The New DIY Musician’s Manifesto (What Did I Miss?)

Posted In Music Career | 5 comments

I will not blindly chase a record deal

I will never send music to anyone who has not asked for it

I will work on new music for an hour everyday

I know there is no such thing as “genius” but just people who have put in 10,000 hours of effort

I will treat my fans like royalty

I will build my mailing list everyday

I will never undersell my art and let people take advantage of me

I will embrace marketing every day and enjoy it

I will never engage in “car salesman” style marketing

I will focus my music marketing efforts or the biggest sites on the Internet

I will ignore anything that wastes time

I will have full engagement with my fans

I will sell digital music with no overhead

I will become friendly with people who can help me achieve my goals

I will not moan when other less talented people become more successful than me

I will take action on everything I learn

I will not be perfect

I will have 1000 true fans

I will create amazing value for my fans

I will go round after every show and ask people to join my mailing list

I will blog every day and get to know other talented bloggers

I will use google reader to keep track of everything that’s going on in the music scene

“Quality and consistency” is my mantra

I will never stop making music

I will produce the most amazing music the world has ever seen

I will see my job as finance for my music career and get the hell out of there ASAP

I will learn how to do simple web design so that I don’t have to pay through my ass all the time

I will track my progress every day and celebrate any success

I will test and track everything to get more results from the same amount of effort

I will have the sex and drugs after the rock and roll

I realize that fame and fortune don’t last

I will be nice to my band mates and make sure they have fun too

I will collaborate with amazing people

I will not print up physical CDs or vinyl until my fans are begging for it like hungry dogs

I will not blindly pay a PR company who promise the world

I will not play every shitty gig I ever get offered

I will put on my own amazing shows

I will take advantage of the many income streams open to the DIY musician

I will not travel 500 miles to play a gig for two people just because I like being on tour

I will seek out the best marketing people in the world and use their tactics in music

I will give my best work away for free

I will not talk about helping the 3rd world unless I really mean it

I will use the 80/20 rule to leverage my time

I will call my mother everyday

I will read every word on these amazing websites:

Tight Mix

Mic Control

The Buzz Factor

Professor Pooch

Wayward Musician

Grassrootsy

Thorny Bleeder

Michael Brandvold

Make It In Music

Gen-Y Rock Stars

Music Marketing [dot] com

Music Success In Nine Weeks

Music on the Make

Dotted Music

Passive Promotion

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Leave A Reply (5 comments So Far)

  • http://twitter.com/MicControl MicControl.com

    Hey Chris, this is a great list! The only thing Im questionable on is the ‘only focusing my time on the biggest sites on the internet’ – if you’re fans are someone more niche that they spend the majority of their time, go there! Facebook be damned if it won’t help you out.

    Thanks so much for including MicControl once again in your list of must read resources! The resepct is mutual and the support is much appreciated!

    Jon Ostrow
    MicControl.com
    @miccontrol:twitter

  • Chris Rockett

    Hey Jon nice to here from you.

    I think I was a little unclear on that point. What I’m basically saying is not to try and juggle 30 social profiles when you can connect with the majority of people in a couple of places.

    If you’re in a Facebook or Twitter hating scene then that point would transfer to the most popular forum or whatever.

    Do you reckon I have missed anything obvious from the list?

    - Chris

  • http://www.promoteyourmusic.net Chris Rockett

    Hey Jon nice to here from you.

    I think I was a little unclear on that point. What I’m basically saying is not to try and juggle 30 social profiles when you can connect with the majority of people in a couple of places.

    If you’re in a Facebook or Twitter hating scene then that point would transfer to the most popular forum or whatever.

    Do you reckon I have missed anything obvious from the list?

    - Chris

  • Jazzharp1

    I printed this list out and read it everyday! I also put the line up about how my job finances my music career on the whiteboard in my office. Wish I could call Mom everyday, but she passed years ago. This weekend, I will begin putting the list into action!

    Thanks Chris!

  • http://www.promoteyourmusic.net Chris Rockett

    Thanks so much for your comments.

    It’s great to hear that this has helped you out and when I was writing it my hope was that people would print it as a reference.

    So your feedback is rather touching.

    Good luck.