Guitar
for a lot of different areas of my business, and
it has I love the social aspect that they added
to it because you can watch other people playing the
cover that maybe you're trying to practice or the solo
that you're working on. Then they have riffs and scales
(06:49):
that you can kind of, you know, exercises that you
can just throw one in. I like things that are
real quick for me. On those I like to have,
you know, I might just I usually do it like
right after I've tuned my guitar or warming up, right
before a show or right you know, and I'm changing
the strings and then I'll just spend a little extra
twenty minutes doing it. So I usually use all the
guitar almost every time for my guitar practice stuff for
(07:11):
my guitar.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So pickupmusic dot Com is awesome. It's very cheap monthly
and they have like weekly courses. So since I've been
home and not playing as much and want to learn
new things, it's really helped me look forward to showing
up to something new every day. But it doesn't have
to be something you're paying for. So even something like
(07:32):
free on YouTube or Coursera, what else sound Jim, They
all offer powerful free lessons, so you could build like
a playlist that you just go through every week that
these are channels that here's my beginning channels. Here's something
that's going to push me a little bit harder. Here's
my vocal runs that I want to learn this week.
(07:53):
So I've been doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's great, and that is really important that people do
hear that. We're not saying go sign up for something
that you pay a bunch of money for. I mean,
unless that's going to be the motivator to make you
use it. It's really not necessary. There are so many
resources that are just absolutely free and all you need
is a little bit. Right, We're not saying go take
a master class on virtuoso guitar playing. Like we want
(08:17):
you just to move forward a little bit. That's what
we're talking those little bit, little mini gauges of how
I'm progressing towards that bigger goal that's a long ways away.
This also for me, can be specific about what it
is you're doing. For example, with me, I perform a
lot of cover shows and I'm usually solo. So what
I've been focusing on now is how does the guitar
(08:39):
part and my vocal part fit together, you know, in
a very intricate way, Like how can I get the
bass because a lot of looping, How can I get
that bass part in that drum part because I bang
on my guitar to make the percussion noises, And how
do I get them to line up and mimic what
a good drummer and bass player would do. So in
a way, I'm learning their instruments, or at least how
they orchestrate their instruments and implement their parts into the song,
(09:02):
and then I focus on how that lines up with
my vocal part. I also will often focus on how
do I elongate lines so that they contrast the guitar
part that might be more staccato. Things like that that
are layering interest into a person playing by themselves. So
when you're looking at this concept of skill mastery, it
may not be that you need to just sit down
(09:24):
and practice the instrument itself. It may be that you're
practicing something more specific to the target in which you're
headed as an artist.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And don't be afraid to take it one measure at
a time. And that was something I was telling you
when I was visiting CEU that I was learning some
more fingerpicking beatles because I thought, oh, if I could
just give my voice a rest now and then on
these long shows, that I can just play something cool.
And I so stumped on some of the stuff that
(09:54):
I thought I was gonna just fly through this book.
I'm like, no time to start over. One measure. That's
all I need to learn one measure, memorize it, get it,
and move on to the second one. So for I'm
sure for all those little intricacies that you're working on
with base parts, slooping drum parts, you're not throwing everything
at it at once. You're dividing up those pieces one
(10:17):
by one, nailing it and then adding another layer.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's great, And when you're assessing whether or not you're
doing this or making progress, perhaps we can look at
that as saying not just did I learn a new
skill this week, or you know, you can ask yourself more,
did I make time to even try to do that?
And that can be enough. It can be just that
(10:41):
you scheduled the time, or you booked a private lesson
for a specific goal or or you you know, you
dedicated a certain amount of your practice time to this
new thing that you're adding to that list. So it
really doesn't need to be anything large. These are just
small improvements that they compound. They create a progress that
becomes more of a steamroller and gets you there quicker
(11:04):
to use that.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I know you love it when I bring up streaks,
but I use that streaks just to make sure that
I'm hitting you know, my touch points each week. And
you could switch things up, like take thirty days what
you know, pick one area where it's vocal runs, one's
you know, beat production or lyric structure, and write it down.
If you're not using an app, journal about it, write
(11:25):
down what you practice, how long you practice, how you
felt about it. It kind of builds accountability and then
also lets you reflect them what you're just not aiming
to get better. But you're saying, Okay, I'm gonna nail
this harmony again, I'm going to nail the solo, or
I'm going to nail this measure, and you know they'll
start to add up after a while.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Mm hmm. You know I would like to add one
more to that too, that you made me think of
which is that when you're performing or delivering in your
recordings or whatever you're doing as an artist, that you
also work on the mental state in which you are
staying in during the performance. I really think it's important,
and the more that I teach, the more that I
(12:04):
realize we all need to make this as a conscious
effort as well, that we're focused on not panicking. You know,
in the moment when that solo comes up and you've
been practicing all day in your room or whatever, and
now you get on stage and here you are take
that solo, and you panic, and your fingers forget what
they're doing, and you start sweating, and everything goes to
shit because that moment didn't have that practice of the
(12:27):
mental part. And so I just want to throw that
in there, is that you don't always have to be
practicing the instrument. It could be practicing how you and
how you are playing that instrument in the environment in
which you are capable of staying calm and focused. All right,
So moving on, let's go to the second one here.
Second one is about creative output. So creative momentum is
(12:48):
the engine behind sustainable music careers. I mean, look at
how frequently you write and record and release music, and
this is a really important thing to talk about in
that micro life because it will add up if you're
doing small things towards this. And part of the time
when we're feeling so inadequate with our progress, it's because
(13:08):
we're expecting large results. I need to put out a
new album or even the song to take it from
such a huge chunk these days completely derails any motivation
because you feel overwhelmed. So, Dave, how about you. Are
you finishing more songs or are you sharing more work
than you did last year? What's your's the progress?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You already know the answer to that, Chris, I'm lacking
songs for probably two to three years now. Megan Burt
called us out on it. So it's just a few
verses and a chorus that repeats itself. So so I'm
not stuck doing nothing or being so scared of the
(13:46):
writing process. I thought that because of these thoughtful pauses
that I'm doing, as far as signs to grow, it's
not just the number of tracks that I'm releasing, it's
the quality of what I can bring to the new
tracks when they come. So I'm trying to take this
time to progress, to progress, excuse me on my musicality,
(14:09):
so that when the work does come as far as
being creative writing songs, it's more intentional work. And I'm
not so scared of it, because as we do get
older and change through seasons of our lives, it's our
song shift, our style shifts, the emotional depth of what
(14:30):
we bring to each song shifts. You just have the
courage to share what's real, which a little bit of
you know, scared shit. Let's do that right now. So
once I get over that, hopefully it's something worth putting
out for myself.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, And I've learned this too that I don't beat
myself up anymore when I go through a phase of
not feeling like writing or just not writing. In my
note app, I always keep notes of ideas of song,
ideas of lyric, ideas of you know, little themes whatever,
and so I always have that to draw on, and
(15:10):
so that helps me so that when I sit down
during my schedule times to write, I have something to do.
What I've really learned from myself is that now and
this didn't used to happen when I was younger, but
now I don't always feel like writing before it was impulsive.
It was I would skip other things because of the
need to write. And that is a phase in life
(15:33):
that I guess doesn't always stick around, or maybe it'll
come back. But in this phase of my life, I've
had to really schedule my writing. And the other thing
I'll say about that for when it comes to songwriting.
And I know everyone has different types of creative output,
but when I'm writing a song now, I even dumb
it down past what Megan said with the a couple
(15:54):
verses and a chorus. I literally would just write one
verse in a chorus that like I wrote a because
if I want to finish it, I know I can
after that. But that usually counts for me as a
song nowadays, so so, and it also makes it more
achievable to just write one. I can write a song now,
and I'm sure you could too. If I made you,
(16:16):
you could write a song in a couple of minutes.
You really could. It doesn't have to be great. We
have to allow whatever comes out to be enough sometimes,
especially when you don't feel like spending the extra time
on making it even better.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Stephen Pressfield wrote The War of Art, and in the
first few chapters he talks about how he was doing
anything he possibly could instead of writing his books. So
one night his whole kitchen was just mess with pots
and pans, stepped up, you know, stucked up for weeks.
(16:51):
And he finished it all, and he sat down in
his typewriter and he started typing, and he's like, I'm
gonna be okay. And I feel right now I'm going
through a he'said, I'm doing anything possible other than writing
the song. Like what two bass guitars that I love
playing right now? A tin whistle? When am I going
to use that?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I'm going to drive Anne nuts practicing that on a
daily basis. I've been doing more, you know, harmonica. I
bought another Beatles harmonica book, so I thought, oh, if
I can't do if I could get the chords down,
maybe I could just do the melody with the harmonica.
So I am at least moving in the right direction
of the things that I think once I get there
and be like, okay, I'm going to be okay because
(17:34):
it's not dishes, it's just musical stuff that I feel
like the learning curve is. It's less steep for me
because I've been a musician for so many years. So
I pick up a bass, I'm like, oh look, how
oh this is? This is all right? You know, I
feel like I'm making progress when really I'm just.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Doing Is that why Anne was asking why you were
on the roof putting up Christmas lights in July the
other day?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That is true. I just to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, anything else you can do, yeah, you know I have.
I saw this on somebody's TikTok video talking about procrastination,
and I've used it a few times, so I might
as well share it. But when I'm finding myself and
I always have that list of things to do too,
(18:21):
including writing, and I don't feel like doing them. And
this is how he explained it on this video, is
that you basically need to lay there and absolutely do nothing,
Like no phone, you're not allowed to talk to anyone.
You just need to sit there doing nothing, and then
all of a sudden you're like, I gotta do something,
and you'll get up and you'll do whatever it was
(18:43):
that you will you were putting off. It actually has
worked for me, so it's worth a shot for everyone
to try.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, I'll take that advice. I'll take any advice, right
now I did write something down that I just want
to read verbatim for this to end this section, and
it's what I keep going back to as far as
when we first started writing songs. So I put, don't
just measure your creativity by completed songs. Track how often
you create, what you try, what risks you take, and
(19:12):
how your sound evolves. Again, these are all things I'm
writing just to make myself feel better about doing nothing.
And that's where your voice as an artist is born.
The fact that you're tracking this means you're already doing
more than most. The work you do behind the scenes
matter even when no one hears it. And that is
where we all started anyway, when we did not have
(19:32):
an audience. That when we picked it up for the
pure love of learning the instrument and creating sounds that
we can relate to. Hopefully that hits home with some people.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, it's nice, and it really is important to remember
that we're not doing this for anyone else but ourselves.
No matter what. In the end, you're gonna gain and
lose fans. You're gonna impress some people and turn some
people off. You're gonna be disappointed with how many people
show up at more shows. Some day. I'm even seeing
bands that were massively successful for the last couple of
(20:04):
decades and I'm watching them friends, bands that are not
able to draw what they used to draw. I mean,
everything has a cycle, everything has an end, and we
can easily be discouraged if we put too much importance
on anything external.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Especially if you do this for a living. It's difficult
because what you started without a monetary return was just priceless.
It was art. It was for the love of it.
And then once that starts giving you a career, all
those things you created for the pure love of it,
and now you're like, I have this audience that I
(20:39):
need to show up for. I need to sell these tickets. Oh,
hopefully they'll dig these songs too. If you get into
that mind space, you're screwed. It's like you almost have
to wash that away and hope that your audience goes
on this journey with you as your music develops.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, yeah, or at least someone does. Yeah, right, because
I mean, really, if it's just for you in the end,
you have nothing to lose, right, except you do want
to share it. There's always that urge, but the expectation
that everyone's gonna love it every time. It's just unfair
to you.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah. Well number three is live performance, and this is
what I love most about playing music. The ability to
connect with a live audience, I feel is something that
I excel at only because I love it so much.
Like I really just love getting up there and entertaining
(21:37):
and performing live is about connection, not perfection. So the
real energy of a live show is one of the
clearest indicators of your progress when it comes to a career,
I believe. So it's just not the technicality that we
were talking about before, which again I am, you know,
(21:57):
three chords and a red guitar in the truth, So
I'm not doing anything too crazy technically anyway. But emotionally
and professionally, that's where the technicality comes in to say, hey,
am I approved improving on how I'm emotionally delivered to
an audience.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And that really goes back to my focus on me
and my skills. They all start to overlap, right, Like,
if I'm showing up at a show and I know
I've practiced certain new things, I'm excited more excited to
be there for that live performance. I'm if I've got
new music to play I'm more excited. I'm finding ways
(22:37):
to pull that excitement into me because I know that
if it's there, everyone is going to feel it, you know.
And so when I think of live performance right now,
I really want people to think about how much you're
showing up with that excitement. It's a really dangerous thing
to get into a situation where you're playing shows that
you are not happy about. And if that is happening.
I'm not saying cancel those gigs because you might need
(23:00):
the money, but I'm saying find ways to integrate some
excitement back into your soul for those situations, because it's
really important in order to be a great performer.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
We've both been there, playing of times.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Plenty of times, and everyone will be I guarantee you
that you too, not saying you too, saying the band
you too has felt this one hundred thousand times with
all these songs that they've played over and over again.
Despite the fact that people keep showing up, there are
plenty of moments that any band, any artist is going
to have these feelings about the situation. Just like writing,
(23:36):
it's something that doesn't always feel like you feel like
doing it. It's just a thing that you have to
learn to be professional about I'm in a stretch right
now of nine shows in eight days, and then I
get Father's Day off, and then I'm in another five
shows in seven days, and so I'm in this long
stretch of playing every night, and a lot of these
(23:58):
are really important. I say important only to say that,
like they're they're some of my exclusive type of gigs
where they they're more financially rewarding, but they also take
a little bit more a commitment and energy out of me.
And I was playing the other night and I started
(24:19):
talking in the audience, and I remembered all of a sudden,
I was like, this is not the place to talk
because it was a Korbra gig. And I sometimes that
line gets gets kind of diluted when people start engaging
with you and you want to make it into a
show where it's about you, and then you have to
remember to turn it off. So sometimes for me, like
performing live, performing has these different faces. You know, I'm
(24:42):
putting on a different face for different types of shows,
and I start to get to know them each better,
and it does changes in what gear I bring, what
setlist I play obviously, and you know how you dress
and how and everything about the show is different, and
there's different categories in which you're aware of. So so
when I think about moving forward as a performer, it's
(25:04):
more about me showing up in those different environments and
being the absolute professional, being the one that they want,
that they need to have back next time for that
particular type of event.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I was hired with Brian and Brad two weeks ago
for Hot Rock Casino, and it's three hours as a
band on a stage in front of everybody, with the
big monitor of all our faces behind us. There's no
time for long lulls in between song. You are performing
(25:39):
for two hour and twenty minute sets, which I am
not used to at all, and we weren't used to
making set lists because forty five minutes is one thing
you can memorize it, but three hours after a while,
it's kind of fun to throw things out and be like,
what do you want to play next? What do you
want to play next? And we would kind of go
(25:59):
around and do that. We did not want to do
that for this, and mentally it was different for me
to be on top of it. When to talk Brad
has I don't know, detuned something, So I need to
make sure that I'm talking during that time. So there's
not a law. There was just so many different factors
that I was out of practice on that I knew
(26:20):
i'd better be prepared for when it came to that show.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
That brings up the other aspect too that I think
is really important as performers, and this is something that
as an instructor I bring up a lot, is that
live performance for me is all about dynamics and delivery.
Emotional delivery organically has so much dynamic variation, and so
(26:44):
often it doesn't show up or translate in people's delivery
in performances, and for me, it is the number one
thing that separates professionals from everyone that's trying to get
there right. And I think if there's anything that I
think everyone could always be spending a little time on,
it's focusing on your dynamics. And it doesn't always mean
(27:05):
getting loud or quieter. It can be the hit or
how hard you're hitting something. It could be how you're
attacking the instrument while you're singing. It could be obviously
in the delivery or the over pronunciation of the words,
or it can be the way that you just are
expressing the moment, like if you're moving around and you're
very animated with your movements. So there is a lot
(27:26):
of various ways of talking about dynamics, but it's usually
the area where everyone needs to spend a little time on.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
That's a lot to ask yourself to even remember all
that stuff going through it. I don't know about you,
but sometimes I black out and I'm just, you know,
on autopilot. So I would advise record yourself any chance
you get, if you can see your set and look
back and kind of watch the ups and downs and
(27:55):
the roller coasters that you want to take your songs
on and your audience on. A couple of your performances
each month, watch with a friend you know, don't show
Chris Webb because you know he'll be brutally honest and
you'll learn something things you don't want to hear about yourself,
but it will only make you better. But you'll leave
going damn, why does they have to be so honest?
(28:16):
I have another friend, Christopher Morris, who's a songwriter in Boulder,
and he's brutally honest, and he's taught me to be
brutally honest with him. But it's fun and we're down
to why do you have your cell phone in your
front pocket? You know you're filming this for you know,
for your YouTube later and all this live show you
(28:39):
got this and you have your cell phone in your
front pocket. Just little stuff like that. Tell me that Brad,
Chad and I do a really good job of talking
in between songs, but we never engage with each other
while we're playing. And that's something you have to pay
attention to, something I would have never even thought of.
(29:00):
So it's nice to have a friend that you could
rattle stuff off with.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I mean, we could go on forever about live performance stuff,
because truthfully, there is so many various ways that you've
got to be focused on improving, and it all depends
on what you're trying to do as an artist, and
it also depends on what types of shows you're playing.
So if you're with a band, or if you're solo,
or if you're if you're traveling. You know, there's just
(29:26):
so many ways that we can discuss that, but let's
just move forward to the next one to keep everyone's attentions.
The next one is industry knowledge. Music is also a business.
Staying educated and adaptable is a key factor in progressing
as an artist in the music industry. It's not just
(29:49):
about learning the jargon. It's also about control and having
longevity in this career.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
And we wanted to do it so bad we started
a podcast that we don't no well everything about the industry.
We wanted to learn more about it. So we thought, hey,
let's show up, share what we've learned throughout the years,
and hopefully learn from our peers and everyone that writes us.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And again we're not saying go learn the business, because
that is like, that's the worst advice anybody could ever
give you, because it's so massive. Even within each country,
it's a massive difference in how the business functions, all
the different rules, within all of the different areas of
the money flowing. So it really is about learning one
thing that really will help you progress. Right. Do you
(30:36):
understand the royalties and how they get paid out? You
understand publishing? Do you understand how contracts can actually protect you?
Like they did last night for me when I was
playing a show. They tried to put me out in
the open, and I could tell there might be come
in some rain and then we're outside and I said,
here's it. In the contract. It says right here, you know,
I have to be under shelter, and they accommodated because
(30:57):
it was a signed contract. I don't think I would
have had that leverage with a big venue like that
if I hadn't had that sign contract.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So things like that, Did they give you a ten
rough shelter?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
No? Actually no, what what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Sorry, you're set electrifying? Oh storm coming? That's a lightning joke.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I know you're under a lot of pressure to be funny. Yeah,
there we gotta go.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
We start this whole episode over.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
The other thing that I could say about last night too,
with that situation and types of situations like that, is like,
are you confident in negotiating? Are you going to stand
up for yourself when you need help? Are you going
to advocate for your safety and your safety of your business? So,
you know, there's lots of different ways that we can
look at that in connections, like are you making connections,
are you growing your network joining organizations? Are you attending
(31:57):
events and industry types of so that you can continue
expanding your community.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I haven't found something like that in Madison, and I
wanted to talk to you about that because I think
I might start a meetup there you go just to
see what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, you should do that.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Okay, well, I'm glad we had this talk.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
See how things happen around here. Yeah done. Knowledge directly
supports smarter decisions, and they also improve the odds for
long term sustainability. You we always say this, you cannot
do this business alone. And the industry is out there
functioning whether you do anything or not. Right, It isn't
(32:43):
there waiting for you. And so we have to remember that.
Some I do think that there's a there's a dangerous
mindset that often and I was in this for a
long time, where you think someone's gonna come save you, right,
someone's coming to take care. What are the things that
you're just not doing and getting you to where you
(33:04):
think you really potentially could be. That's not going to happen.
And I'm sorry to be the angry uncle on that,
but it ain't gonna happen. They're not coming. You have
to do this. You have to go find people. You
have to create those opportunities. You have to improve your
knowledge and expand your ability to represent yourself to get
(33:24):
to those positions in which you know you're capable of.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
And you don't have to go towards everything at once.
Spend thirty days, pick a topic, learn about seek licency,
take one month, learn about social media, one month, learn
about email development and marketing.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And this is one of those things again where you
don't need to go spend money on a course if
you don't want to. You can literally find a different
YouTube video that would have some helpful information on it
every day that could take up that thirty minute drive
and give you that information during that one month that
you're focused on that one thing, just to improve your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Are there any new newsletters or podcasts you recommend? First
one comes to mind. It's called Musicians Tip char have
a pretty cool website, pretty cool podcasts. You're gonna notice
they're gonna be talking a little sultry in the next
few episodes, trying.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
To you're reading your arm zone real voice.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
But Damien kis Ariy Hirstad, I mean he's awesome. He's
got a plethora of awesome stuff that Ari's take. Yeah,
it's awesome. And even ascap CD, Baby ban zoo O,
the MLC, all of those have great backstage resources.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, and I guess this could be summed up with
saying that if you're struggling to find the information, that's
another reason you need your community. Because here we are
listing all these things, things like the ASCAP and BMI
and all these different pros. They have so much time
and n and funding put towards free resources for their community,
(35:05):
and everything you need is already out there. It really is.
We say this all the time, but sometimes it's waiting
for you to ask the next one. Probably the area
that I think I'm the weakest in is fan engagement.
In today's music industry, engagement is our most valuable currency.
It's not about having the most followers, it's about building
(35:27):
real connections with the ones that you do have. You
can use these following signs to measure your fan engagement.
Are people consistently commenting, messaging, or re sharing your posts?
I'd say no for me.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
I would say no for me too. But are we
I think this is a two way conversation totally. Are
we doing that to people that we know are already
following us or in our newsletter? Are we asking questions?
Are we commenting or messaging some of them too? I
think we could do more of that as well.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, Well, we just had the whole conversation with Sides
recently about your relationship with social media, and my reat
cheap with social media is that I just don't like it.
I don't spend any time on there really, maybe a
few minutes a day to see if anybody messaged me
and respond to those. But I don't engage in other
(36:25):
people's stuff much. And I also don't post anything, so
I can't expect there to be comments or you know,
resharing of anything if there's no content for them to
do that with. So that's probably should be on the
top of this list is are you posting? Are you
putting anything out there?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
But all I'm hearing is that no one is commenting
on your stuff because it doesn't exist. I should feel
worse because it does exist and no one's commenting.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Well, this can go back to Sides thing again said
just looking at one new fan each time, right. I mean,
we can't expect there to be an instant growth of
any of these categories that we're talking about today, and
you should treat fan engagement the same way. It's one
fan at a time. I mean, this is one area
(37:18):
where I do a good job with is engaging with
people at shows and communicating with them and staying in
touch with them and that kind of thing. And I
do think that that has caused my email list to
grow and I get feedback from that and I engage
with people there. So there's a lot of ways that
you can do this, and it's important that you do
something in a way that you like than you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It's also fun when you see the same people starting
to come back and more shows and make an effort
when you do notice.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
That totally, it's funny because it's like you really want
it to be in a place that you feel comfortable.
And so I guess in that way, I'm making an
excuse for myself that I don't enjoy being on a
lot of those social media platforms. And if I don't
enjoy it, don't expect my fans to really want to
spend time with me there, right, I mean, I don't
know if there's a right answer there, but I do
(38:07):
think that that there's still room for improvement. I could
probably outsource it, which is probably what I should do,
is find this balance of creating content and letting someone
else post it. Probably my solution to move forward.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Well, yesterday we released a promise that I said for
an action step that every post that I make will
be along those guidelines that sides illustrated interview, So I
don't get started on that today. So by the time
(38:39):
this is released, we'll have two weeks of some notable mentions.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Well before we dive in too much and making ourselves
feel awful. Here, let's move on. Let's move on to
the next one. Yeahhich just perfect because it's personal goals.
Why we're so sad this podcast is going down hill.
Success looks different for everyone, and that's exactly how it
(39:07):
should be. Whether your dream is to tour the world,
make a full time living from music and making music itself,
or simply feeling better and comp more confident with sharing
the work that you're doing. Your goals are your compass.
We all have to identify them, and that is a
really important step in moving forward at all, is knowing
(39:28):
where you're trying to go. So use this section about
personal goals to check in with your vision and your
work and how you're working towards and aligning with these
actions that you feel like will set your values and
your creativity and your purpose in the right line. First thing,
i'd say, is are you reaching any specific milestones that
(39:48):
you're setting for yourself, And those can be things like
recording an EP or even a single song, touring, earning
a living as a musician. That is a serious achievement,
and it's something that we maybe took for granted until
we started doing this podcast and finding out how many
people just want to be able to make enough money
to make music their only thing. Right we're up here
(40:09):
complaining sometimes that we don't get to release as much
as we want to or whatever. But truthfully, it's easy
to forget that that can be a goal in itself,
and it's a really really important goal because it means
that you're doing what you want with your time and
making money doing that. So it could also be something
like just feeling confident on stage. That is a time
where I struggled with that. I think everyone goes through that,
(40:31):
and you have to set a goal in order for
that to ever change, because the first thing you have
to do is have the intention that you are going
to get past whatever it is, and.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Those are the things that you're in control of. So
do you feel more creative or fulfilled or proud of
yourself with the growth that you're achieving and just how
depressed we got depending on number five. For the live
performance model, we're depending on other people to see our vision,
which you know would be really nice. But here these
(41:02):
personal goals are something that we can set for ourselves
to strive to feel more confident and to grow creatively.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Another part of this for me is whether or not
the overall perspective of your life is coming together right.
I do think that there's an organic molding of when
you're doing what it is you feel good about doing
with your life. I don't know how to say that
except for to say that it feels like what you're
supposed to do. And for many of us, we just
(41:30):
feel like we're supposed to be musicians, right, like we're
supposed to be creative. We're supposed to be creating, And
there's always that question, is what you're doing towards that
goal of an artist? Also in line staying in line
with your values and growing with your values and growing
with your lifestyle and what is as you redefine what
(41:53):
success is what you constantly do, are you doing things
to help keep you in alignment for where that is headed?
Speaker 3 (42:01):
And that's not based on anybody else's journey. And that's
something I think you and I align on a lot
over the many years of our friendship. We are not
comparing ourselves to other musicians as far as how wealthy
they are, successful they are, as far as fans, how
great of musicians they are. We look at that as
(42:22):
something to aspire to and be inspired by. So I think,
if your goals are your compass, like you said, just
focus on the things in your journey that you can control.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
And that's really a great point in my world that
I have spent so much time learning to be true
that you compare in it. It's the thief of happiness.
You know. It's so hard to get that into your head.
You might say something like that, like, oh, comparison is
(42:56):
the thief of joy, right, that's the quote, But truthfully,
it is. And you can't sit and do an effective
session with your personal goals and your personal growth and
believing in yourself if you're so caught up in everyone
else and what they're doing, because it's not about you.
(43:18):
Once you start doing that, and it really is hard
to understand, it's really hard to practice this in an
honest way. But this is my other problem. With social
media is that it causes it to be even harder
for some people. And we just need to be aware
that when we're making these personal goals, when we're trying
to move forward in these little ways, that it's for us, right,
(43:40):
Just like why you wrote that song, just like why
you're feeling like playing music, just like why you're listening
to this podcast is it's for you, right. And so
it's really important that as you get to this step
of the personal goals that you make sure it's all
about you.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
And the goals you had last year, which I am
realizing now more than ever they do not match who
I am today or my circumstances that are today. So
this section is for you to reset, reframe, reimagine what
you really want out of your music journey.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
You know that just made me think of too, is
there was this I was reading a book that was
talking about how you forgive yourself. You know, we have
to constantly do that. I mean just the other day
when I when somebody gave me their coffee, my coffee
and they said, enjoy your coffee, and I said you too,
you know, and I thought I had They're just giving
me a coffee. Why did is they do.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Because you realize you felt bad when you realize you
weren't going to share.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, right, but I you know, like that's a silly example,
but you know, we're constantly feeling like before I used
to want to write, I was so impulsively writing I
couldn't stop writing it, stay up till two am writing.
Now I have to schedule it, you know, like a
doctor's appoint in order to get myself to go there.
(45:04):
And I think we can feel really bad about that.
I think we can get really on ourselves, like what's
wrong with me now? You know? And so just like
not comparing yourself with other people, you need to learn
to let go of who you used to be because
you are only who you are now. There is only
what is right, and so making your goals aligned with
who you are now also means letting go of maybe
(45:26):
what you thought was important or you that was important
to you before.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
What's our action steps this week? I feel like we've
already given a ton, But what would you say? Number one?
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Number one for me is to use this list to
build your own awareness of your progress. Our goal here
is not to make you feel any worse about how
progress is going for you. It is more about breaking
down small ways to make each of these areas which
kind of covers all the aspects of the business, how
to make each of them feel like there's still moving
(46:00):
forward in small ways, and to recognize that you are
making progress even sometimes when it kind of feels like
it's stagnant and then it jumps, and then it's stagnant,
then it goes down, and you know, letting letting that
flow to occur without judgment by using this small method
of checking for little sources of effort and little sources
(46:22):
of improvement.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
When I was getting ready for today's conversation, I made
a PDF that kind of gave actionable items for all
of these and then little pro notes from what you
and I had suggested we could do to you know,
make comments on this podcast. So you could find this
all just by going to the search bar at musicians
(46:46):
tipchar dot com and put how to gauge your progress,
and I'll have a whole download and a little blog
there for everyone. You could download it for your for yourself.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Thanks Dave, You welcome, Chris, and we over that your
time is valuable. We appreciate you spending this time with us.
Here at musicians tipchar we hope that you feel the
sense of community here and that you'll help spread the
word to make us all stronger. If you'd like to
get hold of us, what's the best way to do that.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Musicians tipjar a Gmail and musicians tipjar dot com where
you can check out all the resources and discounts we
are collected just for you, and check out all our
episodes now on YouTube channel. All future videos will be
in ten eighty. Everybody, we went through some back and
forth with some video software and some of our friends,
(47:34):
honest friends that share too much with us about how
we just need to upgrade to ten eighty. So check
out all those episodes, and if you find this information useful,
please rate and subscribe to the podcast and slam that
like button if you're on YouTube, so you can help
keep you up on the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
As always, thank you for joining us, and remember there
is already enough for everyone, We just need to know
how to get it. Until next time on behalf of
Dave Tankin and myself Chris Webb, Stay happy, healthy and wealthy.
Progress for a musician is not measured only in plays
or pay, but in peace, presence, and purpose. This is
(48:14):
musicians tip Jack, come.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
One say that's sent us one more time as class
as you can.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Progress from a musician is measured not only in plays
or pay, but in peace, process, presence, and purpose. Just
added another pe.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Nice job. That's the best any to do podcasts We've
ever had.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Somebody, somebody.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
Some Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal
or professional advice. Please insult an appropriate tax, legal, business
professional for individualized advice, individual results and not guaranteed. And
I discussed to Jay's potential for promising songs host co
operation on behalf of musicians Tavi John Ellens the exclusively
(49:05):
could
Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies
on rocking the financial side of your music business. With
over forty years combined experience, here are your hosts, Chris
Webb and Dave Tampki.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to Musicians Tip Jar, where we talk about musicians
and money, where we focus on putting pressure on the progress,
not on the perfection. I'm Chris Webb, joined by my
co host and the man who's always under pressure to
be funny, Dave Dampkin.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
You think I put myself under that type of pressure.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Just the world around you expects it from you. You've
been holding it up for so long.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I think most people are mostly annoyed by it. So
maybe always under pressure to be annoying.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Dave, That's an interesting type of pressure.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'm definitely under pressure for this episode because when you
sent this idea over and we went through these steps,
I'm in a lot of trouble. I'm just looking I'm
looking forward to because going to be brutally honest to myself,
nice and open, and we'll we'll just go from there.
I'm already sweating a little bit bog offits because I
(01:12):
sweat through.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
My eyeballs so today we get to discuss six measures
to help you keep a clear understanding of your progress
as an artist and in your business. We discuss some
easy strategies that can help keep your confidence that you
are headed to achieving your goals. Today's quote comes from
j Coole. My music is a reflection of my growth.
(01:36):
I'm just documenting the progress.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Today's nonprofit is Backline dot Care. Backline has vetted organizations
across the globe to create a network of care providers
that support the music industry by providing access to healthcare,
financial assistance, treatment options, and more. You may be qualified
to receive free services through these programs. If you're not sure,
connect with the case manager and they'll find you the
(02:01):
best options. Learn more at Backline dot Care. If you
find this information useful, please rate and subscribe to the
podcast and also slam were gently over that like button
you're on YouTube so we can help you up on
the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
We all need some sort of barometer to measure our progress.
We cannot expect there to always be clear signs of
progress right out in the open, so we find this
list of six things to be a useful gauge to
assessing your progress in real time.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Let's go, do you know how to assess your real voice?
How to find your true inner voice?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Right there? That was it?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Deep breath and just let it out to musicians home.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And then as soon as you should be talking in
that register. So I think more of the podcasts moving forward, Chris,
I'm gonna sound more like this because it is just
truly the way I sound. And I learned that going
through these six steps.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, it's funny. I just got back from spending
some time in Europe, and I noticed that when you're
around a lot of people that are speaking a different
language and you mostly don't understand what they're saying, you
really start to notice the way they talk, like the
tone at least, this is how I was starting to put.
My focus was more on their inflection and you know,
(03:42):
their pitch and how fast they talk and the energy
and underneath it. And it was really interesting to kind
of like be able to turn off the actual words
and listen to people's inflections and undertones.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Do you ever unconsciously start to mimic that, oh totally?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, when we by the time we were leaving London,
which obviously is speaking English, but with their charm of
an accent. We were all trying to speak with the
British accent. It's quite fun actually, because then you go
to other countries where they speak other languages and you
get to pretend that you're a Bret and they all
probably know we're totally faking it. But we had a
good time.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Look good. I can't wait to care more about it.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, it's really important this discussion about measuring your progress.
It not because we want you to be concerned that
you're not moving forward, but we actually want to make
sure that you feel okay with the progress that you're making,
that you feel like you're at peace with the progress
you're making, because sometimes it can become so overwhelming that
(04:44):
you feel like you're not getting anywhere, that you stop
getting anywhere. So what we're here to do is talk
about some ways that you can systematically look at your
progress as an artist and as a music business and
find ways that you can implement little strategy jeez, to
help move yourself forward and to make sure that you
feel good about the progress you're making.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
And a few different niches as well, because again talking
about being honest, not playing so much since I've moved
to Madison has been an eye opening experience as far
as how much I loved playing live and how much
I also gauged myself on progress as a musician by
playing live. And if that goes away, then what am
(05:29):
I gauging improvement on? So that's why this was such
a kick in the pant.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, maybe we start with the first one then, because
this one you can do from anywhere. Let's start with
talking about skill mastery. Every breakthrough in your career begins
with the mastery of your craft. Regularly assess how much
you've improved in your core musical skills, whether that's your
vocal control, your instrumental proficiency, your production techniques, or songwriting structure.
(06:00):
It's sometimes that you get so comfortable doing what you're
doing that you kind of stop moving forward. At least
that's where you get to after a long while. Maybe
at the beginning this is an irrelevant thing to say,
but after you've been playing for a long time, it's
quite easy just to sit around with what the skills
that you already have and not keep pushing yourself forward.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Are there any tools you use that you can think of, like,
right out of the gate, that you use to brush
up on techniques or learn new ones.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know. It's funny because I still use Ultimate Guitar
for a lot of different areas of my business, and
it has I love the social aspect that they added
to it because you can watch other people playing the
cover that maybe you're trying to practice or the solo
that you're working on. Then they have riffs and scales
(06:49):
that you can kind of, you know, exercises that you
can just throw one in. I like things that are
real quick for me. On those I like to have,
you know, I might just I usually do it like
right after I've tuned my guitar or warming up, right
before a show or right you know, and I'm changing
the strings and then I'll just spend a little extra
twenty minutes doing it. So I usually use all the
guitar almost every time for my guitar practice stuff for
(07:11):
my guitar.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So pickupmusic dot Com is awesome. It's very cheap monthly
and they have like weekly courses. So since I've been
home and not playing as much and want to learn
new things, it's really helped me look forward to showing
up to something new every day. But it doesn't have
to be something you're paying for. So even something like
(07:32):
free on YouTube or Coursera, what else sound Jim, They
all offer powerful free lessons, so you could build like
a playlist that you just go through every week that
these are channels that here's my beginning channels. Here's something
that's going to push me a little bit harder. Here's
my vocal runs that I want to learn this week.
(07:53):
So I've been doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
That's great, and that is really important that people do
hear that. We're not saying go sign up for something
that you pay a bunch of money for. I mean,
unless that's going to be the motivator to make you
use it. It's really not necessary. There are so many
resources that are just absolutely free and all you need
is a little bit. Right, We're not saying go take
a master class on virtuoso guitar playing. Like we want
(08:17):
you just to move forward a little bit. That's what
we're talking those little bit, little mini gauges of how
I'm progressing towards that bigger goal that's a long ways away.
This also for me, can be specific about what it
is you're doing. For example, with me, I perform a
lot of cover shows and I'm usually solo. So what
I've been focusing on now is how does the guitar
(08:39):
part and my vocal part fit together, you know, in
a very intricate way, Like how can I get the
bass because a lot of looping, How can I get
that bass part in that drum part because I bang
on my guitar to make the percussion noises, And how
do I get them to line up and mimic what
a good drummer and bass player would do. So in
a way, I'm learning their instruments, or at least how
they orchestrate their instruments and implement their parts into the song,
(09:02):
and then I focus on how that lines up with
my vocal part. I also will often focus on how
do I elongate lines so that they contrast the guitar
part that might be more staccato. Things like that that
are layering interest into a person playing by themselves. So
when you're looking at this concept of skill mastery, it
may not be that you need to just sit down
(09:24):
and practice the instrument itself. It may be that you're
practicing something more specific to the target in which you're
headed as an artist.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
And don't be afraid to take it one measure at
a time. And that was something I was telling you
when I was visiting CEU that I was learning some
more fingerpicking beatles because I thought, oh, if I could
just give my voice a rest now and then on
these long shows, that I can just play something cool.
And I so stumped on some of the stuff that
(09:54):
I thought I was gonna just fly through this book.
I'm like, no time to start over. One measure. That's
all I need to learn one measure, memorize it, get it,
and move on to the second one. So for I'm
sure for all those little intricacies that you're working on
with base parts, slooping drum parts, you're not throwing everything
at it at once. You're dividing up those pieces one
(10:17):
by one, nailing it and then adding another layer.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's great, And when you're assessing whether or not you're
doing this or making progress, perhaps we can look at
that as saying not just did I learn a new
skill this week, or you know, you can ask yourself more,
did I make time to even try to do that?
And that can be enough. It can be just that
(10:41):
you scheduled the time, or you booked a private lesson
for a specific goal or or you you know, you
dedicated a certain amount of your practice time to this
new thing that you're adding to that list. So it
really doesn't need to be anything large. These are just
small improvements that they compound. They create a progress that
becomes more of a steamroller and gets you there quicker
(11:04):
to use that.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I know you love it when I bring up streaks,
but I use that streaks just to make sure that
I'm hitting you know, my touch points each week. And
you could switch things up, like take thirty days what
you know, pick one area where it's vocal runs, one's
you know, beat production or lyric structure, and write it down.
If you're not using an app, journal about it, write
(11:25):
down what you practice, how long you practice, how you
felt about it. It kind of builds accountability and then
also lets you reflect them what you're just not aiming
to get better. But you're saying, Okay, I'm gonna nail
this harmony again, I'm going to nail the solo, or
I'm going to nail this measure, and you know they'll
start to add up after a while.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Mm hmm. You know I would like to add one
more to that too, that you made me think of
which is that when you're performing or delivering in your
recordings or whatever you're doing as an artist, that you
also work on the mental state in which you are
staying in during the performance. I really think it's important,
and the more that I teach, the more that I
(12:04):
realize we all need to make this as a conscious
effort as well, that we're focused on not panicking. You know,
in the moment when that solo comes up and you've
been practicing all day in your room or whatever, and
now you get on stage and here you are take
that solo, and you panic, and your fingers forget what
they're doing, and you start sweating, and everything goes to
shit because that moment didn't have that practice of the
(12:27):
mental part. And so I just want to throw that
in there, is that you don't always have to be
practicing the instrument. It could be practicing how you and
how you are playing that instrument in the environment in
which you are capable of staying calm and focused. All right,
So moving on, let's go to the second one here.
Second one is about creative output. So creative momentum is
(12:48):
the engine behind sustainable music careers. I mean, look at
how frequently you write and record and release music, and
this is a really important thing to talk about in
that micro life because it will add up if you're
doing small things towards this. And part of the time
when we're feeling so inadequate with our progress, it's because
(13:08):
we're expecting large results. I need to put out a
new album or even the song to take it from
such a huge chunk these days completely derails any motivation
because you feel overwhelmed. So, Dave, how about you. Are
you finishing more songs or are you sharing more work
than you did last year? What's your's the progress?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
You already know the answer to that, Chris, I'm lacking
songs for probably two to three years now. Megan Burt
called us out on it. So it's just a few
verses and a chorus that repeats itself. So so I'm
not stuck doing nothing or being so scared of the
(13:46):
writing process. I thought that because of these thoughtful pauses
that I'm doing, as far as signs to grow, it's
not just the number of tracks that I'm releasing, it's
the quality of what I can bring to the new
tracks when they come. So I'm trying to take this
time to progress, to progress, excuse me on my musicality,
(14:09):
so that when the work does come as far as
being creative writing songs, it's more intentional work. And I'm
not so scared of it, because as we do get
older and change through seasons of our lives, it's our
song shift, our style shifts, the emotional depth of what
(14:30):
we bring to each song shifts. You just have the
courage to share what's real, which a little bit of
you know, scared shit. Let's do that right now. So
once I get over that, hopefully it's something worth putting
out for myself.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, And I've learned this too that I don't beat
myself up anymore when I go through a phase of
not feeling like writing or just not writing. In my
note app, I always keep notes of ideas of song,
ideas of lyric, ideas of you know, little themes whatever,
and so I always have that to draw on, and
(15:10):
so that helps me so that when I sit down
during my schedule times to write, I have something to do.
What I've really learned from myself is that now and
this didn't used to happen when I was younger, but
now I don't always feel like writing before it was impulsive.
It was I would skip other things because of the
need to write. And that is a phase in life
(15:33):
that I guess doesn't always stick around, or maybe it'll
come back. But in this phase of my life, I've
had to really schedule my writing. And the other thing
I'll say about that for when it comes to songwriting.
And I know everyone has different types of creative output,
but when I'm writing a song now, I even dumb
it down past what Megan said with the a couple
(15:54):
verses and a chorus. I literally would just write one
verse in a chorus that like I wrote a because
if I want to finish it, I know I can
after that. But that usually counts for me as a
song nowadays, so so, and it also makes it more
achievable to just write one. I can write a song now,
and I'm sure you could too. If I made you,
(16:16):
you could write a song in a couple of minutes.
You really could. It doesn't have to be great. We
have to allow whatever comes out to be enough sometimes,
especially when you don't feel like spending the extra time
on making it even better.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Stephen Pressfield wrote The War of Art, and in the
first few chapters he talks about how he was doing
anything he possibly could instead of writing his books. So
one night his whole kitchen was just mess with pots
and pans, stepped up, you know, stucked up for weeks.
(16:51):
And he finished it all, and he sat down in
his typewriter and he started typing, and he's like, I'm
gonna be okay. And I feel right now I'm going
through a he'said, I'm doing anything possible other than writing
the song. Like what two bass guitars that I love
playing right now? A tin whistle? When am I going
to use that?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I don't know what.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
I'm going to drive Anne nuts practicing that on a
daily basis. I've been doing more, you know, harmonica. I
bought another Beatles harmonica book, so I thought, oh, if
I can't do if I could get the chords down,
maybe I could just do the melody with the harmonica.
So I am at least moving in the right direction
of the things that I think once I get there
and be like, okay, I'm going to be okay because
(17:34):
it's not dishes, it's just musical stuff that I feel
like the learning curve is. It's less steep for me
because I've been a musician for so many years. So
I pick up a bass, I'm like, oh look, how
oh this is? This is all right? You know, I
feel like I'm making progress when really I'm just.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Doing Is that why Anne was asking why you were
on the roof putting up Christmas lights in July the
other day?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That is true. I just to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, anything else you can do, yeah, you know I have.
I saw this on somebody's TikTok video talking about procrastination,
and I've used it a few times, so I might
as well share it. But when I'm finding myself and
I always have that list of things to do too,
(18:21):
including writing, and I don't feel like doing them. And
this is how he explained it on this video, is
that you basically need to lay there and absolutely do nothing,
Like no phone, you're not allowed to talk to anyone.
You just need to sit there doing nothing, and then
all of a sudden you're like, I gotta do something,
and you'll get up and you'll do whatever it was
(18:43):
that you will you were putting off. It actually has
worked for me, so it's worth a shot for everyone
to try.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, I'll take that advice. I'll take any advice, right
now I did write something down that I just want
to read verbatim for this to end this section, and
it's what I keep going back to as far as
when we first started writing songs. So I put, don't
just measure your creativity by completed songs. Track how often
you create, what you try, what risks you take, and
(19:12):
how your sound evolves. Again, these are all things I'm
writing just to make myself feel better about doing nothing.
And that's where your voice as an artist is born.
The fact that you're tracking this means you're already doing
more than most. The work you do behind the scenes
matter even when no one hears it. And that is
where we all started anyway, when we did not have
(19:32):
an audience. That when we picked it up for the
pure love of learning the instrument and creating sounds that
we can relate to. Hopefully that hits home with some people.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah, it's nice, and it really is important to remember
that we're not doing this for anyone else but ourselves.
No matter what. In the end, you're gonna gain and
lose fans. You're gonna impress some people and turn some
people off. You're gonna be disappointed with how many people
show up at more shows. Some day. I'm even seeing
bands that were massively successful for the last couple of
(20:04):
decades and I'm watching them friends, bands that are not
able to draw what they used to draw. I mean,
everything has a cycle, everything has an end, and we
can easily be discouraged if we put too much importance
on anything external.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Especially if you do this for a living. It's difficult
because what you started without a monetary return was just priceless.
It was art. It was for the love of it.
And then once that starts giving you a career, all
those things you created for the pure love of it,
and now you're like, I have this audience that I
(20:39):
need to show up for. I need to sell these tickets. Oh,
hopefully they'll dig these songs too. If you get into
that mind space, you're screwed. It's like you almost have
to wash that away and hope that your audience goes
on this journey with you as your music develops.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, yeah, or at least someone does. Yeah, right, because
I mean, really, if it's just for you in the end,
you have nothing to lose, right, except you do want
to share it. There's always that urge, but the expectation
that everyone's gonna love it every time. It's just unfair
to you.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah. Well number three is live performance, and this is
what I love most about playing music. The ability to
connect with a live audience, I feel is something that
I excel at only because I love it so much.
Like I really just love getting up there and entertaining
(21:37):
and performing live is about connection, not perfection. So the
real energy of a live show is one of the
clearest indicators of your progress when it comes to a career,
I believe. So it's just not the technicality that we
were talking about before, which again I am, you know,
(21:57):
three chords and a red guitar in the truth, So
I'm not doing anything too crazy technically anyway. But emotionally
and professionally, that's where the technicality comes in to say, hey,
am I approved improving on how I'm emotionally delivered to
an audience.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And that really goes back to my focus on me
and my skills. They all start to overlap, right, Like,
if I'm showing up at a show and I know
I've practiced certain new things, I'm excited more excited to
be there for that live performance. I'm if I've got
new music to play I'm more excited. I'm finding ways
(22:37):
to pull that excitement into me because I know that
if it's there, everyone is going to feel it, you know.
And so when I think of live performance right now,
I really want people to think about how much you're
showing up with that excitement. It's a really dangerous thing
to get into a situation where you're playing shows that
you are not happy about. And if that is happening.
I'm not saying cancel those gigs because you might need
(23:00):
the money, but I'm saying find ways to integrate some
excitement back into your soul for those situations, because it's
really important in order to be a great performer.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
We've both been there, playing of times.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Plenty of times, and everyone will be I guarantee you
that you too, not saying you too, saying the band
you too has felt this one hundred thousand times with
all these songs that they've played over and over again.
Despite the fact that people keep showing up, there are
plenty of moments that any band, any artist is going
to have these feelings about the situation. Just like writing,
(23:36):
it's something that doesn't always feel like you feel like
doing it. It's just a thing that you have to
learn to be professional about I'm in a stretch right
now of nine shows in eight days, and then I
get Father's Day off, and then I'm in another five
shows in seven days, and so I'm in this long
stretch of playing every night, and a lot of these
(23:58):
are really important. I say important only to say that,
like they're they're some of my exclusive type of gigs
where they they're more financially rewarding, but they also take
a little bit more a commitment and energy out of me.
And I was playing the other night and I started
(24:19):
talking in the audience, and I remembered all of a sudden,
I was like, this is not the place to talk
because it was a Korbra gig. And I sometimes that
line gets gets kind of diluted when people start engaging
with you and you want to make it into a
show where it's about you, and then you have to
remember to turn it off. So sometimes for me, like
performing live, performing has these different faces. You know, I'm
(24:42):
putting on a different face for different types of shows,
and I start to get to know them each better,
and it does changes in what gear I bring, what
setlist I play obviously, and you know how you dress
and how and everything about the show is different, and
there's different categories in which you're aware of. So so
when I think about moving forward as a performer, it's
(25:04):
more about me showing up in those different environments and
being the absolute professional, being the one that they want,
that they need to have back next time for that
particular type of event.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I was hired with Brian and Brad two weeks ago
for Hot Rock Casino, and it's three hours as a
band on a stage in front of everybody, with the
big monitor of all our faces behind us. There's no
time for long lulls in between song. You are performing
(25:39):
for two hour and twenty minute sets, which I am
not used to at all, and we weren't used to
making set lists because forty five minutes is one thing
you can memorize it, but three hours after a while,
it's kind of fun to throw things out and be like,
what do you want to play next? What do you
want to play next? And we would kind of go
(25:59):
around and do that. We did not want to do
that for this, and mentally it was different for me
to be on top of it. When to talk Brad
has I don't know, detuned something, So I need to
make sure that I'm talking during that time. So there's
not a law. There was just so many different factors
that I was out of practice on that I knew
(26:20):
i'd better be prepared for when it came to that show.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
That brings up the other aspect too that I think
is really important as performers, and this is something that
as an instructor I bring up a lot, is that
live performance for me is all about dynamics and delivery.
Emotional delivery organically has so much dynamic variation, and so
(26:44):
often it doesn't show up or translate in people's delivery
in performances, and for me, it is the number one
thing that separates professionals from everyone that's trying to get
there right. And I think if there's anything that I
think everyone could always be spending a little time on,
it's focusing on your dynamics. And it doesn't always mean
(27:05):
getting loud or quieter. It can be the hit or
how hard you're hitting something. It could be how you're
attacking the instrument while you're singing. It could be obviously
in the delivery or the over pronunciation of the words,
or it can be the way that you just are
expressing the moment, like if you're moving around and you're
very animated with your movements. So there is a lot
(27:26):
of various ways of talking about dynamics, but it's usually
the area where everyone needs to spend a little time on.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
That's a lot to ask yourself to even remember all
that stuff going through it. I don't know about you,
but sometimes I black out and I'm just, you know,
on autopilot. So I would advise record yourself any chance
you get, if you can see your set and look
back and kind of watch the ups and downs and
(27:55):
the roller coasters that you want to take your songs
on and your audience on. A couple of your performances
each month, watch with a friend you know, don't show
Chris Webb because you know he'll be brutally honest and
you'll learn something things you don't want to hear about yourself,
but it will only make you better. But you'll leave
going damn, why does they have to be so honest?
(28:16):
I have another friend, Christopher Morris, who's a songwriter in Boulder,
and he's brutally honest, and he's taught me to be
brutally honest with him. But it's fun and we're down
to why do you have your cell phone in your
front pocket? You know you're filming this for you know,
for your YouTube later and all this live show you
(28:39):
got this and you have your cell phone in your
front pocket. Just little stuff like that. Tell me that Brad,
Chad and I do a really good job of talking
in between songs, but we never engage with each other
while we're playing. And that's something you have to pay
attention to, something I would have never even thought of.
(29:00):
So it's nice to have a friend that you could
rattle stuff off with.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I mean, we could go on forever about live performance stuff,
because truthfully, there is so many various ways that you've
got to be focused on improving, and it all depends
on what you're trying to do as an artist, and
it also depends on what types of shows you're playing.
So if you're with a band, or if you're solo,
or if you're if you're traveling. You know, there's just
(29:26):
so many ways that we can discuss that, but let's
just move forward to the next one to keep everyone's attentions.
The next one is industry knowledge. Music is also a business.
Staying educated and adaptable is a key factor in progressing
as an artist in the music industry. It's not just
(29:49):
about learning the jargon. It's also about control and having
longevity in this career.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
And we wanted to do it so bad we started
a podcast that we don't no well everything about the industry.
We wanted to learn more about it. So we thought, hey,
let's show up, share what we've learned throughout the years,
and hopefully learn from our peers and everyone that writes us.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And again we're not saying go learn the business, because
that is like, that's the worst advice anybody could ever
give you, because it's so massive. Even within each country,
it's a massive difference in how the business functions, all
the different rules, within all of the different areas of
the money flowing. So it really is about learning one
thing that really will help you progress. Right. Do you
(30:36):
understand the royalties and how they get paid out? You
understand publishing? Do you understand how contracts can actually protect you?
Like they did last night for me when I was
playing a show. They tried to put me out in
the open, and I could tell there might be come
in some rain and then we're outside and I said,
here's it. In the contract. It says right here, you know,
I have to be under shelter, and they accommodated because
(30:57):
it was a signed contract. I don't think I would
have had that leverage with a big venue like that
if I hadn't had that sign contract.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
So things like that, Did they give you a ten
rough shelter?
Speaker 2 (31:10):
No? Actually no, what what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Sorry, you're set electrifying? Oh storm coming? That's a lightning joke.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I know you're under a lot of pressure to be funny. Yeah,
there we gotta go.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
We start this whole episode over.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
The other thing that I could say about last night too,
with that situation and types of situations like that, is like,
are you confident in negotiating? Are you going to stand
up for yourself when you need help? Are you going
to advocate for your safety and your safety of your business? So,
you know, there's lots of different ways that we can
look at that in connections, like are you making connections,
are you growing your network joining organizations? Are you attending
(31:57):
events and industry types of so that you can continue
expanding your community.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
I haven't found something like that in Madison, and I
wanted to talk to you about that because I think
I might start a meetup there you go just to
see what happens.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, you should do that.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
Okay, well, I'm glad we had this talk.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
See how things happen around here. Yeah done. Knowledge directly
supports smarter decisions, and they also improve the odds for
long term sustainability. You we always say this, you cannot
do this business alone. And the industry is out there
functioning whether you do anything or not. Right, It isn't
(32:43):
there waiting for you. And so we have to remember that.
Some I do think that there's a there's a dangerous
mindset that often and I was in this for a
long time, where you think someone's gonna come save you, right,
someone's coming to take care. What are the things that
you're just not doing and getting you to where you
(33:04):
think you really potentially could be. That's not going to happen.
And I'm sorry to be the angry uncle on that,
but it ain't gonna happen. They're not coming. You have
to do this. You have to go find people. You
have to create those opportunities. You have to improve your
knowledge and expand your ability to represent yourself to get
(33:24):
to those positions in which you know you're capable of.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
And you don't have to go towards everything at once.
Spend thirty days, pick a topic, learn about seek licency,
take one month, learn about social media, one month, learn
about email development and marketing.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And this is one of those things again where you
don't need to go spend money on a course if
you don't want to. You can literally find a different
YouTube video that would have some helpful information on it
every day that could take up that thirty minute drive
and give you that information during that one month that
you're focused on that one thing, just to improve your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Are there any new newsletters or podcasts you recommend? First
one comes to mind. It's called Musicians Tip char have
a pretty cool website, pretty cool podcasts. You're gonna notice
they're gonna be talking a little sultry in the next
few episodes, trying.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
To you're reading your arm zone real voice.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
But Damien kis Ariy Hirstad, I mean he's awesome. He's
got a plethora of awesome stuff that Ari's take. Yeah,
it's awesome. And even ascap CD, Baby ban zoo O,
the MLC, all of those have great backstage resources.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah, and I guess this could be summed up with
saying that if you're struggling to find the information, that's
another reason you need your community. Because here we are
listing all these things, things like the ASCAP and BMI
and all these different pros. They have so much time
and n and funding put towards free resources for their community,
(35:05):
and everything you need is already out there. It really is.
We say this all the time, but sometimes it's waiting
for you to ask the next one. Probably the area
that I think I'm the weakest in is fan engagement.
In today's music industry, engagement is our most valuable currency.
It's not about having the most followers, it's about building
(35:27):
real connections with the ones that you do have. You
can use these following signs to measure your fan engagement.
Are people consistently commenting, messaging, or re sharing your posts?
I'd say no for me.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
I would say no for me too. But are we
I think this is a two way conversation totally. Are
we doing that to people that we know are already
following us or in our newsletter? Are we asking questions?
Are we commenting or messaging some of them too? I
think we could do more of that as well.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, Well, we just had the whole conversation with Sides
recently about your relationship with social media, and my reat
cheap with social media is that I just don't like it.
I don't spend any time on there really, maybe a
few minutes a day to see if anybody messaged me
and respond to those. But I don't engage in other
(36:25):
people's stuff much. And I also don't post anything, so
I can't expect there to be comments or you know,
resharing of anything if there's no content for them to
do that with. So that's probably should be on the
top of this list is are you posting? Are you
putting anything out there?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
But all I'm hearing is that no one is commenting
on your stuff because it doesn't exist. I should feel
worse because it does exist and no one's commenting.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Well, this can go back to Sides thing again said
just looking at one new fan each time, right. I mean,
we can't expect there to be an instant growth of
any of these categories that we're talking about today, and
you should treat fan engagement the same way. It's one
fan at a time. I mean, this is one area
(37:18):
where I do a good job with is engaging with
people at shows and communicating with them and staying in
touch with them and that kind of thing. And I
do think that that has caused my email list to
grow and I get feedback from that and I engage
with people there. So there's a lot of ways that
you can do this, and it's important that you do
something in a way that you like than you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It's also fun when you see the same people starting
to come back and more shows and make an effort
when you do notice.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
That totally, it's funny because it's like you really want
it to be in a place that you feel comfortable.
And so I guess in that way, I'm making an
excuse for myself that I don't enjoy being on a
lot of those social media platforms. And if I don't
enjoy it, don't expect my fans to really want to
spend time with me there, right, I mean, I don't
know if there's a right answer there, but I do
(38:07):
think that that there's still room for improvement. I could
probably outsource it, which is probably what I should do,
is find this balance of creating content and letting someone
else post it. Probably my solution to move forward.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Well, yesterday we released a promise that I said for
an action step that every post that I make will
be along those guidelines that sides illustrated interview, So I
don't get started on that today. So by the time
(38:39):
this is released, we'll have two weeks of some notable mentions.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Well before we dive in too much and making ourselves
feel awful. Here, let's move on. Let's move on to
the next one. Yeahhich just perfect because it's personal goals.
Why we're so sad this podcast is going down hill.
Success looks different for everyone, and that's exactly how it
(39:07):
should be. Whether your dream is to tour the world,
make a full time living from music and making music itself,
or simply feeling better and comp more confident with sharing
the work that you're doing. Your goals are your compass.
We all have to identify them, and that is a
really important step in moving forward at all, is knowing
(39:28):
where you're trying to go. So use this section about
personal goals to check in with your vision and your
work and how you're working towards and aligning with these
actions that you feel like will set your values and
your creativity and your purpose in the right line. First thing,
i'd say, is are you reaching any specific milestones that
(39:48):
you're setting for yourself, And those can be things like
recording an EP or even a single song, touring, earning
a living as a musician. That is a serious achievement,
and it's something that we maybe took for granted until
we started doing this podcast and finding out how many
people just want to be able to make enough money
to make music their only thing. Right we're up here
(40:09):
complaining sometimes that we don't get to release as much
as we want to or whatever. But truthfully, it's easy
to forget that that can be a goal in itself,
and it's a really really important goal because it means
that you're doing what you want with your time and
making money doing that. So it could also be something
like just feeling confident on stage. That is a time
where I struggled with that. I think everyone goes through that,
(40:31):
and you have to set a goal in order for
that to ever change, because the first thing you have
to do is have the intention that you are going
to get past whatever it is, and.
Speaker 3 (40:40):
Those are the things that you're in control of. So
do you feel more creative or fulfilled or proud of
yourself with the growth that you're achieving and just how
depressed we got depending on number five. For the live
performance model, we're depending on other people to see our vision,
which you know would be really nice. But here these
(41:02):
personal goals are something that we can set for ourselves
to strive to feel more confident and to grow creatively.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Another part of this for me is whether or not
the overall perspective of your life is coming together right.
I do think that there's an organic molding of when
you're doing what it is you feel good about doing
with your life. I don't know how to say that
except for to say that it feels like what you're
supposed to do. And for many of us, we just
(41:30):
feel like we're supposed to be musicians, right, like we're
supposed to be creative. We're supposed to be creating, And
there's always that question, is what you're doing towards that
goal of an artist? Also in line staying in line
with your values and growing with your values and growing
with your lifestyle and what is as you redefine what
(41:53):
success is what you constantly do, are you doing things
to help keep you in alignment for where that is headed?
Speaker 3 (42:01):
And that's not based on anybody else's journey. And that's
something I think you and I align on a lot
over the many years of our friendship. We are not
comparing ourselves to other musicians as far as how wealthy
they are, successful they are, as far as fans, how
great of musicians they are. We look at that as
(42:22):
something to aspire to and be inspired by. So I think,
if your goals are your compass, like you said, just
focus on the things in your journey that you can control.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
And that's really a great point in my world that
I have spent so much time learning to be true
that you compare in it. It's the thief of happiness.
You know. It's so hard to get that into your head.
You might say something like that, like, oh, comparison is
(42:56):
the thief of joy, right, that's the quote, But truthfully,
it is. And you can't sit and do an effective
session with your personal goals and your personal growth and
believing in yourself if you're so caught up in everyone
else and what they're doing, because it's not about you.
(43:18):
Once you start doing that, and it really is hard
to understand, it's really hard to practice this in an
honest way. But this is my other problem. With social
media is that it causes it to be even harder
for some people. And we just need to be aware
that when we're making these personal goals, when we're trying
to move forward in these little ways, that it's for us, right,
(43:40):
Just like why you wrote that song, just like why
you're feeling like playing music, just like why you're listening
to this podcast is it's for you, right. And so
it's really important that as you get to this step
of the personal goals that you make sure it's all
about you.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
And the goals you had last year, which I am
realizing now more than ever they do not match who
I am today or my circumstances that are today. So
this section is for you to reset, reframe, reimagine what
you really want out of your music journey.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
You know that just made me think of too, is
there was this I was reading a book that was
talking about how you forgive yourself. You know, we have
to constantly do that. I mean just the other day
when I when somebody gave me their coffee, my coffee
and they said, enjoy your coffee, and I said you too,
you know, and I thought I had They're just giving
me a coffee. Why did is they do.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Because you realize you felt bad when you realize you
weren't going to share.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Yeah, right, but I you know, like that's a silly example,
but you know, we're constantly feeling like before I used
to want to write, I was so impulsively writing I
couldn't stop writing it, stay up till two am writing.
Now I have to schedule it, you know, like a
doctor's appoint in order to get myself to go there.
(45:04):
And I think we can feel really bad about that.
I think we can get really on ourselves, like what's
wrong with me now? You know? And so just like
not comparing yourself with other people, you need to learn
to let go of who you used to be because
you are only who you are now. There is only
what is right, and so making your goals aligned with
who you are now also means letting go of maybe
(45:26):
what you thought was important or you that was important
to you before.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
What's our action steps this week? I feel like we've
already given a ton, But what would you say? Number one?
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Number one for me is to use this list to
build your own awareness of your progress. Our goal here
is not to make you feel any worse about how
progress is going for you. It is more about breaking
down small ways to make each of these areas which
kind of covers all the aspects of the business, how
to make each of them feel like there's still moving
(46:00):
forward in small ways, and to recognize that you are
making progress even sometimes when it kind of feels like
it's stagnant and then it jumps, and then it's stagnant,
then it goes down, and you know, letting letting that
flow to occur without judgment by using this small method
of checking for little sources of effort and little sources
(46:22):
of improvement.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
When I was getting ready for today's conversation, I made
a PDF that kind of gave actionable items for all
of these and then little pro notes from what you
and I had suggested we could do to you know,
make comments on this podcast. So you could find this
all just by going to the search bar at musicians
(46:46):
tipchar dot com and put how to gauge your progress,
and I'll have a whole download and a little blog
there for everyone. You could download it for your for yourself.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Thanks Dave, You welcome, Chris, and we over that your
time is valuable. We appreciate you spending this time with us.
Here at musicians tipchar we hope that you feel the
sense of community here and that you'll help spread the
word to make us all stronger. If you'd like to
get hold of us, what's the best way to do that.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
Musicians tipjar a Gmail and musicians tipjar dot com where
you can check out all the resources and discounts we
are collected just for you, and check out all our
episodes now on YouTube channel. All future videos will be
in ten eighty. Everybody, we went through some back and
forth with some video software and some of our friends,
(47:34):
honest friends that share too much with us about how
we just need to upgrade to ten eighty. So check
out all those episodes, and if you find this information useful,
please rate and subscribe to the podcast and slam that
like button if you're on YouTube, so you can help
keep you up on the finance side of your music business.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
As always, thank you for joining us, and remember there
is already enough for everyone, We just need to know
how to get it. Until next time on behalf of
Dave Tankin and myself Chris Webb, Stay happy, healthy and wealthy.
Progress for a musician is not measured only in plays
or pay, but in peace, presence, and purpose. This is
(48:14):
musicians tip Jack, come.
Speaker 3 (48:15):
One say that's sent us one more time as class
as you can.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Progress from a musician is measured not only in plays
or pay, but in peace, process, presence, and purpose. Just
added another pe.
Speaker 3 (48:27):
Nice job. That's the best any to do podcasts We've
ever had.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Somebody, somebody.
Speaker 5 (48:41):
Some Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal
or professional advice. Please insult an appropriate tax, legal, business
professional for individualized advice, individual results and not guaranteed. And
I discussed to Jay's potential for promising songs host co
operation on behalf of musicians Tavi John Ellens the exclusively
(49:05):
could
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