Here’s another cliché text about hearing “no” in your music career.
Here’s another cliché text about listening to the word no.
You’ve probably read or heard somewhere about the importance of hearing no in your music career, right? And how it strengthens you every day, transforming you into a more mature, strategic, and in a way, a more complete artist. Well, here’s another cliché text for you, my musician friend, producer, band, DJ, industry professional, and all those who somehow relate.
It’s not about you; understand that. If a record label rejected your music, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad product. There are countless reasons for this to happen, and we can one day dissect them all, of course. Let’s try to be practical today, okay? A company needs to make money. A manager needs to prove that a product will yield returns. Among other reasons, which often may not align with your offer. You can’t forget that music is a business. Don’t be sad. If you haven’t been accepted yet, it may be that you’re offering your product in the wrong place. Can you imagine a butcher insisting on selling meat to vegans? Exactly, understand your offer, create demand, and make your proposal in the right place.
It’s not a persecution; take care of your mind. You’re not being rejected because the market doesn’t like you. You don’t have a few followers because your music is bad. You don’t have few listeners because you deliver low-quality music. Ok, all right. It may be that you are, let’s be honest here. Now, back to reality, come here. Once again, it’s business, and besides talking about business, we need to talk about people. Feelings; Ideas; Purposes; Dreams. Behind every offer, there’s the musician, the art, but don’t forget that behind that industry professional, there’s also a human being. You may have caught them on a bad day. Are you seriously going to give up because of an automatic rejection email? You’re stronger than that.
Music is money; repeat that always. Regardless of your delivery and what you seek with your art, we need to make this clearer and clearer. Music is money, even if you don’t care about it. Even the coolest artists who don’t care about it continue to make tens of millions and millions and millions. Because even the wrong works. Even the wrong is hype. Different is cool; everything makes sense in music, as long as it sells. As long as it generates profit. Opportunities, jobs, and it keeps the scene progressing and evolving in all its spheres. So keep going even when you hear this no you’re hearing. Stop and think about how many innovative artists the scene rejected until they became global names? Insist on the mistake. Believe in yourself.
Respect the process; everything in its time. The universe doesn’t make mistakes. You don’t need to be mystical or any other adjective that defines you to believe that your time will come. What matters in this no you’re hearing today is for you to understand and respect your process. The moment you find yourself in your career, and yes, it may often seem like you’ve been going around in circles for a long time. I know it’s hard, but don’t forget that you’re not alone, and like you, we are thousands. An infinity of dreamers, music lovers, and it, my dear, is selfish. It will demand a lot from you and give you little. For a long time. Seriously, you know? It’s just that later on, life gives back. If you have quality, technique, do good, are good, believe me, it will happen. Only one person needs to say yes to you. That person is yourself. The yes needs to come from you.
All the best, Paulo Cani.
