How more success you have in the music business, how more ‘friends’ you gather. Everyone wants to share in your success. Everyone wants to stand in the limelight with you. And they all start to make great promises. Who can you trust?
“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” (Oprah Winfrey)
First of all, the music business is very unpredictable. You can write great songs but will stay in the shadow of more famous people for the rest of your life. In that case it’s important that you have fun in what you are doing.
You can also write great songs, do most of the stuff yourself, and suddenly the world starts to love you and you become famous. In that case it’s important to know who you can trust. Everyone gives you unsolicited advice and promises the moon.
As soon as someone starts to make promises, it’s good to be suspicious. Ask them how they expect to fulfill the promise, how they will create the right circumstances to fulfill the promise.
Most famous music stars who manage to deal with their fame, have a good relationship with their family. It’s important to keep your feet on the ground, and to get unbiased reactions. They know that they can trust their family, who supported them even before they became famous.
You also need people in the music business that you can trust. Often it’s people who develop with you the route you are taking, who value your opinion in that process, who take you seriously not only as artist but also as a person. They don’t promise you the moon, they show you different roads and the specific hurdles for each road.
Last week I heard that as artist you need 3 people in the music business whom you can trust. They should not be family members. And even if you choose unwisely and one of them screws you, you still have the other two to rely on, and to help you find a replacement for the third one.
Who do you trust in the music business?