Every City a Music City

He enrolled for both my courses...on the CRAFT and on the BUSINESS of songwriting. Every week he brought his guitar and another great song that he had just written. I knew he was a gifted singer-songwriter. But his day gig was selling high end real estate!

After he had "graduated" from my classes, we had lunch together. "So what am I supposed to do with all these songs I'm writing?" he asked. "I'm in the real estate business."

My next question: "So how's the real estate business these days?" His answer: "It pretty much sucks."

I'm thinking: THIS IS OPPORTUNITY...KNOCKING AT THE DOOR!

Long story short... I suggested that perhaps he could connect his real estate business -- selling multi million dollar homes -- with his gift for music. Result: This coming weekend we are holding a "mansion concert" in a $7 million model home with my student, the real estate guy, as the featured artist! And guess what! The gig is SOLD OUT! And...we have a waiting list!

I love stories like this because they illustrate a couple of basic points from my book, "How to Get Somewhere in the Music Business from Nowhere with Nothing." The points are that:

EVERY CITY IS A MUSIC CITY ...and that

YOU HAVE MORE CREDIBILITY WHERE YOU LIVE THAN IN SOME FAR-OFF MUSIC "CAPITOL."

Wherever you live, there are people who love music and whatever your business, you have contacts. You know people from your profession, and from your workouts at the gym. You have neighbors, friends, acquaintances and friends of acquaintances. These people are intrigued that their real estate guy...their patient...their friend, is also a singer-songwriter. You have CREDIBILITY! That's an asset that it takes years to develop and one that you will NOT have any time soon if you re-locate to a far-off "music city."

Credibility is usually linked to something that is totally unrelated to your music. Your day gig, another interest or talent, another hobby. Look for ways to "combine" your assets and therein create a new opportunity or market.

The "mansion concert" on Sunday proves that people still LOVE music and are eager to hear it done well. They really don't care anymore WHO is performing it. They would rather be up-close-and-personal with the artists than to be in the nosebleed section of a $100 ticketed event.

In December, my family and I attended a phenomenal performance of Handel's "Messiah," presented by the Dallas Bach Society...one of the most professional and superb music groups in the country. The performance was not held in the symphony center, but in a small church. We got so close to the soloists and the conductor that we could see their expressions as they performed the beautiful music. But I noticed from the programme that the Bach Society also does "house concerts." One evening they might be the aymphony hall...the next, in a home...then a church. This is all part of the 21st Century Music Paradigm.

Here's the Reality Check...1990 was TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO! Are you ahead of the wave or way behind it? Are you still looking for success somewhere else, or have you discovered that every city is a music city...and every open door a new collloseum?

To hear Grady Yates, the Real Estate Guy's Music Click Here:  http://www.myspace.com/gradyyates

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To order Mary Dawson's critically acclaimed book, "How to Get Somewhere in the Music Business from Nowhere with Nothing," click HERE  -- From Nowhere with Nothing (the book) -- http://www.fromnowherewithnothing.com

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