Art Under Pressure: It's a Teamwork Thing

What separates the part-time artist from the full-time pro?

Attention to detail, stress management, and teamwork.
Believe me, I’d love to spend all day every day just writing songs, playing music, and sitting behind a board, but art isn’t worth much if you don’t put it somewhere where the public can buy it, or put their money into it. So, more and more I’ve learned, you have to be the businesswoman first, and the artist second. Get hired on with a well-established band, or get ready to do it yourself. These days, the labels are going under, symphonies are declaring bankruptcy and scrambling for funding, and most tours are temporary contracts that last max, for a couple of years.

This means, as musicians, it’s up to us to take charge of keeping our careers going past the next contract. Here’s a short list of things I’ve used to do this:

• Going back to college to take accounting classes so you can manage your books and run your business.
  
• Taking marketing classes if you can’t afford to hire a publicist, and/or shelling out the dough for a good PR guy.
  
• Getting your brain around technology, so you can design, maintain, or envision a website for your business.
  
• Get really good at finding others who believe in your art as much as you do, and getting them to work for you, put their money behind you, or otherwise give you a giant shove into success.
  
• Have amazing people skills so you can schmooze and make contacts
  
• Not be afraid to take the risks and commit to the the things no one else in your industry dares do… in the odds the it will work out for you, because your just that nuts, and you’re just that good.
  
• Have self-esteem that can be stepped on, crushed, broken, and is tougher and more obnoxiously hardy than any weed in your front lawn. Keep bouncing back no matter how many rejections you get, or how many pitfalls you find.
  
• And, last but not least comes the fun part… still finding time to do your artwork. Only once you have conquered all these little but essential details for a long time, and done it well, will you find yourself in a position to delegate most of these tasks to someone else.
  

I’m sitting in a Starbucks at the moment. All around me are Los Angelinos stopping n for coffee and breakfast. Almost every single one of them is on the phone talking filming, chatting with each other about the next scene they have to shoot, complaining about how they were on set late last night… This is just business as usual for this amazing city. All of us, to some degree or another, are related to the entertainment biz. Disney is a mile down the street, NBC is closer, and Worner Brothers is there, too. I love living right in the thick of it. But it takes so many people to make one musician, one record, one film or celebrity a success.

I’m down to the wire on a current contract right now, in that mad adrenaline rush to get it all don and perfect before the looming release date. I love the rush, live for the stress and the pressure, but it always reminds me forcefully of just how heavily any artist depends on the business side of things, and on her colleagues to get the artwork done.

Writers need editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, publicists, marketing, art directors, cover artists… copy editors and printers. Musicians need recording engineers, producers, other session players, publicists, event planners, graphic designers, photographers, marketing coordinators, distribution labels or companies, venue coordinators, managers, attorneys… film people need lighting, direction, sound guys, makeup and costuming, directors, producers, film editors, cameramen… you get where I am going here.

It takes all of these people to make one thing! it takes money, it takes time, it takes unflagging guts and dedication, but most of all, it takes perseverance, and business smarts. If you are wondering what it takes to make it in this business, grow a thick skin, get ready to lose a lot of sleep, and never break your cool cucumber exterior. Work well under stress, get good at a myriad of things, and swallow your pride. Most of all, put a good team around you who knows what it takes to do the art work, and who believes in you more than you believe in yourself, most days. If you can do all that, and still have a good love life… You stand a pretty good chance of success. :-d

-Sassy