In a world where auditioning for orchestras is a gamble no matter your skill level, you must prepare yourself to be the talent and the manager. Let’s find out what entrepreneurship means and how you can make it happen.
In a world where auditioning for orchestras is a gamble no matter your skill level, you must prepare yourself to be the talent and the manager. Let’s find out what entrepreneurship means and how you can make it happen.
✓ The meaning of entrepreneurship.
✓ Examples of real life music entrepreneurs who have made an impact in their and other’s lives.
✓ Ideas and suggestions for each age group on how to get started being a music entrepreneur.
✓ Tips and life lessons on music entrepreneurship.
Simply put, in the world of business, an entrepreneur is a person who sees a problem, identifies the solution and makes it a reality. That’s it, and don’t overthink it. Let’s check out examples of real-life music entrepreneurs:
Yes, that’s me and I’d like to share my story with you. When I graduated college with my Master’s degree in Trumpet Performance I decided to setup my own business, which was something I’d been wanting to do for a long time. I wanted to setup a private lesson studio that taught trumpet playing through the power of athletic thinking, ranking systems and inspiration, but I felt like my ideas where everywhere. I needed a jump start. So, I went to a music entrepreneurship retreat which cost me about $200 after my friends and family kindly donated to my gofundme campaign, got a lot of ideas, and shortly after I setup my website. The website setup cost $60 for the domain and a year of hosting. I sat down and created the entire website in 2 days, putting in about 10 hours a day and then started sharing it like crazy on social media. The response I got was overwhelming. People in the city I lived in where noticing I existed, they liked my idea and praised my website. It was such a great feeling seeing that other people shared my excitement. Overtime, the studio grew, becoming a full-time job, and as of today I’ve taught over 5,000 trumpet lessons and counting. The business I created was called MusicFit Academy, it’s alive and thriving, and you can see it for yourself at my website below.
Takeaways
The first thing I need to say about Buddy is that he is not only a fantastic trumpet player, but he is a genuine good person. He went to school thrice, got a Bachelors, Master’s degree and Artist Diploma in Trumpet Performance, dedicated himself to trumpet as much as possible, made good impressions on people and took as many music opportunities as he could. During this time of exposure was crucial to who he is today, because that’s when he realized he wanted to always be challenged and to experience new things in life. So in 2013, while in school, he founded the Fredericksburg Brass Institute alongside his good friend and trumpet player Austin Boyer. The first year they had 10 attendees, and today, only 5 years later, it has grown into a go-to summer program for brass players. Founding the institute gave Buddy’s name more weight, he was now the founder of a brass institute! This boosted his reputation and confidence, which has led to the founding of other programs like the Tidewater Brass Institute and The Entrepreneurial Student. Today, Buddy is a trumpet player with the Dallas Brass, a performing artist for XO Brass, Denis Wick and Smith Watkins Cornets, and a national clinician. He also rocks Torpedo Bags as a professional artist for them. On a side note, Torpedo Bags are awesome sauce.
Takeaways
If you’re into video games and youtube you might have come across Taylor Davis. Growing up, Taylor played the violin in school and her mom made her practice before she was allowed to play video games. In her bio she says that was all the motivation she needed. If practicing meant video games later, she made sure she practiced! In 2010, Taylor took to youtube to put up a video of herself playing the theme from the movie “Schlinder’s List” with an accompanist on piano. Little did she know, this was the start of something that would change her life. Her 17th video was Cid’s Theme from Final Fantasy VII and it was the first one that showed a split screen, with her playing violin on the right and a pianist on the left. She really started gathering attention with her video game covers and over the last 8 years she has become a violinist with her own national tour and several albums on iTunes, some featuring original music. She even established her own music label, Highwind Records. It’s important to recognize that Taylor didn’t wait to be discovered, she knew she had something special to share and just went out there and did it. Since her youtube debut, her videos have gone from simple, at home videos to full on productions with costumes, like one of my favorites; Gerudo Valley Theme from Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Takeaways
1. Get yourself a website. In this day and age you are invisible without a website.
2. Use social media like youtube and instagram to share your talent. You have to start the trend on spreading the word about you.
3. Think outside the box and create events that combine your strengths and skills.
4. Just because someone else is already doing it doesn’t mean you can’t do it better.
5. Great ideas will stay great ideas until you get to work.
6. You don’t need to become a rockstar to have a successful and meaningful career in music.
7. There are many, many, many career choices in music. Don’t limit yourself.
8. Form an ensemble. Your age doesn’t matter. It could be a trumpet trio or a small jazz combo, just get started.
9. Play lots of different types of music and accept as many gigs as you can.
10. Read a book on entrepreneurship.
11. Listen to podcasts on entrepreneurship and music business.
12. Find yourself a mentor, someone who you look up to, and try to chat with them every once in a while. Picking others’ brains is how yours expands.
13. Hold concerts and recitals. They could be at your house, at the park or at a retirement home. Play in front of people as much as you can.
14. Don’t store your ideas in your head. Jot them down!
15. If you feel like your not creative enough to be an entrepreneur, surround yourself with people who are. Read books, listen to podcasts and find websites dedicated to it. You can learn to be creative.
16. Finding success isn’t about how much you know. It’s about what you do with what you know.
17. The best time to start working toward your dreams is now. Don’t wait until this or that, just get started!
18. Be bold. Think HUGE. Have crazy ideas. Remember that once upon a time the lightbulb was the craziest idea ever.
19. If you ever feel stuck, change your environment. Go think somewhere else. Go practice somewhere else.
20. Finally, always remember that true happiness is found when you pursue your own dreams, not others’. When you turn your passion into something that helps others, that’s when you realize the world is so much bigger than yourself and that a lot of people do in fact need your uniqueness.