In this age of social media, everyone seems to feel they have some level of notoriety but what kind of notoriety? What is the benefit of it? Is it who you know or who knows you? Who you know can get you free tickets, VIP tables, and entrance into exclusive parties. Being known can get you that, too. There is a difference, which I’ll touch on in the closing statement. See, in the business world who you know will get you up the ladder. In entertainment, who knows you gets you up the ladder. So, where does the Music business fit? Which one is better suited for people in the music industry?
Many people get on in the music industry because of who they know. For example, the “writer” that is finally making an album as an artist that the industry is buzzing about. They’ve written hits in the past. This will be one of the best projects of the year. They can get budgets that new artists can’t because of their resume. They know the executives and have done favors in the past that they can now cash in for a favor of their own. The only issue is the fans (who actually buy the music and come to the shows) have no idea who he/she is and they flop. No surprise there. Who they knew? The people who could get them a deal. Who knew them? Colleagues.
Now, let’s discuss the artist from Anywhere, USA that has a buzz in his/her state. They are hot…locally and on social media platforms. They do have a local hit with them as the main artist. Who do they know? Nobody in the industry. Who knows them? A state that will support them and frequent social media users. In today’s world of music, they can digitally release their music for less than the cost of a night out. They can perform locally and eventually venture out to neighboring states. Doing this while improving the already existent following on social media, they’ll have enough notoriety to open shows for larger artists who see their ever increasing following. I will get into the specifics of money in a future blog but let’s just say this artist can make what the average major label artist makes by selling 5%-10% of what the major artist sells and doing shows.
In closing, who is in the better position? The artist from Anywhere, USA in my opinion. The people who the writer knows will eventually find the artist. The writer cannot create the buzz the artist has and it’s not very easy to simply pay for it. They’ll have to take the L (loss) on the debut, start from scratch, and/or keep writing for others. Don’t feel sorry for the writer. His/her contacts will continue to get them work, they’ll eat. They can pick up the phone and ask for work. The artist cannot do that. The artist must wait to be contacted. This is not a bad thing. That is the difference I teased in the intro. The person who knows someone must ask but the person who is known is asked. Your role can change during a career, but it is sweeter receiving requests rather than making them. ADVICE: Focus on who should know you and who are the people who already do. You can then determine if you’re building the following you should be building. Doing this will allow you to adjust and make course corrections if needed.

Food for thought…. you do the dishes!