A career in music or the creative arts comes about as a result of hard work, persistence and dedication to consistent improvement. But the good news is that applies to any career field!
Granted, the path to becoming a doctor or lawyer is more clearly defined but the route to “making it” will also involve an unbelievable amount of hard work. The difference I find with those who have become successful in music is that they’ve got that extra bit of entrepreneurial hustle about them that others might not.
Some will say that’s innate and those individuals are lucky to be born with such skills. I beg to differ.
Musicians and creative entrepreneurs are generally very calculated risk takers. That ability to take risks develops over time. Like a bodybuilder who works their biceps to the point of near explosion or a guitarist who practices until their fingers are about to drop off, our risk-taking muscles need to be trained too. They don’t become fully developed overnight.
Everything comes with a risk and a reward but to walk the path that many others don’t means you must do the things that others won’t
That means there will be much greater risks that you have to take. No one starts out as Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Gilmour or Bill Gates – not even Arnold, David or Bill! It takes time and a willingness to push forward and continue to take risks no matter what.
While everyone wants an instant pay off and a “sure thing”, I can promise you that if you’re being sold that, it’s either temporary or too good to be true. But there are giant forward leaps you can take to skip the steps where others get stuck for days, months, years and decades.
Now, I’m going to share an example of how you can skip those steps…
Back in 2012, deadmau5 live streamed the creation of the instrumental version of his song ‘The Veldt’. The day after, he was back streaming again and one Twitter user, Chris James, sent him on his take of the track with finished vocals included.
What then began to unfold was amazing…
deadmau5 wasn’t even sure that he would check out the vocals delivered by James. He then decides to play his version saying he’s “totally going to critique this”. But within 10 seconds of that, he’s sitting back with his hands in the air smiling in disbelief.
I recommend watching the video so you can get a feel for what I’m going to talk about next. A word of warning… it might not have been originally filmed on a potato, but the video quality certainly looks like it now. It’s also expletive heavy, so if that offends you, there’s your warning!
So, as you can see, deadmau5 was very impressed with what he heard besides hating that “fucking stupid stutter shit he did on it”. By the two minute mark of the video he knows he needs to get a hold of Chris James right then and there as he had already decided that “he’s on it”.
What transpired at the end of the video is that they had difficulty connecting, so Chris put his phone number up on Twitter (brave!), deadmau5 arranged everything else and the rest is history.
Chris James took a calculated risk and here are the reasons why it paid off:
- He did his research. He nailed the lyrics because they related to ‘The World That The Children Made’/’The Veldt’ – a short story deadmau5 had read a little while before producing the track. They were on the same page straight away.
- He believed in himself. deadmau5 expected it to be bad because he “had so many shit demos lately” but Chris James knew he was onto something, so he put himself out there despite the inevitable fear that must have come with doing something so bold. It’s not that difficult to stand out when you’re clearly breaking the mould and have the talent to back it up.
- He was open to criticism. There are parts of the vocal performance that did not make the final song. deadmau5 is pretty vocal about those in the video! But Chris James was open to having his performance critiqued and that led to success. He might have even known it was not at 100% but he still put it out there.
- He sought out the best. There is very little to be gained by being a big fish in a small pond. Chris attempted to work with deadmau5 – someone at the very top of their game. We can’t be afraid to try and work with people at the very top of the industry if we feel like we’re on to something good.
“That just made the track dude”
By 4:38 in the video, deadmau5 has told Chris James that he’ll get a writing credit and publishing on his vocal. Not a bad 5 minutes for him!
‘The Veldt’ went on to be named as one of Rolling Stone’s 50 best songs of 2012.
Even if you’re not a fan of deadmau5 or electronic music, I’m sure you can see that without Chris James taking that risk, it might have taken him another 5 years to achieve what he did in 5 minutes.
Here is the final version of ‘The Veldt’ in all its glory!
Now, I’d love to know…
Do you believe in taking risks to achieve your goals? If so, why?
Leave a comment below!
professional sounding mix every time...
There are two kinds of people, as far as my 69 years on this planet allow me to understand (and this applies especially to musicians). You’re either a risk taker (in varying degrees) or your an orthodox person (risk averse). I’ve noticed the majority of risk takers write their own music, do their own recordings with people smarter than themselves and have no problem sharing the pain and the glory. Conversely, it seems, orthodox people want guarantees and tend to play it safe……like maybe being a great technical player that can’t write a lick. That’s not a put down, just an observation. Actually technicians will almost always have work, whereas say, a singer/songwriter that only does their own tunes, tend to starve….. mostly.
Not all risks pay off…..I’ve rolled the dice and, a few times, eaten it big time……I’ve lost everything I own 3 times. I’ve also had a couple of spectacular successes that I’m still living off of today. Yet, I keep comin back for more. I rebuild from the lessons learned and try again. Risk is not for the faint of heart…….
Open your ears. Open your heart. Open your mind……never stop being curious or learning.
Peace
Dave! Great to see a comment from you. I can’t add anything to what you’ve said but to agree with you. Thank you for sharing your deep experience with us.
Stephen, this another great article drops into my mail box in a period of inner struggle…
Let me tell you this one thing (I hope you don`t tell anyone else 😉 ): as years go by, I`m starting to consider very seriously the possibility of quiting Dentistry and go back to my primary humanoid form (musician), despite the fact that still haven`t learn quite how to earn money with it, even with almost 30 songs spread over the so called “digital stores” (I know, I know: some say it`s necessary to have hundreds of songs only to become noticeable…).
That`s to say there are times in life that one HAS to make choices and/or take risks in order to change anything, yes. Don`t now yet how and when, but something`s telling me this change will happend before my retirement age, unless I die first. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this deadmau5 video (didn`t know this story), it`s such a delicious one even with the fucking language of this fucking producer… he realy did a fucking good job!
Take care. Yours, Paulo
What can I say? The one thing is… don’t fucking quit your job unless you have another solid source of income. That comes with time. Thanks Paulo 🙂
Absolutely.
What do you have to lose but the chance itself?
I took a risk in April of last year by sending an example of my work to a huge Australian music playlist management company, without being invited to do so. My email and my track could well have gone into the bin but…
The audio programmer who picked up my email replied and over a journey lasting eight months, worked with me, helping me to fine-tune my musical output to the point where in December of last year, I had my first piece accepted for programming. In January, they took a second piece.
My work is now getting exposure across Australia, NZ, Canada and shortly, the UK.
The buoyancy and confidence lift from that endorsement of my work being good enough for commercial consumption is the reason that this year is looking to be a successful for me.
Hope that helps if you are thinking twice about taking the long shot…
Love your comment and love your story!
Thanks Robin 🙂
Thanks a lot for the guide, I’m gonna look it up because wherever it comes from, every little bit of knowledge matters to me on the quest to better myself in every way possible… in the music of life.
Great stuff! You’re welcome Khobe. Have fun with it.