In this category you find posts related to success and fame, how they are related or not, and how to deal with it. They also tell you how to deal with failure.
How do you deal with limitations? They can become a real block! This week a friend saw a post on FB. One of his friends asked to share bad jokes with him, but the jokes had to be political correct, not racist, not sexist. My friend is a good joke teller and usually has a good pile of jokes in his mind. I think that all his jokes are political correct, not racist, not sexist. But he blanked and couldn’t […]
The most common explanation of drug addiction is, that if you take too long a certain amount of a drug, you will become an addict. It’s the substance that makes you addicted. This theory is the basis that the US war on drugs is based on. But it doesn’t explain why so many famous musicians turn to drugs and have to go to rehab again and again. It doen’t explain why too many talented musicians die of an overdose, like […]
The Olympics 2016 in Brazil are over. And again it was all about the medals. The Dutch ‘Chef de Mission’ Maurits Hendriks is very disappointed. His task is, according to himself, to motivate the athletes. But they didn’t perform as expected. Very disappointing! What about the Olympic creed? “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The […]
Last year I was talking to a friend about fame. She works in the music business too, with world music artists. Sometimes I wonder why conversations with colleagues from rock/pop are always so worked up, as if they have to proof themselves, all the time. Conversations with colleagues from world music or jazz are much more relaxed. You can also experience it in the atmosphere at conferences for the genres. But that’s a different subject. With a cup of coffee […]
39 years ago, on the first day of summer holiday, I bought a holiday-pass. It was the first time that my small German village had such a holiday pass. One of the offered activities was a trip to an attraction park in the Netherlands. Oh, how much was I looking forward too this, it would have been my first time abroad! With the holiday pass in my bag I was on my way home, by bicycle, when a car hit […]
Last week The Guardian published an article from Fiona McGugan, general manager of the Music Manager’s Forum, about the mental health of musicians. The article is about the role of managers in noticing and addressing mental health problems of their artists. “Maintaining an artist’s health is in the best interest of everyone – the label and the management as well as the artist themselves.” (Rumer Shirakbari) Still, short-term financial interests of the manager can be in conflict with the long-term […]
Last year I was a panelist at Summerschool of BKKC. The purpose of Summerschool is to improve the entrepreneurship of artists in all kind of creative fields, from sculptors to flutists, from interior designers to painters. The main obstacle for the present artists is to find enough clients. They all feel very creative, but in order to find clients, they have to come out of their studio or workplace to connect to real people. The best way to do so […]
Have you ever participated in a band-competition? You probably have. There are so many competitions, that you might think that every band must have won at least one of them! Here the basic rules for a band-competition: – Several bands participate, similar to a festival, but they don’t get paid. – The audience come for one of the bands and listens to the others too. – The audience likes the contest-element, it’s a way to participate as audience. – Bands […]
“If only we could play this major festival, we would become successful and happy.” “If only I could find an agent, I would have many shows and will be happy.” “If only a major record company would discover me, I would become famous and happy.” Do you recognize the if-only thoughts? Many musicians have them. They think that their happiness is dependent on positive events, and that positive events will lead to long-lasting happiness. Research in the ’70s has shows […]
Fame – that’s what most musicians dream about. In the music business we still live with the myth that once you are famous, all problems are solved. NOT! You will encounter a whole lot of new problems. Many musicians struggle with fame and with being famous. They suffer so much that some of them die far to young, like Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse. Here 4 P’s that make it so difficult to deal with fame: Personal Imbalance. Fame does […]
At school I’ve learned that I have to put extra attention to the subjects I’m not that good at. In my case it was French, Latin and sports. All the good grades in history, religion and music were taken for granted. The focus was on getting better in the stuff that I wasn’t that good at. It took me quite some time to find out that there are alternatives to that approach. Waldorf schools, Montessori schools and other alternative schools […]
After some weeks of gray and rainy weather, the sun is back. I now know again why fall is my favorite season. The yellow-orange-brown leaves in the sunshine give everything a golden line. It’s really beautiful to see, the trees are shining like stars! The beauty outside comes with a melancholic touch. I know hat the golden beauty outside is only temporary. End of November you can count the last leaves on a tree on the fingers of one hand. […]
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 […]
As a musician you have a certain image you want to get across. You want others to see certain aspects of yourself, you want them to like you. And if you are ambitious, you put a whole marketing team on the development of that image. The more famous you get, the bigger the gap can grow between how others see you and how you see yourself. Others will see you in the way you present yourself to them. They see […]
Musicians often feel screwed by their managers, agents, and labels. The publicity that Sinead O’Connor got last week is a good example. People in the music business are not all crooks, for sure. But everyone in the music business has his/her own financial interest in the career of the musician. Independent, non-legal advice for musicians is scarce. The solution Hilde Spille discovered, lies in the empowerment of musicians. On September 15 she starts with a new online workshop. She fills […]
