Diversifying Your Music Career
By Etan Rosenbloom, Associate Director & Deputy Editor, Communications & Media
We all know that the record industry isn’t what it used to be. As it continues to contract, so will any one songwriter’s chance of superstardom. Of course, hitting the top of the charts isn’t the only way to live comfortably off of the music you write. If you’ve ever pitched a song to a music supervisor, produced a beat on spec for an upcoming rapper, scored a friend’s indie film or played a session gig, you know that there are many ways to monetize your music. For those of us that wish to make a career out of our art, all those different income streams represent more than just increased opportunity – these days, the multi-faceted approach is becoming a necessity.
To find out more, I spoke with ASCAP members Guy Erez, Judith Owen and Lance Hayes. You might say that these three exist in a “middle class” of music makers, in that they’re working professionals who may not be household names, but are making their music work for them all the same. Their preferred styles differ greatly, as do the paths they’ve taken to get where they are today. But they do have one important thing in common. All three have found success, and creative satisfaction, through diverse careers.
Judith Owen
British singer/songwriter Judith Owen has released nine albums of sophisticated, introspective originals that showcase her wit and wisdom – the most recent, the classical-inflected Some Kind of Comfort, was released digitally just this week on her own Courgette Records. And while Owen’s records have earned her garlands of critical acclaim and dozens of film and TV placements, writing and recording is just one part of the equation. An ongoing partnership with Richard Thompson found her singing songs from across the centuries in his 1000 Years of Popular Music project; this fall, she’ll play multiple roles in Thompson’s wide-ranging Cabaret of Souls live show. Owen got the theater bug early on from her opera-singing father, and her passion for the theatricality informs much of what she does – especially her acclaimed Losing It show with comedienne Ruby Wax, an evening of music and monologues that exposes the inner workings of the depression that has racked both performers for years. For Owen, diversity is at the heart of her artistry.
Q: What kind of impact has the Losing It show had on your solo career?
A: I think the most important thing for me is that it’s put me in touch with and in front of the kind of people I’m always looking to reach…people like me, who are isolated, lonely in their illness, highly emotional…the list goes on. Music has been such medication for me, such an immediate form of self-expression, and I’ve always wanted others to be helped by it in the same way. It’s been remarkable really, turning my depression, something that’s been such a curse, into a gift.
Q: Could you make a living solely by selling records? Was that always the case?
A: I certainly can and do on the performance end of things. I love being able to tour and sell, tour and sell. For someone like me, there’s no better way of gaining lifetime fans and selling your music than to be seen live…it’s always made sense because live performance is my thing…my true joy in life. Of course, I remember not so long ago having just enough money in my purse to get the bus home from a gig, but guess what? I was doing what I loved and I didn’t think twice about waitressing, or manning phones to support the music. If you can make a living doing the thing you love most in life, you’re the luckiest person in the world.
Q: How important is it to you to understand the business of being a music creator?
A: I think it’s hard for creative people to be business people as well, but the truth is that most of the biggest and most successful names in music are extremely savvy business heads. Now I’m NOT a business woman, but I am smart and do need to know exactly what’s going on with my life, career, money, I’d be crazy not to, but nothing, NOTHING comes before the music.
Q: Do you seek new outlets for your creativity more now than you used to?
A: Well I’m constantly stretching and growing, not setting myself any boundaries. And regarding music, I Twitter, YouTube live versions of songs, blog, the usual stuff, but it’s still the same basic idea, just worldwide thanks to this digital landscape. You hear something, you love something, and you tell someone else and so on and so on…it’s global word of mouth, pretty great when you think of it.
Q: Do you think that having a diverse career is a financial necessity for music creators today? What about an artistic necessity?
A: I’ve always seen diversity as being a natural thing and never really understood why you had to be branded as one thing only and never move outside of that. People in the business are always looking for a pigeonhole to put you in, a label to pin to you, that’s not what I’ve ever wanted. I’m not saying re-invent just to make money…I’m saying if you have the talent and ability for more than one thing then you should do it…you only have one life after all, and at least you won’t get bored!
Judith Owen’s new album Some Kind of Comfort was released on January 30th, 2012.
Find it on iTunes here.
