There are a few easy things that you can do to garner almost instantaneous respect and authority in the music industry. One of the hardest things you can do that pays off the most in the long run is being constantly accessible. This can be blessing and a curse. If you’re constantly accessible then people will come to trust you more. If you can answer your emails in a timely manner and stay on top of Facebook messages people are going to want to work with you more. However – this burden of responsibility can be crushing, and you need to be ready to handle it because in an industry where millions are trying to make it, it’s easy to drown under the swamp of emails.
I know that some people like to think that they only need to check their email once a day and don’t have to leave Facebook open all the time. Those people are wrong, especially in the music industry. I mean – I get that from an efficiency standpoint it might make more sense – but I can’t tell you how many people have reached out to me to contact other people for them because they know that I am easily accessible and might have an inside route to getting in touch with someone. Simply put – if you want to become a top level freelancer in the music industry this is what you need to do. You need to be able answer every relevant email within an hour because the people who ave money aren’t going to want to work with someone who dilly-dally’s.
To work with this I have developed what I call ‘freelancer sleep’ which is where you roll over and check our email a couple of times a night just to prove that you are that on top of hit. Is that healthy? Probably not. But if I need to trade a few years off of my life for my burning ambition then so be it, at least I can sleep easier at night this way. Maybe after you get your big break you can evade this – but for a long time this is going to be the way that it has to be. It’s not by choice it’s simply how this thing works – people demand instant gratification, and if you’re not delivering this the they might just get bored and move on. In an industry driven by communication and results you need to be very careful in how you comport yourself and act efficiently.
This might seem bleak – but once you tap into the high speed world of freelancing you find that those who can’t keep up are just annoying and the ones who are on top of things are going to want to work with you more than ever. I have people who contact me for things that I can’t do simply because their normal guy hasn’t replied to an email in four hours and they need someone to respond and help them out. Their is a dearth of perpetually active hard workers who know how to follow up and who are easy to work with. None of those things are hard to do – but for some reason people don’t do them. I’m not sue why – I’ve always been this way and most people are not – but if you open those doors and remember that you get out what you put in, things will get better.
This isn’t an easy goal by any means – to be instantly accessible means to be almost constantly stressed and perpetually working hard to fight back the waves of suffering that define so many of our lives in the music industry. People often take you fir granted and won’t care about how hard you work to stay on top of this stuff. That being said – people are also frustrated easily. And if they realize that you’re the kind of person who doesn’t leave them frustrated then they are going to eventually start wanting to work more and more with you.
These things aren’t hard. But the ability to answer emails quickly in a friendly, clear and concise is going to win you favors across the board. IT doesn’t tangibly manifest itself usually, but it does help to create a solid reputation and prove that you deserve to be where you are and go further. In a world where we have hundreds if not thousands of competitors you need to take every edge you can. We are under siege right now, and if we’re not doing our best to stand out from the crowd even in the quiet and simple ways then we are doomed to fail even before starting.
I screw this up a lot too – as will you. I’s easy to let an email fall through the cracks or lose out n an opportunity because you weren’t on the gun enough .It happens. You just need to know that you are trying your hardest to stay on top of things. The stress brought on by this ind of lifestyle is insane, but in my experience it eventually starts to pay off. Yes t takes a while but piece by piece you too will eventually find the world bending in your favor, for no other reason than that the law of averages means that if you work hard enough you will eventually start to get the attention you deserve – even if it does come after years of sorrow.
Usually with the closing paragraphs of these articles I try to give you some sort of call to action. Of course – this entire piece has been a call to action. I guess what I really want you to do is just leave your email open and your phone connected. These things are important because when people see that you are someone who is constantly in demand, or at least appears to be so, they will realize that you might be someone they want to work with and give money too. I don’t want to make it all a money thing, because DIY ethics are key – we’re all scratching by here. Rock and roll is more than just a full time job, it’s one that needs you to be ready to communicate all day and all night and if you’re not ready for this, then you should leave the hall.
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