Sometimes non-professionals don’t think things through. That’s why you’ll sometimes be asked to take on time-consuming semi-shows.
Maybe you’ll be asked to practise some covers for a corporate training video, or sing some common run-of-the-mill O.P.Nayyar songs.
If these shows seem enjoyable or bring you money, go for it.
But if they take up too much time, or pull you too far off-course from your own musical focus, feel free to respond with a firm NO!
Your musical time is valuable, and it isn’t infinite!
Open mic shows, talent contests, and unpaid slots at a festival have their uses for beginners.
But those shows are not for established singers.
Once you have your own fan following, there’s no advantage to accepting shows that give the event organizers, reputation and money, but nothing back to you.
Are you accepting unpaid shows at public venues or colleges, that have
substantial budgets?
If anyone is gaining financially from your performance, you should too.
After all, it has cost you a lot of time, money and energy to get this far.
Slogging years through your musical qualifications and certificates, driving home late at night to a delayed dinner, night after night after night!
Of course, performing at a fundraiser for a cause you are committed to, is a different story. Giving your time and talent to help others is a great thing to do.
But performing to put a feather in someone else’s cap is not! If someone asks, say that you’d love to perform, but tell them your minimum fee and let them decide.
Delete your live recordings with mediocre sound, or any sort of recording with bad audio quality or audible mistakes.
It’s really hard for casual fans and non-musicians to ignore mistakes and distractions to understand how good you actually are.
Don’t let crappy recordings reach the public. Period.
Your musician friends need to be on board with you on this one.
This is self-explanatory and incredibly common.
Send promoters a text or an email telling them exactly how to spell your name and how you should be announced.
Check flyers, street posters, backdrops, donor passes and websites that advertise you.
Check them. Correct them.
Don’t let yourself become a joke or confuse your fans.
The world is full of good-natured people who are plain unprofessional, and they will drag you down.
Fortunately, you’ll figure out their incompetence in your first 3 or 4 interactions with them.
Some symptoms:
(*) taking too long to respond to phone calls or emails,
(*) giving you conflicting information about shows,
(*) failing to show up after promising to meet you,
(*) being part of some sort of collective where the organizer is wary of performers talking to one another.
If you sense that someone will be a nightmare to deal with, walk away – even if that person holds the key to a show you might want.
Life is too short, and there are too many other shows.
In Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, says: “Even when I was broke, I would not wear cheap clothes, or drive cheap cars.”
You have to maintain certain standards as you attempt to build an empire.
Showing up to a business meeting in crumpled clothes, unpolished shoes or a beat up old car won’t evoke respect.
Don’t go before an audience, if you haven’t रियाज़ed for the past 4 or more days!
Never, never, ever be caught with half-baked preparation!
You might as well announce yourself as a mediocre, careless personality.
Don’t go on stage looking like a regular dude in jeans, T-shirt and dirty keds.
Your look should communicate something about what your act is all about and differentiate you from someone walking down the road to buy vegetables.
Your look and style as an artiste, are essential enhancements to your sound.
They’re part of your overall package.
Your visual should have some aesthetic connection to your music in a fully realized scenario.
Be you! Do you! Don’t try a look or a style that’s just not you.
Posturing never works.
Fans can see through every fake image.
Take the time to prepare yourself for a show.
Get your outfit on as you would for a job interview.
After all, you’re interviewing to be someone’s new favorite star singer.
Don’t behave like an underpaid extra.
Many musicians have been lucky enough to sneak backstage and meet some of their favorite stars in person.
Generally, those people are just like you’d be in their position: gracious, humble, and willing to take a minute to chat with a fan, sign an autograph, and thank people for their help.
Ideally, every musician, every sound engineer, and every usher/doorman should be your fan, not just a fan of your act.
Leave them knowing you’re friendly and easy to deal with, not a pompous swollen-head.
If there’s one secret to success, it’s persistence.
This means always writing, always preparing, always practicing, and always promoting.
Sure, if you take a break from रियाज़ for a couple of weeks, you just might be able to limp back.
But that is time, you wasted, when you should have been progressing and improving.
Keep at it! Keep facebooking, keep booking, keep promoting.
You will find times when you seem to have hit a plateau, and it’s hard to rise any further.
That’s when you must push a little harder and be a little more consistent.
If you really are taking a small break, leave an out-going message for people who try to contact you, as any serious businessman would.
Post something on your facebook feed or website about the triumphant success of your latest project, and the fact that you’ve gone off for 5-10 days to celebrate.
Promise that you’ll call everybody who needs you when you get back.
Stay true to yourself and your sound. Don’t copy someone else’s style.
K. L. Saigal might have been Kishore Kumar’s ideal, and in turn, Kishore Kumar might have been Kumar Sanu’s ideal, but Stars are not born by mimicking other artistes.
Pursuing musical fads will just blur your identity and make it harder to really dig your music.
Stick with your own vision, even if the world hasn’t caught the bug yet.
In the end, you’re the only one in the world who can do what you do.