hen is the best time to release your new recording? Right now. Don’t have one? Let’s talk about why making one is so important, and how this can benefit you.
When I say “recording” I mean a full CD or equivalent, or at the very least a substantial collection of songs. These days they could be download-only or streaming internet content. The most important thing is to get enough music out there to establish a presence. Here are some things you can gain by doing this:
- You establish yourself as an artist. Until you have something out, it’s hard to refer to yourself as “recording artist.” Like a tree falling in the forest, your music is a “non-event” for the bulk of your potential audience.
- You have something to present to people. On most of my gigs, people ask me, “do you have a CD?” and rather than saying “no, but I’m working on one” which means I just lost a potential fan, I can hand them a disc or a card with a website, or refer them to iTunes. Without a product, you are losing audience.
- You grow. Until you have gone through the struggle of finishing your product, you really don’t know what goes into it. Like any “rite of passage” you will come out transformed. Your writing, playing and technical skills will grow more from this than just about anything else.
- You gain courage. By putting your music out into the world, you develop a personal “gravity” that can allow you to move forward in many ways. The more you establish your brand, the more things you will feel empowered to do.
- You learn to finish things. Having to actually take a project all the way to completion, where you actually release the product, has enormous importance. Many of us leave a lot of loose ends in our music (and lives) and this process helps us learn to follow through.
- You get more work. I have gotten many jobs and paying gigs due to having my recordings available. These are not just gigs playing the material on the records; they often are work based on the skills demonstrated on the recording such as playing, writing, engineering or arranging. In general, this is a “snowball:” more work leads to more calls for work etc.
- You gain respect. The fact that you were willing, able, and courageous enough to make your recording causes people to take you more seriously as a career musician.
- You leave a document. This is probably the most important reason of all; without some kind of legacy, your unique voice as an artist will never have a chance to be heard and to move people. This is really what art is about. I have recently been reading Mark Twain’s autobiography, published on the 100th anniversary of his death; this brilliant, funny, and enlightened man’s ideas are still valid and influential, but only because he wrote them down.
As you can imagine, there are many more reasons than these to finish your work and get it out there. Next time, we will talk about the obstacles and fears that keep us from taking this important step.
Questions:
Have you been holding back from putting out a recording?
Do you have a lot of unfinished musical work?
What are some of the fears and barriers that are keeping you from releasing a project?
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