Music Career Juice - Review

Posted on September 18, 2007
Filed Under: Music Business, Reviews

Music Career Juice Let’s face it, musicians are everywhere and whether it’s someone who noodles on the guitar or piano on the weekend, someone who plays out a few times a month, or someone who takes it more seriously and gigs a few times a week (or more), they all share one thing. They love music. They love learning, listening to, and performing music. There’s also another thing that most of them share. A lack of understanding of the business side of music.

That’s not a knock on them, the business side of music is not something that is often talked about or studied by independent, unsigned musicians. Sure they may book their own nightclub gigs and print up flyers for their shows but they are only scratching the surface. Peter Spellman’s series of podcasts titled Music Career Juice exists for one reason, to fill this gap and to provide artists with the knowledge and tools they need to take their music careers to the next level. Spellman runs Music Business Solutions, a company concentrating on “helping musicians, songwriters and industry careerists start and grow successful music businesses through vital information and creative management strategies”, and he is also the Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music.

Music is a business and there’s no getting around that. As Spellman states in Episode 2 of Music Career Juice the “it” in “Do it yourself” is business. “It” is building up your network of industry contacts, promoting your band/music, and charting a plan for where your music career to go and how you can get there. It’s a task that sounds daunting to most people and for some it is. Not everyone has the drive or desire to focus on the business side of their music and that’s fine. However, if you have a dream, a goal that you want to reach, you’ll need to put in the extra work if you want to succeed.

Let’s get one thing straight, Peter Spellman is no Tony Robbins and that’s a good thing. He’s not a slick, smooth-talking pitchman and these podcasts aren’t the same tired old claptrap telling you that you need to be positive and have a winning attitude (or buy his book/tape/system) and everything will magically fall into place. No, Spellman is low key and provides concrete advice on the kinds of things aspiring musicians need to focus on. He also provides several real world examples from bands (Two Ton Shoe) and artists (Michael Futreal) who’ve done the work and have carved out a career for themselves. Everything from finding a niche in your area or market and exploiting it to finding alternative venues for your band to play rather than focusing solely on the nightclub circuit. Some of the specific examples used may be a little dated (especially in the earlier episodes) but the content and ideas behind them are timeless.

One thing that this series avoids is the myth of “making it big”. Every musician has a dream at some point about being the next (insert international supergroup here) or (insert mega-popstar here) and that’s perfectly understandable. You should always want to be the best you can be. The beauty of this series is that it focuses on the early and intermediate steps and points you in the right direction to help you get your music career off the ground. He also offers some unique insights into what is considered successful. For some, success means being the largest star they can be. For others it may mean simply earning enough money through their music to allow them to continue with their music (either with or without a day job). Spellman simplifies it even further. “If you are doing the things that are moving you toward the attainment of your goal today then you are successful. Even if you are not there yet.” It’s this kind of thinking that can help keep an artist grounded and focused while they are mired in the drudgery of working towards their ultimate goal.

Music Career Juice tends to shift its focus occasionally as the series moves along but it never loses focus. The first few episodes run through the basics of the concepts that you need to be aware of and what you need to focus on to be successful. Later episodes focus a lot on the history of the music business and how it has changed throughout the years. Still later the focus shifts back to more concrete subjects such as gigging and creating/implementing your marketing plan.

If there’s one thing that an up and coming musician or band needs in order to have a successful music career, it’s information. Your talent provides the service for you to sell, but you need to know where you want to go and how to get there. Music Career Juice is a great resource for this information and I definitely recommend it. You can download the Music Career Juice podcasts through iTunes or from the Music Business Solutions site. More information please visit Music Business Solutions.