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This was a thoroughly enjoyable conversation podcast interview, with David Hooper, a musician turned music marketer.
David, born in Nashville, has been involved in the music industry on some level for his entire life.
Although he started out performing music, it soon became apparent David’s true talents lied in the realm of music marketing.
David became very proficient promoting his own gigs using street marketing and direct response advertising. This in turn led to roles teaching others how to promote their music, consulting and eventually writing a book called the “Six Figure Musician“.
Can Creative People Give Away Their Work And Still Make Money?
Much of this interview focused on the idea of giving away your creative output – your music, or writing, or whatever it is you do – for free, and how that can lead to making an income.
I asked David in an era when music is mostly free, available on podcasts and YouTube to consume on mobiles whenever we want to, how can a musician make a living, or even more – six figures a year?
I was interested to hear his answer because as a writer, I am keen to hear how we might also give away all our writing in blog posts and free reports, and even possibly give away our training courses, and yet make a profit.
David’s answer focuses very much on ancillary opportunities that become available to you, once your music or your writing gets you exposure. Things like becoming a paid speaker, or paid to do gigs as a musician, or selling merchandise, or getting hired as a consultant.
There is an interesting topic and as a creative I just know you will love this interview. Go listen to it now. Of course, it is free.
What We Covered During The Interview
Here’s what we talked about during the interview –
- David talks about his background growing up in Nashville and what his original aspirations as a musician were.
- We discuss how he became a music marketer for himself, then a consultant/teacher for other musicians
- We dive into the big discussion of how the music industry has changed and what that means for people today who are trying to make a living from their music
- David shares plenty of examples from music artists who are making a living from their music but not predominately from sales of the music
- I ask David how he personally can make a living if he gives away his book, especially if he wants to make money beyond getting paid for services like consulting and speaking
This is a great podcast for any person who is creative and trying to make a living from their creativity, in a world where everything is free online.
Enjoy and stay musical!
Yaro Starak
EJ Podcast
Relevant Links Mentioned in this Interview
- Seth Godin
- Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans
- Six-Figure Musician (Book)
- iTunes radio
- Pandora
- Spotify
- CD Baby
Where to Find David Online
[ Download MP3 |Transcript | iTunes | Soundcloud | Raw RSS ]
Yaro – Thanks for the opportunity to be part of this!
You are welcome David, thanks for the great conversation.
Yaro
I think it’s not just the fact that music is “free” (since people have been bootlegging songs since time immemorial). It’s also the fact that big media advertising machines like MTV, radio stations or even YouTube tend to dictate a lot on what is popular or what would actually generate a lot of money.
Although I do agree that using the newly available online marketing tools can be powerful, one of the main reasons why they are is because they precisely are independent of the big media machines – or at least they used to be. Example again is YouTube which is slowly becoming the new MTV.
Yennan –
A couple of things…
1. Yes, people have pirated music for years, but only recently has it become so easy to do so with such great quality. The solution to that is to make it easier to buy than steal, which I think services like Spotify are doing a great job of.
2. MTV reached a lot of people because it was the only music video channel that mattered, but had a problem with limited space. Even when they were playing videos, they didn’t have more than a couple dozen going at any one time, much like a radio station does.
As you’ve pointed out, YouTube is reaching a lot of people, but even with the “featured videos” or whatever they do to push content, it’s still not as good for the people featured as MTV was when it was the only game in town. This is much better for people watching videos though since we can get what we want when we want it.
Hi Yaro & David –
I really enjoyed the podcast. I’m in the process of setting up a blog and am facing the same kind of issues as to what will be my lead access point, i.e. angle or topic of the blog, and how will all the other artistic sides of my personality be presented to people as an offshoot of the lead angle, which in my case will be self promoting your book.
I was a singer/songwriter in L.A. and come from that background, but transferred my “art” to book writing and a couple pretty successful books where I had to do all my own PR.
Like you say, Yaro, I knew nothing about this but learned, and I got booked on radio and TV shows around the country including an NPR special for each book. All this from a nobody, and that is the lead-in for my blog, that newbie authors can do this if I could do it, and here’s how.
Yaro, I have been following you for a while now and initially was drawn to your site via your information. But your info style morphed into your personality, and by revealing yourself and making yourself vulnerable, hit a very profound connection with me.
If something happened to you or you sold Entrepreneurs-Journey, it would – for my anyway – remain just a mass of information. Valuable? Yes! But I have to say that for me – even thought I do come for the blogging info – I’ve become very impressed by you as a human being. You’re helping me in more psychological ways now (by sharing your panic attack stories, etc.) and I’m certain there are many others.
One of my writing flaws is being long-winded, so I apologize for the lengthy post. May you and David have a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Hi David,
Thanks for your kind words about my work here on EJ. It sounds like you are still evolving the core message you want to present as an entry point to your audience. Even though I have been blogging for eight years I still refine this for myself, which I think it something you have to do as markets get more crowded. The clearer your USP the better!
Yaro
David and Yaro,
I just came across this podcast and really enjoyed it as well as learning so much. I am a singer songwriter, musician, producer, engineer, and entrepreneur who also owns a thriving production company. I’m always open to learning and expanding on my knowledge. I am going to order David’s book this weekend.
Cheers,
Dan McCarthy