In this category you find texts that help artists to take the lead. “Artists lead, they don’t follow. They’re not beholden to their audience, IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND!” (Bob Lefsetz)
Here’s your very own director’s chair. Are you ready for it? Are you ready to take direction of your own life and career? A director knows the direction, knows where he wants to go with the picture. He also looks at the actors from a distance, sees the big picture and works on it in the detail. He needs a certain distance and engagement at the same time. Are you able to look at yourself from a distance? Do you […]
Some years ago I was member of an association, believed with passion in the goals, and thought the whole time that I had to fight against the board to protect the goals. From one of my coaching clients I heard a similar story. He told me that they all agreed on doing a certain show for a low fee, and suddenly the drummer refused to play. And how harder they tried to convince him, how more stubborn he got. In […]
Next week the first big event in European music business starts, Eurosonic in Groningen in the Netherlands. It’s a showcase event with seminars and workshops. During the last couple of years more and more showcase events pop up, all with similar outlines: festival at night, often at various locations, seminar/trade fair during daytime. You could have a full-time job all year though you wanted to visit them all, and still would have to miss some! All the events work with […]
Happy 2014! Every new year feels like a fresh start again. We think about the past year, about the lessons we’ve learned, and have good intentions for the new year. It’s often a switch of habits, like now I’m starting to eat healthy, to quit smoking, to be kind to my colleagues, to start sporting, etc. I’ve often started the new year with celebrations, fireworks and hugging everyone. And some hours later I woke up with a hangover! The freshness […]
Everyone is looking forward to celebrate christmas again. You see the joyfulness at the pictures on facebook, the happy faces, the happy families, in a cozy living room decorated for the celebration. You enjoy to listen to christmas carols, thinking of the great days that are ahead. That’s also the picture we see in all the advertisements. We don’t celebrate yet, we look forward to it and expect it to be perfect, just like our imagination. The other side is […]
It has been quiet on this blog for quite a while. I had lots of ideas to write about, make notes, and didn’t write. How come? There is this sudden doubt about what I want with this blog. How do I want to continue? I’m a booking agent, the relationship with my artist is very different than the relationship I have with coach clients. Do I have to choose, or can I do both? What is it I really want? […]
After a quite serious storm last Monday, the trees have lost many leaves. Suddenly I can see the structure of the tree, the branches that are usually hidden by the leaves. Makes me think of structure in general. Structure is often seen as the opposite of freedom. Structure can work as a coffin, as a prison. That’s how I experienced the structure of the village life in my youth. The only way out was another structure, the structure of religious […]
It’s like today is screaming the whole time ‘expect the unexpected’ to me! It started when I woke up from a nasty dream. When I got up, everything was misty outside. Later on, the sun broke through and it was a beautiful and warm autumn-day. And on the way to the office I had a flat tire that I had to fix while I was full of other plans. Somehow that is what fall as season tells me every year […]
What’s the secret of all the people who have their company listed in the Fortunes500? Why do they make it, and most of us don’t? That’s the question that Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston asked themselves when interviewing women who are in the Fortunes500. And they came with some remarkable results. All the women didn’t lean back to wait for the knight in shining armor, they took life into their own hands. And that’s not easy. “Take your life into […]
I love circles. They can include anything and everything. I see them all around me: here a light bulb, lots of cd’s, some lp’s, a clock, pots with plants, pans in the kitchen, outside wheels at bicycles and cars. And a picture of circles in the field 😉 The problem with circles is, that they can also constrain you. You want to stay within the borders of the circle, and you start walking round and round and don’t see a […]
Last week I realized that I shut down when it’s very busy. It feels like making a cardboard box in my mind, just big enough for me to fit in, sitting on my heels. I crawl into it for protection against all the different impressions and problems around me. The first problem with this solution is, probably a pattern since my childhood, that the imagined protection is only very temporary before a feeling of oppression takes over. The second problem […]
“Don’t worry, life will turn our different anyway.” That’s how my father in law quoted his sister recently. How true. I had lots of plans when he told me, and a week later I got flu. The flu lasted for 3 (!) weeks. That never happened to me, ever! Every control we think we have about the future proved to be an illusion, you don’t know what’s behind the next corner of life. This is also true to all the […]
Somehow the ‘universe’ doesn’t know the right timing. There are periods that I get really bored and nothing happens. And than again, like last month, everything happens at once. This must sound quite familiar to artists too. Right now all business stuff is good news! One of my artists, AlascA, just signed a record deal in the UK. Another Dutch artist, Lilian Hak, released her new album last week. And we just passed the deadline for applications for Conincx Pop […]
Showing off, bragging, telling about your talents – in the Netherlands it’s all seen as quite negative. In the USA on the other side it’s appreciated, you don’t get anywhere without it. I’m a bit stuck with the Dutch way. A month ago I developed this new model, 4-stages-of-fame, and I didn’t tell people about it yet. I want everyone to know, but I feel a bit shy. What if they don’t like it? Or worse: what if they do? […]
Music business and fame What do Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse have in common? Yes, they all died at 27. They also probably committed suicide, and they all struggled with dealing with their success and fame. They all had a team of dedicated people around them: at their management, agency, record label and more. But the music business doesn’t really know how to help artists in dealing with their success and fame. And as artist it is not […]