Questions involving money

Well I missed the class presentation about money so I was told to add some questions I might have about money. Here they are:

1. What can I write off for taxes as a musician?

2. How much do I charge for lessons?

I'm positive I have more questions, but I can't think of any others at the moment. I'm sure as I go through life I'll probably have many more questions. 

The Skeptics

I was glad that The Skeptics came into class to talk with us. It was helpful for me to learn of a new way to find work. I hadn't thought about being a session player for commercials on TV. I will definitely be stopping by their studio this summer to see if they need a trumpet player for anything. Perhaps that will be my May 3rd project. No sense in waiting around. Anywho, I thought the presentation was great and they had very helpful things to say. What I particularly enjoyed was hearing their stories as I do with most of the people who talked to our class. It is also comforting to know that they didn't exactly know what they were doing when they first started their business. It makes me realize that even successful people felt the same way that I do. All you have to do is try and through the process figure out what works. 

Response to John Snyder Presentation

I felt that this presentation was very helpful. I like how John Snyder gave us the advice of running our music career like a small business because that is exactly what it is. If you do not treat your career as a business you will most likely not succeed as well as someone who does. As a musician you need discipline, you need to make your own opportunities, and you need to learn how to do multiple tasks such as marketing, publishing, and budgeting to name a few. The most important thing I got out of the presentation is instead of having other people do these things for you, it is in your best interest to do as many of these things yourself. 

On a more general note, what an interesting person John Snyder is. It is incredible some of the experiences he has had. We only heard a few stories, I'm sure he has many more stories to tell. What I also found interesting is that the beginning of his career started exactly the way I am planning to start mine. I will be finishing my degree in trumpet performance and most likely continue on to law school. I also found it interesting that at the end of law school, John decided that he didn't even want to pursue law, but got a job because of the law degree. This gives me hope that with a law degree I will be open to more opportunities other than entertainment law. 

Ron Sobel

Ron Sobel really put the music business in perspective for me. It was helpful to hear a few horror stories of bad things that have happened to musicians in the industry. His scare tactics worked for me. I now realize that I need to learn more about the music business and what to look out for. If I decide to go into entertainment law that would obviously be the best way to learn what I need, but if I don't I will have to do lots of independent research. 

Response to Dessa's Presentation

I really enjoyed Dessa's presentation. I think that she is a very interesting person who is full of life. She has a unique personality and I don't mean that in a bad way. As far as the actual content in the lecture I found it to be helpful. What I took from was the realization that in order to make it as a performing artist in the music business, you do not need to be signed to a major label and have them do all the leg work. You can do many of the things that are required to get your music out there by yourself. All you have to do is apply yourself. Everything is right there for you. 

Response to Whitney Shaw's Media Presentation

Although I was told to not feel overwhelmed about the presentation, I couldn't help but feel that way. I had no idea that there were so many things that a person could do online to help them in their careers. Although I do not utilize many online programs, I do see the value in using them. And now that I understand their value, it is likely that I will start using these programs. 

The programs that I think will be most useful to me are Myspace,  Sound Cloud, and RSS Feeder. Myspace will be helpful not only for people to hear my music, but also to stay in touch with people. Sound Cloud will be helpful in selling my music online if I decide to not sell it on I tunes. Lastly, RSS will be helpful to see who is talking about me or my music. 

Overall, I thought the presentation was great and I will be able to use these resources to my advantage.

Response to Johnny Bunko and Art and Fear Ch 1-4

I really enjoyed reading Johnny Bunko. I thought was a great book with simple lessons that most people overlook when starting there career. One these lessons was focusing on your strengths. This was a point that resonated with me because most of us are always focusing on improving what we're bad at and not enough on focusing on what we're good at. I also like the point the book made that there is no plan. I felt uncomfortable about this plan because I am the kind of person who likes to have everything planned out well. If you plan everything out too well however, you might miss out on something else. So it is good to have a plan, but not so focused that you can't explore other opportunities as they come along. 

I thought that Art and Fear had some good points to bring up. As with Johnny Bunko, these points are often overlooked. One point that stuck with me was a fear that you are not good enough to be a musician and that what you a doing is not "real" art. Artists with this mindset sometimes give up because they feel under qualified. What we can do to overcome this is to view everything that we do artistically is the best possible thing we can do and that given moment. This way you will not feel unfit for the gig or project.