Yes, You CAN Find Jobs and Other Opportunities in The Music Industry--By Playing Acoustic Guitar Shows at Live Music Venues. And If You Do It Right, You Can Make Good Money, Too!
So many musicians say’ if I only had an opportunity…’. Well, as an aspiring artist, one of the best ways to find opportunities is to go and create them for yourself. Huh? What? Yep. By putting yourself in the right place doing the right things, and doing them consistently, you’ll soon be there at the right time…make sense? This is very true of finding just the right job or opportunity in the music industry and one way to really increase your chances is to do live acoustic guitar shows. And no, you don't always have to play for free--in fact, you can make some very good money, if you do it right.
For some reason, live acoustic guitar shows tend to attract the people that can help you move forward with your musical project or endeavors. Maybe it’s because there isn’t a whole band around the person / act and they can get a better feel for that person’s abilities, without the distraction. Maybe it’s because smaller 1-3 person acoustic acts are more ‘personal’ in nature. I don’t know what it is conclusively, but I can tell you from personal experience that if you hone your abilities and keep doing acoustic gigs at a live music venue that gets a good amount of traffic, especially successful business people, has good food, etc, there’s a good chance one of those people will see you one day and go ‘I know someone you need to talk to’ or ‘hi, I own a record label and I’d like to record you’.
This very thing happened to me after playing a place like this for about 2 ½ years. Two and a half years? Yes, and I needed the time to improve my craft anyway so it was perfect timing. There is a saying ‘when the student is ready, the teacher will appear’, and it applies here. Just keep doing what your doing, the right way, in the right place, and soon the right person to help will appear. And now I’m finishing up recording a professional EP at a well-known studio, worked with some famous songwriters already, and making plans for a tour. Wow. Yeah, that’s what I said!
Now, finding opportunities like this can be done profitably too—i.e. you don’t have to play for free or lose your shirt. You can actually make good to excellent money that will go a long way toward supporting you and find the opportunities you want. True, to find the music opportunities best suited to you will require that you do some research on the live music venue and find out a few things, such as what kind of clientele normally visits, age/income brackets, have other artists found opportunities there, etc. Just become friends with the owner or manager and you can often get this information. Then take the attitude that you are trying to help the business owner do well, sell more drinks/food, and do what it takes to accomplish that—and when their numbers go up, you’ll have some new friend that will try to help you, as well.
Doing live acoustic guitar shows profitably for you and the venue, and finding opportunities, is why I wrote the ebook Acoustic Guitar Money. It’s packed with information to help you do these type of acoustic guitar shows right and get where you want to go, whether you’re just starting out or you’re an experienced player looking for ways to make more money (and avoid having to get second or third job) and find opportunities. And no, you don’t even have to know how to play acoustic guitar. If your skill is singing, just find a guitar player or keyboard player to work with you, book / play these smaller shows consistently, the right way, and it works just the same.
And believe in yourself—you CAN do this. If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t have such a passion for music. If you have musical skill, it’s in your blood and there’s no way for you to fail except if you don’t do it. Now get the information you need and get out there and achieve your dreams!
Rex Murphy
Acoustic Guitar Money
http://www.acousticguitarmoney.com
