In 2010 after a gig that didn’t go well because they club owner couldn’t pay the bands, I opened up my bank app on my phone to check my bank balance and realized it was almost zero and only $10 bucks in savings.

The issue is most people don’t read. Wanna know how to keep a secret??

Write it in a book.

Okay enough jokes, let’s get to the Financial Freedom Plan for Musicians. Below is a spreadsheet that you need to use to calculate your future. Available for Excel, Apple Numbers, and Google Sheets. To use it you must pay for the software, but Google Sheets is FREE. All you need is to sign up on google for Gmail account. Click on the link and download your spreadsheet..

Financial Freedom Plan for Musicians xlsx

This is simple, It doesn’t require quantum physics, just basic math for all you geniuses. Just follow the directions below to fill out the plan above.

1. The spreadsheet has a sample plan for you, but you can adjust it based on your current situation.
2. In the first section called “Current Situation”.
3. Enter in all your expenses in the Second column. The spreadsheet will calculate everything for you.
4. You can add any extra personal expenses or debt in column one under the correct section and enter the amount in column two.
5. Third column calculates how much you’re spending yearly for that particular expense. As you enter your expenses it should calculate automatically.
6. Under “savings” decide how much income percentage you intend to save for all your current savings accounts
7. Based on the number you intend to save, let’s say 30% or your income, use this formula (net monthly expenses x 30%) to calculate your Gross Monthly Expense.
8. Your Gross Monthly Expenses will tell you the income you need to earn in order to live the lifestyle you need.
9. Six Month Emergency Fund: will show how much money you need to save in order to survive if the apocalypse emerges.
10. Money System Target: tells you how much you need in order to retire. 5% yearly return of that number will give you your yearly income based off your chosen lifestyle.
11. Business System Target: will show you how much your business needs to incur in order to fund business taxes, retirement system target and your monthly income.
12. Second section to your right is called “Freedom Plan.” The is the fun part. You will see that in order to live your dream lifestyle it doesn’t require billions of dollars.
13. Research how much your mansion, Ferrari, internet, electric, clothes, insurance, and boat is gonna cost you on a monthly basis. This may take you awhile, but it’s fun to research and dream.
14. Once you enter in all your monthly expenses the spread sheet will calculate everything.
15. Follow steps 6-7 to calculate future savings.

Notice when you finish your freedom plan you realize in order to retire it doesn’t require billions of dollars. I thought I needed close to $100 million in order to live my dream and when I did this plan it turned out to be only $3 million. Not bad!

Cool huh?

Now that you have taken the time to invest and calculate your future, it’s time to take your musical talents and start creating or investing in assets that can create consistent monthly cash-flow.

Ready-set-go!

Thanks again for reading and don’t forget to share this post or leave a comment below.

Peace

I apologize, but that’s a bunch of cat doodoo!

Why would you want to pay into a system (American government) that literally jacks money from your pay check before you even see a single penny? Did you know that was implemented in the year 1943 called the Current Tax Payment Act. The government figured out a way to take your hard earned money from you and you have no choice as an employee.

Your taxes funded ungodly wars and trillions of debt. The United States is over 18 trillion in debt, which is where all your money is going into. Check out this debt clock here. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

If you’re a reader living in another country I would assume it’s a bit different.

Back in 2012 when Mitt Romney was running for president, people were attacking him because he made 13.7 million in 2011 and was paying less than 14% in taxes and Obama made $789,674 and payed over 20% in taxes. Read more here.

Romney is an entrepreneur and provides opportunities and jobs for thousands of Americans. As an entrepreneur the American government loves it when you provide job opportunities for Americans.

This creates a more stable economy and in turn gives the entrepreneur many tax benefits.

Here is one fact:

The tax code wasn’t written for employees, but for entrepreneurs like, Mitt Romney, Richard Branson, Robert Kiyosaki, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.

You can complain all you want, but that’s how it works in the states. As long as you understand the difference. Which do you choose? Entrepreneurship or Employment? It’s your choice.

Disclaimer

Before I get into how to almost pay zero in taxes. I would like to add that I’m not CPA or tax account. This is purely for educational purposes only and should not take what is taught as 100% fact. Do your own research.

I have been an independent contractor and entrepreneur for over ten years. The first half of those years I didn’t know how it worked. I soon wised up and took business classes, read literally over 100 business books and the vail that was blinding me was soon uncovered.

As a self-employed musician, singer, producer, etc you can write-off many items you purchase just as long as they are related to your profession.

Here’s 40 tips that you may know or not. This usually applies to the musicians working in the United States. Those who live abroad in another country it may differ.

40 Tips to Almost Paying Zero Taxes for Musicians

1. Agency/management fees
2. Books, magazines, music
3. Business gifts
4. Business insurance
5. Business meals and entertainment
6. Cabs, subways, buses/automobiles
7. Copying, printing
8. Cultural events
9. Equipment and software
10. Film & processing
11. Gratuities
12. Home office: rent, gas & electric, insurance
13. Instrument and equipment repair
14. Instrument purchases
15. Memberships (museums, professional organizations)
16. Messengers, private mail carriers, postage
17. Music library: cd’s, dvds, videos, records, tapes
18. Concert tickets
19. Music Education
20. Music supplies
21. Musician fees
22. Office supplies
23. Promotion
24. Studio/rehearsal space rent
25. Tax preparation/legal fees
26. Telephone/internet
27. Clothing
28. Travel
29. Automobile expense
30. Business cards
31. Professional Photos
32. Website development and hosting
33. Dues – Union and Professional
34. Music Publications
35. Parking fees
36. Software 
37. Speaker systems
38. Cellular phone
39. Sheet Music
40. Copyright and registration fees

With all those tax write offs I literally can cut my tax bill in half. When you have a business that helps and serve others needs than the American tax code shines down on you. Because it was written for you, the music entrepreneur.

I would suggest you set up an appointment with your local tax accountant and ask tons of questions. I also do suggest that you choose the right tax accountant. Some will have an employee mentality and not an entrepreneurial one. Be careful and choose wisely my young Padawan.

We have come to the end of another informative post. Thanks for reading along and ask me some questions below. Also don’t forget to share these tips to your favorite social media outlet.

Thanks again.

I use to say that a lot as a kid. When you’re just a kid you tend to copy everything you see. From watching Ninja Turtles on TV and copying their high fly kicks, to emulating how your parents or friends speak.

I wanted to be Michelangelo. I remember sawing a piece of wood in two pieces, then grabbing two nails and hammering on the ends of both pieces of wood attaching a small chain.

Now I got some nunchucks. Wha!!!!

After watching the nunchuck duel scene dozens of times between Michelangelo and one of the foot clan members in the (1990) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie.

I ended up with a few bumps and bruises on my head after attempting to copy the nunchuck moves. I put down the chucks for a few weeks, then picked them back up again, but this time I wore some head gear and nailed the moves. Wha!!!!

What does this have to with the top 25 artists and how long it took for them to reach fame and riches??

A lot!!

Here are some reasons why they made it.

1. Passion: They really wanted it bad.
2. Persistence: They didn’t give up no matter what.
3. Environment: They were around people that influenced there success.
4. They had investors with big bank accounts and big connections.
5. They modeled after their influences. Probably the most important factor.

There many other factors, but I believe above are the main reasons. Feel free to debate me on this.

Now, here the are the top 25 artists of all time and how long it took for them to reach fame and riches.

1. Michael Jackson
   • How long did it take? 7 years
   • How was it done? 1964-1971 from joining the Jackson 5 in 1964, to having recorded four number one singles in Billboard Hot 100 by 1970.
   • Net Worth: $600 million
2. Sting
   • How long did it take? 2 years.
   • How was it done? From joining the Police in May 1977, to recording a number 1 album in 1979 called “Regatta de Blanc”.
   • Net Worth: $300 million
3. Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones)
   • How long did it take? 3 years.
   • How was it done? From joining the band in 1962 to writing and recording their international hit single “Satisfaction” in the summer of 1965.
   • Net Worth:  $350 Million
4. Madonna
   • How long did it take? 4 years
   • How was it done? From taking on a solo act in 1980 to signing a deal in 1982 with Sire Records, to her hit single “Like A Virgin” in 1984.
   • Net Worth: $800 million
5. Elvis Presley
   • How long did it take? 3 years.
   • How was it done? From walking into Sun Records in 1953 to record a song for his mother to having a number one album for ten weeks in the Billboards Top Pop Album charts in 1956.
   • Net Worth: $300 million
6. Mariah Carey
   • How long did it take? 2 years.
   • How was it done?  From handed her demo tape to Tommy Motolla in December 1988 at a record executives gala to hitting three number one singles in 1990 from her self titled debut album.
   • Net Worth: $520 million
7. Jay Z
   • How long did it take? 8 years.
   • How was it done? From being Big Daddy Kane’s hype man in the early 90’s to selling his CDs out of his car in 1995 to releasing “Vol 2 Hard Knock Life” in 1998 selling over 5 million copies and winning a Grammy award.
   • Net Worth: $560 million
8. Beatles
   • How long did it take? 5 years.
   • How was it done? From forming the original band which were called the Quarrymen. To hitting number one for “Please, Please Me” in 1962 as the Beatles.
   • Net Worth:  $1.5 billion
9. Whitney Houston
   • How long did it take? 9 years.
   • How was it done? 1977 at age 14 she become backup singer for the Michael Sager band, later being offered a record deal from Arista records in 1983 and received worldwide acclaim for the hit single, “Greatest Love of All” hitting #1 in the billboard charts in 1986.
   • Net Worth: $20 million
10. Eminem
    • How long did it take? 8 years.
    • How was it done? From joining the rap group Soul Intent, to signing with Aftermath Records in 1997 to releasing The Marshall Mathers LP in May 2000, selling over 1 million copies.
    • Net Worth: $160 million
11. Robert Plant ( Led Zepellin)
    • How long did it take? 3 years.
    • How was it done? From meeting drummer John Bonham in 1967 to joining Led Zeppellin in 1968, to hitting number #1 for the “Immigrant Song” in 1970.
    • Net Worth: $120 million
12. Jimi Hendrix
    • How long did it take? 5 years.
    • How was it done? Jimi formed a band called King Casuals in 1963, but later went with a solo deal afterwards until his second album “Axis Bold as Love” hit number #2 in the U.S.
    • Net Worth: $80 million
13. Taylor Swift
    • How long did it take? 5 years.
    • How was it done? After performing at RCA records showcase and scoring a record deal in 2003 to moving to Nashville in 2004 and releasing her number one album “Fearless” in 2008.
    • Net Worth: $200 million
14. Tupac Shakur
    • How long did it take? 3 Years.
    • How was it done? Starting with the Digital Underground as a backup dancer and roadie to reaching platinum status in 1993 for the single “Keep yer Head Up” and “I Get Around”.
    • Net Worth: $40 million
15. Bono (U2)
    • How long did it take? 11 years.
    • How was it done? Bono formed the band in 1976 at school, then soon got signed to Island Records. After several albums and tours they finally got a number one album in 1987 called “Joshua Tree”.
    • Net Worth: $700 million
16. Lady Gaga
    • How long did it take? 3 years.
    • How was it done? Dropping out of the second semester of school NYU in 2005 to focus on her musical career. Getting signed with a publishing deal to Interscope Records in 2007 and later releasing her Grammy awarding album “The Fame”.
    • Net Worth: $110 million
17. Celine Dion
    • How long did it take? 10 years.
    • How was it done? Releasing her first album in 1981 and soon becoming a national star by 1983. She didn’t receive international fame until she recorded with Peaboo Bryson in the academy award winning, Beauty and the Beast.
    • Net Worth: $630 million.
18. James Hettfield (Metallica) 
    • How long did it take? 8 years.
    • How was it done? Drummer Lars Ulrich placed an ad out looking for some musicians. James Hettfield answered it. After their bass players death they released their album “And Justice for All”.. The album was certified platinum after nine weeks of its release.
    • Net Worth: $175 million.
19. Britney Spears 
    • How long did it take? 2 years.
    • How was it done? Starting in 1997 shopping her demo to record executives they finally signed her to and ordered an album. “Baby One More Time” released in January 12, 1999. It debuted at number #1 in the Billboard 200 and was certified two times platinum after a month.
    • Net Worth: $165 million
20. James Brown 
    • How long did it take? 4 years.
    • How was it done? Brown joined the Gospel Star Lighters in 1953, after awhile Brown convinced Little Richard’s manager to take him on in 1955 and later released the hit R&B single “Please, Please, Please which went certified platinum.
    • Net Worth:  $100 million
21. Prince 
    • How long did it take? 4 years.
    • How was it done? Prince started his venture in 1975 with his band 94 East. Four years later he signed with Warner Brothers and released his album in October of 1979 and reached number no. 4 in the R&B Billboard charts and went certified platinum.
    • Net Worth:  $250 million
22. Katy Perry 
    • How long did it take? 9 years.
    • How was it done? After finishing her GED in 1999 at the age of 15, she decided to pursue her music career. After some good and bad luck she was signed with Capital Records in 2007 and later that year released her second album “One of the Boys”, which featured the number one single “I Kissed a Girl”.
    • Net Worth: $130 million
23. Ray Charles
    • How long did it take? 4 years.
    • How was it done? After The death of Ray Charles mother at the age of 14. It took four years from 1945-49 to reach fame. His national hit “Confession Blues” reached the second spot in the Billboard R&B charts in 1949.
    • Net Worth: $100 million
24. David Bowie
    • How long did it take? 4 years.
    • How was it done? Bowie began pursuing his musical career at the age of 15 in 1962. After four years Bowie finally reached public attention when his song “Space Oddity” reached the top 5 of the UK singles chart.
    • Net Worth: $215 million
25. Diana Ross
    • How long did it take? 5 years.
    • How was it done? Ross joined the Primettes in 1959 and later hit the number one spot in the Billboards Hot 100 for the tune “Where Did Our Love Go”. It wasn’t until 1967 where the group was renamed to The Supremes.
    • Net Worth: $250 million.

Take a good look my friend, as you can see it doesn’t take long to achieve fame and riches, the kicker is you need leverage.

• 84% of these artists took eight years or less to achieve fame.
• 68% of these artists took five years or less to achieve fame.
• 16% of these artists took more than eight years to achieve fame.
• 100% of these artists took no more than 11 years to reach fame.
• 100% of these artists had to hustle and shop themselves to the record labels.
• 100% of these artists were in the right environment or moved to the right environment.
• 100% of these artists built the right relationships.
• 100% of these artists relied on the record labels  to achieve success. Without the business aspects, there would be no Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley.

Fame is good an all for me but I’m not that much of a narcissist. Sort of.. I would prefer wealth over fame any day. I’m gonna spell out the steps to wealth.

1. Fill a need
2. Create or buy assets that fill that need
3. Build a brand and community 
4. Modeling
5. Build the right relationships
6. Market to millions

These are just the core steps, obviously there are many sub steps for each core step.  Your path to wealth can move a lot quicker if you have all the right relationships and components in place.

I’ll leave you with a quote from my favorite rat.

“An effective team thinks as one.” -Master Splinter-  

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment below and feel free to voice your thoughts.

Cheers.

Who could it be? Mile Davis? Arturo Sandoval? Wynton Marsalis? Dizzy Gillespie?

Nope.

Herb Alpert is the man, with a combined wealth of $850 million dollars.

Combine all the trumpets players net worth above and they wouldn’t come close.  Miles Davis’s net worth was only $10 million. How is it, one of greatest trumpets players of all time was only worth $10 million. I would expect it to be in the hundreds of millions right? Or billions.

Wrong.

Now we know that prestige, skills and fame is not a catalyst for great wealth. Miles Davis was a master at his craft and one of the best.

But Herb Alpert destroys Miles Davis’s pitiful fortune by $840 million. Yikes! I have to agree that Herb Alpert wasn’t a more iconic trumpet player than Miles Davis. Davis is the man, but this site isn’t just about becoming a great musician, but also becoming a wealthy one.

Miles Davis was wealthy by the average persons standard but Herb Alpert is “stupid wealthy”.

Herb Alpert was born on March 31, 1935. He is most known and associated with the group Tijuana Brass. Raised in the ghetto streets of East Los Angeles where all the cholos hung out he took up trumpet at the ripe age of eight years old.

His accomplishments are no joke. Alpert’s musical accomplishments include five No. 1 albums and 28 albums total on the chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums.  As of 1996, Alpert had sold 72 million albums worldwide.  Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist (“This Guy’s in Love with You“, 1968) and an instrumentalist (“Rise“, 1979).

He’s also a record executive of A&M Records. The “A” is for Alpert and “M” is for Moss as in Jerry Moss. The label including artists such as: Janet Jackson, The Police, The Go Gos, Chuck Mangione, Oingo Boingo, Bryan Adams and many others.

In 1987 Alpert and Moss agreed to sell their label to Polygram Records for a reported $500 million dollars. Cha-ching! Later they began Almo Sounds music publishing company after a frustrating legal battle with Polygram Records.

Alpert also deals in philanthropy and is a huge supporter for music education. He has donated over $110 million dollars through the Herb Alpert Foundation.

He even admits that he’s not great at business and knows next to nothing about business matters. Jerry Moss, his partner, is the brains of the operation. Which leads me to another fact. You don’t have to be a genius at business to run a successful business.

“In business, if you’re the smartest guy in the room, than you’re doomed to fail.” -Robert Kiyosaki-

I’m sure Alpert understands passive income and how to achieve it, but he’s smart enough to know that he doesn’t need know everything about business, that’s what a partner or hiring smarter people are for.

I myself don’t want to do everything in my business or even this site. Eventually I’m going to hire assistants, consultants web developers and managers to manage my company for me. Delegation is a skill many entrepreneurs lack, many fail because they micromanage.

Lesson.

1. Even kid from low side of East Los Angeles can become wealthy.
2. Team up with the right people.
3. Hire people smarter than you.
4. Give back.
5. Have an plan to sell your business when the opportunity arises.
6. Prestige and fame doesn’t necessarily mean your wealthy.

I’ll leave you with one more quote. 

” Talent works, genius creates..” Robert Shumann

Create your music and find a way to make it into an asset, which is what puts money back into your pocket. Create assets!

Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any thoughts.

Thanks friend.

Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969, In a small neighborhood called Castle Hill in the Bronx. At the young age of five she began taking singing and dancing lessons and pretty much flourished. Her parents obviously didn’t agree with her decisions to pursue entertainment as a career choice but her ambitions led her to take that risk.

She performed as a dancer in regional productions like Oklahoma and Jesus Christ Superstar. Lopez was unhappy because her current situation didn’t lead her to a solo career.

In the early 90’s she applied for a job for the show ” In Living Color” where she was one of the fly girls. This was her big break, she ended being the runner up for the part, but the dancer that was chosen could not commit to the role, so it was offered Lopez. Wow, what a break.

Lopez eventually ended up becoming a big movie actress and singer and starred in roles such as, Selena, Maid in Manhattan, Anaconda and Enough. Along with eight music albums.

Now this post isn’t about her career, but about her entrepreneurship. Even though she’s had more boyfriends than I have clean socks, the lesson is how she approached and establish a business empire.

Lopez is estimated to have a net worth of $300 million and salary of $20-$30 million per year according to celebritynetworth.com.

A list of her passive income streams as of to date.

1. Album and song royalties.
2. Jennifer Lopez Collection clothing line and accessories.
3. Love and light fragrance.
4. Glowing by JLo fragrance.
5. Jennifer Lopez Home Collection (bedding, towels and luggage)
6. Teeology T-shirt e-commerce
7. Nuyorican Productions, Inc. is an American production company founded byJennifer Lopez and Benny Medina.
8. Viva Móvil Latino Mobil company.
9. NuvoTV. American television company geared towards Latinos.
10. Endorsements with Loreal.

I know a guy by the name of Matt Farley that has written dozens on tunes about poop. Not only that he makes roughly $23,000 on song royalties from a catalog of 18,000 songs as of to date. Which you can all listen to on iTunes or Spotify.

Who has $18,000 songs? I don’t think even Tupac had that many and he wrote a lot.

While aspiring musicians are struggling daily to write that mega hit tune that’s gonna make them super rich and famous. Matt Farley is just churning out tunes on just about any thing especially dozens of happy birthday and poop songs.

Matt researches what keywords people are searching for online. Then he has notebook full of keywords and nouns and just spends days writing tunes in his studio basement in Danvers, Massachusetts.

He figured if he could make two dollars a year on each song he writes. So far he has written 18,000 songs which could equal close to $36,000 a year. But has only amassed $23,000 in passive income.

This guy understands passive income. $36,000 is not really amazing to live off of especially in the USA. Maybe he should move to Thailand where it’s reported the way of life is great and you could live like a king on only $1,200 per month. More on that later.

Matt writes about 100 songs per album, records them on his Tascam recorder, burns them to CD and ships it to CDbaby for distribution. I know if he reaches out to major distributors he can reach an even more massive audience, but we’ll see what he does in the future.

Poop, birthdays, shoes, cars, proms can be pretty good topics for songs, but I know what you’re thinking.

Are the tunes any good?

The tunes are mediocre at best and many are hilarious which is why I listen to them. He’s musicianship is average at best but I’m sure he’s content with his skills.

Talk a good listen here on Spotify.

Lesson:

1. Learn the difference between passive and earned income.
2. Work smarter, not harder.
3. Even being an average musician can create passive income.
4. Uses Cd baby for distribution.

Take a good whiff folks and learn to model this example, sort of. The major lesson is to not wait for your material to be the best so you can share it or sell it to others. In time it will evolve into a masterpiece. Get it out there fast!

Thanks for reading this post and please share it others.

Peace friend.

Quoting Paul Cardall from an interview on YouTube. Check it out here.

Paul Cardall was born with a congenital heart defect and has gone through numerous surgeries in his life. He has also survived a heart transplant waiting for an entire year for a donation.

Not only that, Paul has had two #1 albums on billboard music New Age charts. Including his latest album – 40 hymns for forty days..

His story is amazing from having poor health to becoming an incredibly successful musician and entrepreneur.

But how did he do it?

As a teenager Paul admired musicians like Yanni and George Winston. He learned to play piano by ear and modeled after these great artists. Paul later sought after a piano job at restaurants and department stores and after 3 years recorded an album called Sign of Affection and began to sell it his local gigs. Paul soon learned it was a business.

Soon he was making a living performing as a musician. When he would perform at a store or restaurant he we give the business a cut of the the albums he sold so everyone was happy. If the store wouldn’t accept his service he would leave his album with them as a reference and calling card.

After years of selling his album he needed to expand his distribution. Paul went to a booksellers trade show in Chicago and eventfully made contact with Narada Music a big dog for New Age music. Though it helped his career the label was struggling financially.

In 1999 eventfully starting his record label Stone Angel Music. Created a website and began to sell online. The internet was young at this time and was a great launching pad for Paul’s music.

Pandora played a huge part in his musical success. Hundreds of thousands of people have discovered his music through Pandora.

Starting his record label and gaining distribution thought online avenues like Pandora are the beginning steps of a musical entrepreneur. Paul took a big leap of faith and risked taking his music in his own hands. At the end of the day nothing’s more important than a musicians music.

A list of Paul Cardall’s steps to success in the New Age billboard charts.

1. Passion and persistence.
2. Modeled piano after his influences like Yanni and George Winston.
3. Sought after piano gigs.
4. Created an album.
5. Sold the album.
6. Learned business and marketing.
7. Looked for expanded distribution.
8. Started a record label.
9. Built relations with fans.
10. Marketed and sold music online.

You’re probably thinking…

Oh no! Not another music streaming service. We already got Spotify, Pandora, iTunes and Napster.

But…..

I hear Tidal will be user friendly for struggling musicians trying to make a buck. It’s been said that Tidals music royalties to artists are four times as much than Spotify. Click here for more info.

There have been many litigations against Spotify from artists who have received less than expected royalties. Tidal seems to be changing the game.

But… Why is that?

Tidals stakeholders are a bunch super successful artists and the head of it all is none other than Jay Z. The other 17 A-list stakeholders: Madonna, Taylor Swift,Beyonce, Kanye West, Jason Aldean, Daft Punk, Rihanna, Colplday‘s Chris Martin, Usher, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, Calvin Harris, Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, deadmau5, J. Cole and Alicia Keys.

That’s a good list. Except Nicki Minaj she nasty.:)

What 18 Musicians Can Teach You About the Music Business.

These artists understand the struggling indie musician trying to get by. There has been some flak but we’ll see when the data comes out. This may be the change we struggling musicians are looking for. It makes sense for musicians to finally step up and grab ahold of the reigns and make things happen.

I’ve always preached in order for the future to become bright and profitable for artists and musicians a new invention or risk taker is gonna step up and take matter into their own hands and change the industry for good. I’m still thinking what that invention can be.

Without the radio, television, internet, computer and phonograph their would be no music industry as we know it today. After a century later the industry is suffering and it needs to adapt (“Adaptability” is the 5th attribute of a thinking musician) to change.

Tidal May be a fluke or huge success for indie artists. We just gotta hope for the best and wait till the data emerges.

The Lesson

1. Only risk takers succeed.
2. Take Calculated Risks.

If you would like to try Tidal out, there is a $9.99 and $19.99 option with a free 30 day trial and you can cancel at anytime. If you’re an artist and would like your music featured on Tidal and many other services like Spotify, and iTunes, CDbaby.com is a great company that specifically works with indies artists, plus they can get your music on Tidal.

I think I might try it.

Give me your opinion, what do you think?

Okay thanks for reading and I hope you got something out of this..

Peace

Before you read any further click on this video, please…

Did you know…..

Student loan debt has surpassed 1 trillion dollars?

More than mortgage debt, consumer credit card debt, car debt, etc..

The worst part of it is you can’t get out of it. You can’t file bankruptcy you’re stuck with it the rest of your life. Unless you receive debt forgiveness. When does that really happen?

Probably never!

My buddy came over to my house the other day. We were chatting about church, music, Jesus and other things. Out of nowhere I blurted out to him.

“Did you know that student loan debt in this country has surpassed 1 trillion dollars?”

He said, “I believe it, I’m over $30,000 in student loan debt.”

“What? 15 years we’ve known each other. How come you never told me?” I mentioned. “You never asked.” He responded.

Geez!!

“… the borrower is slave to the lender.” 

Proverbs 22:7

Mini-Story

When I graduated high school almost 20 years ago. My school of choice was Cal Arts in Valencia, Ca. They had a great music and animation program.

These were the fields I was interested in. When I received the costs of tuition my eyes flew out of my sockets. “Who was gonna pay this?” I thought to myself.

My mom or dad don’t have any cash, I could receive financial aid but even that won’t cover everything. I would still owe thousands of dollars.

I decided to take an alternative route to community college. As of today I’m glad I did.

Don’t let financial burdens make you lose hope. It will effect the way you worship God.

If you’re thinking of attending college or a prestigious university please rethink your motives. I have various alternatives that are super cost savings.

Here are the 9 Alternatives to Music College.

1. Music Heroes: In today’s age communication is awesome. Go online and google your top favorite musicians on the planet. Nine times out of ten your favorite music hero has an email address.

Email them and be courteous. Introduce yourself and ask if they give lessons. If they don’t then move on if they do and they have internet access it doesn’t matter what part of the world they live in you can set up a skype lesson. Isn’t technology awesome.

Try it! It doesn’t hurt to ask.

2. Community College: Even though college tuition has skyrocketed 1000%. Community college is most likely a more affordable option.

Learning your diatonic modes is the same at a community college then at a 4 year university. I guess the only difference is the tuition.

3. Local Music Teachers: Many times your favorite musicians are local teachers at a private school. There are also many undiscovered music teachers at your local private school where tuition is on a monthly basis.

The average monthly tuition here in LA is $120 per month for a 30 minute session per week. That’s $1440 per year and $5,760 for 4 years.

Even if you took 1 hour sessions just double it at $11,520.

Tuition at Berklee School of Music each year is over $30,000.

What a deal! Not!

4. Books: Most of the time in college you’ll be learning from their curriculum. Hop on their website and search for the books that their music program uses.

Go to Amazon.com and you’ll most likely find all the material at a super deal!

5. YouTube Videos: All your music heroes nine times out of ten have a video on YouTube where they could be performing or even teaching.

Plus, there are millions of music tutorials where you can most likely find anything. Check it out.

6. Blogs: There is an abundance of music education out there for free. Many great teachers have come out of the woodworks and created their own websites and have grown a fan base.

Great teachers like Mike Johnston from Mikeslessons.com and JaneK Gwizdala from videobasslessons.tv have grown an enormous student community that have helped thousands.  Check them out.

There is also Justin Sandercoe at justinguitar.com. Great site.

Oops! Don’t forget mine.

7. Audit College Courses: One of my goals in life is to be a film composer. A few years back I researched many universities in my area, went to their websites and found the professors that teach composition, found their emails and emailed them.

I asked if I can audit their classes. Out of 5 professors I emailed 2 responded back. I ended up auditing the orchestration class at Cal State Long Beach.

I eventually couldn’t finish the entire course because of work but I learned a lot and plus I didn’t have to cough up thousands of dollars in the process.

8. Online Classes: This is great way to receive your education on your own time. It doesn’t necessarily have to be courses from a university like I said before.

There are many blogs and websites filled with wonderful music instructors where you can purchase their video course, webinars and monthly services.

9. Networking: Many times I hear from folks that mention colleges will give you gig opportunities. While some of that appears to be true, the majority is not the case.

I’ve been in the music business for 15 years and all the major gigs that I’ve acquired was not because of my college degree. It was purely based on my network.

Nobody ever asked for my degree!

Depending on where you live you would have to locate where all the major players in your town flock too. There many local jam sessions here in LA where many big players mingle and perform.

This is your chance to build your network. I don’t need to justify $100,000 to network. All I need is $10 for gas money to drive to the local jam session.

Here is a list of famous musicians with or without college degrees that had nothing to do with their success.

Chis Tomlin: Degree in Psychology
Sting: Degree in Education
Michael Jackson: No degree
Steve Wonder: No degree
Johnny Cash: No degree
Jimi Hendrix: No degree
Stevie Ray Vaughan: No degree, high school dropout.
Ray Charles: No degree
Prince: No degree
Bob Dylan: No degree
Taylor Swift: No degree
Justin Beiber: No degree
Usher: No degree
Rihanna: No degree
Lady Gaga: No degree

As you can see it doesn’t take a college degree to be a successful musician.

I am not against education. What I am against is the unnecessary education that are prerequisites at these high cost institutions.

Here is list of the music schools in the country plus tuition costs of 2014-2015 not including: room and board, books and supplies, and expenses.

Juilliard School: Tuition: $38,190 x 4 years = $152,760
Berklee School of Music: Tuition: $37,800 x 4 years = $151,200
USC: Tuition: $60,700 x 4 years = $242,800
Musicians Institute: Tuition: $20,250 x 4 years = $81,000
Boston University: Tuition: $47,422 x 4 years = $88,256
Cal State Long Beach: Tuition: $6,452 x 4 years = $25,808
Cal State LA: Tuition: $6,343 x 4 years = $25,372
Cal State Northridge: Tuition: $6,520 x 4 years = $26,080
New England Conservatory of Music: Tuition: $40,950 x 4 years = $183,800
Eastman School of Music: Tuition: $31,350 x 4 years = $125,400
Manhattan School of Music: Tuition: $37,250 x 4 years = $149,000

Even if you did have financial aid, they don’t cover everything unless you won a scholarship.

My story

I dropped out of Cerritos college and Fullerton college. The reason why is I took all the music classes that I needed in order to be self sufficient in a music environment.

In order to graduate and receive my associates degree I had to take theses unnecessary GE courses.

No, thanks! They’re not taking my money!

In my early twenties I applied to over 80 private music schools in the greater Los Angeles and Orange county area. My resume wasn’t that impressive and I still applied either way.

Out of 80 schools I remember receiving about 11 responses and out of those 11 responses I received 4 interviews and out of those 4 interviews I was accepted at 3 schools including Yamaha music school in Yorba Linda, Ca.

I turned one down due to distance.

It took a couple of years to build my students up to about 40. Plus auditioning and gigging that supplemented my income. I was raking in at about $35,000-$40,000 per year.

Not bad for someone with no college degree and bit of persistence.

Remember

 A, D major scale, Dbm7 chord, and alternate guitar picking, are taught the same way whether you’re at 4 year university, community college, local private instructor, book, and online.

Don’t be fooled by the masses. Protect your pocket book and your future.

I can’t name one well known successful musician that have stated their college degree was the secret to their success.

Inflation is kicking our pants, make sure you keep yours on.

Hope you enjoyed this new light and if you did please share it with friends.

Please let me know what your opinion is on the comment section below.

Peace

Roland