You might not have realized this when you first started your studies, but to embark on a career as a singer is to start your own business. That’s right, you, Microsoft, the corner deli, and Zappos have some things in common, and the sooner you begin to see what you do as a business, the happier and more successful you may become.
Unlike the vast majority of businesses, to be any type of creative artist means to be a self-employed entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, you need to divide your attention between several critical aspects of running a business. Here are the elements we’ll look at, with a note on what they mean to a musical career:
• Quality Control (music making at your highest artistic level)
• Customer Service (delivering what is expected of you)
• Sales (obtaining future work)
• Marketing (promoting yourself to various customer groups)
• Product Development (planning new projects that would interest future customers)
The rules for a business apply as much to an artistic project as to an individual, so it’s helpful to look at the career of a singer whose business by now is far more than a one-woman shop. Take, for example, a singer whom you might have heard of: the brand that is Renée Fleming. Her varied career stands as a case study in these basic components, and her canny choices can serve as inspiration, whether you’re managing your own solo career or thinking of starting an ensemble.
Quality Control
As far as singers are concerned, quality means that we are consistently performing as best as we possibly can. You can be savvy at networking and promotion, but if you are not honestly working to improve your technical abilities, your success will be limited. In a memorable moment in her 2005 autobiography The Inner Voice, Fleming describes her encounter with Leontyne Price, who had summoned Fleming to her home as the younger singer’s career was taking off.
“You’re experiencing the noise,” the venerable soprano declared, as Fleming recounts. “You have to learn to tune out the noise and focus on one thing.” And with that, Price tapped her throat. “This is all that matters. Because the minute this goes they’ll disappear so fast you won’t even know what happened.”
This advice came when Fleming was beginning to be flooded with requests for engagements and demands for press. We’re not all Renée Fleming, but we all have noise. Whether it’s the envy we may feel for other singers, the stresses that can come with success, or just the demands of making a living or finishing school—any number of things can distract us from doing what’s best for our voice. Add to that the love-hate relationship we can develop with our voices and the profession, and it’s a wonder there are so many good singers in the world. So, every day choose to make space for your practice and continually assess your instructional team to ensure that you are making the progress you need.
Customer Service
As singers, who are our customers? The people who pay to hear us sing, of course, but also anyone who invests part of their success into our own. Your teacher should be committed to your progress, and she should be able to expect a similar commitment from you. Arriving on time and prepared for auditions and gigs is the business equivalent of opening up your bagel shop every day on schedule with bagels baked and ready to sell. In other words, it’s the minimum requirement of our jobs.
In her book, Fleming describes how her anxieties got in the way of performing her best: a bad case of nerves thwarting an audition or insecurities about her success making her feel shaky during an interview. What stumbling blocks do you create that keep you from delivering your best? Sometimes fear of success or deep insecurities about our work can hold us back. If you notice your own patterns that you feel are holding you back, it can be helpful to write them down and think about the root causes.
Sales
“Between coordinating my opera and recital calendar, making and promoting recordings, and supporting my engagements in new cities with press interviews, I often feel as if I’m the chairman of the board of Renée Fleming, Inc.,” the diva writes. Very true. And while it may seem that one of the world’s most recognized singers wouldn’t have to chase gigs, everything she does has to work toward keeping her calendar full. If you are fortunate to be flooded with work, make sure you stay in the habit of finding more things to do. For some of us this means auditioning; for others it means keeping our networks informed of our successes.
What are we selling? Our reputation for a quality product, excellent customer service, and a charismatic brand. While this may sound impersonal, it can also be liberating. If we separate the public aspects of what we do from who we are as people, less of our identities are wrapped up in our business, and we can run our careers at a lower emotional cost.
Marketing
You have to hand it to Fleming in this department. Think of just some of the things she has done to create new audiences for herself or increase her visibility with customers (ticket and CD buyers) who already know her name. Opera lovers dine at Daniel Boulud’s restaurants, where he named a dessert after her in 1999. Aspiring singers and fans who already have her CDs will buy her book. Her 2010 CD Dark Hope, featuring indie rock covers, won’t land her a new opera role, but it keeps the buzz going and opens the door to new markets. To each customer base she presents a slightly different facet of herself—but all activities serve to grow the Renée Fleming brand, ensuring broad demand for future performances and other creative projects.
What is notable about her marketing strategy is that it seems to stem from who she is, or at least the image she is most comfortable projecting (and I’m guessing she has a team of marketers to advise her on each project). If the people’s diva wanted to shed all the glamour and be the opera singer who wears baggy jeans and romps around with kids, she could pull it off. Think about where your personality lies and what aspects of yourself make you unique and interesting to the public.
Product Development
Would you shop at the Gap if they never changed what they sold? It’s so easy for us to get stuck in a rut with the pieces we sing, whether they are roles or audition arias. If you’re feeling a bit stalled artistically, think about what your current strengths are as a performer, brainstorm music or projects you would like to undertake, and draft a plan to get there. Once you set a goal, it is easier to identify the resources you need to achieve it.
As for Fleming, she has the luxury of adding repertoire and taking on projects that interest her, and she does so in a way that broadens her career. She interviews singers during the Met broadcasts, and she is in the middle of a five-year term as the first Creative Consultant at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She’ll get to sing in this position while also mentoring other singers and strengthening the Chicago cultural life overall. How can you use your strengths to expand your creative activities and perhaps enrich your community while you do so?
It’s tough to be an entrepreneur. But if you look around, you’ll realize that the path has been taken many times before. While no two singers will lead identical careers, examine what your role models have done and interpret their business plans for yourself.
