The longest lasting career bands aren’t the necessarily the best ones. The longest lasting bands, the ones who have solid careers in the music business, are the artists who simply go for it and don’t stop. They keep booking shows, putting out more music, and reaching for their dream. In short they hustle.
That’s how Nickelback got to where they are right now (sleeping on piles of money). They toured for years as a cover band, slowly incorporating their own music into the set, then putting out records with their tour earnings. Then they rinsed and repeated until their music hit with the right crowd. Of course things like timing, luck, and CanCon helped but they hustled and hustled and hustled to get the ball rolling. And Nickelback are sooooo bad. Imagine what you, with your good music, can do if you applied this hustling principal!
Also it’s never been a better time to be an independant musician. Recording a home album is enough for our file sharing world. You can creating innovative YouTube videos. You can create a fan base without blind tours across the country. You can hustle and get results, but you’ve got to go for it and that starts right now. So what have you done to make music your career today?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxgpHWtLC0]
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5 Comments
I was a manager for a dub band in South Korea, and came to new York 5 months ago for a bigger opportunity in the music industry.
Everyone I talk to in New York say the same thing. You have to hustle!
And I totally agree with them and the article.
Thank you for the great post.
Great point, and btw… you’re doing a GREAT thing here! I agree, hustle is one of the MOST important elements of a music career.
I’m not personally a Nickelback fan AT ALL. But the one thing that I feel that contributes heavily to Nickelback’s Success, is the fact that their songs are 4 things:
1. Memorable (if annoying) and hook laden.
2. General lyrically, (unfortunately) thereby easy to relate to lyrically for A LOT of people
3. Modern sounding and blends in with the rest of what’s on the radio easily
4. Produced in ways that psychologically keep people guessing (even though we musicians know they’ve been stale for years)
I haven’t read your book yet, but I’m excited to! I assume you address this, but I think the best hustle in the world will only get through to people if they connect with your music, which requires a good amount of focus on GREAT songwriting. Nickelback is by no means a template to follow for that, but I believe those 4 elements in their songs – for better or worse – contribute to their success.
Dope article Voyno!
I totally agree, I always tell clients that they should be pumped when they see/hear weak ass artists make it…because if they get creative with thier hustling & mane adjustments along the way, nothing will stand in the way of attaining a similar degree of success.
Keep up the good work bro.
best,
Danny
Nickelback is a great band…30 million cds sold says it all!!
Lynn I couldn’t agree with you more. 30 million is a lot of albums!
-Voyno