{"id":939,"date":"2012-03-06T23:24:17","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T04:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamieleger.com\/?p=939"},"modified":"2013-03-23T17:39:44","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T21:39:44","slug":"independent-country-artist-builds-multi-million-dollar-music-career-diy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamieleger.com\/?p=939","title":{"rendered":"Independent Country Artist Builds Multi-Million Dollar Music Career!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Independent<\/a>

Independent Artist Builds Successful Music Career<\/p><\/div>\n

Without Radio airplay, Nashville, Label Backing of any sort, any unfair advantages or complicated marketing tactics – Corey Smith has built a very successful business creating and performing his music, and manages to pack venues typically reserved for those with chart topping hits.<\/em><\/p>\n

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How he has been able to build a successful and lucrative music career without the help of a major label, an arena tour, or a #1 hit?<\/p>\n

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Willing to do the stuff that most won’t – he managed to build his career by playing ANYWHERE he could, and making honest assertive connections with his steadily growing audience. In five years, he has gone from a teacher-to a touring, hard-working musician.<\/p>\n

Corey started similar to most, picking up a few gigs here and there while still working his day job as a high school teacher. His goal was to \u201cmake some extra cash while doing something he loved and writing songs for people.\u201d His ambitions grew as he began to imagine the possibility of \u201cwow, maybe I could make a living doing this, a good living. Maybe even $100,000 a year playing at bars within a 3-hour radius of my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his audience and fan-base grew, the need for a manager and booking agent became apparent, and after finding the right ones, he was able to focus on only a necessary handful<\/em> of the business tasks and mostly on making the music.<\/p>\n

So what can you learn from Corey Smith’s path? What are some of the strategies and mindsets that made him a great living doing what he loves – without any lucky breaks or big budget backing?<\/p>\n

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Four Keys that Corey Used to Set Himself Up for Long-Term Success:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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1) He skillfully and consciously embraced the business decisions he’s responsible for.<\/em><\/p>\n

Corey understand that to manage a successful career in the modern music business, he had to treat it like a business, and he had to do more than just worry about and handle the songwriting and performance of his music.<\/p>\n

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2) He built a passionate team and solid infrastructure needed to grow, <\/em>once that became a necessity,<\/strong><\/em> and allowed each person to focus on their strong-suit.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDo as much as you can for as long as you can, until there’s something to manage. Don’t put to many hands in the pot, until there is a pot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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3) Grass roots market development through touring.<\/em><\/p>\n

He’s built his fan-base and career without traditional promotional campaigns or radio. His goal, although modest has remained the same from the beginning, \u201cmy goal is to reach as many people as possible without sacrificing the integrity of my art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4) Sharing our music as many potential fans as possible, paid or not.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne idea Marty (booking agent) and I had in common was that because no one was buying a record that only cost me a few hundred dollars to make, or a few thousand to make, why not give it away? Otherwise it\u2019s worthless. There\u2019s no real value so why not use that as my promotion? I knew there was no chance of getting on the radio or getting in the mainstream media so we advocated file sharing. And that was one important piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

People will read this and say, \u201cOh, you\u2019re an advocate of giving music away.\u201d And that\u2019s not necessarily the case. I think artists deserve to be paid for their music and, at a larger level, you can\u2019t be an advocate of just giving albums away. Now that we\u2019ve moved up the ladder, the audiences are larger and the stakes are higher. The albums are more expensive. They\u2019re more complete expressions of what I want. But now I know I have people who will buy the album.<\/p>\n

But when you don\u2019t have an audience, why not give it away? I look at it as a stepping stone. It\u2019s a perfect tool for a developing artist. Now you can\u2019t go online and get my album for free. We want them in Walmart. We want to sell them. That\u2019s the goal. But not in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What Inspiration and Final Takeaways Can You Learn From Corey Smith’s Success, and What Does His Success Attest To?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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