You should never abandon your personal projects, but there comes a time in life when you have to maneuver intelligently and capitalize on everything you're good at in order to generate income. As long as the current situation keeps us from doing everything we used to do normally, we'll have to look for new formulas to keep moving forward. Limits have been imposed on us, but that doesn't mean we should stop searching for new horizons.
I want to start by thanking the whole ISP Música team for giving me the opportunity and the space to share my personal experience of the situation we're currently living through. I also want to thank you for reading this far. I'm sure music is an important part of your life, whether as a professional or as an amateur.
I remember as if it were yesterday when I decided to make music my profession. I used to hear things like: "you won't make a living from music," "only a handful of people make a living from that," etc. I've been hearing those and other similar phrases for more than twenty years, and I feel fortunate to say that in all this time no one has managed to steer me away from what was and still is my passion: music. My goal ever since has been to improve every day, personally and professionally, to offer the best to everyone who places their trust in my work.
Success
Let's start by reviewing the meaning of the word success according to the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) dictionary (from the Latin exĭtus, "exit"):
- A happy outcome of a business, performance, etc.
- The good reception that someone or something receives.
- The end or conclusion of a business or matter.
Now I'd like you to ask yourself: what is success for you? Words like health, love, money, recognition... probably come to mind, and perhaps not in that order. Whatever your answer, I'd ask you to think about the things you've achieved, and, of those you still long for, what you've done to achieve them.
Many people in the industry talk about how bad the music business is and how the good old days were better. There's no doubt these are more than reasonable reflections if we analyze the situation with the business model we've lived through in the past in the music industry in mind. Many people expect offers to fall from the sky, and we're at a time when opportunities have to be created more than ever. On the other hand, we're living through one of the periods in which the most audiovisual content is being consumed, thanks to the fact that people can access a multitude of free content from their mobile devices through YouTube, Spotify subscriptions, etc. Perhaps the big problem is that all this has hit us all at once in recent years, and technology has kept advancing faster than the changes that have taken place within the industry. Another topic for debate would be how the money generated by the consumption of this musical content is shared out. In recent years, IFPI data from 2018 to 2019 show an increase in the consumption of recorded music. So, clearly, one of the problems lies in how content creators are protected and paid.
If we think about the ways a musician/artist used to make a living in the past, record sales, concerts, merchandising, advertising campaigns, etc. come to mind. The scale of all this changed with the arrival of the internet, as did the way we present ourselves to others and to the potential clients who may be interested in our brand, product or services. That's why it's important to keep an open mind and be constantly on the lookout for future changes, adapting quickly. It's very important to cover several professional fields within our industry; that will multiply our work opportunities and, of course, help people get to know you; otherwise it's very hard for them to get in touch with you.
Self-management
My goal over the years has been to make my workload depend less and less on third parties and to be the one who can manage everything: from negotiating a budget to creating an online platform that lets me generate passive income. Today, thanks to that, I have the opportunity to work in music online, without my business being affected by the safety measures imposed by governments due to COVID-19: canceled concerts and private events, closed music schools and recording studios, etc.
For personal and professional reasons, I decided to move to the United Kingdom with my wife three years ago, and that gave us the push to take the leap and create two companies: Masguitarra and Trey Music Studios, both with offices in London and Madrid, offering our services internationally.
After more than twenty years of experience in the music and image industries, my wife and I decided to create Masguitarra. It came from the passion we feel for our professions and the need to help guitar lovers master this wonderful instrument. Our goal is to offer an effective learning system for any level, both for those who see the guitar as a hobby and for those who want to work professionally in music.
We decided to create our platform for the worldwide Spanish-speaking community in order to offer a quality educational option that's accessible to anyone. It's available 24/7 so that subscribed members can enjoy the content comfortably from anywhere.
At Trey Music Studios we've focused on offering remote recording sessions of the highest quality in terms of both process and results. We specialize in online productions and recordings of drums, bass, guitar and other instruments, with a team of professional musicians with extensive careers who have worked with some of the best-known international artists. What's more, I have the pleasure of working with two of my brothers, who are also musicians, and that gives the recordings a special magic, since we've worked together a lot and have a very consistent musical concept. We also offer image consulting to define a fully personalized visual identity for the artist and thus ensure effective exposure in the music industry.
None of this would have been possible if we hadn't asked ourselves from the start how to connect with our audience, what the best thing we can offer as professionals is, and how we can make our clients happy with the results. Once we had worked through all these points, it was clear to us that we should keep going down that road, since both business models were perfectly suited to work in present and future circumstances.
The client
Our clients' opinions are the most important thing, which is why we always love it when they share the experience they've had with us.
Time is probably the most valuable thing we have in our lives, and the fact that someone decides to work with you, trusting you as a professional, deserves your full attention if your business model is to keep growing. There's no better recommendation than word of mouth. Even today, with so much digital information, we still trust a good experience more than the season's most expensive marketing campaign. It's essential to create ambassadors who help promote your business or services. An online presence is essential for new clients to discover you and be able to contact you, but from there on I trust in the quality of the results you can offer others through your work, whether as an artist, musician, arranger, producer, composer, instrument teacher, sound engineer, etc. There's no greater satisfaction than doing a good job and having others value it, but for that we have to start by valuing ourselves. Put a real price on our work, a price that makes us feel good so that we don't get frustrated working for less than what we consider fair. There will always be people who value quality and are willing to pay for a job well done, just as there will be others who expect to get work for free. But the more you value yourself, the more you'll keep those people away from your business. We have to resonate with what we want, and only then will we be able to attract it.
I've always been curious to learn from business models that work over time, and although there are often big investments involved, in the end long-term success has no tricks or shortcuts. Only hard work, perseverance and the ability to make good decisions are the best engine for achieving good results.
The mistake with any business comes when we think of ourselves as the main axis of the equation. When your business depends on people buying your products or services, the clients are the real protagonists, and you have to make clear to them what they'll get from your experience. You have to show how you can make their lives better with what they'll get from you, and do it with honesty and professionalism. That's what has given me the best rewards over all these years and what motivates me to keep doing what I do. We're only passing through, and in the end everyone comes and goes. What matters is to think about the mark we want to leave when we're gone and which experiences will be remembered.
Of course, you should never abandon your personal projects, but there comes a time in life when you have to maneuver intelligently and capitalize on everything you're good at in order to generate income. As long as the current situation keeps us from doing everything we used to do normally, we'll have to look for new formulas to keep moving forward. Limits have been imposed on us, but that doesn't mean we should stop searching for new horizons.
I send you my best wishes from English soil, and don't let anything or anyone steer you away from your dreams.
* Photos: Lorena Sturlese
Stay healthy, everyone.
