In the beginning...

Here's a short summary of how I started out, and how I achieved specific successes.



While I didn't have much musical talent, I did love to dance. I would practice dancing at every opportunity, which led to 5 years spent in the club scene at a very early age. Later on, as I started producing dance music, I realized that this was not 5 years of partying, but in fact was all market research.

LESSON: Whatever type of music you enjoy.. keep enjoying it. See it often, drink it up. It will become part of you.

On my 16th birthday, I received a pair of turntables and a mixer from my loving and supportive parents. I practiced - with as much difficulty as my early piano lessons - nearly every single day. The difference between DJng and Piano lessons, however, was that I never once had to convince myself to practice DJng. As hard as it was, I was up at 7AM every morning for an hour of practice before school, and then I practiced before 3-5 hours after school -- without ever thinking of any other way I'd like to spend my time.

LESSON: Find an instrument, or musical outlet, that calls to you like a siren-song. Practice is absolutely necessary, but it doesn't have to be dreadful.

During the time that I was practicing, I had an incessant need to buy records. I didn't realize it then, but by making the weekly trip to the local record store, I was networking. Who else buys records? People who DJ, people who own nightclubs, friends of people who own nightclubs, people who throw parties, people who go to parties, etc.

In retrospect, it's probably a good thing I didn't know that I was networking. I hate "networking." It sounds so slimy. Fortunately, I was just buying records and hanging out.


LESSON: Just hang out with like minded people, meet the ones you like, and try to be cordial to the ones you don't like. You'll need to know the scene if you're going to be involved in it.


By the time I was ready to pass out my first mixtape (about 17 years old), I already had a few places to put it. The local store owner - who I had given about $1000 in business in the past year - was happy to put my tape on his shelf. People who I had run into in the record store for the past 12 months were curious to know what the hell I'd been doing for the past year, spending all that money and not making any mixtapes. It was much easier than if I had ordered all my equipment from amazon.com, not met anyone, and then started walking into clubs cold and hoping people might notice me.


From that point, I started playing nothing shows -- house parties, mostly. I'd been on a local messageboard for the type of music I was into, and people posted "I'm having a house party, you're welcome to join" -- the equivalent of an open mic. Once I did enough of these, I started getting real gigs -- once every 3 months or so. A nightclub here, my high school dance, a rave in the boondocks. It was very, very, VERY slow -- and it probably will be for you as well. But believe me, I was still having fun practicing and making mixtapes.

LESSON: As long as you enjoy what you're doing for it's own sake (rather than for the success you will eventually garner from it) you will avoid the frustration of achieving a "less-than-immediate" success.

About a year after the gigs began, I met a partner who changed my perspective forever.

(More to come...)

-B

Trust me, if I can do it....

As a child, I was incredibly unmusical. Piano lessons -- all 3 weeks of them -- were filled with frustrations and resentment before I gave up. The choir director spent 15 minutes trying to get me to match a single pitch before he gave up on me. I spent until 19 years old until I finally matched a pitch. It took me another 3 years to match my second pitch!


I only tell you all of this so that you realize -- no matter how "unmusical" you think you are -- YOU CAN LEARN MUSIC.

All it takes is some effort and interest.

Welcome

This is a blog where I will be keeping you informed on the steps to build your success in the music industry. You'll see me try, succeed and, most importantly, fail.

Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and good fortunes, get a better idea of how the music industry works, and get a clear answer to "How did you get to where you are?"