What ever happened to true effort, the desire to learn and develop ones ability? What happened to the problem solvers? What happened to the ones that could look at a problem or at something going wrong and continue on in the mode to make it right or at least better? What happened to the hunger that was followed with the effort to do that extra work, take that extra step or go just a little more above and beyond? When did the laziness set in, the complacency, and when did the expectations grow to the point where some think it should simply come their way and they deserve all they want with as little effort as possible.



This may relate to other areas, other professions and other people, but right now lets direct it at musicians and artists in particular. Also note, before you get your angry emails all fired up, this is not pointed at everyone, but there are so many musicians that lack the ability these days. There are many musicians that think success should just be handed to them and there are so many musicians that just flat out do not know how to work for their dream or, for that matter, anything.



Blaming due to laziness.



So many of the people and artists to whom this is pointed at have shared all their excuses with those around them, “It is the industries fault.” “I can’t do this or I cant do that because it is harder to do in this city, this genre, this time” or a number of other pointless, pathetic excuses that are used to help them justify their bullshit. They point the blame in a different direction in order to feel better about themselves and where they are in their career or where they aren’t, more accurately.



Now sometimes there are reasons why something goes wrong, why something isn’t happening or didn’t happen. There are justifications and reasons within the industry or along a musician’s path that are legitimate hurdles and roadblocks, yet what are you doing about them? And how are you going to shift things to get what you want? This goes for the artists but also for every person that is bitching, whining or complaining about anything. Your complaining is pointless. Your action taken to make real change is what it takes to succeed. Saying you support something isn’t enough. You want health care reform? Then stop saying it and go out and research, learn and find a way to do something to move a potential health care reform bill forward or find ways to be a part of something that can directly effect your preferred outcome.



Don’t be like the musicians bitching on Facebook about the music industry, file sharing, royalty issues or which club, label or management that has supposedly screwed you over. You can be as pissed off at the RIAA, The National Association For Recording Arts and Sciences, this booking agent or that club, but what are you doing to change things? It is about getting off the passive protestor train and getting onto a train of real change. It is about being assertive. These “repost this message on Facebook if you agree” crap is not helping to bring about change. Instead, post a link for people to read entailing a potential plan and set up a document that allows electronic signatures that can be sent to the entities with whom you are hoping to inspire change. By simply setting up “I agree with this or that” non-dialog, you create a perfect example of part of the overall problem. Some people actually think posting a message on a networking site will change the world. Doing so is not a bad thing, it’s just not enough, and my hunch is it’s not changing much of anything.



The real blame and the real problem



What ever happened to true effort, the desire to learn and develop ones ability? What happened to the problem solvers? Where did the overall proficiency of an artist go? Why does it seem that those possessing the traits to succeed are so much more the minority these days?



I think it comes down to these 12 key deficiencies that many artists, musicians and for that matter a great deal of people outside of the music industry share.



• We are lazy

• We are undereducated

• We do not know how to win and we certainly do not know how to lose

• We do not have the social skills

• We are afraid of confrontation

• We are spoon fed with notions that we “can be anything”, so much so that we don’t put forth the effort associated with being successful

… Then, at the first sign of hardship or challenge…

• We are ready to give up on the drop of a hat

• We think a positive attitude is all it takes

• We don’t think about the details, instead, we just believe in the best case scenario

• Our egos have been boosted but our confidence is walking on eggshells

• We want instant gratification and lack the patience required for true success



Where does it stem from?



Different people will say it is TV, others will say it is the schools and the fault of teachers who are too afraid to point out a child’s areas of inefficiency…even more will say it is parenting. Regardless, it comes down to children growing up and not having the understanding of what it takes to do what it takes. And it may be a compilation of all these things.



We are lazy.



We are undereducated.



As a whole we are lazy. When I was a kid, I played outside. My friends didn’t want to be inside. We wanted to be outside, climbing trees, riding bikes. Hell, in my neighborhood we used to organize games in a field. We were active. A lot more children today are less active and want to play the games, be on the computer or be inside. Now this doesn’t count for everyone, but the viewership of television, the addiction to videogames, the growth in obesity clearly shows we are less active and a whole lot of that lack of activity can contribute to the lack of effort.



We are under educated as a whole or we are learning from the wrong people. When a brand new musician begins to study drums with a freshman in college, how much is he learning that is positive and how much is he learning that is negative? The college kid wants to make a few extra bucks and could be implementing bad habits and incorrect elements that will ultimately have to be unlearned. I know this first-hand because it happened to me. It took a good deal of time to unlearn and relearn things that were hurting me more than helping me. This goes for people telling us that things are a certain way even if they don’t know it themselves. It seems audacious that teachers that couldn’t make a music career for them selves teach students to do things in ways that weren’t effective in the first place. Or consultants that had a winning approach 20 years ago but does not apply today.



We are so spoon-fed and told we can do anything without effort.



We are ready to give up at the drop of a hat.



We do not know how to win and we certainly do not know how to lose.



Our egos have been boosted, but our confidence is walking on eggshells.



With all the PC crap in the schools where everyone wins together and everything is a tie, we are losing track of what it is like to win and what it is like to lose. We are losing the sense of having an understanding of good sportsmanship and how to be a good winner and a good loser. I believe that confidence and growing healthy self-esteem and worth is a good thing. But as a country we have gone overboard and are now creating a far worse problem in not allowing children to differentiate between their strengths and weaknesses. These situations only set children up to be disillusioned later in life. It’s important to know the areas that I need improvement and those areas where my skill is strong; then I get the opportunity to choose whether becoming better is important. Allowing everyone to feel they are equal is unrealistic and sets children up to find out the reality of otherwise the hard way.



So, yes… I’m comparing musicians to children who have been coddled and told they are good at something in order to keep them from getting their feelings hurt. Sometimes your music is not good – not all art is subjective – and you need to know why, lest you pave the way for ridicule, and worse, not being the best you can be.



I remember being in sixth grade and we played a game of kick ball at Fort River Elementary School in Amherst, Massachusetts. The teams were picked pretty fairly but the score was just devastating. The team I was on lost 11-0. I mean we got killed fair and square. The team that won did not overly gloat though they celebrated and we did not sulk too much. We were able to see where they were stronger and what we needed to work on. This was a positive experience on the whole. It was a clear understanding of what was good, what was bad, what was skill and what was luck. Mixed with good sportsmanship and a good work out, we learned as we played.



A friend of mine who has a kid in a local school in Seattle recently told me about how these kids on a team playing softball experienced the strangest situation of everyone winning even though it was a similar situation to my childhood. One team was creaming the other team and yet in the end, everyone was called a winner. It was viewed as a tie, the person coaching moved players from one team to the other, and while I am all about positive reinforcement, kids were being told they were amazing when they were doing awful! I AM NOT SAYING DO NOT GIVE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. But isn’t there a decent medium where a child can be told they are good, they are smart, they are doing well while adding the encouragement and lessons in how to improve? Hell, maybe that is where a great deal of the ego issues come from in with the artists that think they are so incredible when they truly suck? Maybe there was an excess of too much support that it actually became a liability and kept the musician from actually doing the work required to get better and improve.



With so much of what possibly could be the excess of the positive reinforcement you can witness where confidence can be so sensitive that it can be broken in an instant.



I worked with a drummer in the studio whom I asked to change up a pattern. He gave it a shot for maybe a max of five minutes before he was in tears. Literally tears. I was not digging in to him, but it was clear that he had played and performed in a safety bubble where the moment he wasn’t doing something correctly he was a wreck. We had to take a break and we ended up having him keep the part that didn’t really work in the first place, but was one he could handle. Later, I overheard him telling other band members how I had been asking for the “stupidest pattern” and how in spite of the fact that he could actually play it but it didn’t work and it was terrible. Again, the blame! This is just another example of eggshell confidence and an ego that doesn’t allow for growth.



We think drive, determination and a positive attitude is all it takes.



Again, so many people are out in the world talking about going after your dreams, yet there is little focus on the fact that in reaching for those dreams the journey will entail a ton of hard work and revisions to your path of success. Positive attitude should absolutely be there, and should be complimented through the tools and methods required to being a success, especially in the music business as it changes face and reinvents it self everyday. Simply having a positive attitude is absolutely not enough. Even those who believe in the “Law of Attraction” recognize that you must put action behind that energy and belief. Drive and determination both require ACTION.



We don’t think about the details.



We want to believe the best-case scenario is attainable with no question.



We want instant gratification and lack patience.



A lot of musicians don’t want to think about the details. It clouds the dreams. These people don’t want to implement the work and the patience required, they want that instant gratification like they see on TV, like they see on the Internet, like they believe and have grown to believe is real simply on its own. They want to dream hard and just know that if they keep the dream alive it will all happen. More of these people are the ruby slipper musicians that are clicking their heels three times over and over again but still going nowhere. Sorry Dorothy, in the music business, it takes more than the heal clicks.



These artists want to believe the stories they hear that will lead them to the fastest success, they don’t want to hear about what really happened or how long it took, or the bad contracts signed and learned from, or, for that matter, how every artist has to find and grind out their niche in creative yet formulated manners. It is why the upper level of the industry is still flourishing to a point. Many musicians are ready to sign on the dotted line before reading the contract without thinking twice until it bites them in the ass later.



Listening to the wrong people



There are hundreds of folks in the music industry that lack of experience or knowledge, and unfortunately, starving artists seek them out, setting up a blind leading the blind scenario. With the Internet, anyone can present them selves in a way that seems to attract the business they are seeking and the information being handed out is often wrong, outdated or inapplicable.



Just because someone has a MBA in music business does not make him or her a professional consultant. Ask them for their experience or a list of who they have learned from, what they have done and what they are about. It is the artist’s responsibility to read the contract; it is the artist’s responsibility to do the background on someone they are considering working with. It is the artist’s responsibility to make sure if they are hiring a coach, a producer or anyone associated with their work that they know who they are and what they can expect from being aligned with them.



The perfect gig



For those that just want to have the good times all the time, get freaking real!!!! I hear about how this musician doesn’t want to deal with the business and that musician doesn’t feel he should have to do anything but be creative. Wake the hell up!!!!!



Basic example. Some band bringing in 50 million in overall sales and only taking 25 percent or less is not a big problem. While that same band years later are taking in that 25% but only making 500 thousand doesn’t quite allot for the same sort of lifestyle. Point being: you are going to have to work and do things that you don’t want to do. No one has a job where they love every single aspect of it. Deal with and take care of the crappy parts too. Its just part of life.



Conclusion: What do you do?



It is one thing to identify a problem, and another thing to actually take action and solve it. I do not claim to have all the answers, but I do know it takes effort and execution. It takes taking a hard cold look at yourself, your music, your band and what you are doing, while assessing those things you might need to change and those things that should remain the same.



What are you doing everyday to get you closer to what you want? If you are, keep going. If not, change it. Maybe it won’t be overnight but start with the small steps to assure a brighter future.



What has worked for you or brought small successes? Analyze it, work on it and see if you can apply it to other areas that are not working.



What has to change? If you are not sure how to change the things that need changing, then reach out, find help, educate yourself and empower yourself with knowledge instead of going for that same piece of cheese that is electrified. Hell even rats start to learn not to do the same thing if the result is negative; maybe it’s your turn.



Stay educated on the business of music just like you are staying educated on the music it self. What opportunities are presenting them selves? What new methods are being applied that you can apply to your group? Keep your finger on the pulse of the industry. Just like a lawyer needs to continually stay up to date with the changing laws, a musician needs to stay up to date in the same way to be as effective and as successful as possible.



If something is too good to be true or seems too easy to be real, it probably is. Amazing things can happen, but make sure they are amazing in the way that are good for you today, tomorrow and next year as well.



Try to look at the traits above as a whole. Maybe none of them apply to you, maybe all apply and instead of being defensive, angry or in denial, begin to address elements inside you. The better you can “know thyself”, the sooner you can work to become stronger in the areas you are weak, your dreams and your career. No one is perfect and I have to address issues above just like everyone else.



Take the assertiveness and confidence you have inside with the things you are sure of, and work that to your benefit. Watch for teaming up or pairing with others who are not ready to do the work that has to be done. Surround yourself with the hardest working, strongest communicating and best musicians you possibly can. Respect the business side just as you respect the art side, and you will have a bigger chance in an industry where the chances of success become slimmer and slimmer day by day.



Good luck!



© 2009 Loren Weisman



http://www.braingrenademusic.com

