Welcome to 2024, musicians. At some point it was inevitable that we realize that no longer is it only our job to excel at our instrument(s), be personable to fans and easy to work with for bands and venues. No more focusing on our gear, our licks, our stage or recording setup, our musicianship fundamentals. It’s not just keeping your vehicle running and your weekend/evening hours clear of personal commitment for those last-minute gigs or lesson opportunities. 

Now we’re also content creators, website builders, masters of social media algorithms. Editing video, audio, creating brand continuity across online platforms as we not only develop and hone our personal sound and brand, but also deliver that to the world so they know we exist. For the chronically underpaid in the arts world, the social media/Very Online offerings from the internet are our equivalent of the lottery. We all at least know of a musician who has really hit it big because they posted a TikTok every day for a year. Or they went live every week for 18 months. Or their course got noticed on YouTube and they suddenly have that big YouTube check every month, plus 1000 people in their Patreon paying them $7 a month for behind-the-scenes content.

I confess that I don’t hate the content creating time, and I’ve been through quite a few of the courses and 3-day webinars and everything else that’s screaming for my attention online. But- there’s no magic formula, no matter what they tell you. You can be consistent and still make only small waves. You can pop in for a few days of posting and grab a bunch of students/gigs, or whatever you’re looking for. One thing I promise you- the musicians in your life are tired, broke, and wondering if we even have a future in this online, AI powered world. But we still want to play, to teach, to share what we have with the world, and we have to keep believing that our audience is out there.

Check on your musician friends and remember that supporting us is as easy as a social media share, or a tag in your content, or telling your friends or local venue about us. We appreciate that kind of support the most- tips are great but exposing us to a new group of people who like our music or want our instruction goes even further. As we’ve said for years- we’re grateful you’re all out there, cause otherwise we’d just be playing for ourselves.