Having a sort out over the Christmas break, I came across some notes from a Music Week conference session with Terry McBride, CEO and one of three founders of the Nettwork Music Group. McBride was talking about ‘Millennials’, a new generation of music fan who have the power to ‘pull’ music. Songs ‘belong’ to them as an emotional memory that they want to share. Consumption is ‘get it when you want it’. Music used to have a scarcity value. Now digital is always available.  Fans do not need to own music. What they value is access.

McBride spoke a lot about strategies to maximise income. His conclusion – create a continuous supply of music to buy, not a piecemeal one album a year, but a track every month. That’s 12 tracks a year with a constant presence rather than one album a year with a short blip then forgotten presence. Versions of songs can generate multiple sales to different fans, including multi-lingual releases (Averil Lavrine: 7.5m downloads of one song, 200 million hits on Youtube). Releasing stems may work for fans who are musical. Use releases to grow your fan base.

But where does scarcity come in? The value is in creating scarcity of access to the artist from loyal super-fan gig tickets to special one off concerts and merchandise and access to ‘backroom’ activities like rehearsals, and songwriting sessions.

Someone in the audience asked McBride for his predictions and observations: brands will sign acts – especially acts that will align their tribe to the brand.

And the year? 2008.

Ellen, single mother of a teenage young man called Ben, saw The Fan Formula and bought it for her son for Christmas. I asked her what motivated her to get it for him.

“Ben has been playing guitar since he was 12. His guitar is attached to him. He plays it all the time. It goes everywhere with us – even on holiday.

Ben is self-taught. He is fiercely independent, clear about what he does and does not want but feels deflated by the music business and pessimistic about realising his dream of having a career as a musician.

To survive he works in a pub and restaurant. I feel like he is hiding and not getting out there with his music. He is a perfectionist and he tinkers a lot. He suffers from a lack of confidence and self-belief.

I am 100% behind him but I feel this whole situation is a risk to his creativity and I’m concerned about him. I see him turning things over and over in his head. He exists in a bubble. He feels deflated by the bigness of what he needs to do. He was working with another musician but that’s fallen apart now. He can see his energy and commitment was not matched by his partner. He now wants to meet other like-minded musicians who are as motivated as he is. He wants to make music and sell it but he is still searching for his own voice and how to get it out there.

What he really needs is a framework to work to so his problems don’t feel so huge. Ben likes how-to books so when I saw The Fan Formula has a structured, step-by-step approach I knew it would help him. He doesn’t have to invent it all himself. The book will give him short-cuts and a process to work through.”

I asked Ellen what she wants for her son.

“I want Ben to find other like-minded, passionate musicians to work with. I want to see him perform his songs. Above all I want Ben to feel happy and fulfilled as a musician. I feel certain The Fan Formula can help.”

To get a copy of the book for your son or daughter for Christmas, click here.

You’re committed to making your music career a success or you wouldn’t be reading this (and I wouldn’t be writing this if I knew I couldn’t help). But all sorts of things get in the way of your success so you feel frustrated. Your frustration makes you look for answers on the internet, in books, from your peers, in magazines, from industry professionals – and that’s what lead you here.

You may be stopping yourself achieving what you want because you are not clear what success really means for you. And that’s because vague goals don’t work. (There are theories to explain why they don’t work but I won’t go into those right now.)

So why has The Fan Formula got the hook line ‘Get your music out there in a big way’? I’ve just told you an achievable goal needs to be specific so why is my hook line so vague? It’s deliberate. Let me explain.

Something you need to know about me is I strongly believe in empowerment. The journey I’ve been on, up to writing this blog today, began many years ago. In my early career I was a lecturer. I used to stand in front of my classes quoting from my lecture notes. I freely admit it was not a good learning experience. Then I did a post grad in action learning and I’ve never looked back. I put away my lecture notes and opened up the whole learning experience by posing real-world problems and working together to find solutions. It was scary but the results were amazing. The solutions we came up with were so much richer for everyone’s contribution and the level of buy-in was huge. What I learnt then set me on a new journey which today strongly influences my values and beliefs. In a nutshell – I firmly believe the answer lies within you, you just need a little help to dig deep and discover your riches.

The more ownership you have of the solution, the greater the likelihood you will succeed – by a long, long way.

So how does someone so focused, goal driven and successful come up with a hook line like ‘get your music out there in a big way’? What does ‘get your music out there’ mean? What does ‘in a big way’ mean?

Get your music out there in a big way means what you want it to mean.

I could not write a one-size-fits-all book or create one-size-fits-all programs* because I know you are unique. It would be wrong of me to assume I know what you want and to deliver solutions to fit my version of what you want. That’s not empowering for you.

My promise to you is, in everything I do, I will help you get super clear about what you want so you can achieve success in your music career, on your terms.

I can help you remove the blocks that come up on your journey. I can help you succeed by giving you tools to draw out your strengths. I can be your sounding board and keep you accountable.

‘Get your music out there in a big way’ is unique to you. You make it yours. It’s your music. Your career. Your success.

My goal is to empower you. I look forward to helping you achieve all the success you want in your music career.

Your music career success coach & author of The Fan Formula

* New programs coming soon to help you achieve success – affordable, high value, bite-sized “Success Boosters”. Can’t wait for a program and not got ‘the book’ yet? Click here to get started now.