Whatever It Takes

I haven’t been very good at updated my blog, but here is an update. 

I admit defeat.  About a month ago, I was laid off from my music biz job because the company was undergoing economic problems.  I can admit that I didn’t like my job, made the most of it, and was extremely stressed out by it.

I’ve had a number of wonderful interviews, including two second interviews, and third in the works, and I am sure I will wind up in a new position that will lead me to a better place.  

I accomplished my goal of working in the music business, and I did it for 3 months, but I can accept that the industry I work in no longer drives me because the outcome is never what I expect.  

Work is work.

Bless You

Check out my newest project.. Partners in Rhyme  Passover Parodies 

The world is full of penguins trying to be giraffes.  This is something Gary Vaynerchuk said on a video about embracing your strengths and not worrying too much about your weaknesses.  In my job I encounter written communications from people all over the world, and one of the things I’ve noticed is just how much ignorance there still is about the music business.  I, for whatever reason, assumed that more I learned, the more the rest of the world learned.  There are still a ton of people who want major label record deals and for someone to make them famous, and I pity them.

We don’t live in that world anymore, in fact, we never lived in that world.  All of the biggest stars have worked extremely hard on their craft and put themselves out there.  I find it really sad that the people who ask for a shot are the ones who deserve it the least, and my company distributes the music of grammy winners, multi platinum artists, and some of the most successful people in the industry and also of people who are dreamers, and not in a good way.

Nobody in the music business cares how good you think you are, and they resent the fact you think your a God’s gift to music.  To be in a glamour industry requires work and sacrifice and that lack of humbleness will not only not cause you to succeed but indicates that you don’t have what it takes.

that’s right.. It’s beibs in a Canadian flag.  I KNOW your work doesn’t have one of these.. 

Don’t hate me cause you aint me.

It has really hit me that its happened.  That the career and life I’ve always wanted are mine.  That in a week I’ll get a paycheck for it and that on president’s day I’ll sit on my ass and get paid for it. AND tomorrow I get to go do it all over again. I won’t say being the new kid is easy, but I went on our website and read the bios of all the executives I’ve met, and they probably have 100 years of experience put together in this industry.  They have the power to change the business and it’s really inspiring to know that they believed in themselves to get to where they are now.

I have been thinking about something for a really long time.  Why are some people executives and some people garbage men?  Is it a question of intelligence, passion, drive, or just opportunity.  I might never know the answer, but I do know that it’s up to each one of us to live to fullest potential.  The world needs us to be our best to do whatever it is that we do.

 I enjoy a blog called “The Art of Manliness” and they have a post that really sums up how I feel about life.  ”The man who hustles has the world.”  I won’t sit here and lie to you and say that I am not a lazy man sometimes, but we do only get one go around this earth and I say we should live it the way we see it in our mind’s eye.  I love the part, “has the world”.  To me it means, that if you hustle and work hard, you’ll have a good life, nice things, family, relationships.  I got myself my music career, for at least 3 days (my last music career lasted 3 weeks), but now I want the world.  Nothing will satisfy my appetite.  My girl friends asks me when I’ll stop wanting more out of my life, and I think the answer is probably going to be never.  He or she who can accomplish X can always accomplish X+1.  

2 days in the music biz, a lifetime to go.  Got my macbook laptop, got some health insurance, making a salary.  It’s all more then I ever expected from a music business job.  I’m not used to be talking about music business all day, and helping bands with varying problems.  From royalties to itunes to album artwork.  From a former major label one hit wonder to kids in their bedrooms, I’ve seen a huge variety of artists.

Social Media Explained.

On Monday I start my new job.  I don’t even know what to think.  It’s totally awesome and unexpected that it came about.  I wrote to some people on linked in that my former supervisor at Live Nation knew, and bam.  An e-mail, followed by a phone call, followed by a meeting in Brooklyn, followed by some more phone calls and e-mails, and now I have a job in the music business, with a salary, benefits, and perks like transit check and all. 

It’s nice to be entering an enviornment where I will be viewed as “talent” and am being treated as such.  If you’ve been following this blog since I started it in September of 2010, I’ve had my ups and downs, and I resolved that my music career was over.  I accpeted that it wouldn’t happen, and I was taking interviews at marketing firms and attempting to work in advertising.

Shortly after I was offered this job, I had an informational call with the president and founder of a prominent record label best known for releasing a series of albums that rhyme with schmidz hopz. The man I spoke with basically told me that I needed to intern some more.  I have always thought my 1000 hours of internships and 2.5 years of entreprenurial work in high school and my year of professional work experience where enough.  That’s the moment that it hit me.  Glamour industries are shitty, treat their talent shitty, and abuse the content creatoes they make money off of.  I am proud to say in my new job that I am being fairly compensated in both dollars and beneits, the content creators we work with keep 100% of their rights and are treated with respect, and that event though I haven’t started yet, I have a good feeling about this.

So now that I have a 40 - 45 hour work week, a loving girl friend, and planning to plan to move to a highrise luxury apartment in Manharttan, what’s left to want.  It’s the feeling when you come home from vacation. Nothing left to look forward to.  I am going to fill this gap with some exciting projects, that I will post on here. 

I know I’ve been absent from updating this blog much, as of lately.  On Friday, I officially gave notice at my job, which I have held since May.  I finally landed a full time salaried position in the  music business in the area of digital distribution.  I can’t really discuss it too much on here, but I finally achieved my goal!

Original opinion from a few months ago still stands.  I still don’t like Lana Del Ray.  She is America’s answer to Adele, only much less authentic.   Nobody has to tell me what the term, “artist development” means.  Nothing is ever what it seems, but I feel that Lana Del Ray is inathuentic and that she won’t be around in 6 months.

Big News is Coming soon….. Stay Tuned!

I’m toying around with the idea of promoting some shows out here in NYC, if i can find a room to do it in.  Stay tuned.

December 7th is my birthday, and it is also the 1 year anniversary of starting my professional career at a series of temp jobs and misadventures. 

What a year it’s been.  12 months ago, I was still employed at Applebees, hahaha.. How far I’ve come.