Do you - your motto for success in music

About a month ago, I down­loaded the Rus­sell Sim­mons audio book Do You: The 12 Laws To Access The Power in You To Achieve Hap­pi­ness and Suc­cess.  I’m not crazy about some of his per­sonal and polit­i­cal beliefs, how­ever I will say this: when it comes to music — and par­tic­u­larly mer­chan­dis­ing and brand­ing (end result: mak­ing money), Rus­sell Sim­mons knows how to DO YOU.

The com­pe­ti­tion is fierce, no doubt. “Being you” is often a con­tra­dic­tion to the “for­mula” mind­set that record com­pa­nies embrace. It can be tempt­ing to change what you do in terms of your music, your band, and your image if you don’t see imme­di­ate results.

The key to your suc­cess is in your own unique­ness. The music lis­ten­ing pub­lic aren’t naive and being some­one you’re not will ulti­mately back­fire on you. Sim­mons men­tions that “any kind last­ing change is rooted in hon­esty. If peo­ple think you are being authen­tic, they are going to sup­port you. If they think you are fraud­u­lent, then your success…is going to be very fleeting.”

Under­stand that being you isn’t just about your music. To be truly rel­e­vant and get the edge, it is essen­tial to under­stand that you are sell­ing the pack­age. The music, your demeanor, the way you look etc. – it ulti­mately adds up to how you are per­ceived. Don’t spin it. Keep it real. You can win the trust of oth­ers, but when you lose it, it’s over.

Never change for the main­stream. Stay in your lane. If you are tal­ented and resilient enough, the main­stream will come to you. –Rus­sell Simmons

A good exam­ple of doing you, is Amer­i­can Idol and Chris Daugh­try. Daugh­try didn’t change and stayed true to what he did best – an edgy rock singer. He didn’t win, but who cares? Daugh­try clearly stood out as an musi­cal artist, and not just as an over-hyped, karaoke singer. It was he who paved the way for David Cook and Adam Lambert.

To fur­ther my point, Daugh­try turned down an offer to sing for the band Fuel and instead opted to put together his own band. When his debut CD was released in Novem­ber of 2006 the whole world saw that Daugh­try was a bona fide record­ing artist, song­writer and musi­cian. He was for real.

Tay­lor Hicks ini­tially tried to estab­lish him­self on that level, but it didn’t work. He has since revamped his strat­egy and it’s prov­ing to be a win­ner. Love or hate him, one thing holds true: He is suc­ceed­ing now, because he focuses on what he does best. He may not be the mass-appeal record­ing artist Daugh­try is, but the major­ity of bands and music artists don’t fit that model. As a result, many careers sink because their focus is in the wrong place.

Cur­rently Hicks is tour­ing nation­ally with Grease, play­ing the part of Teen Angel. In 2008, Hicks made the Top Ten Earn­ing Amer­i­can Idol Stars list with over $300,000 earned from album sales and his role in Grease. Not a bad liv­ing for doing some­thing you love. To me, that is success.

Have faith in what you do and stand your ground. Your goal is to have a last­ing career with­out chang­ing what you do best. Ulti­mately, this is what will win you a legion of fans.

This video has a busi­ness slant to it, but even so, it has some great info from a music mogul on what it takes to be successful.

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