Finding your success in music

I want to share a personal story about how I caused myself problems for years by defining success based on other people's terms.

I see this happen a lot in music - how many people think they need to be multi-platinum Grammy winners?

I hope this can help you consider how you define your success.

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Not a “Real” Way to Achieve Success?

A few years ago I spent a lot of time in Facebook Groups with other producers.

I met a lot of great people and built relationships that eventually resulted in track placements, clients, and friendships.

But I also fell into a trap.

In these groups, there was negativity in all kinds of directions.

One of those directions was Royalty Free Music Licensing, which is exactly where I had found meaningful success.

While not everyone was negative about it, a few established producers who had found their success through major publishers were quite negative about it.

One even suggested it wasn't a “real” way to be successful.

Instead of being okay with the fact that this person's experience and idea of success was simply different than my own, it stuck with me.

It made me feel like the thing that changed my life - one of the gifts I had to offer the community through my unique experience - was something to hide because it wasn't the "right" way to find success.

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I Tried to Find More “Valid” Forms of Success

I began to pursue other avenues that I thought were more "valid" instead of continuing to push harder into what had brought me results.

While this did challenge my skills and build my network in new ways, it did not bring the results I was hoping for because I was not properly aligned.

I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

Today, I've had enough experience and conversations with peers across the industry to know that who signs you or what accolades you have do not necessarily make you successful or happy unless it's truly aligned with your story.

There are Grammy winners and rock Hall of Famers who struggle to find a single client… and bedroom producers rocking out with millions of streams making whatever they want freely.

Like everything in life, each situation is unique.

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Embracing My Path

Now, I celebrate my achievements in the Royalty Free Music Licensing world.

The model was aligned with my story and brought me skills, stability, purpose, income, and accolades.

It's also done the exact same thing for thousands of other producers.

In fact, I recently stumbled into a peer who got into Royalty Free Music Licensing after a conversation with me many years ago, and now he's full-time in music because of it.

How many more people could I have positively impacted if I had shared my story more actively in those groups?

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Success Is About Playing The Game

There is no "one-size-fits-all" to building a meaningful life with your music.

Don't put your "success" into an external variable defined by other people. If you want to be disempowered, there is no better way.

Now I see that "success" isn't a destination.

It's not something you "get."

It's about living your life the best you can, making the most of the opportunities and skills you have, and trusting that your intuition will lead you down a path that is uniquely rewarding and your own.

It's about celebrating each day you get to show up and play in the game.

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The 3 “Inevitable Success” Habits

It comes back to the 3 habits I’ve mentioned in other emails:

Finish consistently
Share consistently
Network consistently