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How about you? I ask this question because the why of it all is important. I think it’s important to be who we really are. We’re not going to kid anyone if we assume the wrong role while we’re on this planet. I think that in the case of recording artists… we’re going to stand out even more than most when things are mismatched… we do our work on the world’s stage and there’s nowhere to hide.

Singer‐Songwriters have to know who they are. Johnny Cash could not have gotten on stage at Folsom Prison and sang to those inmates if he didn’t honestly feel a kinship with them. Taylor Swift obviously loves her young fans enough to help them articulate meaningful words that they would like to be able to say, but can’t yet. She validates her fan’s feelings through her remarkable songs. Johnny did the same thing. Johnny Cash was, and Taylor Swift is transparent, at ease and delighted to be singing. I dig that.

The juice of this whole star business magically switches on when fans love you and you love them back just as much. The power of this reciprocal relationship transcends any artistic limitations too. Quality of voice, depth of musicianship and perfection mean little when stars and their fans unite. All that really matters is the connection, and the rest is as natural as an evening stroll.

So back to you… why do you want to be a star? This is a tough field we’ve chosen. Writing songs that stand up to the competition is hard. Singing beautifully night after night is hard. Keeping a band together is hard. Why do we do this? It’s personal for all of us and I’m really looking forward to seeing your replies on our blog. I do know this much… the friends, clients and prospective clients of Artist Development Network are a devoted and serious group. I’ve been here for a year and a half now and I’ve enjoyed every single minute of my time co‐writing beautiful music and getting to know many of you well. I am energized by your motivation and you keep me young. I feel your musical desires and make it a point to help you co‐write the most original music possible. Our whole songwriting team feels the same way. Cathy Lemmon has that same force about her as well. She’s been steering the ship here for 16 years in Nashville. Our dream is to help you with your dreams. We love our work. And there’s that reciprocal‐relationship thing popping up again ☺

I’m not a big Nascar guy. I’ve watched a few (yawn) and made some observations that relate to the music business. In particular, I’ve witnessed the smallest mechanical part take down a million dollar racing car. The same thing can happen in the arts. A single, unforeseen disaster can trigger a series of events that can pull an artist of his or her path permanently. It’s a bad day when this happens. The genetically hard wired singer/songwriter does not have a personality or temperament that will be well suited for a stock and standard 40 hour per week job. So let’s examine the things I consider to be the most important for keeping your singing career on track:

1) Relationships
I could write a book on this particular subject. In the interest of time, I’ll keep this one short. Healthy, give and take relationships require time, attention, commitment. Generally speaking, artist types tend to be what non-artistic types label as selfish. It’s true. If you take a poll of all your artistic friends; you’re going to find that they have quite a history of being labeled as “selfish” by their mates. Is this true? Probably, but mostly because their mates don’t understand artists. Our first love was probably music. It will always be our first love and our mates can’t change or compete with that. So the thing about relationships is: try to avoid the wrong ones with people who don’t understand your artistic personality. Don’t confuse horny with love.

Avoid relationships with serious commitments as long as you can. When you find that person that you really can’t live without… that’s the Come To Jesus Moment where you’re going to have to really assess this person and how compatible he/she is with your artist personality. Guess what score this potential mate needs to score in the compatibility department? 50%? 60%? Personally speaking, I’d say they’d better score 99‐100%. If they’re not completely comfortable with your career and personality type, you’re putting yourself on a path of pure agony. Music will win. The relationship will fail and you’ll be dealing with the fallout, which will lead to depression and take you further away from your music.

2) Nutrition‐Drugs‐Addictions
This one is going to sting a bit. When you were 16, you could’ve eaten at Taco Bell seven days a week and looked great. Flat out, straight up, this will not be the case in your mid 20s, 30s and beyond when you really need to look great in front of a camera. Pretty people become stars. And even if you’re not drop dead gorgeous or on the mainstream star path, you still have to look as good as you can. Looks start within. Junk in junk out. We’re just like cars in that respect. If you put sugar in your gas tank your car will run like crap. If you constantly fuel yourself on Grand Slam breakfasts you will wind up old before your time. Read. Learn. Consult nutritional experts, not Jenny Craig. Jenny sells food. Nutritional experts aren’t selling anything but life skills and knowledge. Big difference.

I think it’s pretty much common knowledge that alcohol and tobacco will make it that much harder to maintain good health. You can’t smoke and expect to sing beautifully, breath efficiently and have the high range you’ll need to deliver most pop songs. You can’t drink and expect your body to deliver the hydration needed for healthy vocal cords. This is all common sense stuff. Life is demanding enough anyway. Why increase the probability of failure with bad foods, alcohol, drugs, energy drinks, cigarettes, pot, spice, pulse, weight loss supplements or any other addiction, legal or not? This is not rocket science, folks. If you’re sleepy, don’t drink coffee… take a freekin’ nap. Exercise is one of the greatest natural drugs ever. Partake in that one with a clean conscience. That’s the real deal, and it will improve your sex life dramatically. Hmm… Tough choice.

3) Professional Improvement
Never, ever stop learning. You might be a kick‐ass singer with a 3 octave range, but you won’t keep that range unless you exercise that voice and check in with a respected vocal coach every once in a while. This is hard to explain in a short paper, but singing is all about muscles. Muscles, as we’re learning, have their own memory. If we begin to develop bad habits in singing, it will take a LOT of time and effort to re‐teach the muscles how to do things right again. You will not be able to cruise on auto pilot if you’re trying to break bad habits. And when you have to start nitpicking the details of your creative process, you will lose something. You can get over this in time, but you can’t be 100% creative and monitoring your actions. That means you can’t be a great singer if you’re “thinking” about singing. You have to be able to sing as easily as you breathe. So the moral of this lesson is: regular checkups in the
voice department will keep bad habits away.

4) Debt
As of this writing, 2010, credit is hard to obtain. If you’re not already in debt, it will be easy to stay debt free for a year or two. But this will not always be the case. Years ago, department stores, home improvement companies and big business figured out that the real profit in business is in the sale of MONEY. They can sell you things for almost no profit if they’re making 20% on that revolving charge card. Learn to live within your means and without the credit cards and high interest rates. If that means postponing that new car or a living room furniture set purchase, by all means… postpone it until you have the cash. Owing money to credit companies means you’ll make decisions about your career and your art based on having to pay these companies back. Not good. Don’t go there. Stay debt free…100% debt free. Rent, food, utilities, gasoline, those will be hard enough to tackle. Don’t pile on any more.

5) Routines
Exercising, practicing, songwriting, rehearsing have to be done. If you’re reading this you are hopeful singer or singer/songwriter. All of the above tasks have to be done and you might just as well set aside time right now to insure that they happen, every day, every week. This is your passion, right? Treat your passion with the ultimate respect… put it on the calendar and make certain you do what you need to do to make your dreams come true.

Contact David Harper at musicbydavid@gmail.com

The same little quirk happens from time to time at Artist Development Network, where I work today. I’ll be working diligently at my computer when ding… I receive a 1500 word email from somebody that is “interested” in working with us. Peppered throughout their ramblings I’ll see statements like “I’m not in this for the money, or the glamour or whatever” and I’m left scratching my head. Why on earth would anybody want an unsuccessful musical career?

Today I talked to a beautiful woman who sings like an angel. She is particularly fond of spoken-word music and envisions herself as a world music singer. And again… I’m thinking… have you even looked at the CD unit sales of world music artists? Sorry… but that ain’t the way to roll. The world sales numbers are pathetic. Albums that sell 1500 copies aren’t going to do anything but insure bankruptcy. Here she is, in her comfy, warm apartment somewhere thinking… I can make the world a better place. She obviously hasn’t done the math. If you’re an artist and you want a well maintained tour bus and a sound man and a band and stage outfits and decent hotels to sleep in along the way… it’s going to require significant CD sales and revenue to pay the bills.

It’s a vicious cycle, art vs. finance. But I encourage you all to create music that does have mass appeal. I know it’s difficult… and don’t give me that anyone can write that crap line because I know better. I’m a professional songwriter! I know how hard it really is.  So seek help. Learn to write commercial music well. The overhead is too high to shoot for anything less. You should also note that the stars of today do whatever it takes to keep the gravy train rolling. Corporate sponsorships, tee shirts, hats, ring tones, purses, albums, toys, are all apart of the game. The industries that can keep your bus rolling on the road have an abundance of promising bands to pick from. Which bands do you think they’ll choose first?  Not a trick question, by the way. The answer is: they’ll want to work with the most driven, commercially appealing bands. It’s called return on investment folks…and your banker won’t be terribly understanding to your dream of saving the world.  He will, however, respond to money. 

So there we are kids. It’s still all about money. You get but a few legitimate shots at stardom in your career. The last thing you’d ever want to tell an interested A&R rep or manager is that you’re goal is to simply make a “living” with your music. He’s thinking about his percentage of the take! You can still have your personal projects, perform at Earth Day and give your time to charity. But whatever you choose as your bread and butter gig had better be profitable.