“It’s fricking impossible to get booked anywhere,” B, a gifted musician and band leader, told me in a recent conversation. “I’ve spent all this time and money on creating my album, and now… it’s just kind of ‘out there,’ and not going anywhere. So few venues are willing to take a risk on an act that isn’t already established. Will I ever find a viable outlet for my music?”
Many musicians and artists these days are in a similar situation to B. We have creative gifts that we long to share, but face what seem like insurmountable blocks having to do with technology and a shift in culture and habits since the pandemic.
- Many venues closed during the pandemic, and many others are facing financial pressures that lead them to only book artists that are certain to bring in revenue.
- Many audience members are choosing distraction, screens, and at-home entertainment over live, in-person artistic experiences.
- There’s been a cultural shift to staying at home more, driven by the rise of the internet and a fear of gathering in crowds.
- Artificial intelligence is threatening to displace many creative tasks, such as writing, image-generation, and even music.
To make matters worse, many freelance musicians and artists don’t have real training, comfort, and experience running a business. “Marketing” and “selling” feel like dirty words, rather than a means to a viable, fulfilling career as an artist.
In addition, the best-paying opportunities are often seem to be the least-fulfilling creatively. We fear have to rely on taking gigs that do not bring us any value or meaning.
What’s more, even the social aspect of getting booked feels icky, and is often demeaned as “politics” or “playing the game.”
Surrounded by so many blocks, we can feel like we’re stuck in a pit of despair, wondering why we became a professional artist, or calling ourselves a failure for not making it all work out.
Is there a way out of this pit? Should we give up on our creative dreams go and get a “real job”?
Or are the exact conditions we’re now facing a blessing in disguise? One capable of leading to a viable, fulfilling, financially abundant, joyful, and truly creative livelihood?
The answer lies in coming to terms with despair.
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Despair is the natural result of the failure of your current ways of knowing and doing to meet new circumstances.
When the old way doesn’t work any more, and the new way has yet to emerge, it’s like you’re in the space between stories. This is an uncomfortable place to be. Getting comfortable with that discomfort is the first step to allowing the new way to emerge.
Here’s the truth: The old way is dying and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Yes, if you’ve relied on the old way to survive, it can be scary to accept its loss. BUT — was the old way even that great? The old way demeaned music and art as mere trifles; frivolous pursuits that led to mere entertainment and items of luxury.
The old way forced us to sell out to make a viable living. The old way ignored what was most precious about our creativity. The old way caused us to create in disconnected ways that hurt our body, mind, and soul.
The old way is dying. Thank goodness!
Cast off that shell. Slough off that old skin. Mourn its loss and open yourself to something new, even if you have no idea what that will look like. This is your first step to a viable, abundant, and fulfilling artistic living in a post-pandemic and AI-driven world.
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The new way is only now coming into being. While few know exactly what it looks like, its seeds are already within all of us. You can know this is true by the numb feeling you get when you settle for less; if some part of you didn’t know you were meant for more, you wouldn’t feel that twinge.
How will we know we’re participating in the new way? When your ways of creating and sharing your work leave you feeling inspired, fulfilled, and connected. Noticing when this happens is your second step to a viable, abundant, and fulfilling livelihood.
Here are some of the glimpses I’ve received and how they might help you build a bridge from the old way to the new way.
THE NEW WAY…
- Honors your well-being at every level: body, soul, and spirit
- Helps you meet your material needs by bringing what’s best about your art to the people who most need your creative gifts
- Uses technology to enhance creativity, not to replace it
- Is like growing a garden by enriching the soil and wildlife, rather than diminishing that life through extractive methods like pesticides and fertilizers
- Helps you fulfill your life’s purpose
- Helps your audiences meet their needs for inspiration, healing, and connection that are new unmet by social media and screens
- Generates a more holistic form of wealth which includes money, but also includes better relationships, more fulfillment, and more time spent on you creative pursuits
- Is built on what I call “Sacred Marketing” because it succeeds by honoring what is sacred in your art
While there are few examples of the new way, they do exist. You probably know of some from your own life or those of friends and colleagues. Over the coming months and years, we will discover its details and concrete forms together.
We will end with the concrete steps I suggested to B.
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After sharing the above vision with B in our conversation, I moved on to tangible next steps. My concrete strategy for him had a three phases.
- Audience research. I told B to conduct up to five market research calls with potential and previous audience members to discern what underlying needs brought them out to his or other concerts. The insights gleaned would then inform how he could talk about and promote his shows. Instead of “Hey, come here me play!”, the message would be more like, “Here’s a great way to enjoy real, human connection!”
- Build his audience (and the evidence they truly exist). To get booked at his desired music clubs, B would need to show that his band is a viable act with a sure-fire audience. I suggested he do this by first building an audience through house concerts. He could start with solo shows and take lots of pictures and video showing him in front of an audience.
- Make his case. After a dozen or so successful house concerts, and armed with a portfolio of evidence for his ability to draw a crowd, he could then go to his desired music clubs and make a strong case for himself. My intuition was, however, that B might not even want or need to do this. After all, house concerts are a wonderful experience for performers that allow them greater intimacy, creative fulfillment, and, often, more money. Getting gigs at conventional venues would simply be icing on a cake that was already fulfilling and viable.
So, what was the result for B? This was a recent conversation, so it’s too early to tell the long-term impact this approach would have for him. However, I could see the implications of this new way of reaching his goals as a bandleader sinking in as I described these steps into Sacred Marketing. New possibilities floated to the surface and he left our conversation seeming more cheerful and hopeful than when we started.
The new way just took a little step into more tangible form.
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Stay tuned for more insights and practical steps into a new way of creating and sharing your work!
Read my chapter on Sacred Marketing in my book, Soulforce: How to discover your artistic purpose, create more freely, and make art that matters.
Join my free online masterclass, “Free Your Body, Free Your Creativity” on Zoom, Mondays 7–8PM EST.