ATLANTA—In the world today, there are a growing number of people wanting to get in “the business.” There are also a lot of people trying to transition out of the business because they’ve somehow realized that it really wasn’t what they expected.
With today’s multi-billion dollar music and entertainment industries still being one of the few professions where your level of education doesn’t limit your career opportunities, it could be easily understood why this situation exists. There are no better “from rags to riches” stories than the ones that are told in today’s music.
So I wonder: Why do many artists and professionals allow their dreams to get deferred and what exactly does it take to make it?
This could be understood best when you realize that success on either side of the fence is 30 percent mind and 70 percent hustle. When discussing the key elements that determine success or failure, often, work ethic highly exceeds individual understanding of an interest.
The music business is often referred to as “the game” and just like any game it consists of many players. These players all share the same love for the game, but the thing that separates the great players from all the rest is their work ethic. Before playing in any game the player has to devote a lot of time into practicing. As it relates to music, practice could include a lot of options.
For the entry-level person, it’s hard because most industry positions are unpaid, require a lot of time, most of which you might feel degraded and less than your worth. Although there is no cure for these symptoms, be advised that you’re experiencing the most pivotal moments of your career. These are trying times where you must fight to establish a name for yourself while keeping your eyes on your prize. As you study the successful players such as Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, Sean Combs, and Percy Miller just to name a few, the repeated pattern of being in control of your own destiny is obvious.
When you are new to the game, there won’t be someone at the top dying to pull you up because they remember how hard they had to work to make a name for themselves. There won’t be any handouts or freebies, so be prepared to work harder than the next guy, put in long hours, be persistent, and never allow anyone or anything detour you from your vision. You must change the way you think first and then your thoughts will become your results.
Other key elements the successful player should have are ambition and self motivation. A person lacking ambition always end up working for someone that has it. Self-motivation is important because your differences from others are where your true strength lies. Creativity falls short when there is dependency on someone assigning you tasks. Instead, you must be innovative and bring some fresh ideas to the table.
In the music business, there is always plenty of room at the top for more people, but there is no place to sit down.
”Careers, like rockets, don’t always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working the engines.”~
Gary Sinise~
August 1st, 2007 at 12:03 pm
This article was so on point! Like many young people who desire a career in the music industry or entertainment they find that getting their foot in the door as one of the biggest challeges before them. If you were like me coming from a rural background you looked at NYC, Atlanta, or LA as the places you HAD to be to have a fighting chance at breaking in or as we said back in the day “blowin’ up!”
For me relocating to Atlanta allowed me to be in the environmnet where everything was going on and it afforded me the opportunity to get my foot in the door and like the aforestated article stated, often times I worked long hours for free…but I was doing what I loved.
Thankfully I am still pursuing the dream and blessed to still be young doing so, still in my 20s. I am often asked if I could change anything about the experience, I always so no, but I would encourage those interested in entering the business to seriously consider college. As I prepare to graduate in December I have found more success, training, and the tools needed to not only survive in the music “game” but life in general.
My trek in this industry has been seven long years, it’s when I decided that I was going to make a personal investment into myself by atleast obtaining an undergraduate degree. As a black man living in a world where the odds are against me (being a minority and being misappropriately stereotyped as a statistic waiting to happen) college for me was an insurance policy of sorts.
Though God himself naturally blessed me with the talent to sing, write, and dance I felt that it wasn’t enough to enter into the game based soley on talent. Moreover the decision has allowed me countless internship opportunities working in TV, Radio, and Print…had I not been in college I would have to work twice as hard to break into those industries for experience and exposure.
Like anything worth acheiving it takes hard work, sacrifice, and perserverance to reach your goal. Education in whatever direction you want to go in is paramount, and the Bible sums it up the best, “people perish for the lack of understanding” - and one must “study to show thyself approved.”
Justin “Juz” Cooper
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:38 am
So true…
It’s all about the mindset, the hustle and grind. It’s not about changing the “IF I make it” attitude to the “WHEN I make it” attitude because when u are determined to make it happen it will. Keeping your feet to the pavement and working harder than anyone else. Nothing worth having comes without hard work.
-Vesper