NHT Blog

If you can’t see it, it doesn’t exit. Right?

I learned more than my fair share about the importance of mental health in 2016. I lost my best friend, drummer, and bandmate of over nine years. As a musician, we jam with different people all the time, but we rarely find that one “musical compadre” – that person that knows a level of us no one else understands, sees a side of us no one else ever will, and feels our feelings like no one ever has. That was my drummer, Terrance.

Back in the 1970s there was a TV commercial for Life cereal where two kids didn’t want to try something new, so they got Mikey.  Spoiler alert: he ended up liking it.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s really easy to find your comfort zone and just kind of stay there.  My dentist is often heard using the old expression, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Today is Labor Day here in the United States.  While it’s supposed to be a chance for people to just have a weekday off in acknowledgement of the labor that we all put in on an ongoing basis, think about people at, say, supermarkets and restaurants who are still working today anyway.  Thus, I’m writing a blog as per the usual every Monday posting schedule that I’ve kept up for what in a few weeks will be eight years.  However, I’m giving myself a little bit of a break by this week writing something a tiny bit off the usual path.

We’ve all seen before with blogs or newspaper columns or even magazine articles that we read where from time to time the writer or the editor will say that they’re “emptying out the mailbag.”  And while yes, I by all means welcome your feedback anytime (on the blog, the podcast, or anything else you’d like to have a say in), today I’ve decided to empty out my toolbox.

If you receive the weekly e-newsletter that I send out each Wednesday, you saw that last week I led off the August 17th email by saying that I just might’ve met my match.  I was referring to having been told before that I’m “the hardest working man in show business,” yet the guest on Episode 444 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast that was being released that day is just not stopping at all.

Creators – whether music, podcasts, or otherwise – already know how challenging their business is in the first place.  You don’t want to make the hill even steeper to climb by surrounding yourself with people who are going to get in your way of reaching the top.

The other day I saw a social media post from someone who runs a well-known business that’s a service provider to the podcasting industry.  I was shocked to read that he gets emails on a regular basis that none of us want to get even once.

Approximately ten days ago when I did my “Promoting Your Music Career” seminar at the 2nd Lake Martin Songwriters Festival, I got to a point where I was specifying some resources that the attendees could use to try to get more bookings.

While I cited eight different websites, the truth is that there are certainly lots and lots more.  BUT, you don’t just get more gigs from online destinations that you check periodically.

Getting your music played on the radio is a big achievement for many independent artists. Online and FM/AM radio stations are a big promotion win for emerging artists wanting to promote their music and get their music heard.

Submitting independent music to radio stations will help new artists on the block reach new audiences, both locally and worldwide. New and emerging artists who are trying to make it in the music industry should most definitely submit their new music to radio stations to gain more exposure.

Today I’m on a plane from the west coast heading back home after having been a speaker at the 18th San Francisco Writers Conference & Writing for Hollywood Summit.  At one point I was encouraging the attendees to write what they know, meaning, something that they’re passionate about.  The comparison I made was to something that guests have mentioned on my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, which is, to not “write for the radio.”  Meaning, don’t just do what you think radio wants.

Last week I was on my Peer Call for this month. I had written a blog here on this site last November about my having created those and what they are. And one of the discussions this time around was someone asking what they should charge for a potential opportunity they were in talks with a potential client for.