Who Do You Know?

As I create frequent blog posts today about my indie music friends, I realize that I’ve known many of them for more than 10 years. And at the time we first met, we weren’t where we are now.

For example, I met Derek Sivers of CD Baby fame in a 4 week songwriting workshop at the National Association of Popular Music. I met Bob Baker online when we were both writing articles online about indie music. I met Ariel Hyatt “on the scene” at various music conferences. As the years passed, we all continued to follow our particular path and stay in touch. And now we’ve all progressed to major milestones in our careers, and I’m quite proud of them.

Who knew that Derek would one day create this online CD store that would enable him to pay indie musicians millions of dollars? Who knew that Bob would one day create his own music conference? Who knew that Ariel would one day be THE go-to person for online music publicity? Who knew that I’d start a music biz column for Vibe magazine, write an eBook, start this blog, or produce four successful CDs?

The fact is, we didn’t know. And when I think of all the great things that they have accomplished, I am proud of my friends, and what they’ve been able to achieve.

Often we get caught up in trying to meet the industry bigwig. Nothing is wrong with wanting to meet or work with a bigwig, but they are often harder to reach.

Next time you attend a networking event, get to know the person sitting at your right and your left – not just the person who’s speaking on the panel. That person may one day co-write your first hit, hire you for a tour, or even sign you to a production deal. But you’ll never know until you make the connection.

Go ahead. Make that connection.

Brought to you by the Music Marketing Machine Course: July 16 – August 6, 2008 in NYC

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