It was not a good morning. So feeling frustrated and anxious, I decided to “self-medicate” by going to McDonalds. No lectures please…I’d worked out that morning!

About halfway through my ¼ pounder and perfectly salted hot fries, “nerd-dad” and his kids sat down in the booth behind me. (Not a judgment – just painting a picture with stereotypes you know and love.) I didn’t know what he looked like, but could tell by his nasally, whiney voice he was not one of those “fun” dads.

In some unintentional eavesdropping, Dad was telling the twins how D-A-N-gerous a boy was being in the play area, saying how he didn’t want THEM doing whatever HE was doing. Well, “daredevil kid’s mom” happened to be seated in the booth next to him.

So she turns around and starts telling “nerd-dad” how she allows her kid to play, and if he falls, he falls and that’s the way he’ll learn.

“Nerd dad” counters with, “well I broke my arm when I was a kid so I want MY kids to be careful,” blah blah, to which “daredevil mom” says, “well, bones heal,” and yada yada yada. Dad closed by declaring to his kids, “we’re all a product of our experiences.”

While that statement is true, we can’t remain there. We can’t let our experiences hold us back and define us. As an artist, if you have a bad night onstage, you don’t say, “the audience didn’t like me, so I’ll never play those songs again.” No! You push on and ask yourself why the audience didn’t respond.

If you believe you have good songs, then look beyond…were you connecting to the crowd? Were they in on the show, or were you just playing to yourself? Were you well-rehearsed and did your set have a good flow to it? Were there some great moments and did every song look a little different?

Playing it safe is boring and doesn’t get you anywhere. Tom Jackson has seen this first-hand with a band that chose to refuse his ideas, play it safe and ride the fleeting wave of one big hit. When the wave crashed, they washed out to sea. In other words, they didn’t put the time and effort into their show to sustain them even when there were no more hits.

There are lots of successful touring artists out there making a living with no hits, and it’s because they worked on their live show and made it interesting for the audience!

Moral of the story? Don’t be like “nerd dad.” Cop “daredevil mom’s” attitude instead. Step out and try something. So what if you fall off of the monkey bars the first time! Climb back on and learn from your mistakes.

Determine to make it better. Access your inner Daredevil and blow us away at your next show!

For as long as I have been in artist management, there has been that one looming question every artist asks – “when is the right time for a manager?”

I cannot tell you how many phone calls, meetings and emails I’ve had with artista, and the first thing that comes out of their mouth is “I need a manager!” I’ll ask them “why do you think you need a manager?” And one of the most common answers is “well, I had a friend/family member tell me I needed one.”

Before I answer this question, let’s back up a little bit and talk about Read more…

You’re doing an audition song…you’ve got just one opportunity to capture the judges and your audience. What’s the best way to do it?

Well, it has to do with a “show” and “hide.” You need to show your strengths, and you need to hide the things that aren’t your strengths.

Here’s a brief overview of what you need to keep in mind when you’ve got only one song:

Read more…

When I ask artists what they need the most help with or what their weak spots are in a live show, the most common answer I get is “talking to the audience.” I can relate.

Many times when I was playing live I would want to say something to the crowd; but when I started speaking, it would come out a disjointed, rambling mess.

It aggravated me so much I started rehearsing exactly what I wanted to say for a song set-up. Then I would put the first few words Read more…

An artist I work with asked me some questions recently about house concerts. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with these, it’s simply a concert done at someone’s home.

Set up in a living room or basement, shove some furniture around and invite friends and family over for the gig. It’s typically a pretty informal affair. This is a great way to expose your inner circle of friends and/or fans to new music you are doing, and a good excuse for artists to hang and play together.

The question from this artist asked if Read more…

“Just because you know a lot of chords and can play really fast doesn’t make you an expert.” – Aunt Bee

Aunt Bee…a wise woman indeed. She says this to Andy after he hears a guy play guitar better than he can, and it leaves Andy feeling inferior. (Plus I think Helen is the target of the new guy’s affections, if I remember it right!)

Any fan of The Andy Griffith Show knows the nuggets of wisdom to be mined from its episodes; but who would have thought Bee could have nailed it on the head like that? Every player should memorize the quote. Read more…

A real challenge in the music world is being creative, fun, spontaneous and engaging as a performer. Take away the vocals, take away the band – then the challenge becomes very difficult!

I want to explore some simple ways you can capture and engage your audience when you are a solo musician/instrumentalist: Read more…

There is a mindset that we Live Music Producers have to combat when it comes to educating musicians on the importance of a good live show. It’s basically the belief that they must be musically perfect. Every note correct, every lick and scale stellar, every voice flawless. And so the artist must stand still with correct posture, or sit down, or stare at their instrument to achieve this “perfect” performance.

Well, I have news for these artists. Read more…

As I sat down to take some notes on the latest episodes of American Idol, I realized the audition stage of the series is not so much about a vocal competition. It’s more of a drama, a bad comedy, or even at times a little like science fiction. (Some of the people auditioning must be from a different planet!)

But seriously, watching this part of the auditions is different than when we finally get to see the artists singing and performing on a stage.

To be honest with you, I don’t necessarily like this part of the process because Read more…

OK, so when I say downloading, what comes to mind? Which side of the fence are you on?

For every person who reads this, there will be that many opinions. I was having a conversation with some business associates this past week about the whole downloading thing. As we talked, my comment was “it is the best thing that ever happened to the music business, and it was the worst thing that ever happened to the music business.”

Now, you might be asking yourself, “Scott…how can that be?” Let me explain. Read more…

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