The whole interview is great, but the last few paragraphs on advice to young musicians are brilliantly helpful.
“Be voracious when it comes to uncovering the secrets of the music business and how people outside the music business behave as entrepreneurs.”
And I wish more of my fine art friends would embrace this mentality (primarily so they can keep making art):
“[Art and business] seem diametrically opposed, but I don't think you can survive being just an artist or just a businessperson. If you're only business, you will lack the flair that attracts an audience. If you're only flair, you'll be taken advantage of.”
"You have to be both. Then you can surround yourself with smart people, secure in the knowledge you can control your own art and your own career--because if you don't, someone else definitely will."
I'm not much of an entrepreneur these days, but I know that the best way to succeed in life is to control your own destiny.
It's especially important if you're in a small artistic niche like instrumental rock that only connects with mainstream interest on very rare occasions, like Satch's Summer Song or Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover. Steve Morse handled this by becoming a commercial pilot, which gave him the latitude to focus on composing music that he himself found interesting, rather than trying to tap into what the market wanted.
This is a good read, and definitely something I've seen with my friends in the music industry who have carved out success. Being excellent at your craft alone won't get you where you want, it takes an equal amount of work & savvy on the business side to promote, set yourself up to do well financially, and control your direction.
The most successful that I've seen amongst my musician/songwriter/composer friends enter unorthodox spaces that have strong potential, such as creating high quality sample libraries for instruments like guitars for use in DAWs (digital audio workstations - software like FL Studio, Cubase, Logic, Reason, etc.), aggressive promotion via forums & writing articles of interest to their potential audience on their blogs, and networking in scenes such as indie game developer communities (via forums & IRC) & events such as GDC and Video Games Live. I have an acquaintance who even found success networking with musicians at concerts!
It's certainly a tough business to be in - you have to love it, both the music and business side.
Smart guy. And I love this quote "I like to think that because I had the courage to take my shot, good fortune came my way, but it could have just as easily gone terribly wrong." Isn't that the truth and he has the humility to say it.
I've always liked Joe Satriani's music and guitar talent, but every time I see an interview with him I'm so impressed with his intelligence and drive.
This is a video where a guitarist won a free lesson with Joe. It's incredible how much Joe can pack into a 45-minute lesson; it's obvious he's a fantastic teacher and he's totally dedicated to learning and improvement.
I have been such a big fan of Satch ever since I heard "Summer Song" on the radio when I was in high school. It is great to learn about this side of his career, the stuff you see in the guitar magazines is (rightly so) more focused on his musicianship and composing sides.
Ahhh, "Summer Song", I remember you well! Many a day were spent driving in my Mustang with the windows down blasting this song. I've now been lucky enough to hear Satch play twice. He puts on an awesome show - highly recommended!
The second time I saw him in Dublin, I remember walking out of the venue with this big goofy grin on my face and my ears ringing like never before. I walked down the street to a convenience store to grab a Coke, but when the cashier spoke to me it was quieter than a whisper. It took about 24 hours for the ringing to finally stop, but I would do that night over again without a second thought.
Watching Satch play live (and up close!) you see the passion in his face and his playing. This is a man that LOVES what he does - and he does it very well! If only we could all be that lucky.
I just thought that it would be really great on two levels. Number one, artistically for me to play with people who could really kick my butt every night, and put the fear of God in my playing. I also thought the audience would really enjoy it because I did.
When you talk about things happening for a reason, this is pretty much the blueprint:
"We shared part of the building with Nolo Press, a company that made how-to books with tear-out pages for all sorts of legal situations. Their dumpster was right outside the door where we would hang out and have a smoke and a drink in between practicing, and it was always overflowing with damaged books. So we're out there wondering how we're ever going to make it in the music business and start absentmindedly flipping through books. One of them showed how to start all kinds of businesses."
“Be voracious when it comes to uncovering the secrets of the music business and how people outside the music business behave as entrepreneurs.”
And I wish more of my fine art friends would embrace this mentality (primarily so they can keep making art):
“[Art and business] seem diametrically opposed, but I don't think you can survive being just an artist or just a businessperson. If you're only business, you will lack the flair that attracts an audience. If you're only flair, you'll be taken advantage of.”