Ulysses Owens - The Musicians Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success

Copyright 2021 by Ulysses Owens Jr.

All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Allworth Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

25 24 23 22 21 5 4 3 2 1

Published by Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Allworth Press is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

www.allworth.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Chris Horoschak

Print ISBN: 978-1-62153-776-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62153-777-9

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Letter to the Students

Dear Student,

Congratulations to you! Deciding to take the path of working in the music industryin any capacityis a brave and powerful choice, and one that Im honored to support you in.

To start, Im going to tell you a bit about myself, and how this book came to be. One of the things I enjoy most about teaching is that I have the opportunity to meet all different people. During my years as an educator at Juilliard, and when Ive been out giving talks at schools and conferences, I have had a chance to meet a variety of students who ranged in age, religion, gender, ethnicity, and so on. And Im happy to say that this learning has been mutual; theyve all taught me so much, too. Theyve brought up a lot of questions and considerations that I had never previously thought of. Here, in The Musicians Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success, my goals are to share the questions others have had and to blend those answers with my personal experience, thereby producing what I think is a useful fundamental tool for you as you embark on this very exciting journey into the music industry.

First, Im going to backtrack a bit and share some of my lightbulb moments, in the hope that theyll also resonate with you. I remember watching an interview with Quincy Jones where he stated, We as musicians forget that the music business is a business. He continued to emphasize that being a creative these days is also being a businessperson. All the aspects of a businessscalability, sustainability, growth, vision, and purposeare necessary to consider when trying to establish oneself as a business entity. I did not always know this, and would like to have recognized it earlierso I am sharing it with you here.

Second, Im recounting another eye-opening event: on my first day of ensemble class at the Juilliard School, jazz drum veteran Carl Allen posed this question to our class: Are you guys interested in making a living or designing a career?

I immediately raised my hand and asked, Carl, whats the difference?

He then said, Young brother, when you make a living, you are working as a musician and only focusing on what gigs/performances you will take, based solely on the monetary value. However, when you are building a career, you are incredibly strategic about the placement each performance will create for you.

This is also something I didnt realize initially, and will go into more detail about in this book.

These pointsand bits of knowledgeare what resonate the most for me even to this day, and something I want to share with you. Its important to have business savvy, and part of that is being strategic. This book will help guide you in both of those areas. Additionally, as a talented, ambitious and creative person, I want you to know these four key points:

Life is always changing;

Life is about how you connect with people;

Life is the sum total of the decisions you make, and what you have the faith and imagination to believe is possible for yourself; and

You must NEVER QUIT!

I state this, because one of the things that was important about my journey in music is that it started with sheer love: love for the drums, love for playing at church for choirs, and then eventually love for jazz. This love caused me to set goals that made me pursue an education in New York City. However, one of the key things I didnt understand was business. For many years, in traveling and studying, I have intersected with so many business professionals, and no matter if they are accountants, real estate investors, managers, salespeople, etc., they understand some basic principles of business that many creatives dont either know or focus on. Understanding those principles led me to important questions.

Im going to address these questions in the book, but to start, Id like you to take a moment and think about these two different sets of questions:

What is my love? What is my talent? What is the current packaging of my love and talent? Am I a brand? Who is consuming it? Is it profitable? Is that profit sustainable and leading to maximum growth?

What talent will I choose to hire and create an opportunity for exposure? How much money do I want to invest into this talent? Whom will I choose to manage, endorse, or book? Whom will I sign to a record deal?

Whats interesting to me is that these two sets of questions come from different places of power: one is coming from the talent and the other is comping from the decision maker. The talent is often waiting for the decision maker to approve them, while the decision maker has the control and can decide at any moment whom they want to invest in.

Dont worry if this isnt clear yet; I promise you that during the course of this book, it will be. Much of what I will discuss in this book is a changing economic climate that is affecting the shape of the music business for students who are in school right now. This, dear student, is fundamental for your growth and knowledge as an individual who is aspiring to work in this ever-changing, always-inspiring field. It is my hope that you as an artist will dive into this book and find hope and possibility in new career opportunities, and also find agency within yourself and recognize that with hard work, anything is possible.

My goal for this book is to remove the wall between the creative mindset and the business mindset, and to create a dialogue so that musicians can become more business-savvy and aware of realities that will allow for them to be successful. I want this to be a tool for you, no matter what genre or aspect of music youre dedicated to, so that it can help prepare you for this industry, and the entrepreneurial world at large. Additionally, if youre a creative professional already working in this industry, this book can be your resource and help you take your career to the next level.

I remember when I graduated; I walked across the stage at Juilliard, grabbed my degree, went home to my apartment in Harlem, and was suddenly consumed with anxiety. I was scared, confused, and simply didnt know what was the next step to take. This book is the tool I wish Id had.