I had a discussion with a songwriter over on Facebook recently. (you can always find engaging and interesting discussions over there!)

He posted this:

It’s The New Music Business! Don’t Write Great Songs That You Market & People BUY? Beg For Money On Fund Me And Facebook & Make Your Living That Way! It’s Easier!

Then a “friend posted” this:
I remove those kinds of posts from my page and have done so for years.

I shared this to followup:

Its all in how you look at it. Let’s say you, the artist have 1000 people who follow you, that you have culivated a relationship over the years. You want to do a new album, or tour.. and you go to them and say, “hey folks… I’d love for you be a part of my creating new music… or going on tour..

To me, thats called “inviting” not begging. Fans love to know how they can help their favorite songwriter or artist do what they love to do. It’s all in how you approach it.

For this guy who replied to the original post, its obvious he is not concerned with supporting a creative’s endeavor.. but thats because he is not a fan. He is not emotionally interested in investing into a particular artists endeavor. And thats OK. Not everyone will be.

The mistake many make is casting their net very wide to see if they can catch a “friend” and force feed them into be a funder. They are skipping steps because they either think its the right thing to do (ignorance) or they want to skip steps impatience). Thats why it is important to have what I call “rings of relationships.” If you set up rings of relationships, it can save you a lot of hassle as you assemble your plan to do your thing!

Its like a dartboard..The red center is you, the artist. The next ring out is your immediate family (spouse, kids, parents, siblings) the next ring out is your other family (cousins, aunts/uncles, etc) the next ring out is close friends that you know and who know you. The next ring out is funders, the next ring out is fans, the next ring out is social friends (like facebook friends).

Each of those rings takes a certain amount of attention and energy to maintain and grow relationships.

The mistake is trying to win over people who are NOT EVEN on the relationship dartboard. Why? because they think its about QUANTITY. But its really not. It’s about QUALITY of relationships.

You don’t ask someone to marry you before dating them right?

Think of potential fans like an ocean full of minnows. Millions are at your feet. Its the artists role this day in age to simply reach down with a net and catch them one by one, then place them in their “bucket”. Then, cultivate and maintain them so they grow. Eventually, they’ll mate and have more minnows that you cultivate and grow.

Then, when you are hungry, you can fillet em and eat em:)

OK, that was bad, but you get my drift!

If an artist feels like they are begging to get support from their fans, I would be safe to say they have a self-worth or value issues.

Before others can value you as an artist, you need to first value yourself.

And write great songs of course!

Keith Mohr
VP of Artist Relations
Nashville Artist Development