3 Areas Where Most New Artists Fail | Wendy Day

Hi guys, welcome back. Good to see you. So, you know, we can learn as much from failures as we can from successes, and one of the great things to do is is to learn from other people's failures and successes as well. And hopefully we're surrounded by people that can share, um, the failures with us. You know, not everybody will. Not everybody will talk about what went wrong in their career or in their release or their musical project. Um, so today I'm going to talk about the 3 areas where most artists fail, or at least what I've been seeing lately, um, in terms of artists' careers. Um, this is a question that every time I speak on a panel, it's usually the last question they ask me, like, what one thing or what 2 things can an artist do, um, to increase their chances for success? But one of the things that we don't really talk about is areas where a lot of people fail. So that we, meaning collectively us, can learn from that artist bumping their head so that we don't bump our heads. So I did a little bit of research, and I've broken down the 3 areas where I've seen lately for artists' failures. That doesn't mean that these are the only 3, it just means that these are the ones that I'm seeing a lot of lately. And I'm gonna do it 2 ways. I'm going to do it for artists who are unsigned and/or independent, and then I'm going to give you the 3 areas where most artists fail when they're signed to a record label, whether they're signed to an independent label or whether they're signed to a major label. So let's start with the unsigned artist and the indies, because I think that, um, people— and when I say indie, I mean artists that either have an investor in doing this themselves or they're signed to themselves, meaning you're not signed to any record label other than something that you have an ownership in. Okay, so the number one area where artists fail is in learning the business. They don't take the time to learn where— how the industry works so that they can not get, um, trapped by basic things, meaning you haven't learned yet that you don't pay people to meet with you at labels. That's not how you get a record deal. You haven't learned yet that you don't just go and hire a radio promoter to get you spun on radio in a certain region expecting to get a record deal from that, because it doesn't work. So the number one area where most people seem to bump their heads is in not learning how the industry works. The second way that I see most new artists failing is they try to listen to everyone, meaning whoever is in their ear giving them advice, they hear, whether it's the fans telling them which songs they like better and what they should be doing with their career. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna elaborate on that in a second because that's a really important one. Um, or they don't really have a consultant who has a track record of success in this industry. So, um, in their social media feed, someone will say, oh, you should get your video on BET or MTV or wherever— not MTV, but you know MTV doesn't play videos anymore, but on, on Revolt or Fuse or WorldStarHipHop. And then some— and they'll scramble to do that. Somebody else will say, well gee, you should get radio play. So then they'll scramble to do that. Then somebody else will give them the advice of, oh, you should be on, on a tour. You should pay to open for Snoop Dogg the next time he comes through town. So they start going in that direction. It's, it's good to listen to advice when it's sage advice, meaning when it's coming from someone that has already succeeded in doing something. But to just listen to everyone, bad idea, because there are a million different paths to success in this business. And when you start taking a piece of everybody's path, you no longer go forward, you go in circles. Because there is no from A to Z. You're going from A to B and then from F to N and then from B to C and then from D to E and then Q to R and then back to A to B. It's, it's, it doesn't work. You're on a treadmill. So, um, you know, that's the— for me, social media is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it puts you in front of more people who can give you feedback, but don't confuse feedback with advice. Don't confuse feedback with a plan. You need to have a plan, and you need to follow that plan, and somebody needs to help you put that plan together that has actually gotten to the destination that you want to get to. Okay, um, and then the third area I see most unsigned or independent artists fail is that they get complacent when the money comes in. And, you know, the whole reason you're doing this is to build a career so that you can support your family, support yourself, um, and make income. But if you, if you get lazy when the money starts to come in, it's going to end whatever cycle you're in in terms of working your project. So you need to keep going even when you've you've achieved more money than you've ever seen in your lifetime, right? Pardon me. So don't get complacent when the money comes in. And, and logically, if you're doing shows, let's say you're making $10,000 a show, right? And you're doing shows every weekend, so you're working on Friday night and Saturday night every weekend for 10 grand. Well, if you do that math, that's $80,000 a month. So $80,000 a month is almost $1 million a year when you think about that, right? So as you're moving along and you see that money start to come in, you might get a little bit complacent, and you will forget that instead of just working twice a week, you want to be working 4 days a week or 5 days a week. And instead of just making $10,000 a show, you want to grow it to $12,500, then you want to grow it to $15,000, then you want to grow it to $20,000, then $25,000, then $30,000. $40,000 and $60,000. You want your career to increase because what you're doing is you're making as much money as you can in a very short time span. You won't continue to make $80,000 a month for the rest of your life. It's not how it works. And everything that you've done up until that point is what has led to you being able to get that kind of income from a show. So as soon as you stop doing the things that you were doing to get to that point, the money and the shows start to trail off. So do not get complacent when the money starts coming in. I know it's easy to because it's probably more money than you've ever seen in your life, but it's— it— don't get complacent. Okay, the 3 areas where I see most artists fail when they're signed to a label, whether it is an independent label that they don't own, or to a major label. And what I mean by that is you're signed to someone other than yourself. You're signed to someone who controls your career, meaning you don't have as much control as when you're independent and you can wake up in the morning and choose what to do, or when you own your own label and you're making you're part of that decision-making process. This is for people that aren't part of the decision-making process, okay? The number one thing where I see artists failing is, again, not learning the business. It's this kind of the same answer that I gave when you're independent or unsigned. You've got to learn how this works. It, it works a little bit differently when you're signed to somebody, but you still have to understand. You have to understand how do you get paid, You signed a contract. What is your royalty split? What is the split for shows? What is the split for all of the income? It changes the dynamic of how you get paid when there's someone else involved, because not only are they putting in the money to help you succeed, but they're also helping with decision-making process as to what you should be doing, where you should be going, how you should be working. They're the ones often that have the plan, and then you're expected to follow that plan. So it's really important that you learn the business so that you can learn what's gonna work in that plan and what's not gonna work in that plan so that you can give input before it's too late. The second area where most artists fail when they're signed to a label or someone other than themselves is they don't put enough energy and time into building relationships with the people that, work at that label and the people that control their career. Um, this industry is built on relationships, and people go harder for people that they like. That's just natural. You do it in your own life. There are people in your life that you will walk 10 miles for if you have to, and then there's people in your life that if they call you and they need something simple, you'll be like, nah, sorry, too busy. I'm catching up on the latest episode of, you know, whatever. So, um, you want to make sure that you strengthen those relationships with everyone that's working your record. So whoever's doing radio, you want to build a relationship with that person. Whoever is doing publicity, you want to build a relationship with that person. You want to make sure that you understand what the plan is, how it's going to play out, and what is expected of you. And you want to have enough of a relationship with that person where they're gonna give you the inside information. They're gonna give you the information that maybe they're not supposed to tell you about, you know, what's going on at the label with your career. Build relationships with everyone that is involved in your career, everyone. I didn't give this advice to the unsigned artist or the artists that are signed to independent, their own, you know, independent company, because they've already done that. You— it's a survival tactic at that point. But when you sign to a label, for some reason people just think, ah, I'll just let them do their thing. And you can't do that if you're signed to a label that's in New York or LA. You should be there in the beginning at least once a month for a couple of days to visit them. And that's coming out of your money. They don't pay for that. So you're gonna have to suck it up, and this is what you're gonna have to do in order to help build a more successful career. Another benefit to that is that if an opportunity arises and you are the person that they see the most and the artist that they're working that they like the most, you're going to get the best opportunities for your career. People do more for the people that they like. People focus on the people that they like. So it's really important for you to be likable and build a relationship with the different people that are working on your career. And then the last, um, artist fail that I see from artists who are signed to a label is re-signing once that contract is completed. Meaning if you sign a 5-album deal or a 7-album deal and you put out 5 albums or 7 albums with that company, they have built you to a certain level of success. You are now a known brand, so you have the opportunity to make the lion's share of the money yourself. And for some reason, when artists get used to playing that advance game, meaning they sign to a label, the label gives them an advance, a chunk of money, they're willing to give up their backend because they want that chunk of money. It's better to have a great accountant and budget out what you have. And then when your contract is up, you can start your own label or your own company or your own vehicle for success and keep moving forward independently. And that way you're making 80% of the money instead of whatever you're getting from the major label. So having said all that, they are the areas where I see most artists fail. Thank you for tuning in and hope this was helpful for you. Okay guys, bye, see you soon.