What differentiates an artist, simply put is, is your narrative. And, and this is something that as you are starting to follow your path, you really have to think about what is your unique perspective in whatever way you artist’s story is going to, unfold. You want to be able to express yourself as a, as a, as an artist, as a performer in a way that is unique and authentic to you.
you know, simply as a starting point, because there’s so much competition in the marketplace, and when, when you write songs as a songwriter, it’s pretty hard to kind of come up with a completely unique theme of a, of a song. you know, most, most writers are inspired by their surroundings. The, you know, love loss, heartbreak, you know, social circumstances. it’s not to, you know, all of those are really, really credible and wonderful topics, but what makes a unique artist and what kind of gives an artist a leg up getting started out is, is having a unique spin, on, on a familiar topic.
So, as you are starting to make this transition, think about not just how you write songs and, and, you know, and, and the logistics of all of that, which are also very important, but what do you have to say that’s unique? What do you have to say that is going to make you stand out, in whatever genre your, you know, your, your path is, is leading you towards, when, when a new artist is making their way with a debut album?
A press campaign is extremely important and press tends to, jump on a, an interesting and, and new spin, a new narrative, whether it’s a brand new artist or whether it’s an artist who’s been, you know, around for a long time and has just made that sort of defining statement. so, so a narrative i i is, is essential.
and then within that, you know, kind of what I’ve already sort of talked about is, is, those, that skillset you have as a writer, whatever allows you to create that narrative, is, is something that you really should be thinking about at the, at the beginning of setting your course towards, towards a, a career path as an artist. your skillset as a writer is going to also help create that narrative for you and allow that narrative to, to come through. So, if you were an incredible lyricist, but you need a little help on the music side, as, as you’re putting your thoughts together to make the record that is gonna define you, who do you need to collaborate with?
you, you certainly do not have to be a hundred percent fully, you know, fully, independent singer songwriter without any help. You, you do wanna put a team together and, and we’re gonna talk about that as well. But, but who you start to think about in your creative unit, whether it’s, a collaborator writer, whether it’s a, a music pers, you know, a sort of a melody strength, someone of the strength in melodies, someone, a producer, a writer, producer, a remixer, you know, an engineer, whatever, whatever those creative kind of puzzle pieces are that you need to help put together to help get that debut record, or, or your defy or, or your fifth record, that’s gonna be the one that defines you.
those are the things that you really need to start thinking about from a creative standpoint that will help you present yourself in the best possible light and, and define you and define your narrative.
the other thing I wanna mention, and we’re gonna talk a little bit about sort of different genres and how, how that works a bit, but, but, but to the point that I’m just sort of, you know, discussing the caliber of the songs that you put together on your body of work, on, on whatever this album is going to be, the caliber of songs is really, really important. And again, that is going to be something that from a genre standpoint might, might look really different. if, if you are going for the, if you’re going for pop, if you’re going for from pop mass, you know, international domina, world domination, and, and you happen to be the kind of writer and the kind of artist that is, is really going for that hit single, then the hit single is gonna be the first step, and it’s going to be the thing that kind of introduces you and defines you, and hopefully sets you on, you know, that path to global domination.
but if you are a singer songwriter or, you know, or an indie artist or, or, you know, kind of one of those, you know, a bedroom EDM track maker and, and, and more, you know, more the kind of artist that’s going to kind of be behind the scenes, having a body of work, having an album that that speaks that narrative on a broader level, I is something you have to think about, and, and perhaps more relevant to you than an actual hit single.
what that looks like, what an albwhat a new artist’s albor a heritage artist who’s making, or a fifth album artist, what that looks like for an artist in 2021.
and, and going forward is extremely broad. and, and, and that’s a really, that’s a really good thing, because it gives all of you guys out there listening your own unique avenue to kind of, you know, contemplate and pursue. so let’s, so let’s talk about that. you know, when, when you are starting to make this, transition, perhaps the most important thing and, and, you know, kind of, you know, in some of these first creative steps that I’m, you know, kind of talking about it, it, it’s in an effort for you to really know who you are and to, to understand it and to, and to really accept it.
if you need help, if you need support system creatively, you go after that. If you, if you are a hundred percent DIY, you write everything yourself, you produce all your records, great. you have to know who you are so that you can find the right path and pursue the right path that’s gonna give you an opportunity for, for the success that you’re looking for.
you know, even today with all of these opportunities for independent distribution, for major label, you know, or, or joint major label, signing, joint ventures, indie labels, boutique labels, direct to distribution, all of these different options that, exist for artists, it’s fantastic. you know, we’re, we’re, we’re at a time where technology, on a global level affords amazing opportunities, for success and, and, and success.
It, it, you know, success looks different in each of these different genres and for each artist individually. So that’s a really wonderful thing. But when you’re starting out, it’s actually overwhelming. It can be overwhelming, it can be really confusing. So, so one of the first things I, I, you know, kind of really wanna sort of focus on is, is that you guys all assess this for yourselves individually as you’re starting this path.
Set some realistic goals and set some honest and realistic expectations for yourselves and, and pace yourselves. You know, having, having patience and having some vision, for how long something might take is also really, really important. you know, there’s, there’s, there’s one thing, I I kind of wanna say about, about being, being an artist versus sort of the day job versus, you know, being a songwriter. One of the things that I have, in my career seen with every artist I’ve worked with, maybe one of the things that differentiates an an artist, a full artist from, you know, someone who’s just a songwriter professionally, is that an artist can’t do anything else but be an artist.
I, in some way, shape or form, whether they, whether they have day jobs that get them to that point, or whether they write for others until they get to that point. I have a, a weird, sort of a weird and very current example, about work, about an artist.
I was watching Saturday Night Live this past weekend, and Bruce Springsteen was, was on, with his band. And, you know, it sort of occurred to me even in talking about, you know, kind of pres putting this presentation together today. that, you know, it’s 2020. It’s been a crazy year. Touring has, has been at a standstill. and, and performing live has looked, has started to look very different when everybody is, is, you know, kind of resort resorting to, you know, live streaming and, and, you know, and social media to express themselves.
An artist who truly needs to perform, has really suffered both economically and, and emotionally. Bruce Springsteen certainly, I assume, does not need to, perform for money. and, and also, you know, his band and he is, you know, of an age where he is probably a bit at risk Going into Saturday Night Live to perform. But, but they did it. And it was, you know, by all accounts kind of this joyous performance.
And, anyone who hasn’t seen it, whether or not you’re a fan, go find it on YouTube because it’s, you know, he was performing from his new album and there was this some kind of look of almost pained expression on all of their faces that, this is what they, you know, the relief of like, oh my gosh, we’re on a stage and we’re getting to perform, you know, for the first time. And I guess they were performing to probably 20 people who were allowed in the audience. But, but that’s, to me, one of the things that I think, you know, that seeing that performance really sort of highlighted it for me, that artists, need to do this and, and what that looks like can be a lot of different things.
It certainly doesn’t have to be going to, you know, perform on national television. but, but the need to be an artist, is that starting point where you have to really think strategically, not just creatively what it, what that is going to look like and how that’s gonna be for …..