From Scratch – Adventures in Independent Music Making

It is easy to become wrapped up in our own artistic inner worlds. We often write “for ourselves” and “only for ourselves”. It is cathartic to work through our psychological and emotional problems in music and it is meaningful to us for other people to connect to the sentiments we share in our songs. But what about writing for other people and finding creative inspiration from without?

I was up until 1am last night recording a rough draft of a song that I wrote for placement in the soundtrack to filmmaker, and friend, Graziano Mainolfi’s next short film (“After She’s Gone”).  I will also be scoring the short and am really excited to take on that challenge. I definitely see myself writing a lot more for film as my career progresses and I think that is because I really enjoy writing for other people… even fictional ones. haha.

This morning, while reflecting on this particular song and being proud of how well it parallels the film, it occurred to me that I’ve been writing for other people a lot this year. I don’t write these songs for other singers to perform, but they are written for purposes other than inclusion on my records or in my live shows.

The song last night, which I am calling “Shy Lungs”, was written specifically for Graz’s film. The lyrics are about the characters of the film and the music is composed in a style that the director asked for.  This is a song I NEVER would have come up with if I was just writing for myself and left to my own devices.  Similarly, I wrote a song as a wedding gift for my friends Kate and BJ last spring. It was a sentimental piece written to honour the unique qualities of their relationship and how free and accepting they are of each other as a couple. I think it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever written and, once again, I NEVER would have thought to write that song if I wasn’t in need of a wedding gift for them.

I also wrote a song for my brother as a graduation gift and 2 Christmas songs for my friend Leeann who ordered a custom song as part of my button maker campaign late last fall. A number of people have submitted music, lyrics, or poems to me to turn into full songs and that really excites me. I’m flattered that anyone would come to me in such a way, especially with poems/lyrics; it’s a very vulnerable experience to share one’s art.

So, as a creative writer (not just a songwriter) and friend, I am really excited to take on the challenges of trying to write from a perspective outside of my own (and in imaginary or real environments) to create something meaningful for people that matter to me. Much like the “object writing” I was talking about in an earlier blog, I see these songs as a great opportunity to get outside of my head and out of the natural groove and songwriting comfort zone I work in when writing music for my albums.

Ah! My alarm just went off and I have to go to the vocal school, but there is so much more to write about … I will have to make a “Part 2″…

Meghan Morrison

www.meghanmorrison.com
@MegsMorrison

Tweet Hashtag #aiimm to share your own Adventures In Independent Music Making

Photo by Tony Hisgett /CC BY-SA 2.0

Tweet Hashtag #aiimm

The holidays were a great time to take a step back, spend time with family and reassess where I am going with my life and career. It really does feel like a new year. There is something different in the air, everyone I run into is more optimistic and excited, I feel more confident and determined, and new opportunities and connections are already presenting themselves in bushels. 2011 is going to be awesome!

This time last year, I wrote a blog post called “A Walk With Jean“. It was primarily about an amusing experience I had last year on New Year’s Eve while on a walk with a strange old lady.  At the end, however, I described my intentions for ringing in the new year and for what I wanted to accomplish in 2010. Reading it today, a year later, I feel amazed. An excerpt about my feelings at the end of 2009:

“This past year has been filled with struggle, fear, and uncertainty in many ways and I’ve been heavily reliant on my friends and family for emotional support. Last year, I celebrated NYE in a dim closet as a coat check girl at a restaurant where the ‘big boss’ looked down upon me. I want to start this year off with a statement of strength, focus, unwavering commitment to my passion, confidence in my ability to improve upon my situation, and the satisfaction of being able to stand on my own two feet as my own ‘big boss’.”

At the end of 2010 … I really was my own ‘big boss’. My business is thriving (though developing) I am fiercely independent, hell bent on establishing a career in music, and emotionally very harmonious. Last year I made my statement to myself and the world by staying at home, with a small bottle of champagne, writing lyrics as the clock struck midnight. This year I wanted the statement to be bigger, so I hosted a New Year’s Eve bash in a venue I’ve never played at before and my countdown happened on stage, with champagne and the man I want to make music with for the rest of my life. 2011 is going to be awesome!

Since it is a new year, it is definitely time for a new blog challenge (this time one that is self-designed). Last year was about getting the ball rolling. The year before that was about making decisions. I want this year to be about establishing quality … of life, in my music, and caring about everything I do. If I find myself not caring about something, I will work through the reasons why and, if that doesn’t change anything, I will let myself move on from it. I have decided to dedicate every Monday morning in 2011 to writing and posting my blogs and to focus this year on developing as an artist, now that I have a full band, small administrative team, strong website, and a good start to a marketing strategy (thanks to Ariel Hyatt’s Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge).

In order to create my own personal blog challenge, I sat down and reflected on the core challenges I want to face and overcome this year as an independent artist. The brainstorming process resulted in the following list of priorities, which I guess you could also view as New Year’s Resolutions:

Business Resolutions

Resolution #1 -> I want to run my business … not let it run me. Same thing with my schedule

2) I want to put my art/music first, while moving the business forward

3) I want to stay on top of the button orders and develop the webcast so that it is strong enough to justify sponsorship

4) I want to make the webcast more mobile and take it on tour

5) I want to finish writing my business plan, apply for small business grants, and develop a more efficient method of planning and tracking my finances

6) I want to be 100% financially independent and not in need of a part time “day job”

Artistic & Musical Resolutions

Resolution #1 ->  I want to perform my songs, not play them

2) I want to write better music (more of it and more often)

3) I want to be a stronger vocalist and instrumentalist

3) I want to develop and bring more movement into my live show

4) I want to learn theory and communicate more effectively with musicians

5) I want my physical style and outward appearance/presentation to reflect my musical and artistic style

6) I want to incorporate new sounds (especially effects) into my music

7) I want to learn more about audio production, specifically mastering

Band/Team Resolutions

Resolution #1 -> I want my band and team to feel and be recognized as a band/team, not just as a backing band of a solo artist.

2) I want to involve the band in more of the creative, administrative, and marketing activities as well as decision making

3) I want to record two 8 track, self-produced albums with the band this year. One for summer/touring release and one for Christmas release

4) I want to direct my own music videos from now on and bring the band into them

5) I want to establish a more regular routine with writing and rehearsals (having dedicated writing and rehearsal days)

The Action Plan

Now, I recognize that many of these things will have to be worked on simultaneously and all of this is going to take months, let alone 9 weeks. So this upcoming week I will be focusing on the 2 key themes/areas of development that I feel are most important right now:

1) Creating an action plan for the next 12 months

2) Fostering cohesiveness by bringing the band and admin team together in person (house party -band/team members only) and online (establishing their presence and importance on my website). These people are the closest members of my musical family, but I don’t feel like I have been really demonstrating that effectively or creating opportunities for all of us to become more tightly knit or to grow together as artists and professionals. This is a major priority for my music and business this year.

So, who the h*ll am I?

… I’m an independent artist. I can actually say that this year and really believe it.

And Where am I going?

… This year, I’m in search of finding my true artistic path while building upon the foundational business path I started last year. I am going to tour again this year (really missed that last year) and this time I am taking my band with me. I want to embark on a least one small tour outside of the country (in the fall, so we have enough time to clear the paper work associated with international gigging), though that will likely have to be as a solo or duo trip this time around.

Now, who the h*ll are you? And where are you going?

I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of the MSI9W blog challenge and the interactions in the forum. I want to keep that flame burning in a new way. If you are going through an artistic revitalization, please share a link to your blog in the comment section below and tweet about it with the hashtag #aiimm .

All the Best to All of You! Did I mention that 2011 is going to be Awesome!?!

Meghan Morrison
www.meghanmorrison.com
@MegsMorrison

It’s the last week of the Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge … again!

Double Rainbow All the Way!!

Photo by (Paul Johnston-Knight) / CC BY-SA 2.0

I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that the second time through this program was far more rewarding than the first. Looking back at my Week 1 entry for the second wave, I smiled. At the time, I was so enthusiastic about how much more fun the second wave would be and my main focus was on integrating the techniques and practices from the first round into a more healthy and harmonious framework for organizing my business, life, and development as an artist.

During the first wave I was pulling all-nighters, drinking way too much coffee, skipping meals, barely seeing friends, hardly touching an instrument and freaking out over deadlines because I scheduled way too much for myself.  Writing this blog now, with the sound of my new songwriting partner jamming out on an electric kit in the other room and with me feeling rested, well nourished, and stress and guilt free after a night of socializing with friends and catching up with family … I think I pulled it off.

Because of this program, my determination, and the help of some really awesome people, the business side of my music is moving forward in really great and exciting ways:

1)The webcast is running smoothly and we have our first ever online art auction happening this Tuesday, streaming live from Aspetta Cafe in the heart of Kensington Market, Toronto, Canada. The fine art pieces our musical guests created on the show over the past 6 months are being auctioned off to raise money for our local food bank this holiday season (Tune in at 8pm EST to check out the madness, hear some really great performers and, of course, bid on the art pieces).

2) The button maker campaign with RocketHub was a great success and I now have more button orders than I can presently keep up with. Thankfully, I have partnered up with The Fine Print copy shop for all my printing needs (they’re really cool guys and they give me a great deal for doing regular business with them). The bands and artists are really excited to be able to get buttons made at such low cost and everyone feels good about knowing that the proceeds go back to musicians and improving the webcast (paying performers and saving for better gear/programs, etc.).

3) I’ve been receiving more promotional opportunities: was invited to a SAC photoshoot to help promote their soon-to-open co-writing studio, recorded a feature interview being aired on a local college radio station in January, have SNAP magazine coming out to the webcast art auction, have had more podcast plays, was introduced to Ethan Waldman‘s fans by doing a list exchange for our last newsletters, and had a feature interview about my crowdfunding experience in the RocketHub blog.

4) My network is growing daily (attended the IGDA social meet up and the Professional Sound Anniversary Party) and I have connected with really insightful and inspiring people, like Derek Sivers.

5) My behind the scenes team, band and fan base are growing, as well as the readership rates of my blog and newsletters. Best of all, people are demanding new music… that’s the kind of peer pressure that makes me very happy :)

Journalling my experiences and interacting with other bloggers/readers has been meaningful and fun; documenting the process, in a strange way, has made my accomplishments feel more real because I can see the proof in front of me; connecting with other people inside and outside the Cyber PR forum has introduced me to a new sense of community and affirmed my belief that independent musicians have an amazing strength when they work together. The industry is changing in very exciting ways for artists and there is an incredible support network of professionals out there who are reaching out and trying to help us:

Ariel Hyatt -CyberPR (Marketing)
Tom Jackson -On Stage Success (Live Performance Production)
Derek Sivers – CD Baby (distribution)/MuckWork (help with uncreative work)
Bandzoogle (websites)
Vlad and Brian at RocketHub (Crowdfunding)
SOCAN (Canada)/BMI & ASCAP (USA) (Royalty collection)
SAC/ NSAI (Songwriter development)
NMS/CMW/NXNE/SXSW (Music Conferences you can learn from. Can’t afford it? Volunteer)

(leave a comment with anyone else you think should be added to this list)

All the tools and resources are out there to build our own careers, all we have to do is make the decision to do it :) … That’s pretty cool.

So what does all of this have to do with Chapter 9: Creating a Continuum Program? Everything. In this chapter, Ariel dives into strategies for generating income from your music but, on another parallel, the idea of a continuum program is what the whole book is about. It’s not just about selling your music and merch, but creating a meaningful, long term career in the music industry. I got the button making project underway (an idea I chose to focus on during week 9 of wave 2) during this wave and part of the campaign itself involved creating a funnel-like structure of goods/services that could be offered in exchange for funds (just like Ariel teaches: offer a range of low cost paraphernalia to higher cost items/content/services). It worked really well for the button making campaign, so I have transposed that funnel into my store on my website and will continue to use it as my regular model until I am ready to come out with the next album.

The marketing process doesn’t stop after Chapter 9 though. It’s a lifestyle change, like eating better or exercising, not a magic diet pill. That’s why I signed up for the third wave after completing the second. The list of accomplishments/successes I listed above is greater than what I could claim after the second wave and the list will get bigger and better as I continue to implement the strategies I have learned and bring more people on board who want to be part of my vision. That thrills me.

I have decided to start again this week with chapter one. Because I have already been through the process twice, I have a foundation. It’s not starting over though, it’s building on top. For blogging, however, I want to take a new direction and have decided to start my own blogging challenge to help me work through the re-visioning of myself as an artist while preparing and writing the next album and refining my live performance. I’m doing this for myself, but encourage anyone who wants to join me to blog along with me and leave a link to your own blog in the comment section so I (and others) can read about your experiences too. We can all learn from each other :)

Perhaps we should have a Twitter hashtag too, like Ariel does … #aiimm (that’s short for “adventures in independent music making”). Then we can find each others’ blogs through twitter when they’re posted.

This coming week: Who The H*ll Am I? Where am I going?

Like Week 1 of Ariel’s marketing strategy, I’m going to take the next week to think about an action plan for refining who I am as an artist (as opposed to a business head) and decide on a few key components of artistic development I need to focus on in order to bring my authentic inner artist out. Maybe it will also be a 9 week plan… we’ll see. Regardless, I see this as a good opportunity to overcome insecurities I have as an artist, come out of my shell and learn how to be a better musician, writer and performer.

Nothing to lose, right? Who’s on board? :)

Meghan Morrison

www.meghanmorrison.com
@MegsMorrison

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It is Week 5 in Wave 3 of the Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge

What a week!

My Dad arrived the Friday before last; he came up from Nova Scotia to help me repair and improve the house before winter comes. Coincidentally, he was here during Week 5 of Wave 2 as well and is in the video blog I made that week. We were pretty busy over the past 7 days (the house is a fixer upper … big time!) and I learned a lot about attic ventilation. Lesson 1: don’t insulate your soffits and make sure you install vents to let air in the attic or else you get dry rot… yep, we’ve got dry rot. Fun times. I had the privilege of ripping all the old insulation out. I also went to a SAC Songposium where I had my song “This Song” (the pre-mix is now up on the MyBand tab of my facebook page) critiqued by industry folk and songwriters like Dan Hill and Emm Gryner … and they actually liked it!

Since you can read about how I incorporated Ariel’s blogging strategies into my music marketing strategy in my Wave 2 Post, I’m going to take this opportunity to discuss how blogging is relevant to me as a musician , how it relates to my plan of becoming a career artist, and a few interesting tips & tools I have found since the last wave that have helped me improve my blog and it’s searchability.

It starts with an email…

I received a message this week from someone who found me on cyberspace and has been checking out my blogs and general web presence. They pointed out that from their perspective it was hard to tell if I had a clear vision or direction… they weren’t sure if I knew what it was that I really wanted to do. This took me off guard, I’ll be honest. In my head I have a very clear ‘bigger picture’ in my mind, but it’s true that the paths to get me there aren’t as clearly mapped out. There are a number of reasons for this, but that is probably better left for another blog post. I’m mentioning this now because this communication highlighted something very important: The viewer’s perspective.

I have a lot of different things going on at the same time: The Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge, Weekly Webcast, Button Making Campaign, Awareness and Fundraising for Charities, a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Style Newsletter, My Resources for Indies Page, “A Musician’s Attempt At Videography” (the series of videos I make, usually for other people, on my YouTube page), Songwriting & Performing, etc. Each of those things could be separate pursuits on their own … so which one do I really want to do? In my head they are integral to each other and work as one cohesive organism, but to my readers, fans and followers it’s probably not as obvious. That is important for me to realize! And I’m very glad this person took the time to point it out.

My vision is to create a self-sufficient and self-sustaining career as an independent artist and a business that not only envelopes all of my creative passions, but also provides a forum for me to share my trials, tribulations and resources with other artists as I learn more and work my way through from scratch … because you have to be a business to survive as an artist in the new music industry and all of us are struggling to figure out how to do it. One of the great things about this blog challenge is that the challengers are actually all working together to move forward in their separate careers: sharing their experiences and new found knowledge in their postings, then commenting on and tweeting about each other’s blogs and having meaningful discussions in the CyberPR forum. You’ll notice that Ariel, our marketing mentor, is doing the same thing with her peers in the music marketing business: Bandzoogle and Air Play Direct. They have networked and met with each other (online and/or in person), developed a partnership during this third wave that offers an even better prize for challengers (like we can for our “fans”), and now blog and tweet/retweet about each others projects in ways that are of interest to everyone’s followers.

Network and knowledge sharing is how the record industry has always worked, but the contacts and resources are exclusive and espensive… so if the record companies are going down the tubes, investing less and developing fewer and fewer artists, but wanting a bigger piece of the pie then we just need to make our own network and make our knowledge accessible to each other. In the end, there is no competition and the results are still the same: The great artists will be recognized and succeed over their peers and the “bad” music (as cynics call it) will still be popular if the masses like it. What changes is that the people in the middle actually have a chance to make a comfortable living doing what they love. That is how I see the future of independent music: A strong network of artists who work together, instead of competing against each other, to move the music industry (read: not record industry) and their own lives and art forward. Blogging, by the way, is a great way to network and share such knowledge and resources.

Much like how Ariel teaches us to make our web presence visually consistent across all platforms and sites, my challenge now is to find a way to clearly express not just the image, but also a consistent message of “who I am” and “what I am doing” in all of my online spaces, not just in my head, so that people who follow my blogs and webcast and tweets, etc. can clearly understand who I am … which is ultimately the point of blogging for me. Tomorrow I’m being interviewed by a college radio station about all the craziness that is my music business… I always find that I learn a lot about myself during and after interviews; perhaps the solution will come to me during this reflective opportunity.

A few tips and tools I have recently employed:

Sharability: Did I make that word up? Yep, it’s not in dictionary.com, but I’m keeping it. If you write a blog, you want people to read it, right? So sharing your blog is important to help increase your readership. Obviously, I change my various status updates to show that I have a new blog up, but prompting other people to share is probably more important. Like Ariel says, people are more likely to believe other people’s opinions than your own when you are trying to ‘sell yourself’. That is why word of mouth is the said to be the best form of advertising. So, without hounding people to spread the word, how can you prompt them to? I’ve been adding the “share” button to my posts (which I learned how to do through a Bandzoogle forum), but that button no longer exists and I think they have changed it to “like”. I also saw on AgendaRed‘s Blog a widget from TweetMeme for retweeting a page on Twitter. I’m going to try that out now… retweet if you like this blog! :)

By the way, if you are using WordPress you may find that iframe widgets (such as the facebook ‘like‘ button) mystically disappear from your post even after you’ve saved them. I find it only happens if you switch from “html” view to “visual” view when writing my blog. To get around this, I put them in at the very end and then leave the post in html view.

Searchability. Under the “Blogs” section of my Google Alerts, I discovered that one of my songs was featured alongside Matthew Ebel (my webcast idol) in The Philosophy Guy’s podcast this weekend. I was very excited and immediately went to listen to the podcast … as I was listening it occurred to me that my own blog didn’t show up in the “Blog” section of a search for my own name. Coming from a background in research, I am always keen to experiment and problem solve. So, I asked myself: “How can I get my blog to show up in the Blog results of a Meghan Morrison Google Alert?” … I think I just did it. I never write my name in my blog posts and that is specifically what the search bots are looking for: the words “meghan” and “morrison”. Now, I don’t want to start writing in the third person (that would be ridiculous), so I’m going to try something new this week … signing my posts with my name. It’s authentic and not out of place or cheesy. I think it will be a good solution and will let you know how it goes.

Readability. White on black is hard on the eyes. I recognized this with my old website design and changed it to black on white during Week 3 (Website Optimization). It’s okay for short stays, but for longer reads it can be almost painful for people, especially with lined backgrounds, as Sean T Wright commented on my Week 9 posting (it took me a little longer to switch over the blog page, because I have it hosted separately).

Universality. Being an artist who wants to tour the world and connect with people from all over, it was important to me to make my blog available in as many languages as possible. When I first started researching how to do that I stumbled on Mojofiti and have been re-posting my blogs there (I get Addie to help me with that now when she comes in for office hours on Tuesdays) with a link on the original blog post to “Read this blog in 27 different languages“. I did recognize an important limitation to this: you would have to understand English to read it in the first place, but thought it was a step in the right direction. On Mojfiti, however, people find the blogs in their own language. Both my blog and Mojofiti are WordPress platforms and so that got me thinking that maybe there is a way to make my WordPress blog multi-lingual too. I contacted my web guru, Byron McQuay (of OneDesign) who sponsors my blog site and asked him if he knew anything about it. Shortly thereafter we found and installed the Global Translator plugin. It’s great because translation is as simple as clicking on a country flag (no need to interpret words)… the limitation: You have to translate from my blog’s home page and then select the post you want to read. I’m not sure why,  but the plugin doesn’t show up on the individual post pages… something I need to look into (might be my theme design or the way my settings are configured).

I think that’s all I’ve got in me this week, time for sleep! haha

Happy Blogging!

Meghan Morrison (let’s see if it works…)

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Read This Blog in 27 Different Languages

Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Facebook fan page, You Tube, Twit Pic, Flickr, Forums and the list goes on … there are SO MANY avenues for connecting with people online. It is both a burden and a blessing and for career musicians, whether we like it or not, it is an integral part of marketing in today’s world. Note that last word: “world”. Isn’t that what makes social media so exciting? It doesn’t matter if you have a label or management team and a big marketing budget, as a musician in this era you can literally connect with people (aka potential fans) all around the world… and the only investment you have to make is the cost of a computer and an internet connection (both of which can be used for free at the library). Limitless. That’s empowering. That being said, having a marketing team certainly would make your life A LOT easier and free up your time for improving your songwriting and stage performance.

Toward the end of this 4th week of Ariel Hyatt‘s Music Success in Nine Weeks blog challenge (Wave 3), I started feeling “the angst”. The ahhhh!-I-can’t-keep-up-with-all-of-this-and-be-committed-to-my-music-too! kind of pain that  suffocates you every now and then. I think it’s healthy though, it proves to me that I am still an artist under this business hat. That is a comfort in itself. Though I try not to get caught in the viscious cycle of complain-suffer-complain and burden my friends/family with that kind of negative energy, which really just keeps the problem alive instead of fixing it, I do think it is necessary to let the frustration out when it starts to rumble in your tummy. If you’re like me, it will be on your mind until it leaves your lips.

A few strategies I have adopted to cope with “the angst” and that have helped me complete the full 9 week challenge once (going on twice):

1. I tell someone … once. Then thank them for listening and tell them I’m moving on now (it usually gives rise to a chuckle). Telling them one idea for how I might be able to fix the problem also helps, because it gets my mind moving in a productive and positive direction. Did you know that if you ask yourself a question, your mind will keep looking for the answer subconsciously until it finds it? That’s why when you can’t think of the name of  a song it will come to you spontaneously hours or days later. I learned that during my training as a Cutco sales rep (oh yes, I once sold knives. I love those knives) and have found it to be a very useful tactic in approaching problem solving and creative endeavours.
2. Telling myself it’s okay to step away. Sometimes a break is as good as a vacation, right? Sometimes 5 or 15 minutes isn’t enough though and once I’ve given myself permission to abandon the project I tend to be happier coming back to it and often come back earlier than I planned because…
3. I remind myself that this is the Dip;  it takes as long as it takes, costs what it costs, and I’m going to do it regardless of the challenges, so I might as well enjoy the ride. If I’m feeling like I’m not enjoying it, then it probably means I have neglected something else that is important to me and I need to find a way to get my needs back in balance (or harmony, as I prefer to approach it).

And that is exactly how I came to write my blog tonight. I have absolutely no desire what-so-ever to write about social media this week, but this program is an important part of the long haul I’m in for, so I am determined to make some kind of step forward in this dip. What is my problem? So much of my time has been gobbled up over the past 13 weeks, trying to learn how to set up and use all these new programs, that I have felt a bit mechanical and my creative side has been neglected. I was expecting this. This is bootcamp and what Wave 2 was all about for me. It was about dedicating myself to my marketing project so that I could build a strong business foundation that I can be confident will support my creative pursuits and, eventually, lead me to a place where the house is capable of running itself without my constant supervision. I wanted Wave 3 to be about smoothing the integration so that I could focus more on music this time around. I don’t feel like I’m there yet. Thanks for listening, I’m going to move on now :)

A solution for my problem?  I wrote a lot about setting up social media sites during my Wave 2 Week 4 blog, so during this wave I want to satisfy my artistic need to reflect and write about the experience of using social media as an artist.

It has been AWESOME! Yes, it was a lot of work to set up and once you open a new social media application it never ends… but that’s a good thing. I can’t express how vitally important platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been in developing not only my online presence, but also my connection to the people who care about me and my music. My numbers suggest I don’t have a ton of followers at the moment, which is true, but those numbers are always growing; Especially with the webcast (84 visits to my website on the day of the last show. That’s huge for me!). With physical exercise, in order to maintain or improve upon the gains you achieve with all your hard work, you have to keep exercising. You don’t always have to be pushing your limits and comfort zone, but you do have to keep using those muscles and systems for them to continue functioning optimally, keeping your body healthy and efficient. Same thing with social media. If you stop using it all together, you will be forgotten and unfollowed. What I am trying to do now is find a way to blend it into my daily routine so that my social presence is alive and healthy, but not overwhelming me and taking all of my attention (if you only exercise your right bicep, it’s not going to help the strength of your left arm).

One major thing that has helped with this is … a team. Having other people on board that are actually keen to help out with social media and marketing has been a major asset in integrating social media into my life in a more manageable way over the last few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I tweet my own tweets and post on people’s walls myself, but I do have a couple people now that can help with setting up and optimizing profiles on new sites (Addie), desiging/managing event pages and booking gigs (Leandra), and other tasks that don’t require an authentic artist interaction. You’d be surprised how much time it takes to upload music, pictures, etc. and design profiles when you’re trying to be everywhere on the net.

The team is still pretty new though, so it doesn’t always run smoothly yet and there have  been challenges in communicating my vision to others and we have all made mistakes along the way. For example, team members forgetting to sign out of my facebook profile before commenting on something on my wall … which makes me look like I’m having a conversation with myself or attempting super cheesy promotional tactics. While this is kind of funny in some ways, it’s also really serious. I don’t want to lose my fans/friends’ trust. If they have reason to believe that someone else is posting for me, they will have no reason to believe that I’m the one responding to them and may stop following.

Something that surprised me in a pleasant way was that even though I have my facebook fan page linked everywhere, there are waaay more people finding me and adding me as a friend with my personal account than liking my fan page. Though it doesn’t look particularly good for me as a musician, I think this is far more exciting. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that people I meet at shows and online are genuinely interested in getting to know me, not just my music. I’ve never used the “suggest to friends” function before, so I’m going to try that this week when Addie comes over.

Addie is a Fanshawe graduate who is really keen on getting into music marketing, especially social media. I recruited her by contacting her program director at the college (who was very eager to help me  and recognized the value of real-life experience for their students). I sent him a list of ‘available opportunities’ and he forwarded it to all the students in their Music Industry Arts program. Addie responded with a resume, came in for a semi-formal interview, and got the job! She has been coming over once a week for what we are calling “office hours” and has been a major asset in helping me cope with the demands of social media.

Leandra is a Harris Institute graduate who seriously wants to get into booking. She has scored me some pretty big gigs and free recording sessions and I am very grateful for her firey ambition. I met her at the NXNE conference this year through a mutual friend (who I met at a CIMA talk). When the arrangement she had with the band she was representing didn’t work out, she contacted me and asked if I was looking for management help. Indeed I was, so she came out to a show and interviewed me. We discussed our visions, goals, and work ethic and have been learning a lot together ever since.

I want these ladies to feel like the professionals they are and I want my business to operate like a real business, so they both have contracts (I got a package of music industry contract templates from Indie Artists Alliance) that are open to renewal and renegotiating. They also get paid. Not much, because we’re not bringing in much yet, but by offering to pay them something instead of asking them to work as unpaid interns (which is very common in this industry) they know that I respect them, apprecaite their work, and want them to be compensated. They know that the better we all do as a team, the more I will be able to give them.

If you want to build a team around you, I’m not an expert, but here is my suggestion: don’t give up on the idea when the first person doesn’t work out (because it probably won’t) … or the third person … or the tenth. Addie wasn’t the first person to send in a resume and be invited to join the team and I’ve gone through a number of people who tried acting as my manager or  booking agent, but in the end couldn’t commit to it. It has to be the right fit for everyone or it won’t work. Don’t take it personally and don’t blame the others for not following through if it’s not the right gig for them. It sucks to deal with turn-over, but it will give you the momentum you need to eventually get the right people on board. When you can advertise that you’ve got a booking agent, for example, that gives you credibility. People will take you more seriously and that will help attract other people who are interested in this kind of work.

It’s all stepping stones until you get to the other side of the river. Much like this week was for me. I don’t have my entire social media network all together and I haven’t quite figured out the best way to integrate it into my daily life, but I’m getting closer! (TweetDeck has been a BIG help with keeping updates regular, even when I can’t be at a computer for  a while. And the Pomodoro Technique has helped me make better use of my social media time when I am at the computer -thank you for blogging about it Ethan Waldman. I typically arrange for 1 “pomodoro” to check my tweets and schedule replies at the beginning of the day. I’ll also schedule retweets of things I think other people will find interesting. During the rest of the day, I send my own personal updates from my phone and catch up with the replies the next morning. I generally dedicate 1 – 2 “pomodoros” to check and respond to stuff on facebook before I go to bed. Since some of my tweets are set up to go through as facebook updates, this gives people time to comment on the posts and start discussions before I sit down to interact and catch up.

If you’re an artist going through “the angst” I hope this blog may have provided some coping strategies for you :) Feel free to forward it on to other social media sufferers :)

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Robin singing at Leighton Moss RSPB by Gidzy (Creative Commons License 2.0)

I heard one of the most disturbing things the other day: a pair of fellow singer/songwriters proudly taking delight in the fact that they have told band mates and friends to “never sing again” … because they were so “bad” at it. My qualms with this? … First of all, they are vocal students themselves, so I don’t know what makes them think they are an appropriate authority to be determining this and secondly, how insecure must a person be in their own vocal abilities to put down an amateur singer’s expression of love for music in order to justify the “excellence” of their own?

That makes me so f*cking mad

(For those of you who know me, if I actually use a swear word you know I’m really truly actually very seriously … f*cking mad)

As an early adolescent, when I got my first CD and CD player I took them upstairs to my room and learned the songs and sang loud and proud at the top of my lungs … until the day someone told me they could hear me. I thought they were making fun of me. I never sang in front of another person again (unless in jest) until 5 years ago when I couldn’t repress it any longer and decided to take lessons. Luckily I was able to muster up the strength to overcome the insecurities I had developed around the one instrument I was born with; the only instrument that is a physical part of me and is so precious because it IS me. Not everyone will, so be careful when you’re considering mocking or insulting another person’s singing (especially if they haven’t learned how to yet); you are insulting a part of their nature and human being. How dare you? Would you tell a toddler to never try reading again because they can’t do it now? No, of course you wouldn’t… unless you yourself were a pre-schooler who was insecure with your own ability to read.

I know that any person CAN learn to sing because I have seen the results my own vocal coach has produced with clients who most people would consider to be ‘hopeless’ in terms of vocal ability or talent (as well as with people who have talent, but suffered from extreme damage to their vocal chords). Artists and music lovers from all over the world (and all levels of ability) come to work with her. She is nothing short of amazing and I indeed attribute much of my own vocal abilities to her instruction and drive for perfection.

So the issue then isn’t whether or not a person CAN sing, but whether or not they are passionate enough about it to want to LEARN how to do it to the best of their own abilities… which might be better than you expect, given the right teacher. So please never tell another human being that they shouldn’t sing, instead admire their love of vocal expression and ask them if they’ve ever taken vocal lessons. If they haven’t, it will get them thinking about it.

That being said, if anyone reading this is serious about their love for singing (whether recreational or professional) I recommend without reservation the services of my vocal coach Diana Yampolsky, founder of The Royans Professional Vocal School. I must warn you, however, her method (Vocal Science) is highly unconventional, rigorous and not for the faint of heart :) … exactly what I wanted. If you’re not ready to commit to it with an open mind and open heart, don’t waste your money (she doesn’t come cheap). If you are, it’s the best investment you’ll ever make.

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Snowball by redjar (Creative Commons License 2.0)

In response to a message from Igor: 

Hey Meghan, I wanted to ask you something that I find very
interesting. I like to hear musician's stories and I saw your little
documentary that you had on your website and you mentioned that you
went to university and have only been doing music for couple years.
Being a musician I sometimes question myself and I was just
wondering if you would share with me your reasons for pursuing music
and what inspired you to do it instead of focusing on some other
career etc.

Thanks

-Igor

Gladly!

I actually did the same thing a couple of years ago when I was starting to question where I was going in my life.

I happened to stumble upon an old acquaintance -a cousin of one of my good friends who I also knew from a drama program I attended back in my elementary school days. Fittingly, he decided to make acting his career. For him, he knew what he was meant to do from a very young age. I did not. I have always been left and right brained. I love science and I love art. But art wasn’t a ‘career option’. It was a valuable and desirable set of skills that make one well rounded and help foster creativity. At least that is what I thought growing up. Having always been so excited and curious about almost everything, I went from wanting to be a dentist to an architect, to a marine biologist, to a small business owner, back to an architect, on to an athletic trainer and phys ed teacher, to physiotherapist, back to physical education with figure skating coach on the side, and making an unexpected decision to take the path of grad studies and become a professor in health sciences. Of that list I did become a small business owner (twice), a figure skating coach (counts as a third small business), physical educator (though, my degree doesn’t actually qualify me for teaching … basically, it’s a self-designed Kinesiology degree… long story … how life throws us surprises!) and I did finish my master’s degree in health sciences (the doctoral studies are on hold until it’s the right time to go back. At this point, I can’t see that happening until I’m 60, haha, but it IS going to happen). While pursuing these career options, art was always there with me in various forms (mostly painting, some theatre and then a bit of dabbling with music), but only ever as a hobby; always on the side.

I fantasized about the idea of being a performing artist, but never with the sense that it could actually be my reality. Even when I played the Sims I wouldn’t let my character be a musician, actor, or artist… but creativity was always the first skill I would have them master and they would always be playing instruments or painting in their spare time. I taught myself to believe that art was a selfish pursuit and that in order to be a good person and live a good life I had to have a career that could help people directly (which is why I gave up on architecture and moved towards health sciences). I didn’t think art could do that.  I was very wrong. The reasons I pursue music  now are 1) because I need to… can’t really explain that … and 2) because it allows me to help people by connecting with them on an emotional level. By overcoming my own fears of expression and judgment in songs, as an artist I am able to put out something listeners can resonate with and find comfort in. That is cathartic and healing. That is helping. Especially if I am emoting sentiments they are too afraid to express out loud in their every day lives. I know my life is improved by the connection I find in other artists’ music in this same way. We humans are so self-torturous!

Over the years I had heard about my childhood acquaintance’s move to the UK to study drama and even back then I was envious. Perhaps that should have been a sign. After re-meeting him as an ‘adult’ (I still have a hard time thinking of myself in such a light) while his cousin/my friend was up visiting, a kind of craziness started to stir inside me. His fantasy was his reality. He was doing what I, deep down, really wanted to do but could never rationalize. Not that I wanted to be an actor … but along the same vein, what I wanted was to be a performing artist. I needed to create, share and, most importantly, connect with people on an emotional level through my creations. And though I always found ways to create in all of my life’s pursuits, I was starting to realize that it wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted to commit fully to creating, not just working it in where I could. I needed to talk to him. Not wanted, but needed. It was something much deeper than desire alone.

So, being the weirdo I am, I called up another mutual friend whom I rarely spoke to since high school, but knew had his number and got it from her. Then called him and, with nerve-quakes like I had never experienced before in my life, asked him if he’d be willing to sit down and talk in person about his decision to be an actor. He said yes.

I don’t get shaky like that even at the most important of shows, so despite the fact that my brother and I had started a band and I was taking music more seriously than ever before, his reappearance in my life was the light switch. Up until then I was writing, with fervour, by match light; struggling to maintain illumination for my project with the risk of dropping the flame on my paper, while a room full of bookcases, maps and other resources were always there … but invisible in the shadows. For the first time in my life I saw that being a performing artist WAS a possibility. The proof: someone I knew was doing it and making a living with it because he wasn’t compromising his quest to follow his heart.

Having the opportunity to connect with another human being on such a deeply buried issue changed everything. It didn’t matter to me that I wasn’t fresh out of high school anymore and possibly my most ‘marketable’ (aka early twenties) years were in the past (the industry is changing, by the way), my mind was opening up to possibilities that weren’t purely academic, in the ‘let’s publish a research paper!’ sense. Art (and research on, with, and through art) has been institutionalized at the university level, so it too is academic in such a context. Then you’ve got the whole Arts vs. Sciences bullshit. I would go on to argue that science is art and art is science, but I’m getting off topic, so that’s a conversation for another day.

… where was I? Oh, yes…

So, the remaining year and a half of my master’s program was brutal. I almost quit. Not because I couldn’t handle the work or because I wasn’t interested in the research, I actually quite enjoy doing research, but because I still had not fully committed to pursuing my art. Knowing that I wouldn’t quit, because I always force myself to get to the end, was making my life more frustrating on every level. As an aside: I’ve started learning that sometimes it’s much healthier and more prosperous to quit … if done smartly and with purpose -see Seth Godin’s “The Dip” (2007).

Back to the frustration: I did go through a brief rebellious phase, however, when my advisor and I were butting heads (we are both stubborn but are in many ways like family now. I miss you, Phil!) and I basically called a moratorium on all things thesis-related. I still went to classes (which in grad school are infrequent, it’s more independent) and did that work, but did only as much as I had to to get by because I was holding my own personal songwriting retreat. For 2 weeks I took a portion of my grad funding, bought all the songwriting and music business books that I could find and read, wrote, and sang at my friend’s place while I house/pet-sat for them when they went on vacation.

This process took me another step towards committing, I was starting to see myself more as an artist and professional, but I still wasn’t really letting myself do it yet. I was thinking of career options in terms of how the job would afford me the ability to pursue my music, instead of just pursuing the music. Though destructive for me, this actually works really well for some people! Chris Addeny (Wax Mannequin) is a school teacher who capitalizes on summer vacation and other flexible scheduling to tour all over the world.

Initially I was still planning to start my PhD right way and was thinking about moving to England. Though I did find an advisor who was willing to take me on (and happened to be numero uno in our field), I didn’t receive the funding I needed to go and the personal reasons I would have moved to England for became complicated on my end and with great sadness I cut that cord. Still ultimately in ‘safe mode’, I decided it would be smarter to try pursuing a ‘real’ job and music at the same time, so that I could afford to do music. While my actions suggested I was pursuing a career in health research, my intentions were becoming more and more focused on music, though I kept it on the down-low.

Underneath it all though, everything after graduation was really about music and, as such, I moved to the city that would surely take a lead pipe to my knees and make me cry trying… I moved to Toronto. Home of the harshest critics and the fiercest competition in our country, I knew that if I was going to give everything else up to make it happen, it had to be here: where it was the hardest, where there are the most lessons to be learned and the greatest chances of failing and remaining in obscurity, where you are forced to rise to the occasion or give up and go home to where it’s easier to be successful as an artist … but also where there are so many other like-minded individuals to draw inspiration from and strategize with, endless possibilities for networking and venues for performing, numerous educational resources and conferences to attend, and an incredible buzzing energy so vibrant that it makes you feel like your progress is moving as fast as the cars on the 401 (excluding rush hour and Friday afternoons on long weekends … and any time or day when it rains) and as if your ambition is as concrete as the CN Tower, pointing one long finger (I won’t say which one) up towards the satellite stations in the sky declaring “Hey World! You couldn’t miss me if you tried!”

I tried to get a ‘real’ job. I bought the power suits. Went to the interviews. Kept coming in second for the job. I was aggravated, less out of hurt pride, more out of the fact that I didn’t want the job to begin with, yet  I was putting so much time, energy and attention into the hunt because I thought I had to get the real job so that I could afford to start pursuing my music more seriously. I did get some meaningless work and eventually realized it wasn’t worth it. After I came back from part 2 of the tour (October 2009), having proven to my family that this isn’t just a phase and having gained their unconditional support in my decision to follow my passion, I went part time and started focusing on creating my own business… putting my art first.

In summary, it was more of a snowball transition than a decision. I fought myself all along the way and eventually what I really wanted came out on top anyway. I just allowed my focus to change incrementally and stuck through the process: 1) Acting upon instincts I don’t understand, but trust (even if only in baby steps) 2) Connecting with mentor-like figures 3) Putting myself in positions and situations that test my dedication 4) Weening myself off of my own, and other people’s, previous expectations of myself 5) reflecting, a lot, and often. 6) Making a lot of mistakes, going through a lot of trial and error, and letting myself  hit rock bottom, then embracing it to move forward with a clear, unidirectional vision.

I haven’t given up on other ‘career options’ indefinitely. I still want to pursue other paths (and even other avenues in the music industry), but now those paths are the hobbies and my art, which I pursue with my fullest passion, is my career :) Wow, at the same time it feels perfectly crazy AND totally sane to say that. I imagine it will take awhile to fully break myself of the self-inflicted conditioning and suppression  I created over all these years.

Thank you for your message! The process of responding has really helped me. I tend to ramble a bit, so I hope I answered all your questions :)

Cheers

-Meghan

“Blame” by Julinemo (Creative Commons License 2.0)

There is something hopeful about March. Maybe it’s because the days are getting noticeably longer (Time change. Spring forward). Maybe it’s because I get to open my windows and clear out the dust that settled in over the winter. Maybe it’s because I, myself, start feeling less like that dust. Or maybe it’s because it represents the beginning of a new “year” for me.

September always represented a new school year when I was studying and that is how I planned my life. When I wasn’t in school, my new year was the traditional January new year. Now that I’ve started my music business, March is the most significant marker of new beginnings for me because that’s when Canadian Music Week happens. I volunteered for the conference for the first time last year and was blown away. Being so green in this industry, that conference gave me the insight, guidance and inspiration I needed to plan Dara’s Wedding Tour and the courage to start thinking about my musical endeavours as a true entrepreneurial pursuit. Listening to some of the greatest minds in this field helped foster the courage I needed to say goodbye (at least temporarily) to academia and any notion of pursuing a ‘real career’.

Their speeches (and sometimes debates -remember the Gene Simmons vs Bob Lefsetz face off?) helped me steer away from the quest of being signed to a label. Today, more than not, you’re actually better off being your own boss… if you’ve got what it takes. The industry is changing and the power is with the independent artists. You don’t need a label to have a career in music anymore, but you have to have the guts, determination, and willingness to sacrifice comforts while you’re building it. The conference this year re-confirmed these beliefs for me, but also taught me a lot more.

With a year of this under my belt, I felt like a different person walking into the Royal York. More professional; more focused, with a clearer vision for my career; more able to absorb all the information (and make sense of it); and more able to speak confidently with key players such as Terry McBride, CEO and founder of Nettwerk, who has been my industry idol since hearing him speak last year. I actually had the chance to thank him in person for the hope his talk instilled in me. That in and of itself made my conference. I think he was a little weird-ed out though. It was 8am… and he probably wasn’t expecting that reaction when I looked up from the table and saw his name tag directly across from me. Hahaha. Soon thereafter I apologized for startling him -but seriously, how often does one have the opportunity to talk one on one with these people? Especially the ones you look up to as role models! I couldn’t not thank him.

This past year has been scary … often: Big investments with little financial security and no guaranteed prospects of generating a return; tremendous amounts of soul searching and the struggle to create inner peace during chaos and uncertainty; convincing friends and family that this isn’t a phase or vacation; eventually obtaining their heart-filled and unconditional support; and finally … really … allowing myself to believe I’m allowed to let myself do this.

It’s funny how our heart will guide us to where we belong, if we let it, but our mind will try to keep us in check. Then again … maybe that’s how we know we’re actually doing what is right for us. We wouldn’t need a defense attorney if there was no prosecution.