What Do You MAKE with Your Musical Talent?

What Do You MAKE with Your Musical Talent? by Da Duchess


What Do You MAKE With Your Musical Talent? © 2005 - 2006 Da Duchess

It's always easier it seems to MAKE excuses than it is to MAKE something happen, don't you agree? Yet and still, countless numbers of people trying to MAKE it in this business just don't seem to get it because they are waiting to be discovered (by whom, they don't even know) and waiting for that big chance...but the chance to do what? What are you waiting for someone else to do for you that you can't do for yourself? The power is in your hands to MAKE what you want out of your career and your talent. The moment you open it to get a hand out, cleverly disguised as 'your big chance', you are giving that power away. Think about it as I describe a recent experience.

There was a young lady that emailed us and asked us to financially sponsor a recording project for her. On the surface that doesn't seem like anything, but what makes this so bizarre, is that I think I had only exchanged 3 emails with her up until this point: the 1st one we received was to visit a website (this was a talent management website and on her 'one page of fame,' she had one small black-and-white, very unclear photo of herself and 2 very short snippets of 2 songs she had sang a cappella); the 2nd email was to find out who she was and where she lived and the 3rd was to find out what she was doing with her career and to find out the progress she's made.

In these two emails, we found out that she was "signed" to a manager and had been through a year-long rollercoaster ride of broken promises and shattered dreams, but she was still holding onto the promise of this "manager" getting her discovered through getting her a record deal. This would potentially be a big thing for her and the other artists on his roster.

I'd heard enough and just finally asked her when was she going to decide to do something for herself, especially after all of these disappointments...I didn't hear anything for about a couple of days and then "THE" email came asking if we would finance her recording project (an album mind you). I was speechless. I know I had at least a two-page email back to her almost instantly. I likened her request to that of a guy meeting a girl for the first time and that after asking her what her name was, the girl asked, now that you know my name, would you pay my bills?

It never ceases to amaze me what people will ask, and I guess our parents encourage us to ask for the things we want, right, no matter how far-fetched it may be, but ladies and gentleman, that was a little far-stretched, don't you think? Needless to say, I still haven't received a response from her, almost a year later. I think I struck a nerve, perhaps a dose of reality came over her, more like a rude awakening I hope, and that she considered that maybe I was right, but she was just too embarrassed to admit it. I would just chock it up to a learning experience, a look inside to ask herself "what do I really want out of this music thing?" and "why can't I do something for myself, what am I waiting for exactly?"

I can understand, you might not know what to do and you jump at the first 'chance' (and sometimes what we think may be our only one) to get into the music industry. We all need these wake up calls every once in a while. Nothing to be ashamed of. As long as you learn from it, move on and try not to make the same mistake again. Don't find yourself 10 years from now saying I should've done this, what if I had done that...do something NOW!

So, what do you MAKE with YOUR music? MAKE MONEY, MAKE A LIVING, and MAKE IT HAPPEN!


About the Author
Da Duchess, a music industry career coach, offers a FREE Resource library and information on info products within the Music Marketing Sellutions™ Series found at www.Music-Marketing-Sellutions.com and on this site as well.