If you want to know how to sell music, maybe it’s best to pay attention to the guys and girls who actually did sell music. OK, so maybe their personal relationships, financial discipline, and/or ingestion choices weren’t so terrific, but they sure knew how to sell music!
Today, we’ll just let a few musicians speak for themselves about getting ahead in the music biz.
How To Sell Music: Advice From The Greats
If you don’t know the blues… there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music. -Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones
“We believed that anything that was worth doing was worth overdoing.” – Steven Tyler, Aerosmith
“I think there’s nothing better than seeing a three-chord straight up rock ‘n’ roll band in your face with sweaty music and three minute good songs.” – Joan Jett
“You hear about bands who say, ‘We did one show where only 20 people showed up’, well that was our average gig for five years.” – Dexter Holland, The Offspring
“I don’t blame the average seventeen-year-old punk-rock kid for calling me a sellout. I understand that. And maybe when they grow up a little bit, they’ll realize there’s more things to life than living out your rock & roll identity so righteously. – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
“If I didn’t have some kind of education, then I wouldn’t be able to count my money.” – Missy Elliott
“If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you’ll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.” – Eddie Van Halen
“It’s not going to affect my performance, don’t worry about that. I just hate it… it really, it does disturb me, but I’ll rise above it; I’m a professional!” – Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap
“I was extreme… from skateboarder to hip-hopper to rave child to lead singer of a rock band – I did it all, and all at the same time.” – Pink
And The Moral Of The Story Is…
There’s no “one true answer” to the question of how to sell music. It’s about having guts, determination and yes, plenty of professionalism if you’re going to succeed!
Keep looking to learn more tricks, and keep seeking new opportunities to promote your music.
Hey…I was IN Aerosmith (keyboard player) look me up.
Absolutely none of this “advice” is of any use. Especially Missy Elliot she has about as much talent as my left sock. Stones? Right place right time, Aerosmith? Well they just wouldn’t go away so they annoyed the public into buying them, Joan Jett? Come on. Same manager as Aerosmith. Luck and Money. Bottom line? Live music 24 hours a day, you must have TALENT to begin with (no auto tune) and then? You have to be lucky enough to have somebody with ALOT of MONEY promote you because nowadays it has nothing to do with how good you are and everything to do with how many people you can get to hear you all at once.
So you were expecting some short cut to fame and fortune? The factis, there a a few winners, a whole load of also-rans, and and even larger mass of Never-Will-Be’s. Truth is, most of those adding advice in some way got lucky, but that’s not the point. By doing what they did, they did get lucky.