It’s so easy to get swept away by the scene, and it can all go by so fast…
You move to town ready to make a name for yourself, then you turn around and it has been 5 years.
The people you run into say things like:
“It’s a 10 year town.”
“The way to make it in Nashville is don’t leave.”
“Learn to be a DIY Musician.”
There are levels of truth to each of those statements, but what you really need is FOCUS.
YOU NEED TO PRIORITIZE.
Everyone has the same amount of time in each day. What separates those who achieve long term success from those who don’t is that successful people spend time on what is most important.
With that in mind, here are a few pieces of practical advice for the Nashville songwriter who is new to town:
1. Invest in your intellectual property - your records and your songwriting.
Your copyrights are your ‘intellectual property’ and they create the long term value for your music career. Your copyrights are the songs that you write and the ‘sound recordings’ (records) that you make, finish and release. When I say ‘invest’, I mean invest your time and your money in your ability to write great songs and make great records with the other amazing people in Nashville.
2. Focus on learning how to be faster and more efficient at writing music and releasing finished songs.
You can't do everything by yourself, and there are so many highly skilled people in Nashville who can help you. But if you don’t know anything about production, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage, and you are overly reliant on others to make your product consistent.
So find a good DAW (like Logic or even GarageBand) and get on YouTube, take an online course and/or use video tutorials. You don’t have to learn to be a producer, but you should at least get to the level that you can make your own work tapes and demos for the songs you write while also learning to communicate your vision to producers and audio engineers.
3. When you play live in Nashville, be choosy about which gigs you take and be prepared for these scenarios that are 'worth your time':
You get invited to play a writers round.
You may only get to play 2 or 3 songs, but you should learn to play at least 5 original songs really well by yourself if you are going to be featured in a writers round. If you don’t feel confident in your musicianship, then take lessons and practice with a metronome. You can also look for someone to accompany you.
If/when you find an accompanist, it is definitely okay to bring them along with you to writers rounds. However, the majority of writers play solo. It is customary for writers to play original songs at the round, but occasionally someone will play a cover. Watch this video if you don't know what a writers round is.
You get invited to play a 'showcase' or an 'opening set' with some other artists and bands.
This is when you DEFINITELY need to have an accompanist or a band, unless you are a mega impressive solo performer.
Don't underestimate what some of the multi-instrumentalist performers in Nashville can do. You may not need a 4 or 5 person band, you may just need 1 or 2 people to back you up.
Nashville is packed with incredible musicians and reputable music industry professionals. You never know who is in the crowd and you want to be the outstanding performance of the night. Go out there and knock their socks off!
And remember, by moving to Nashville you are stepping into the big leagues. So invest your time in being around others who have deep knowledge of your craft. Make sure that you are networking and collaborating with people who are ambitious, talented, and are treating it like a business.
HOME is a great community for you to sharpen your writing, production, marketing and other business skills. It’s where you can build your team and find opportunities to get your music heard by the industry.
We have a monthly event called ‘New to Nashville Music Industry Networking’ and you are invited to come connect with other local creative and business professionals. RSVP for that event here.
And if you don’t know anything about networking be sure to check out my previous blog post ‘Music Industry Networking Made Simple’.
May all your dreams come true in Music City!