I have a teenage son who tells me his pirating music is no big deal. Since he is a musician himself, I point out to him that someday that’s going to be his money people are stealing. But he remains unphased.

He tells me the record sales make money for the record label, not the artist. He says that the artists make all their money from touring and live concerts. He thinks the pirated music promotes the concerts and therefore helps the artist make more money. I still don’t allow pirating in my house.

But tell me what you think – as artists out there having your work “shared,” are you just glad to have it being enjoyed, or does it bother you? Admittedly, he is stealing music that is recorded by major record labels, so maybe its different than the independent musician working for his living. But I’d still like to hear what you think.

Thanks,
Valerie

The good new is, you’re right.  The bad news is, you’re wrong.

You’re right in that your son shouldn’t share music and make himself prone to getting sued by the RIAA.  It seems that in going after file sharers, the record industry has created an income stream.  By taking part in file sharing, your son would be liable to pay thousands of dollars in a settlement fees to support an obsolete industry.

It sucks but it’s true.

Your son, however, is completely correct in his assertion that he is not stealing from the artist.  The truth is that the record industry has been milking the artist since it began.
The business end of the record industry essentially exists for manufacturing and distribution and that’s it.  The artist creates a product and handles most of the real heavy lifting as far as making a salable product.  Once that’s done, the rest of the industry takes it, packages it and sends it to the world for a profit.  Once they’ve done that, they begin to collect the proceeds; but the money that comes in doesn’t get split up just yet.  In fact, the initial sales of the record never really make it to the artist because the record company usually turns to the artist to recoup the costs of producing and promoting the record.
Now the term “piracy” assumes that there’s a monetary component to downloading music.  While it is true that this material is copyrighted intellectual property, your son has neither paid for it nor is he profiting from it.  If he were taking this same music, burning it to a CD and selling it, or heavily sampling it, or somehow reproducing it and calling it his own that would be piracy, bootlegging or violating a copyright.  He is simply sharing the music, which is where some of the controversy comes in.
Labels argue that this sharing eats into their bottom line.  While it may true to some small extent, chances are that a track downloaded from a file sharing or torrent site would not have been otherwise bought by the person doing the downloading.  It’s simple math really; the typical file sharer might download several thousand songs, the majority of which they would probably never have purchased due to how much it would cost.  A typical downloader might download an entire album that contains one song that they know or like just to see if they’d be into the rest of the album.

Back in the day, before I owned an iPod and could sample and buy individual songs on iTunes, I bought countless CDs because I got into one or two songs and wanted to check out the band.  Sometimes it was worth it and sometimes it wasn’t.  The thing is, I couldn’t afford to do this with every song that I liked and I had to pick and choose the albums that I bought.  Often, I tried to get recommendations from friends or I’d keep my ears open for other tracks from the album (it helped when record stores started adding open listening stations).  While I bought a fair amount of music, I couldn’t afford to buy it all – and since I go to live shows as often as I can, would it have benefitted some bands if I could have given them a chance in my record collection?

Many bands are experimenting with various models that include providing free downloads of their album.  Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails released his album, The Slip as a free download with a collectable version that was later sold.  The album made enough to cover costs and even turned a profit.  Radiohead also had some success releasing their album with a name your own price model with more standard releases afterward.  Again, they were able to cover costs and turn a profit.
So to sum it up, you shouldn’t let your son download music on peer-to-peer networks for the simple reason that he might get sued, he’s not really “stealing” from any artists, the music that gets downloaded usually doesn’t get bought and the industry will probably end up giving the music away in the long run.  I hope that clears up the situation as it currently stands.

… And may your son have widespread demand for his music be his largest problem.

As you can imagine, this has gotten lot of people’s attention-namely bloggers, small site owners and the netroots. For musicians and indie labels this means that the majors can again enjoy an edge by being able to pay to get this preferred access.

This is just an example of businesses trying to figure out how to bring in additional revenue streams to grow even larger. The internet service providers already make money off of you, the internet user, so now they want to make money off of content providers.

This would be like a car company making a car that only drives well, if you’re going to a mall or a certain shopping center, but the car wouldn’t drive as well if you were going to grandma’s house. You, as the car buyer, don’t want that, do you?

Of course not-that’s just stupid. In their quest for higher returns, the ISPs are overlooking the ones that pay the bills… all of you out there in internet land.

Personally, I love when companies like this get greedy; it means one thing…

Innovation is on its way!

You see one of the great things about the internet is that it tends to help “The Man” realignment his perspective when the blind quest for cash makes him do stupid things. It’s amazing how an entire industry can seem to find their soul when they’re staring down the barrel of the next big thing.

Let’s take a little trip back in time shall we…

It’s the late 90s, there’s a lot of great music coming out, and the major labels are rolling in it; and why not. They’re charging a whopping $20+ for their entire catalogs. I distinctly remember this because I learned about a new internet thing in the same week that I bought my copy of Magical Mystery Tour.

I was complaining to a computer savvy friend about how I wanted to buy a bunch of albums that weekend, but the sticker shock resulted in my only buying one. He agreed and mentioned a little service called Napster that let you download music for free. Now, at the time, I commuted to school, I only had a 56k connection and my desktop didn’t have a CD burner – I really couldn’t do much with this info. People on campus, with the school provided broadband connection, did take advantage of Napster.

A few months later, Metallica and the record companies saw their profits shrinking and cried fowl. Their outrage was not met with much sympathy from the public; after all, we were the ones getting shafted.

Napster wasn’t the cause of the problem, it was the result.

When I walked into that record store a few moths earlier I had $40 in my pocket and I was looking to buy two or three CDs at around $12-15 each. I left with one, because it was $21 dollars and that didn’t leave me with enough for another $20 CD. The record companies lost out on $19 of sales, not because of piracy, but because of greed.

The birth of the MP3 lead to the discovery of electronic transfer of music via the internet.It started with piracy, but turned into capitalism when the iPod came out and iTunes (as well as other services) started selling individual songs at a fraction of the price. Record companies had to drop their prices because the masses decided that they didn’t like what was going on.

This is why Net Neutrality will ultimately win out over greed. We don’t want a slower connection to the sites that we want to go to. Broadband companies use their speed as an advertising point, why would they intentionally slow down part of their service?

If they did what they seem to be threatening to do, some ambitious nineteen year old nerd is just going to figure out a way to set things straight and make things better. They’ll get tons of venture capital and start a new, completely neutral broadband company, steal all the customers away from the non-neutral ISPs and make billions – and chances are the new service will have some other innovation that the current crop of ISPs can’t offer.

So I say if they want to kill net neutrality, bring it on. I can’t wait to get net neutral broadband Wi-Fi from cell towers anywhere in the country – god bless innovation.

“Greed is good.” – Gordon Gekko, Wall Street (1987)

Pat Croce, entrepreneur and part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers said that he received a simple piece of advice from his father that he attributes most of his success to.

Croce’s father’s advice was this: If you don’t ask, the answer is always ‘no’.

Years ago, a lottery advertising slogan said “You gotta be in it to win it!” It’s kind of the same thing. Though phrased differently, this advice has been around forever and is a very powerful bit of wisdom.

The lotto slogan makes a good point; no matter what the odds are of you actually winning, it’s impossible to win if you don’t play. Now this was a marketing ploy to help the lotto sell dreams, but it’s true.

Croce’s father’s advice is a much more universal adaptation of this principle. It can and should be applied to you music career.

If you make a request, you’ll usually get one of two responses – yes or no. That much is obvious. If you don’t make a request, you don’t receive any answer and you don’t get what you had requested; not getting what you wanted is the same result that you would get if you asked and were told ‘no’.

If there’s a 50% chance of getting what you want when you ask, there also a 50% chance of not getting it. There’s a 0% chance of getting it if you don’t ask, so why not just ask and take your chances?

Most of us have seen that guy, who doesn’t look all that attractive, yet has a supermodel girlfriend. Ever wonder how he pulled that off? Chances are, he simply just went for it.

It’s all about being proactive, and as a musician, getting what you want depends on your ability to be proactive. You will never write the song that defines your generation if you don’t write any songs at all. You will never play a bigger and better show if you don’t seek it out and ask to play it. You will never get a fan if you don’t make an attempt to play your music for them.

There are a million stories of musicians being discovered. If you listen to them you’ll find that none of these discoveries where accidental. The discovered artists usually made an effort of some sort and the person who discovered them noticed it.

Being a successful musician is a process of asking and building. You must ask for what you want and build off of what you get. Do not let rejection stop you from asking. The chances you’ll make it are dramatically increased if you try as opposed to doing nothing.

Pat, RSM

Hi, my name is Kevin Brown. In this article I would like to address the subject of practice, and how to get paid for it. Sounds funny?…well, when I finish, you will have a different view about this idea.

We have all heard the statement, “Practice Makes Perfect”,…and it is a proven fact that this is so very true. There are many different ways, and technical aspects of just how one should practice. I am going to talk about the solo single line musician, and what you can do to get all the practice you need, and how to get paid for your efforts. When I say single line solo musician, I mean those musician who play woodwinds, brass, violins, cello, any instrument that does not have the advantage of making chords.

In this article, I will use my real life experiences to demonstrate the fact that this does work. To what degree depends upon the individuals efforts, and desire to succeed.

First,…The one thing that we all need, and want, is a joyous life, and abundant living. One of the main questions that we ask ourselves when taking this journey through life is,…Just how can I make a living, and enjoy what I do? One answer I know is true, is to find that talent that one has been blessed with, nurture it, pursue it, build on it, and it will take care of you, and the question of a joyous life, and abundant living will be answered.

To begin, I will use my life, and experiences as a basis, and outline for this article and show just how to, “Get Paid For Practicing”.

For starters,…I am a blind individual,… I play saxophone,…and that is what I know how to do well. I have been playing the saxophone for 40 years, 36 of those professionally. As I dont consider myself an awesome musician, I absolutely love to play! I love to hear other musicians,whom I consider awesome, play. I can tell, as well as any music lover can tell, when some one has spent the time, and effort, and many, many hours in the practice shed.

Practice is an absolute must, if you want to be a successful musician. There is no way around it. I cant tell you just how many thousands of hours I put into practicing, not because I was made to,…but, because I loved it.

I went through high school, and attended Berklee College of Music, in Boston,…in the pursuit of a career in music. It was while I attended Berklee that I discovered the princible of getting payed for practice.

I remember being dirt poor, as most musicians were at that time, having no food, no job, not knowing what to do. So…I called my cousin, who lived about 40 minutes outside Boston at that time, and asking her if she could bring me some food, and money. She said,…”you had better take your horn, and go out on the street and play somewhere”! I was completely shocked!…I could not believe she said that to me!…How could she? I said,…”Are you Kidding”? You cant be serious? She said,…Yes, I am,…I hear musicians playing every day, and I know that you can do just as well, if not better than a lot of them. That moment right there, was a turning point in my life.

So, I did what she suggested,…I found a spot that I thought was acceptable, took my sax, and set out to make some money. I realized very quickly that there was more to this street playing than just dropping on a spot, and just making some noise. First: I didn’t have a clue on what to play,…What did people actually like to hear? So, the first time I did this, I just played scales. Can you believe that?…I played scales! I made about $20, just playing scales! I couldn’t believe it!…I just could not believe it. Out of all the songs that I knew, the only thing I could think of to play were scales.

One thing lead to another, and I learned to pick, and choose the songs that people liked to hear. I also learned that being a single line instrument took a lot of work. It is very hard to play by yourself, without chords, and have people understand what song you are playing. So, I started to invest in play-a-longs to help me build a song list by which to continue this new found source of income. I would get a new play-a-long as my finances permitted, and build my song list, which in turn put more money in my pocket.

It wasn’t until later that I got an idea from this guy that used to play his guitar while roller skating up and down Boylston street with a battery powered amplifier strapped to his back. I thought,…Boy, it would be great if I could get a battery powered amp like that,… and play all of those play-a-longs, That I have acumulated, through it while I am out playing. So, that’s what I did. As soon as money permitted,…I bought a battery powered amp,…a Peavey KB15, got a cassette player,…and proceeded to play with my new play-a-long band. You know what!…It worked!…It really worked!

Not only was it better playing,…people really liked it! I could last longer,…and I made more money!…A Lot More Money. There were many benefits that I had not considered. 1. I made money 2. I got more gigs 3. I made a name for myself 4. It made my chopps a lot stronger 5. I met other musicians to play with 6. It was steady work, at my own hours 7. It has lasted a lifetime, even to today

I was literally getting paid for practicing! So,…if you are a solo musician, and you live in a major city, or even a small town,…consider this example. Take advantage of every opportunity to further your musical career. there are many ways to make a living as a musician if you look for it. Check around in your area,…look for places were you can play,…you will be surprised at the response you get when you do things right.

This followed me through my whole career. I have played all over the world,…in all kinds of venues,…in all styles of music,…in all kinds of bands, and orchestras. I have not regretted that very first time I set out to play on the street in that place called, “The Bean Town”, Boston”.

Note: 1. A great source for jazz play-a-longs is : http://www.jajazz.com

2. Listen to my music: http://www.cursebustersound.com

3. Promote your music on line: http://cursebuster.linkscout.com

Copyright 2006 Curse Buster Sound

About The Author
Kevin Brown is a blind, jazz saxophonist. His intense, improvive style of playing is both soothing, and captivating to the listener. You can hear, and contact Kevin at: http://www.cursebustersound.com

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For your music career, if done right, it could reap significant rewards.

So what is networking? It’s really just making connections and reinforcing them. You meet people all the time and when you have something in common, you develop a relationship. It is through these relationships that people help each other out and turn each other on to things that might be useful.

For instance; say you play a show and meet another band on the bill. You hit it off and spend the rest of the night hanging out with them at the bar. It seems like these guys are cool, so you decide to keep in touch and you get their contact info and give them yours.

Weeks later, you get a call from that other band and they tell you that they’ve been included on a compilation that a local music publication is putting together and they’re looking for one more local band to finish the comp. You call the publication, get on the compilation, become wildly popular and are asked to play the local stadium.

OK, maybe the stadium bit went a little far, but that’s what a typical networking scenario is like. It’s people helping people. If you needed help, you could always open up your phonebook and make a call. If people can help and they consider you a friend, they will help you. Often the person giving help is in a position to do so with little effort. In the example above, the other band had already been included in the compilation and they learned that there was another open spot. It didn’t take more than a phone call with some info to help your band get involved; just a little effort on their part makes a huge difference to your band.

Keep in mind that this isn’t one sided; you need to help people too, and it should come from a genuine place. Not to sound all Oprah here, but I really find that you get what you put out. If you keep in touch with those you meet and you will find times when you can help them and they will do the same.

So what types of scenarios can networking help you with?

Getting gigs, meeting industry contacts, getting included on compilations, getting press, putting together DIY shows, getting turned on to new resources – the list goes on and on. Can you build websites? A band you meet might need one, and if you can build a site quickly it’d be far easier for you to help them then for them to do it themselves. The opposite is also true; you can ask someone who builds sites to help you out if you don’t know how to. These are some of the things that come up, if you can help you should, if you need help you should ask.

As you progress, you’ll discover things that will help other musicians and be able to make those connections that help build music communities. Even the occasional helpful hint sent in an e-mail could make a difference to someone. SELF PROMOTION ALERT – if you find a post on this site helpful, you can always send a link to a friend in another band (if you were a nice person that wanted to help me out for all the educational posts that I write).

In short, you should work on building and strengthening your network. Keep in regular contact and try to send out a little help when you can. If they ask for a favor and you can help do it; when you need help, you only need ask. Don’t be surprised if help starts flowing in without asking – friends are like that.

The whole thing brought back a memory from when I was in college. As a broke college student I didn’t have very much money for a good stereo. One summer, I decided to work three jobs and save up to assemble a pretty good component set.

I killed myself for three months straight, buying each component when I had enough money. By the end of the summer I had put together a Kenwood component system, buying a receiver, a CD player, a tape deck, and some pretty nice box speakers. Looking back, I’m actually pretty impressed.

A friend of mine worked for a very large record label at the time (one of the very largest labels). He worked in the recording studios, and managed to record his demo there in the off hours. He was pretty lucky getting to record in a multimillion dollar studio, and I have to say that the recording sounded pretty damn good.

One night he and another friend came over and we listened to his demo on my new stereo. After listening to a few tracks, he made the comment, “It doesn’t sound as good on the speakers. You’ve got to hear it on the studio speakers.”

(I’ll clean up my response for mixed company)

“You have a boombox, you [unorthodox biscuit-eater]!!! Of course it sounds better on $100,000 studio monitors, ya [taco merchant], they’re $100,000 studio monitors!!! What the [Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary] do you think people are going to listen to this [fine audio recording] on?”

Folks, audio recordings come along way. It’s now possible to make high-quality recordings in your home using affordable equipment, with a little know-how and some elbow grease. If done right, you would need an oscilloscope to tell the difference. Some people are critical of home recordings, because they’ve tried to record on their own equipment and were hypersensitive of the results. Yet the same recording played for anyone else would sound amazing to them and would be hard to peg as a home recording.

I could go to RadioShack right now and pick up equipment that is more advanced than anything the Beatles used when they recorded all of their classic tracks. It’s amazing the difference 30 to 40 years could make.

The original distortion pedal wasn’t a pedal at all; it was a broken speaker cone that vibrated when a chord was played through it. The original flange was also not a pedal; it was an engineer, rhythmically pressing his thumb down on the flange of a reel to reel tape as it recorded – hence the term flange.

The point here is, good music is good music, it doesn’t matter how it’s recorded. Sure a lousy recording won’t do it justice, but a trip to the Apple store, and some time with a how-to book can keep you from making a lousy recording. I’ve heard home recordings that sounded like they were recorded in a high-quality studio, and I’ve heard studio recordings that sounded like they were recorded in a bus station bathroom.

You can save yourself some money, and learn how to make your music sound good and be in the studio anytime you like… just don’t be afraid of home recording.

As an interesting aside, that same friend from before recorded a song using GarageBand in a bedroom and ranked high on the play charts of a prominent internet radio station next to some well-known major-label acts. Food for thought.

The same is true for any subject that you want to learn, especially music.

The music business is one of the most well covered industries there is. There are magazines, newspapers, books, TV shows, dramatic films, documentaries and websites completely devoted to telling the stories of it and they can bring you the best education in the music business that there is.

If you read this blog and the many others that are out there you will learn a great deal about the music industry. If you are already out there, in the trenches, you’ll have an even better understanding; nothing teaches like experience.

The final piece of the puzzle for true mastery is to study the history of those who have come before you and those who are where you want to be right now. Their stories almost always start out in the exact same place where you are or have been, and this makes it easy to see what they’ve done because you’ll have a point of reference.

The easiest place to start is television. There are countless shows, like Behind The Music that chronicle the experiences of legendary musicians. Besides being fascinating to watch, they are a great way to get the quick and dirty story of what went on. A Behind The Music marathon on VH1 is like a high speed crash course. Another good show that’s also on VH1 is their Driven series. While these shows may not be shown on a regular basis, they do come on from time to time and you really should keep an eye out for them. Even if they aren’t about a musician that you’re a huge fan of they still succeeded and you can learn how they did what they did.

Next you can move to written literature, like magazines books and websites for more information. Interviews and auto biographies are good because they get you into the subject’s head and help you understand the why of what these artists have done. Many articles are reprinted online so you can try to search Google on different artists to get the background on them that you’re looking for. Like with TV, you should make an effort to learn about as many artists as you can and not just the one’s that you like. Promotion is promotion and genre has little to do with it.

The last part of this is film. Music documentaries and dramatic adaptations are great because they allow you to be a fly on the wall and see how things went down behind the scenes. Besides making this world much more accessible, it also humanizes the artists and shows you that they are susceptible to the same things that you are. Maybe this helps and maybe it doesn’t, but the knowing that huge bands with legions of fans still argue about mundane crap just like your band should give you some hope.

The key to getting the most of these musicians’ portraits is to ask questions.

How did the subject get started? What was their rise to success like? What problems did they encounter and how where those obstacles overcome – or where they ever even overcome at all? What did they go through when they made it? How did it go wrong?

The funny thing is that nearly all of these stories have at least some common elements that you’ll be able to recognize as you immerse yourself in this world. The reason this is important is that the more you understand the common elements you’ll be able to draw parallels between yourself and the artist that you learn about. It is through these parallels that you’ll have a means by which to gauge your progress and identify problems before they become career ending.

Another aspect to be aware of is what these artists did to be proactive and what they didn’t do. Were they ignored by the industry? Did they take matters into their own hands? Did they approach major players in the industry or did the major players approach them? If so, at what point did this happen?

Remember that immersion is essential to learning and answering these questions. With experience comes greater understanding, and with greater understanding comes the ability to make good decisions. Keep at it and learn all you can and it’ll pay huge dividends.

A high energy show requires high energy.

The fact is, these singers, and most musicians really, need to hit a gym on a regular basis and improve their diets. While not out of shape, per say, they are lacking the stamina to perform at that level without getting winded. The rock n’ roll lifestyle may not be conducive to the health and fitness lifestyle, but it can help on two fronts:

• Improved stamina on stage
• Offsetting the unhealthy habits that often come with the musician’s lifestyle.

The other part of the stamina equation is pacing. If you can improve your stamina, you can give more to your performance, but if you give 100% right off the bat you’ll burn out just as fast. While it’s admirable to give your all to a performance, you only have a limited amount of steam before you run out. The rule of thumb is to “end big” or save your best for last. That’s the formula for success in this business and the reason why you need to save something for the end.

Putting these two factors together should net excellent results. Improving your physical condition can reduce the impact of what might have been your best, allowing you to perform and maintain at that level and still have something left for the end; in other words, what might have been you at 100% might now be you at 60%.

Performers of all stripes make their health and fitness a high priority for just this reason. Henry Rollins is known for recounting how hard he trains for tours and important shows, and as a result he has been able perform shows with very high energy levels while most of the musicians that were his hardcore peers have gotten out of the business for milder lives.

In short, keep in shape to keep from burning out. It’ll improve your stage presence more than you’d expect.

The ability to perform is a more a skill than an art; much like the skill of playing an instrument. If you’re a musician you should know the difference between how you play and what you play. See Jimi Hendrix if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

When you perform, you are the show. Everything that you do while on stage is part of the show. Your songs are really the content of a show. If you played only covers, you would still be performing, not creating.

Performances are typically rehearsed, staged and executed. This is an important distinction because there is a different mindset that needs to be adopted when preparing your performance. Playing a song in a studio and playing on a stage are two different monsters entirely.

Rehearsal is, in a sense, training for what you’ll encounter on a stage. Out there you’ll have to play your song perfectly with people watching you, screaming at you, heckling you and, in many ways, distracting you. You’ll have to deal with adrenaline, anxiety and any physical issues that may arise. There’s also technical issues that can range from breaking a string to total equipment failure that could come up.

If that wasn’t enough, in a band situation, you’ll need to worry about all of the above happening to each member of the band, which multiplies the number of things that can go wrong.

Learning to deal with these difficulties in a performance situation without steering the show off course is a skill. Handling problems on the fly or having a plan in place to deal with them when they come up (and they always come up) will help make you a better performer and thus make for better performances.

Beyond problems, you also have to make your performances good. You need to play your songs well and be entertaining. Good songs won’t make for good performances if you don’t develop a strong stage presence, and a good stage presence needs to be developed through experience.

Just remember that after the song is written, you need to switch to performer mode to make it work live.

The best part about growing a following is that it helps to prepare you as a performer. Starting small is like an education, in that you can improve in tiers as your fan base expands.

Few people have the ability to get up in front of people with no fear from the start. The vast majority of people would have a very hard time playing a show in front of a stadium crowd without having played in front of smaller crowds first and working their way up. Thankfully, most musicians don’t start out playing Giant’s Stadium.

In the beginning, you play small clubs to a few people – which is good, because you probably aren’t nearly as good with a crowd as you should be. The smaller the crowd, the fewer the people who will see you while you’re still trying to get comfortable as a performer.

As you progress, if you’re promoting yourself effectively, your crowds will get bigger and your confidence as a performer will increase. You’ll have tons of experience on a stage and it will start to become easier to work a crowd. The more you play, the more you’ll be able to see what moves a crowd and what doesn’t and you can work on developing the things that work while shedding the things that don’t.

If you’re conscious of this then, when you’re ready to move up to bigger venues, you’ll be able to adapt to the larger audiences.

If your career gets to the point that you can draw enough to fill a larger club, you will be able ease your way into being comfortable playing larger venues. While you might not have enough drawing power to fill an arena or stadium, you can still play them on a lesser scale by playing festivals. Most festival shows are comprised of musical acts that have a decent following. Promoters will put these shows together by packaging several bands into one large venue. Since these bands fill clubs, they can collectively fill stadiums, arenas and fairgrounds.

Festival sets are typically shorter than club sets (for headlining acts), so there isn’t as much pressure. Besides being easier, you’ll have a chance to gain experience playing to a huge crowd. Should you ever get the chance to get to the big show by yourself, you won’t go in green.

The other path to growth as a performer is as an opening act for larger bands. This is more difficult as many of the people in the crowd are there to see the headliner and may not be open to the rest of the bill. The benefit of playing these shows is that you’re playing a larger show than you’d be able to play by yourself. You’ll get exposure, of course, but to get the best out of these shows you’ll need to try to win over the crowd. If you can turn a crowd from disinterested to captivated, you’ll have grown exponentially as a performer.

The idea here is not to become impatient trying to play bigger and better shows as soon as possible. A gradual progression, if approached as a path of growth, can be an invaluable education. As a result, your career may even move along more quickly because you’re concentrating on improving yourself as a performer. A better performer will attract more of a fan base than a poor performer ever could.