This was ganked from the blog of a friend, the author Gypsy Youngraven.  Many thanks to her for this much.

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So, Saturday night, I was asked for a bit of advice concerning the
Austin music scene. I blinked a bit, screwed the last bit of coherence
I had left to some sort of sticking point (it had been a Long Day), and
said ‘well, I know that Charlie, Heather and Jeff live there, and Rob
used to do, but now he’s gone…’ and that’s roughly all I could manage.
In the intervening days, however, I did find myself thinking about when
I was a teenager with aspirations towards being a singer/songwriter. I
mulled over the advice I’d been given, and I began to form a picture in
my head of the advice I’d have liked to have been given and the advice
I was given and should have taken.



With that in mind, here are twenty or so random things that I would
tell myself if I were in some sort of paradoxical back in time thing.



1 You’ve got time. No seriously, you have. Don’t fret so much over
Making It Right Now that you fret yourself into believing that you’ve
failed before you’ve even really begun.



2 Have a plan – this is Rather a Good idea. Before you slog off to the
Village (or wherever), read up on the place. Find out how the local
scene is going. What sort of venues can you expect to play? Do you know
anybody there? Consider where you’re going to live (your car isn’t the
best option) and you’re going to feed yourself between gigs (is
Starbuck’s hiring?). That sort of thing.



3 Find a niche. Not everybody can be P!nk or Britney Spears or Shania
Twain. What do you want to say with your music? When I was fourteen or
fifteen or so, I began trying my hand at composition – first with my
friends’ poetry, and then with my own lyrics. My guitar teacher/mentor
at the time wasn’t too keen on one particular poem that I’d been
working on because it ‘wasn’t up-beat enough; people only buy songs
that are happy and positive’. Sure, this is why country music is so
popular in Texas, eh? He meant well – the industry had chewed him up a
bit, and he was truly trying to protect me. He was merely a bit
short-sighted. There’s a niche, and therefore an audience, out in the
world for you and your music. Go and find it.



4 Consider a public speaking course. You'll need to establish rapport
with your audience, and for some people that comes naturally. For
others (myself included), it doesn't do. A public speaking course can
afford you ideas about what to say in between songs.



5 Take a marketing course. Seriously. You’ve got something to sell –
your talents – and that means marketing. Down to the signature on your
email responses to interested parties if it comes down to it. Design a
logo for yourself and have business cards and stationery made with that
and all of your contact details on. Use your branding in your promo kit
(you’ll need one, by the way). If taking a course isn’t within your
means, then go and find a book (or a few) on marketing and read up.
What if the only thing separating you from hoards of fans is the wrong
colour scheme (it could happen)?



6 Take a business course (or read Suze Orman). Seriously. The income
that you make performing is taxable; your equipment and travel expenses
can be claimed as business expenses. Get to know the financial angle of
your endeavours. It can mean the difference between subsisting on ramen
and, well, eating actual food. Whilst your doing the sums, acquaint
yourself with copyright law. Do. This. Thing. If people record your
songs, they owe you royalties. If you record somebody else's songs, you
owe them royalties.



7 Have a day job - even if it means adorning yourself with the title of
barista or working retail. Do something to tide you over in the mean
times, and there will be mean times. But...



8 ...don't lose focus. Keep your goals in mind, and don't let Other
Things (shiny objects, the internet, courtships, perceived
Responsibilities)hi-jack them.



9 'Baby, I think I'll buy me a football team'. We all want to 'make it'
yeh, so let's have a look at what 'making it means'. To many 'making
it' means the lear jets, the red carpets, the botox, and the May to
December relationships that everybody titters about but secretly
covets. But that's really a bit narrow. Are you working as a musician?
Are you building your fan base? Are you moving forwards? Then you're
making it. Trust me. My good friend, Michael, makes his living playing
music. Has he got gold records (or CDs) hanging on his wall? As far as
I know, he doesn't do, he's earning his portion of his household's care
and feeding with his voice and his guitar. Sounds a great lot like
'making it' to me, and when he's in his dotage, he'll look back on his
life and say 'I was a working musician'.



10 I believe I mentioned the internet, did I not? The internet can be a
shiny object fraught with distractions (WoW, anybody?) or it can be the
best tool you've got at your disposal. This is a fantastic time to be a
burgeoning musician. We're on the shift between the traditional
tangible way of selling music and the new way, which affords us instant
access to millions of people. When Ani DiFranco told the record
companies to eff off, she relied upon students dubbing her albums and
spreading them amongst themselves to get her particular word out. These
days, all you need is a quality recording device, a computer, and a
MySpace page. I realise that MySpace has got some of the
wonkiest-looking pages out in cyberspace, but people go there. Talent
scouts go there. Indie labels go there. Don't miss out on an
opportunity because of pre-conceived or ill-conceived notions about
MySpace. Get to know the internet and anything it could have to offer
you. There are sites that will play your music, advertise where you'll
be playing next, flog your wares...it's baffling, really. There are
scams and Bad Ideas out there (avoid any site that will play your music
in return for you giving them royalty-free rights to it ad infinitum),
so read everything closely before turning your tracks over to anybody
else.



11 Reading. That thing that you do on the train as you're zooming to
and fro between gigs. There are trade magazines out there devoted to
what you do. Go get. Go read. You never know when somebody else is
going to offer some much-needed insight into some particular challenge
that you've been facing.



12 But mind you take those pearls of wisdom from a variety of oysters.
Everybody comes coloured with experience. I come coloured with
experience, as does yourself - it's a Human Thing, and we all try to
understand. When I was very young, I really allowed myself to be Put
Off making a serious go at it for rather a few years. I was under the
tutelage of a fantastic guitar player. He was (and is, I imagine) an
A-list player...only he never 'made it', I think, in quite the way that
he wanted to do. He cared a great lot for me, and (much as my parents)
never wanted to see me get hurt. I understand that, and I don't fault
him for it. I'd have done well, however, to have sought out other
sources of guidance and then taken bits from here and from there to
shape how I might go about achieving my goals.



13 Got mad skillz? Fancy having others? Take lessons. Go to workshops
(if your particular niche happens to be Irish music, then I highly
recommend the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat - have a look at the
Facebook group to find out more about it). Join a songwriting group.
Don't fall prey to the notion (and it is out there), that people will
think less of you and your work if you aren't completely autodidactic.



14 Practise...it's how one keeps those aforementioned mad skillz.
Recently, I read that 'only the maediocre do not concern themselves
with the basics' and a little bell went off in my head. Ding. This past
October, I attended Dave Firestine's mandolin workshop. He passed round
a handout explaining exactly how he practises - down to the stretching
beforehand. Since then, I've been thinking about how I practise. Mark
Stone also stresses basic technique. If you're like myself, this may
well make you twitch - so break it up. Commit to twenty minutes of
running scales (for example), and then allow yourself to do something
else. Stand up and run round your practise room waving your hands in
the air if it helps - eh, you sneak in a work out if nothing else. :D
Also, vocalists can grab back bits of downtime by doing vocal exercises
in the car. Sometimes when I'm learning a song in Irish, I'll sing it
to myself in the car (with or without the original recording) in
various speeds, keys, &c.



15 Unfortunately, and often despite all of your hard work and practise,
you'll have an off night from time to time. The sooner you can laugh it
off, learn from your mistakes (provided that your off night had
something to do with yourself, and not - say - a lightning strike that
blows out the house PA or a dodgy sound tech. :D), the better you'll
be. This is one of my rough spots that required the most burnishing.
One dodgy note would flatten me. I was absolutely convinced that the
slightest mistake would permanently separate me from my credibility as
a musician. I was, as you can imagine, a challenge to work with. It
happens, and it's no sin. Nobody is going to hell for an occasional,
errant C#.



16 Would you eat a baked guitar? Chances are you'd likely not play one
either. Musical instruments can be touchy when it comes to temperature
extremes. Trust Me On This One. Make arrangements for the safe storage
of your equipment. You need it, and you need it to remain relatively
intact. This goes for your voice as well. Voices are fondest of water,
really. In order to ensure that I consume enough of it, I keep a tally.



17 Speaking of things one might put into one's mouth...it's really up
to you as to whether you'll imbibe. Know your limit. Understand that
drink will alter the way you sound - if you can work round it, and it's
appropriate for you to take the odd drink on stage or in practise, then
do so...but proceed with caution. This goes for anything else you may
choose to ingest. I'll not pass judgement either way, but I will
absolutely reinforce the message that there are Consequences, and they
can be Dire.



18 Repertory. It's a good idea to have one. Will you be writing your
own? Will you be performing the works of others? A bit of both? As I
mentioned above, find out about copyright laws - especially if you're
going to record anything. There's a difference between the rights to
record a song and the rights to print its lyrics, for instance. Often,
this can mean paying royalties to two different agencies. Also,
consider the scope of your repertory. A four-hour gig (which usually
works out to four 45-minute sets) usually wants about fifty pieces of
music (unless you stop and tell an eight-minute story in the middle of
each set).



19 So, where will you play? My friend, Michael, advises to keep an open
mind when it comes to venues. He gets some of his best work, he's said,
from (in essence) geriatric homes. Depending upon the sort of venue you
choose, you may be paid solely in tips (coffee houses, busking in the
street), receive a portion of the door (often if the audience that you
bring in is over a certain number), or paid a set amount. Find this out
(eh - it could mean whether you make your rent that month). Also find
out whether you can sell product, if the place is current with
ASCAP/BMI - oh, and it's always good form to ask how the venue fared
that night after you've packed up your gear (assuming it's a bar or a
coffee house).



20 Audiences wax and wane. There have been times in which I've played
to the three people at the bar - including the bartender. Was it
disheartening? Absolutely. Especially since we'd really tried to spread
the word. But then again...one of the fellows came over to me
afterwards, told me that he was a recent transplant (so he knew very
few local people), and it was the best night out he'd had in a long
time.



In conclusion, have a good ending. Bid everybody good night, safe home,
thank them for coming out, and ensure that they know where and when
you're planning to be next.



As for myself, I'm going home to practise. ;)

~*~

Thanks again Gypsy.