What is Your Vision for Your “Next Level”? ~ Guest Blog Poll by Jason Bradford

While planning the first week of articles for “The Recession Proof Musician”, I thought it was important to talk about your VISION. After all, how will you know you’ve reached your destination if you don’t know what it is?

Coincidentally, Jason Bradford, musician and online label owner posed similar questions on his blog, The Blogford Files, and I’m reprinting them here to encourage you to think about your vision of success. If you feel like answering them below, great, but I also suggest that you include your answers on Jason’s blog as well. At the very least, you’ll get two links back to your music website! 😉 Later this month, I’ll be interviewing Jason for more in-depth knowledge! Stay tuned!

Define Your “Next Level”
by Jason Bradford

1. As an indie artist or someone who works with indie artists what do you feel is missing to take you to the next level?

2. Can you define your “next level”?

3. Do you believe a major label will help more or less in your career?

4. Do you work on your music career like you would with any job or goal?

5. Do you have digital distribution? Worldwide?

6. What are you doing online to market, share your music & build your fan base?

7 Responses to “What is Your Vision for Your “Next Level”? ~ Guest Blog Poll by Jason Bradford”

1. Carla Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 8:46 am

   Thanks to the magic of copy-and-paste, I’ll include the answers I wrote in Jason’s blog:

   1. Good question!!! I’d like to create more music publishing income at higher price points (i.e. licensing music for TV and film)

   2. My “next level” looks like me performing and touring more often, while also producing more video and written content for my readers. My next level also includes an email list of 1000 or more fans that have opted into my email list.

   3. At this stage of the game, a band on a major label is like a new business with a lot of overhead. While it’s nice to have that kind of marketing muscle, musicians then become slaves to their record label, who has the power to drop them at any time.

   Also, the labels have already proven themselves slow and ineffective when it comes to keeping up with music that is now shared at the speed of the internet. As an indie musician, I have the flexibility to be an early adopter for the next technological advance.

   4. Yes. My music career is my passion, and I give it my all.

   5. I have digital distribution, so my music is available worldwide. Instead of just playing to an audience in NYC, I can now reach new fans on a global scale.

   6. Sharing helpful info, instead of making it all about me, has actually been a great way to make new fans who also enjoy my music. These days I’m sharing information and building community via my blog at http://RockStarLifeLessons.com

   This month’s theme is “The Recession Proof Musician” and it’s my intention to inspire other indie musicians with the great info that I’ve learned from other music biz bloggers.

2. Eric Stone Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 10:01 am

   1. As an indie artist or someone who works with indie artists what do you feel is missing to take you to the next level?

   As co-owner of Open Your Eyes Records, I feel that the thing that is missing right now is capital. We have released the debut album from a reasonably successful band that has since gone on to sign with Pete Wentz-run Decaydance Records, but have held off on a re-release for various reasons. Because we are no longer collecting income from this release, we have basically had to start from scratch, which has been very hard. We have great industry contacts and relationships, a business degree, a Berklee Music Business education, a great band, and a strong online presence under our belts. We would like to be able to market more, offer a more expanded physical product (more elaborate album art, pre-order giveaways, etc.) and we would like to sign additional acts. We have the dedication, man-power, passion, and product, we just lack funding.

   2. Can you define your “next level”?

   Our next level consists of us having three bands on our label that tour constantly, national physical distribution, merchandise for sale, and an established brand in the business. By this I mean.. I would like people to associate Open Your Eyes Records with getting a huge bang for your buck. A fun show, a great product, fan-artist interaction, and a strong national presence.

   3. Do you believe a major label will help more or less in your career?

   Double-edged sword. Being bought out by a major label would bring us the exposure and capital to bring our artists to a larger audience, which is ultimately our goal. There is a chance that we will lose our ability to keep things intimate with our bands, and the fans of our bands. We pride ourselves on our family-like nature, and losing that would be a devastating blow to what we have worked to create.

   4. Do you work on your music career like you would with any job or goal?

   Likely more so 🙂 I go to school full-time, work full-time, and work on the label double time. Literally every single moment of my life is dedicated one of the three listed above, with the label dominating my time by far. I spend about 50 hours a week on label work, with my partner spending 40, and our intern spending 15 or so. We have every intention of making this our main source of income, and don’t plan on sleeping until that occurs.

   5. Do you have digital distribution? Worldwide?

   We do, but not in the common form. We are about to announce a partnership with the largest private music torrent tracker on the internet, where all of our album will be available ahead of public release, on a free leech basis. Taking advantage of p2p technology is important to us, and we are really excited about this set-up, for as of now we are the only label with this sort of association on the site. It is going to bring us thousands of downloads, expose our labels music to new fans worldwide, and serve as a vehicle for us to gain new contacts. We are planning on getting our newest release hooked up through Tunecore upon it’s release in late December.

   6. What are you doing online to market, share your music & build your fan base?

   We have the aforementioned p2p partnership in the works, we use twitter, myspace, facebook, eventful, flickr, a blog, a mailing list, a youtube channel, and a sonicbids account. We will also be announcing a few partnerships with niche websites.

   In addition, we are about to announce a few offline partnerships and contests that will aid in our ability to straddle the online and offline world.

   Lots going on, and big plans! Thanks for reading!

3. Christopher Joel Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am

   1. As an indie artist or someone who works with indie artists what do you feel is missing to take you to the next level?

   A recording. I’m working on it, but it’s being donated by friends, so it’s taking a while.

   2. Can you define your “next level”?

   I’m a fairly new artist, so right now, it would be playing out on a regular basis. Getting to the point where other local musicians, radio stations, etc ask me to participate in local shows.

   3. Do you believe a major label will help more or less in your career?

   Less. I have a very small fanbase, so being on a label right now wouldn’t make much sense. While it would be nice to just straight from day job to full-time musician, I think I’d prefer earning fans one show at a time and building a career that could last the rest of my life, rather than being a one hit wonder who’s only measure of success is the last hit.

   4. Do you work on your music career like you would with any job or goal?

   Not as hard as I could.

   5. Do you have digital distribution? Worldwide?

   I will once I’ve got the EP done. Planning to use Tunecore.

   6. What are you doing online to market, share your music & build your fan base?

   Myspace, Twitter, my own site & blog; so far. I’m open to new things, but I think playing more shows is top of my list right now (not really an online thing).

4. Carla Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 10:18 am

   Eric and Christopher – Thanks for answering the poll. Jason and I appreciate your feedback, and wish you both the best with your music careers!

   Carla

5. Andrew Goodrich Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 11:17 am

   1. The stamina and insight it takes to get past the plateaus.

   2. “Next level” evolves as you go on. I think artists should be driven by some overarching kind of goals, which are essentially their values (I want to be able to make enough money to feed the hungry) and the next levels are the stepping stones immediately before you which you can use to measure progress.

   3. Major labels are dead to me. They’ve depersonalized what should be the most personal experience in the world. I think for 15 minutes of fame, major labels are the way to go. But since most artists are interested in making music their career, that can’t happen anymore at a major label. Majors invest in hits, not careers. Careers happen through communities, like this one, Gogirlsmusic, etc.

   4. I think you have to approach it the same way. I don’t think art and commerce have to be at war with each other. There is a way to be authentic and transparent about making music your career, and it won’t rub people the wrong way. If you aren’t being you, being feel that on an instinctual level and you will turn them off. So if you can make music a career without compromising your own values, do it.

   5. All of these music sites make it possible for people who should hear your music to find it, if you’ve placed it in the right place. I like this idea as opposed to sending it out. Instead, bring the people in.

   6. I think being a resource for communities and thought is the best way to be online. It’s not about just shooting random plugs into space and hoping someone responds.

6. Carla Says:
   November 6th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

   Hey Andrew,

   Thanks so much for stopping by from your awesome website http://artistshousemusic.tumblr.com/ I really appreciate you coming by and chiming in!

   Carla

7. Cameron Rehm Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at 4:05 pm

   Really great post/article really informative.

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