NHT Blog

While there are lots (and lots) (and lots!) of books out there on songwriting, the music business, and countless other facets of the entertainment industry, if you’re just sitting around waiting for one to fall into your lap to make you an overnight millionaire, order one about combating gray hair too.

The fact is, only you can take full control of your career.

For those who are regular readers of this blog, thank you, and hopefully along the way as you’ve learned lessons from what is published every Monday you’ve noticed that great lengths are gone to as it relates to protecting identities of parties involved in first-hand stories that are recounted in this space.

Having just finished evaluating over 30 artists that were submitted to me, I felt this to be a good time to lend some specific insights as to what might be factoring into the results you’re getting (or not getting) as it relates to trying to get on TV shows or radio or podcast interviews.

About a year-and-a-half ago I stepped away from one of the roles I was serving in.  Hopefully I’ve even written a blog about that at some point.  Meaning, the idea of evaluating your commitments and seeing where you’re spending your time is a healthy exercise.  In my case I decided that the return on investment didn’t justify the time I was giving to that particular hat I was wearing.

Clichés get pretty old and tired quite fast, but when you can give an example of one and use it as a teaching moment, they hold some value.

The headline of this blog is depicted in something I was witness to recently.

(I have gone to great lengths to maintain anonymity as it relates to the actual parties involved in this story.)

I remember many years ago working in a pro sports press box, and routinely hearing a public relations staffer answer a reporter’s question with, “It’s in the notes.”  Essentially he was wanting them to look up the information themselves rather than just tell them the answer.

I remember way back when Now Hear This was in its formative stages, the first ever client was a mature young girl who was very committed to her vocal career.  I admired that she was so focused and very much a student of the industry.

I’m amazed at how often I hear people who had a poor turnout for an event say, “I don’t understand – I put it on Facebook.”

Last week I observed, first-hand, someone missing out on a booking because of what the host didn’t see.

The person doing the booking for an upcoming special event relied solely on the talent’s YouTube videos to show what the host would be getting if they decided to move forward with the booking.  And therein lies a lesson for all to learn from.

I had meetings three days in a row last week, getting to know some fellow business owners and seeing how we can help each other.  In one case it sparked thoughts of another business owner I’ve gotten to know who does almost the exact same thing as the individual I was meeting with.  It turned out that they already know each other.