After about the 12th DM from an artist asking me for advice and them ending the conversation with "thank you, sir" it started to dawn on me that maybe I should accept this new role of being an OG in this industry. Now I am not quick to accept this role, in fact I accept it reluctantly. One of the reasons why is that I don't view myself as an OG simply because I am still learning. I don’t consider myself as a guru let alone a success. So what advice could I possibly give a 20 year old artist? I started to dwell on this a bit as my inbox has become more and more flooded by aspiring artists looking for a bit of guidance. I’m not yet an OG, but here’s a couple of things I’ve learned from being an artist in the past.
You'll never be as good as you want to be. You are always looking for ways to improve whether it’s your recording techniques, stage performances, or marketing. No matter how much you’ve gotten better you’re always going to see yourself as someone who’s not doing enough. Get used to it, it’s ambition. However, don’t let it consume you as you’ll be on this chase the rest of your career. If you sold 10,000 units of your last album, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do 15,000. If you sold out a 100 person venue, you’ll wonder why you didn’t put in a bigger deposit for a bigger room. Even if you get your song played on a big radio station, you’ll wonder why you didn’t push yourself to get an interview to debut the song. There will always be something that you could do better, don’t let it keep you up at night. Save that energy for the next morning because when you do something better, you’re just going to want to do it even better the next time.
It’s Not Your Friend’s/Family’s Responsibility to Understand Your Vision: None of these people, except maybe a select few, are in the studio with you everyday and night. They’re not going on tour with you, helping you sell merchandise, or even researching why understanding publishing is so important. If they don’t even understand the basics of what you are doing how can they fully grasp the picture you are so desperately trying to paint for them everyday? Let it go! This passion, vision, and/or mission was given to you and you alone. It doesn’t make sense to someone who’s never had to go on stage and perform in front of hundreds of people why you have to spend your last dime on your outfit/gear. To the most of the world, the entertainment industry is hard to get into but most think that after 5 years you should be experiencing some success. 2 Chainz is a lot of people’s favorite rapper, yet most don’t even know that he was 34 when he finally had is very own solo hit (“Spend It”). While most people attending his shows back in 2012 were screaming “SIMILAC” only a few in the crowd actually new he had a whole career part of the group Playaz Circle years before that song even came out. Now imagine trying to explain this to those same people how you’ve been at it for 8 years and still haven’t seen any success? Wouldn’t make sense right?
Please Make Time for the People Closes to You: I’ve bumped my head on this in many occasions. During almost the entirety of my career as an artist (7 years) I’ve had a girlfriend and those relationships did suffer because of the time I spent away from them. While they slept, I was up writing, recording, performing, or out promoting one of my projects. In some cases, I would leave my apartment at 8pm and wouldn’t be back until 3am. Let’s be honest, watching your man walk out the door and coming back that late is not comforting. You have to explain to your partner why what you are doing is important. In fact, I would encourage you to invite them out to your networking events and shows. Why? Because they need to see what you are doing and not just hear about it. They need to feel that when you are away you are working on your future. Especially when you start going on tour as I’ve had a few nights coming back to a hotel room and having an argument until the sun came up. I even remember one time being out in Atlanta and trying to explain to my girlfriend at the time why I hadn’t texted or called in 8 hours. To some, that may seem petty but to someone who’s been in a relationship with a touring artist they know that those texts and phone calls mean a lot. Yes, you can stay at the studio all night but imagine how grateful the person you’re in a relationship with will feel waking up to texts checking on them?
Unless You Have a Financial Backer, You’re Going to be Broke: I can’t make this anymore simpler. You will be spending money on just about everything. I really can’t remember ever, and I do mean ever, getting anything free as an artist. I think one time a bar owner bought me a drink when I was performing at an open mic event of his, but that was about it. Any album that I dropped, music video released, feature, cover art, or photo shoot I had I paid for. I had to because it dawned on me very early that if I ever asked someone for something for free and then needed a favor down the line that person would probably say no. I never wanted to cash in my favors in upfront. I always wanted to wait until I desperately needed it. Luckily for me I always took the money I got from album sales and performances and put it right back into my art.
I hope you’ve gotten something out of this that will help you along your journey. I do sympathize with all the artists that send me music to check out hoping that something will break through for them. I understand the toll of stressing out about not only making the music but also getting it out in front of more people can take. I’m up for giving advice when I can and deem appropriate as I don’t speak on everything.
All that I ask, is that you stop calling me sir.
