How to Grow Your Music Career When You’re Broke

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Hey, this is Matthew Rix with the Music Business newsletter

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and today, have you ever met an artist with big dreams,

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no budget and way too much heart? Well, I got

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an email from a twenty something your old piano player

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who's grinding in coffeehouses and he wants to figure out

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how to level up. But before we get started, I

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asked that you like and subscribe to this channel. If

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you have a comment, leave it below. If you agree

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with me or disagree, I still would love to hear

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from you. And if you have a question on the

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music industry that you'd like for me to answer, all

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you got to do is go to Matthewricks dot com,

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click submit your question, give me as many details as possible.

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And now the email from the piano player. He says, Hi,

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my name's Bob and I'm a piano player, singer songwriter

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in my twenties. I just recently discovered these music Business

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newsletters and I really appreciate how you are straight with

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people about what it takes to make it well. Thank you,

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and you recently discovered it because we recently just started

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releasing them, So there you go. He said, you've helped

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me see that there's a lot more to this than

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just writing songs and hoping someone discovers you. Brouh you

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get in it already. I know some artists who have

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been followed me since twenty fourteen, when the Matrics Minute launched,

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and they still haven't gotten it. But let's continue, he said.

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So here's where I'm at. I've been playing open mics

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and coffee house shows for a few years now, just

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me and my keyboard. I've released a few singles on

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digital services Spotify, Apple Music Title, and he says, while

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it's not huge, I've built around four hundred monthly listeners,

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and my top song has about thirty five thousand streams.

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I don't really know when you released your song that's

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gotten you thirty five thousand streams, four hundred monthly listeners,

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depending on where you're at. I don't really think you

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talk a lot about what your marketing strategy is or

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what your social media game is. Playing coffee houses. Those

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are good numbers for where we're at right now. But

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let's continue, he says. I know it's small compared to

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the big guys. Don't compare yourself to the big guys,

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because you will, you'll get You'll just put yourself in

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a loop, You'll oh, I mean you're a piano player,

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so you're like, oh, I'm not as big as Billy Joel. Well,

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Billy Joel's been around for what forty some odd years.

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He better have more plays than you do. He plays

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arenos as well. He should have more streams than you,

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he says. But I feel like there's proof that there's

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something there worth building. Believing in yourself is never a

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bad thing, is it, he says. Lately, though I've hit

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a wall. I want to start taking things to the

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next level, build a band, find a manager or a

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booking agent, and start doing really show, real shows instead

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of just local coffee shops. It's not a bad it's

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not a bad goal. I mean, I think before you're

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looking for a booking agent, it really wants a booking agent.

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They just think that booking agents are just waiting for

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every artist to come around, and that then when they

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do get a booking agent, there's gonna have a ton

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of shows and a ton of offers, and it doesn't.

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I mean, I know signed artists who are booked who

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have booking agents, like the Big Boys, and they have

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songs on radio and you know, twenty to thirty shows here,

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he said, here's the thing. I want to stop performing

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with a keyboard and start playing with a real piano.

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That's the sound that really represents me as an artist.

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You know you're gonna log a You're gonna put a

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piano into a coffee shop wheeling in. I hope you

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got a significant other who can help steer it as

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you're pushing it into the coffee shop. He says. Uh.

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He continues, he says a piano would really represent me

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as an artist, but obviously that means I'll need a

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trailer or a van to haul it around. Yeah, you're

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your expenses have gotten a lot bigger at this moment

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to play a coffee shop, he says. I've been thinking

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about reaching out for sponsorship to help make that possible.

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Dear Pepsi, I play at a coffee shop. I would

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love twenty thousand dollars so I can buy a piano

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and a van and take it to the coffee shop

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where typically coffee shops hold about forty people. But don't worry,

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if you give me money, I will put the Pepsi

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logo on my piano for all forty people to see.

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Signed Bob, what do you not understand how sponsorship works?

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Like they're giving you money for exposure, They're giving you

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money to influence people. You got four hundred monthly plays,

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you're playing in front of a coffee shop, but you

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want sponsorship now. I don't know where you're from. I

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don't know what city you live in. You might be

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able to get, you know, Smitty's Oil change to throw

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you a couple of bucks, but not enough to buy

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a van or a trailer, and because honestly, what do

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they get out of it? You know, It's like I'll

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talk to podcast hosts and they're like, we just really

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want to go monetize, and we really want to get

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like ad reads and everything that really help us out.

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And I'm like, you're getting like thirty plays an episode.

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So if they give you money, they're not going to

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continue to give you money because they're gonna realize after

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the first quarter, there's no traffic here. We just gave

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this guy money for nothing. But let's continue with the emails,

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shall we? He says. A sponsorship to help make that possible,

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get the van, the trailer, but not just for that.

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I'd love to also find sponsors to help with things

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like buying merchandise, so I have actually something to sell

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at shows. So you want Pepsi to give you money

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so you can buy merchandise. And if that's the reason

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why they're sponsoring you, do you not think that Pepsi

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or whoever is going to have going to want their

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logo on that merchandise as well. You can have the

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back of your shirt looking like what they give out

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at like county fairs and car dealership openings and just

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logos everywhere. Don't try to get sponsorship for merchandise. I mean,

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if you're playing coffee shops, you don't really need merchandise

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at this moment. He also says he wants a sponsorship

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for fuelling the vehicle to get the shows without going

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broke every weekend. That's you charge money to the venue

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that you play to get money for fuel so you

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don't go broke every weekend. He continues, I'd like a

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sponsor for building a website to look more professional and

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to have a central place for fans to find me.

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That you don't. You don't need a website to look

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more professional or to have a central place for fans

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to find you. Your fans are probably all hanging out

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on Instagram and TikTok and probably Facebook or maybe X.

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You don't need a website for that, and you don't

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need a sponsor for a website. You could. You can

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get a website for like fourteen ninety nine a month,

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you know, if you go to like one of the

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bigger ones. And then once again, if you get a

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sponsor for a website, they're going to throw their logo

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on the website. So it's going to be like Bob

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the piano player sponsored by Dicky's Oil Exchange co. He continues,

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the problem is, I don't have a budget for any

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of this. How far are you driving to go to

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these coffee shops to play that? It's putting you in

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the whole fuel wise. I wish you would have told

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us where you live and how far you travel for

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this stuff, because are you going twenty minutes or are

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you going five hours? Once again, a website's like fourteen

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bucks with four hundred monthly listeners on Spotify and you

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playing coffee shops open mic. I don't even think you

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could sell merchandise at an open mic. I think your

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focus is kind of all over the place right now.

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But let's continue with the email. He says, Right now

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it's all coming out of my pocket and it's starting

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to feel impossible to move forward. Well, you are a

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solo artist, and so it is going to come out

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of your pocket, and I'm just I'm back. It's this

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is the illusion of action right here. You're not really

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making any money. You're not really really not gaining any

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traction for whatever reason. We don't know why. It could

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be your songs, it could be your marketing, it could

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be you. We don't know why, but we just know

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right now. You know you're playing offee shops, agett four

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hundred monthly listeners. You're not making any money. But the

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illusion of action is is Well, if I can start

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bringing a piano, that's gonna increase my revenue. If I

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can get a website that will increase my bookings, if

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I can get a sponsor to give me fuel money,

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then maybe I'll perform better. It's all this stuff that's

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like this is going to fix it. But that's not

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the root cause of the problem as an artist for you.

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But let's continue, he says. So here's what I'm hoping

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you can help me with. I will try my best

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he says, how do I build a team around me

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when I have no budget? Well? That I mean, if

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you're talking about a team, you're talking about a booking

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agent and a manager, which we've talked about. You never

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pay a manager a monthly retainer. I don't care what

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they say, I don't care why they need it. You

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never do it. They live off of percentages. If you

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make five bucks that month, they get their fifteen percent cut.

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You do not pay monthly retainers to managers or booking age.

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So how do you build a team around you? Find

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someone who believes in you. Find somebody who's itching to

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become an artist manager and who believes in you, and

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they got a lot to prove. Your team should never

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be your mom, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your best homie.

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It shouldn't because those are friends, those are family. They're

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never going to work as hard because you're not going

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to fire them. How do you fire your mom? Okay,

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I've seen it before, I'll recommend it. The next question,

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what's the right way to find bandmates who actually believe

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in the music and not just getting paid. Well, that's

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your problem right there. As a solo artist, you're not

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going to find a lot of people who believe in

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backing you up. Band guys. As we read in the

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email a couple of days ago, band guys will will

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get in a van, they'll go play for thirty bucks.

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They'll travel halfway across the country for thirty bucks, and

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it's just them, the band of brothers. When you're a

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solo artist, you don't have that luxury. You're not asking

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somebody to believe in your vision for your piano music.

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You're looking for the best musicians who are easy to

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work with, who are good for the culture of your band.

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And yeah, you're gonna have to pay them if you

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get free guys, and you know, and you know they

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don't have any stake in this band. It depends on

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where you're at. If you are in a market, if

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you're in a small market, you might be able to

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find some guy who just likes to you know, he's

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not gonna you know, he doesn't have a band, she's

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probably got a mortgage, a wife, and he can do

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this on the weekends whatever, no problem, And he'll do

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it because he just loves to play. He loves the

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jam out. But that's not a guy that you're gonna

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take the long way with Typically, Also, when you find

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those guys, they might not be the best musicians because

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you know, they know they're not the best, or they

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might be older. And if you're in your twenties and

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you got a band a bunch of fifty year olds,

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it's just a weird optics. It looks really kind of

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thrown together. So for you to get a band as

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a solo art yeah, you're gonna have to either create

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a band or pay them, or not have a band,

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or just have really terrible musicians. You know, you find

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that eighteen year old kid that's gonna play and he

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can't keep he can't keep tempo with the drums. He continues,

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What do booking agents or managers look for before they

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take on someone, someone with more than four hundred plays,

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someone who's got merchandise. It depends, because like I have

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worked with artists who've got who have had nothing, nothing,

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and you know, they they had their singles out for

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three months and it didn't even break a thousand plays.

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But I believed in them and I loved him as people,

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and we started working together and things took off. But

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I I had the luxury of doing that because I

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this is like I don't go and you know, work

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at a law firm or wait tables or whatever, like

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this is my job. So I could spend the time

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to help develop somebody, not make going a dime, right,

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not making a dime, and so someone like in my position,

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I would roll the dice on somebody who's playing coffee

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shops and four hundred monthly listeners if I really enjoy

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the music and I see the potential, not just like

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it's a it's not a rental, like we are we

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are going to do this together for the rest of

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our lives, like because I see that potential in you,

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and I found you and no one else did. But

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typically managers aren't looking for I mean, you want manager.

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You know, you want a booking agent and a manager,

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and you don't even have merchandise. You want a booking

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agent and a manager, and you want to get a

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sponsor to give you gas money. It's not really something

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that a lot of booking agents or managers are jonesing

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to get their hands in, because right now it looks

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like your priorities are all over the place. And he

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continues to ask, and is chasing sponsorship at my level

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realistic or should I focus on growing more first. Yes,

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focus on growing more first. I don't even know. If

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you came to me and I ran a tilapia stand

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and you came to me asking for sponsorship, I'm gonna

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want to know what do I get out of it? Like?

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Is a tax deductible? No? Is there a ton of

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guys who are going to want to come to my

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tilapia shop now because of this? No? You got four

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in and a monthly listeners are playing coffee shops. That's

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not it like this what you've done so far. But

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if I'm giving you my money, or if I'm a

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booking agent and I'm going to give you my time

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and I'm going to give my reputation to you, I

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need to see more growth. I need to see better numbers.

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You're telling me you've been gigging out for a couple

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of years and you don't have a band, You got foign,

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a monthly listeners, you don't have any merchandise. I can't

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come and bail you out. You got to participate in

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your own rescue first, So he continues, I really believe

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in what I'm doing, and I'm willing to put in

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the work. I just need some direction. Going around with

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your handout looking for money so you can get a website,

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so you can have a central place for your fans.

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It's not two thousand and four. What are you gonna

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make on this website. You're gonna put a blog place there,

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You're gonna put a messaging board. Your central place should

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be Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, wherever you live social media wise.

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But also you said you're willing to put in the

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hard work, but then you're complaining about gas money and

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you don't have any money for this, and you don't

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have any money for that. And so if you're willing

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to put in the work, then put in the work

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and don't have your handout looking for everything. You want

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band members to believe in your vision without any money.

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And I mean probably, honestly, if I was to bet,

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you're probably playing these coffee shops for free. I know

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nobody makes any money with open mics, but you're probably

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playing these coffee shops for free, and that should change.

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But probably why it's not changing is because you're probably

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not pulling anybody. You're probably just you're probably playing in

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front of people who are at the coffee shop on

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a Saturday, just having coffee. If I was to guess,

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he says, I want to grow, not just musically, but professionally.

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And I feel like I'm standing at a point where

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I've gone as far as I can on my own.

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You haven't gone anywhere. You haven't gone anywhere. You have

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four hundred monthly listeners on Spotify, you play coffee shops.

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You do not have any merchandise. You want to pull

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your fans from TikTok and Instagram to a website so

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you have a central location, haven't You haven't? You haven't

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gone anywhere? So how do you like these exaggerated terms

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that artists use? Like I've gone as far as I can.

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I've tried everything. You know. No, you haven't gone as

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far as you can. How do you? How do you

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go as far as you can? You want a sponsor

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so you can bring a piano to a coffee shop.

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You want a sponsor to buy you a van and

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a trailer so you can bring a piano. You want

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00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:11.400
band members to play for free so they can catch

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the vision. You want a manager to do that, Like

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you don't have any responsibility here, Like you're just you're

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just doing you And then when something doesn't go right,

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or you're only playing the coffee shop, or you only

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have four hundred monthly listeners. It's everybody else's fault because

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you've done all that you can. And the sad part

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is that you probably have people in your life who

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agree when you make that statement. Oh yeah, you've worked hard, honey,

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and you want somebody to give you gas money. He said,

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thanks for everything you do. Your videos make me feel

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like this dream is still possible. Bob, Well, Bob, look

317
00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:54.799
I'm thinking of right now. He's kind of He's got

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a song with a hundred million plays on Spotify. It's

319
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got songs under plays out probably one hundred and fifty

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times a year. His name is Michael Cochran with the

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band Cochran and Company, and he plays piano. He's got

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a keyboard. He's headlining tours and he's got a keyboard.

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Why bringing a piano around? I worked with the Frey

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back in two thousand and seven. They would get off

325
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then they were in a bus. They're the trailers on

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their buses. The piano would come out and they'd have

327
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to sit there and tune it because driving the road,

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00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.119
the rattling around, and the trailer in the road case

329
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like it knocks it out of tune. So you're gonna

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go to a coffee shop with your piano and then

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have to tune in. Everybody in a coffee shop wants

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to hear you tune in a piano. It's just you.

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And do you even know how to tune a piano?

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Because I know not every piano player does. And if

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you got people like Michael Cochran who are playing in

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front of fifteen hundred people two thousand people a night,

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bringing a keyboard out and playing, you can do the

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exact same thing. Don't be too proud if you are

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00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:05.519
not lacking right now because of your piano situation or

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your keyboard situation. You're lacking right now because you sit

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around and you go, I need this from somebody. I

342
00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.960
need this from somebody. I need this from somebody. Work

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on your songs. I bet anything right now, and I

344
00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:19.880
don't know anything about you. It's a marketing issue, it's

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a song issue. Your songs probably aren't capturing people. Your

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songs are probably not having the coffee drinker like pause

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and be like, WHOA, that's a great song. How can

348
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I hear more of this? But if you're not taking

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time developing your craft. If you're not taking time growing

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as an artist, growing as a professional, and sitting around

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trying to figure out how to get a sponsor for

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00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:40.880
your merchandise, then you're not going to grow in those

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other areas because you're getting distracted by these other things

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that will never happen at this stage in your life.

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Getting a sponsor with four hundred monthly listeners, I don't

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00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:51.240
even know who that sponsor would be, but I can

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00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.359
tell you this right now, that sponsor is not going

358
00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:56.319
to get their value for what they give you, whatever

359
00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:58.000
it is. If they give you fifty bucks, they're not

360
00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:01.039
going to get that value for one hundred monthly listeners.

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And somebody plays at a coffee shop. So what I

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00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.640
tell you to do is lose the sponsorship idea. You

363
00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:12.519
lose the website idea, lose the piano idea, go start

364
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.640
trying to do more coffee shops and that kind of thing.

365
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Where your focus like a laser on getting people to

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your Spotify, getting people to your Instagram, getting your place.

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This places got to get up. Four hundred plays is

368
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not fourigner monthly listeners is not a lot thirty five

369
00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.039
thousand places all in on a song. I don't know

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how long it's been. Is not a lot, So you

371
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need to go with a refresh focus on when I

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00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.000
go and do these shows at the coffee shop, this

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is what I'm doing. Maybe get business cards and you

374
00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.599
don't need a sponsor to buy your business cards for you.

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You can get them for like thirty bucks. Maybe business

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00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:53.079
cards with your links on it, a QR code that

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00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:55.680
takes you to Instagram and Spotify and Apple Music. And

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if you got a YouTube, do that. Then if you

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want to talk about merchandise, I don't even know. If

380
00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:03.119
you have a design, you probably don't. You need a

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00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.680
sponsor to do the design as well. Do something like

382
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.720
a print on demand where you don't have to carry

383
00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.519
inventory because right now, if you're playing coffee shops, you

384
00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:13.720
don't need to carry inventory. You do not need to

385
00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:17.480
have merchandise because it's a coffee shop. Probably a lot

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00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.720
of these coffee shops wouldn't even let you sell merchandise

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because the good coffee shops got their own merchandise and

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they don't want you competing with it. So I hope

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that helped. I hope that's a good little launch pad

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for you. Thank you. For the email, and if you

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have a question on the music industry, just go to

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matthew Ricks dot com click submit your question, give me

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as many details as possible and until next time, I

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will talk to you later