Music Licensing Tips – Success Breeds Success

Let’s face it. The music business can be a tough nut to crack. It can be discouraging at times. If you don’t have really thick skin it can be very easy to second guess yourself. I’m sure you’ve all heard stories about how bands like the Beatles were turned down by a gazillion record labels before they signed their first deal. Basically every artist who has succeeded in the music industry has a story that is a variation of this story. You are inevitably going to be facing lots of obstacles on your path to success.

Why is this and what can you do about it? Well first let’s look at the obvious. There are, simply put, a lot of musicians trying to “make it” in the music business. There are several MILLION bands on myspace alone. Of course a lot of those bands aren’t very good…. but I’m digressing. There is a lot of competition. But if you love making music and you’re passionate about it I don’t think you should let that slow you down one bit. Music is personal and although there are a lot artists making music no one is making the music that you make. And the more you cultivate your craft the more true this becomes. And a lot of the competition will simply quit and resign themselves to working in a cubicle for the rest of their lives. Sad but true.

OK. So you accept that there is a lot of competition and you’re not going to let that stop you. Now what? Well there are two things you can do consistently that if you keep doing will take you as far as you can conceivably go, in time of course. Are you ready? The first thing you should do, on a regular basis, is educate yourself about the music business. This should seem pretty obvious. If you want to succeed in the music business you need to know how the music business works – how things happen. The path to success in this industry has a lot of variables but there are overlapping elements that exist in almost all success stories. What are those elements? Well you should think about this and come up with your own list. But obviously exposure is a big one. If no one is exposed to your music no one is going to know you exist in the first place!

So start thinking about how you can generate more exposure. There are lots of ways. I focus on music licensing as an avenue to generate more exposure. This is a great path to pursue because you can pursue licensing deals from anywhere, regardless of age or image, and it also happens to pay well too! You need money to stay in the game. But there are certainly other avenues for generating exposure. I’ve shared several success stories of artists who marketed themselves creatively and generated a lot of press and CD sales as a result of their marketing strategies. Hopefully these stories have provided some inspiration. Be as creative with your marketing as you are with your music!

Next, you need to take the education and strategies that you’ve armed yourself with and implement what you’ve learned. Then, and this is key, celebrate every success you have along the way. Success breeds more success. At the risk of sounding all new agey and woo woo I can’t emphasize this enough. When you start having success you will find ways to create more success and when you shift your focus to your victories, as opposed to your obstacles, you’ll feel much more empowered and you’ll create the momentum you need to keep going.

So if you want to start licensing your music get started by taking action every day. Make a new contact, pick up the phone, work on a new track, read my newsletter, network with other songwriters, submit your music to different places, etc… If you take action in this way every day things will start to happen. It worked this way for me when I first started licensing my own music and I’m currently going through the same process with my new music marketing company. If you build it they really will come. Well…. if you build it well…

For more information on how to license your music in TV And Films be sure to check out my free newsletter by going to http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com

Music Licensing Tips – How To License More Songs And Make More Money

I recently made a new video all about how to make more money by licensing your music. It’s called “How To License More Of Your Songs And Make More Money”.

Check it out here:

Setting Goals For 2010

I am not a big fan of new year’s resolutions per se, but there is something about starting a new year that allows you to reflect on the year that has passed and look ahead with a new sense of clarity. I personally don’t write out a list of resolutions, but I do write out a list of areas I want to focus on, which generally inspires some very specific actions I can take. There’s something about writing your goals down that inspires both ideas and actions. I still have my list of goals for 2002 where I wrote down “license my music in television”. I don’t think just writing your goals down and thinking about them really hard will magically make them manifest. But it will start a process that if acted upon and followed through is very powerful.

In 2009 my focus was on improving my vocals and writing better lyrics, both areas I feel like I haven’t worked on hard enough in the past. I took vocal lessons and spent a lot more time writing lyrics and re-writing them until I felt like each song had lyrics that could stand on their own.

In 2010 my main musical goal is to develop more of a web presence online that will result in both more exposure and more sales of my music. This will be in addition to continuing to pursue licensing deals for both the exposure and revenue those bring. I have been consistently getting revenue from Itunes for music sales that I have been making as a result of a podcast that I formerly hosted for one of my side projects. So I plan to do more of this sort of web 2.0 type promoting to bring in extra revenue an exposure for my music. I will be writing about these endeavors in future newsletters and look forward to sharing what I learn with you.

What about you? What are your music related goals for this year? Now is a really great time to reasess what your goals are and start making a plan towards realizing them. I reccomend starting with a general focus and then getting more specific regarding steps you can take. So, for example if your goal is to license more of your music you could write that as a goal and then list the steps you need to take to get started, which might look something like this:

Goal: License my music
Steps: Have songs mastered
Copyright Songs
Buy Industry Directory
Submit to five new libraries a week
Record New Tracks
Etc…..

Some of this may sound obvious, but by putting your goals on paper it will organize your thoughts and help you develop a clear plan for going forward.

So, let’s resolve to make 2010 a great year and all move several steps closer towards realizing our goals and dreams! That’s my plan….

For more information on music licensing and how you can license your music in TV and Films check out my free newsletter by going to http://www.howtolicenseyourmusic.com