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A note from the editor...
Hello FNO Bands and Performers,
This
month, another good article by Sheena Metal about setting goals in the
music biz. Enjoy!! And below, check out the FNO Performer of the Month!
Are we Myspace friends? Check us out and send me a message: http://www.myspace.com/festivals. If you're a FNO free member and want to become a Pro Member in order to
have festival contact information, FNO's Myspace bands take $5.00 off a
membership!
Rock it,
Julie
FNO Marketing Chick
Festival Network Online
http://www.myspace.com/festivals
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« Newsletters Archive - To view previous newsletters, check out our archives!
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Set Goals: Your Rockstardom Wasn’t Built In A Day!
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 By Sheena Metal
Every
musician currently living on the Planet Earth would love nothing more
than to wake up tomorrow in the midst of their glorious peak of
superstardom. But, as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither is the
career of any one musician. A musical career is a long, sometimes
arduous journey of tiny advances and minor setbacks filling the fragile
shell of big breaks and huge disappointments. It’s up, it’s down,
it’s all around and hopefully, as time passes, you can see the course
of your career building up slowly through weeks and months and years of
steady progress.
But how can you tell if your career is actually going somewhere?
How do you know if you’re really getting closer to your musical
dreams? How can you determine whether or not you’re on the right
path? How do you know what to focus on in the immediacy and what
paths can be left for another time when you are better equipped to
tackle them creatively and concretely? While there is no one set
way achieve rock superstardom, the clearest way to realize musical
success is to simply set goals.
As mundane as it may seem, setting goals, both long and short-term, for
your musical project lends the same kind of structure and discipline to
your career that an athlete would use to train for the Olympics.
Realistic goals enable you to build your band’s list of accomplishments
the way a runner builds his muscles… pumping up your musical
achievements as you lift off the weight of each entertainment
roadblock. And the good news is that you can start today.
At any time you may put into effect a list of goals, large or small,
aimed at boosting your career in any given area.
The following are a few tips that will help you to set some goals so
that you may get on your way to achieving all that you want from your
music and the entertainment industry in general:
1.)Set Goals You Can Achieve---Nothing is more depressing for an artist
than setting lofty goals for yourself and your music only to bottom out
with hopelessness when none of the goals are achieved by the
deadline. So, much of what keeps artists plugging away in the
industry, against all odds, is the positive re-enforcement of feelings
of accomplishment. Keep that upbeat mojo going by setting goals
for your band that you can absolutely actualize with lots of elbow
grease and some good creative flow. Take a minute to assess each
potential achievement and put a realistic time allotment on it so that
you’re setting yourself up to succeed and move onto the next musical
goal.
2.)Keep Your Eyes On The Prize---It’s all well and good to set goals
just to see if you can do them, but if you’re ultimate goal is to be a
big ole humongous rockstar, then try and set goals that will help you
on your way to a Rolls Royce, a Bentley and a 2,000 square foot
infinity swimming pool. Set a goal to get one article of press
each month, to book a decent gig every two weeks, or to update your
website daily. Give yourself six months to finish your
full-length album, three months to raise the money for your band’s
t-shirts or a year to find a good manager to pitch you to labels.
Each one of these goals is a great achievement on its own but also an
important piece in getting your band where you eventually want it to
be. So it’s a win/win for your career, any way you slice it, and
the feelings of accomplishment will certainly empower you to keep
pushing on in the ever-frustrating music business.
3.)One Goal At A Time---It’s okay to have twenty goals on the table but
they should be lined up in order of immediacy and priority so that each
one is given their own individual time. Trying to work too many
angles at one time may jumble your ability and focus, and leave you at
your deadline with six or seven goals only partially achieved. In
an industry so dependant on “what have you done lately,” it’s always a
good thing to get a goal completed in a timely manner and move onto the
next so that the outside world sees a band that is always accomplishing
things, always achieving, and always succeeding.
4.)If At First You Don’t Succeed---No matter how hard you try, there
will always be goals that elude you past your self-imposed
deadline. While it’s good to discipline yourself into a regiment
of goal-setting/achieving, don’t beat yourself up if circumstances
beyond your control lead you to fall short on a deadline or two.
The most important thing is that you realize your goal. Secondary
to this, is for you to accomplish your goal in a timely fashion.
So, put your emphasis on the success and the positive achievement and
don’t give up on your music and your goal if the deadline rolls around
prematurely.
Once you set a line of goals in front of you, it’s easy to focus on
achieving rather than worrying about failing. As you begin to
achieve goals, you can rely on the confidence of all you’ve done and
dismiss the angst of worrying about things that haven’t happened
yet. You’ll never be able to accomplish everything all at once,
so why not relish the successes that you can manifest immediately
whilst dreaming of the goals you still have yet to achieve. Don’t
waste time. Sit down after you read this and scratch out a list
of goals, each with its own timeline. Find something you can
accomplish today for your music, something you can get done by tomorrow
and something terrific you can nail down by the end of the week.
Your band will look better to industry and fans alike and, most
importantly, you’ll look and feel great to yourself and your
music. RockSuperstardom awaits! Start knocking back those
goals and kick the music biz in the butt, one positive achievement at a
time!
Sheena Metal is a radio host, producer, promoter,
music supervisor, consultant, columnist, journalist and musician.
Her syndicated radio program, Music Highway Radio, airs on over 700
affiliates to more than 126 million listeners. Her musicians’
assistance program, Music Highway, boasts over 10,000 members.
She currently promotes numerous live shows weekly in the Los Angeles
Area, where she resides.
For more info: http://www.sheena-metal.com
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Featured Performer
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 FNO Member Michael Jay Smith has been selected for this month's Featured Performer. Michael J and The Mighty Cash Cats is one of the Country's finest Tributes to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.
Their fast paced, up beat Show takes the audience from Johnny Cash's
1950's popular Rockabilly tunes up to his final Rick Ruben produced
American Recordings hits. Michael J looks and sounds like Johnny and
his Johnny and Carter duets with the lovely Amy Harrington are Show
highlights. The Rave reviews are in and their happy audiences range
from teens to seniors.
Michael J and The Mighty Cash Cats not only recreate
Johnny Cash's music and show accurately, but as fans, honor his spirit
and essence by paying tribute to the Man in Black without resorting to
cheap gimmicks or parody.
Email Julie Cochrane if you are interested in appearing here.
Put "FNO Band Feature" in subject line.
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in the
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