The Guitar Player's Resource
Blind faith is the belief in yourself and your music. The belief that it is good and it has value. As strange as it sounds, many musicians and artists lose it especially when their promotional efforts don't yield the results they want, the media doesn't respond favorably to their music and/or they don't sell the amount of CDs or downloads they wanted. Regardless of what people say, whether they are in the media, the industry or they are music fans, you have to believe in your music and yourself. Too many times as artists we give more value to the negative responses than the positive ones. Ten people can say how much they love your music but if you get one negative email, you let it bother you more than enjoying what the ten other people said.
To find the blind faith that was once there, stop doing some of the following (I'm sure you can think of more!)
Stop comparing yourself to other artists! If someone doesn't like one of the artists you compared yourself to, they won't even listen to your songs!
Stop using genres to limit your audience. I recently spoke at a conference where an artist introduced himself and told me what kind of music he played. I told him I didn't like that kind to see how he would react. He was stuck. He didn't know what to do next. I told him music fans can react the same way. Tell them what's in your songs and make sure not to use any cliches about the performances in the recording.
Stop telling people that your new songs are better than the old ones. Every artist, songwriter and musician evolves and grows. Their songs are different as time goes by. What would Beatles fans think if the band said, "Our old songs sucked. The new ones are much better. I hope you didn't buy any of the old records."
Stop limiting what you are capable of! You can accomplish more than you think. Aprylle Gilbert, who you remember as a brand new artist at the last Music Strategies is this month's example of this. Aprylle booked herself into a venue that was definitely bigger than her current fan base. The venue made her rent the whole night out and gave her tickets to sell. By emailing, calling fans, promoting to her Facebook friends the right way and going out and meeting new people and connecting with them, her show is already sold out two weeks before the date. I guess it's time for a new press campaign. Unknown artist comes to your town, promotes herself and sells out venue she has never played before.
The point is, you have to find the blind faith you once had and use it! The faith that made you write songs, record them and then go out and sell them. The faith in yourself that made you get up and play in front of family, friends, everyone you knew and complete strangers. It's time to get rid of the excuses and limitations and once again realize the value you and your music have right now. Believe in what you have created and push us to listen to it and become fans!
Author Tim Sweeney is head of Tim Sweeney & Associates, who are entering their 18th year of being, "the only true artist development company in the world."
Tim is one of the music industry's most sought after experts and consultants, and has written several influential books including "Tim Sweeney's Guide To Releasing Independent Records".
