By Mark Stoddard, author of Marketing Singers, a business and marketing guidebook written specifically for singers.
As you go about your business of singing, and seek to understand from others the principles of success, I hope you’ll keep a few things in mind.
All those who write on this blog seek to convey ideas we’ve learned and lessons others have learned. The ultimate objective is so that as you deal with this singing business you can keep from making our mistakes and build upon the things that have worked. It makes no sense that all of us should replicate each other’s mistakes.
It is wise to give all viewpoints careful consideration, but don’t take any of us as the ultimate authority because there is no such authority. I consider many who advise singers to have very narrow views and some are too sharkish. They in turn consider my views on helping singers market themselves as being naïve and grossly outside of reality. Who is right? Neither and both to a degree.
Confusing? If you were looking for precise answers then you should go into accounting or engineering. The business of singing is both art and science and you’d better be able to walk and chew gum if you’re going to make it in any business.
Rather than seeking who has the right answer, absorb the information and keep all of it. At some point in your career you may find that one person’s view will help you the most. At another point another one of the opinions you read here may be more relevant.
One thing we believe you can count on is only the 10+ commandments were handed down from Mr. Sinai or recorded elsewhere from a perfect source. Everything else you hear in business depends greatly upon the circumstances and your level of experience. Holding on to one view point and staunchly defending it can ruin you.
Ethics and morality belong in the Mt. Sinai classification and ought to be of prime importance to you. While I worked in the USSR/Russia it became clear that communism is a “morality” system, meaning, it told you what the morality was and you had to follow it. Free enterprise is an “amoral” system, meaning it expect YOU to bring the morality to the game. Free enterprise doesn’t work where people are without morals. Business is based upon trust in the most finite circumstances – if one has to hold onto the money until the product is delivered and the other must hold the product until the money arrives, you soon have a total breakdown of commerce. No contract can predict all circumstances. Goodwill is based upon trust and trust makes the engine run. So from just a purely self-serving perspective you ought to maintain high ethics and only do business with people on a similar ethical plain. I’d urge you to be ethical for more divine reasons as well. Character counts.
As we teach you we expect you to question us and make us prove our assumptions as best we can. We expect to require you to also support and prove your conclusions. The best learning takes place as you explore and come to conclusions based upon determined inquiry, ever willing to adjust your conclusions based upon the newest influx of information. A firm grasp of character will allow you to shift your viewpoint without losing your ethics.
Mark Stoddard, author of Marketings Singers, is a business leader, professor, marketer and consultant who has been helping singers get jobs for more than 20 years. On the singing front he staged more than 100 professional shows aboard cruise ships that employed classical singers, pianists and strings. He’s also coached singers on how to sell their CDs and other products, use the social media and how to negotiate contracts. Email Mark at mark@mjstoddard.com.
