Music Is A Business Of Relationships
There’s an old saying in show business. No, it’s not “you can’t polish a turd,” though that one’s a classic! It’s “the people you see on the way up are the same ones you see on the way down.”
Show business is so hard on creators because it pits two drivers against one another: capitalism and creativity. Capitalism is impersonal. It is driven by profit above all else, trusts numbers and cares not a whit about your feelings. It can take a long time until a musician (often because we have scant other experience in business, and precisely because we are so driven by our personal ambition) realizes that the music industry really is just that. This is all not to say a balance can’t be struck. But commerce and art are not natural bedfellows. Just ask Vincent Van Gogh, or Mozart--both of whom died paupers.
The sooner we reconcile ourselves to this reality, the easier it is to take responsibility for our career and, more importantly, our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. For some, there really was no other path and so a career in music had to be it. Regardless, my intent is not to weight the merit of a life in the music biz—that’s for everyone to consider. Along the way however it’s important to have good skills and etiquette in your dealings. After years of touring and networking I can confidently replace the cliché “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” with the more apt phrase “it’s not who you know, but how you know them.” By this I don’t mean a purely transactional focus on relationships (e.g., “what can you do for me?”). To the contrary, what I mean is that you imbue all interactions with equal respect, dignity, and gratitude.
Here are two examples. The first was in 2006 when I was involved with the Dalai Lama’s speaking visit to Vancouver. One of the public events took place at the SFU Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver. I watched the Dalai Lama enter and leave the venue. Though I didn’t meet him personally, I observed first-hand as he ignored a waiting dignitary to instead greet one of the door ushers first. Class act. Thankfully, I was raised a mensch by my Jewish grandmother, and along with a high degree of empathy (also having worked service and ‘low’ jobs) I’ve always tried to conduct myself as an equal as much as possible in all settings.
The second relates to my time in Nashville from 2010-2012. Like many Canadians, my first invitation to Music City was through local promoter and Americana legend, Billy Block, who had a Canadian artist showcase contract with SOCAN. ‘Mr. Nashville’, as he was known, taught me a valuable lesson in business and life. In all his hustling--promoting live events, showcases, syndicated radio and TV broadcasts and other dealings--he told me: “I never go in looking for my end.” In other words, Billy looked at every relationship as a possible opportunity, not as a defined tangible. While this sounds elementary, watching it in action with this gregarious, unstoppable smiling force-of-nature impressed me greatly. You WANTED to do business with him—precisely because he didn’t come looking for it up front.
Nashville brought another cultural lesson, one that immediately upended my more West Coast/LA-like instincts. Don’t gherm people. ‘Gherming’ I was told (a neologism) involved coming on to people too direct in music (‘here’s my CD’) and is considered suitably crass and unprofessional in the southern/Nashville setting. Instead of gherm you must earn your way in. In life, as in business, respect is its own reward.
Myk Gordon is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and recording artist who just released his second album, Born To Be, with multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos). He also holds an MSc, PhD, is a psychotherapist and 6th Dan Aikido teacher.
Website - www.mykgordon.com