Liner Notes: Harmony in Hustle – How to Blend Your Creative and Business Brains

If a song is played in a forest, but no one is nearby to hear it, does it make a sound?

This question is adapted from a famous philosophical thought experiment that begins, “If a tree falls in a forest…?”

Reading time: 7 minutes 👓

Making art is a rewarding pursuit, but if only the artist can appreciate it, the artist’s work is only half done. No song will ever be heard or appreciated without some marketing effort, that was supported by a sales effort, that was underpinned by sound business practices. Even if you can afford to delegate all the marketing, sales, and business aspects of getting your music into the world, you must oversee and understand the business of your art.

Many artists and musicians see business acumen as directly conflicting with their art. The truth is that only bad or poorly executed business decisions are in direct conflict with music and art.

Balancing your creative pursuits with business acumen should align with your incentives and the motivation behind your music, popularly known as “your why.” Knowing why you’re making music in the first place and why you would want to share it with the world is an excellent place to start.

But what about balancing both creative and business-minded aspects of music and art? One need only look at the history of popular music to find stories about what happens when artists focus solely on the creative act while ignoring the business side of life. So yes, this balancing act is not only good, it's essential to a thriving artistic endeavor and career.

There’s no magic trick to balancing creative pursuits and business. It all comes down to discipline, routine, and focus. In part one of this series, I wrote about the art of focus achieved through mindfulness. Focus and mindfulness will deliver you to the promised land of balance between creative pursuits and business acumen.

While there are no magic tricks, there are strategies you can use to achieve a balance between creative and business mindsets. Here’s a list of the basics.

Use your calendar and remember, if it’s not on your calendar, it didn’t (doesn’t) happen.
Create to-do lists for quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. Keep those lists open and easily accessible. You’ll need them on occasion to refocus.
Budget your time according to needs and interests. Think about the time you need for each part of your musical pursuits.

Example categories include:

Songwriting and recording
Performing and touring
Merchandising
Social media & email marketing
Branding and design
Public relations
And more…

The question is, how much time should you devote to each category to meet your goals?

The Duality of Creative and Business Mindsets: Challenges and Rewards

The duality of being both creative and business-minded can be challenging and often feels like a conflict of competing interests. Many musicians find themselves torn between the desire to create freely and the necessity of managing their career as a business. Here are some of the ways this tension can manifest.

Time management struggle of balancing time spent on creative pursuits versus business tasks
Mental energy depletion that comes from switching between creative and analytical thinking
Identity conflicts can occur when the business side of music feels like a compromise of artistic integrity
Skill set gaps caused by the difference in skill requirements for business versus those used for music creation

However challenging this duality can be, there’s great potential for unique and significant rewards. Here are examples.

Career control:

By developing business acumen, artists gain more control over their career trajectory and decision-making.

Financial stability:

Understanding the business side of music can lead to better financial management and more sustainable income.

Creative freedom:

Paradoxically, business success can lead to more resources and freedom for creative pursuits.

Personal growth:

Learning and applying business skills can be intellectually stimulating and confidence-boosting.

Industry insights:

Business knowledge can inform creative decisions that lead to more marketable music without sacrificing artistic vision.

Networking opportunities:

Business skills often lead to better networking, opening doors for collaborations and career advancement.

It may feel like a tug-of-war at times, but the synergy between creative and business mindsets can be a powerful driver of success. By honing these contrasting skills, you can advance your career and acquire the skill sets of a well-rounded music industry professional. The reward lies not just in achieving your dreams and goals, but in the personal and professional growth you experience.

Remember, some of the most successful and respected musicians in history have managed to strike this balance, proving that artistic integrity and business savvy can go hand in hand.

Identifying Creative and Business Modes

Understanding the distinct characteristics of creative and business mindsets is helpful for effectively managing both aspects of your music career.

A creative mindset consists of the following.
Open-ended thinking and brainstorming
Experimentation and risk-taking
Emotional expression and intuition
Focus on artistic vision and originality
Embrace of ambiguity and uncertainty

Here are the basic elements of a business mindset.

Strategic planning and goal-setting
Analytical thinking and problem-solving
Focus on metrics and results
Structured approach to tasks
Risk assessment and mitigation

Recognizing which mode you’re in will help you allocate appropriate time and energy to tasks while enabling you to set realistic expectations for outcomes. It also allows for more effective switching between modes, and recognizing which mode you’re in can help prevent creative burnout and or business neglect.

Consciously identifying your current mindset can maximize productivity in creative and business pursuits and lead to balance and success.

Strategies for Switching Between Mindsets

Time blocking: Allocating specific times for creative work and business tasks

Scheduling your days and weeks for specific creative work and business tasks is the key to successful time management. An important part of time allocation is estimating how much time various projects and tasks require. Then it’s all calendar baby. 📆

Include white space between scheduled creative work, business tasks, and appointments. White space is a placeholder in your schedule that will allow you to catch your breath, deal with the unexpected, or finish the task that needs more time than you allotted.

Separately schedule time for strategic thinking and daydreaming (or doing nothing). We need time to decompress and access the higher cognitive functions responsible for critical and creative thinking.

Creating physical or mental spaces for each mode

Using distinct environments for creative and business work can enhance your ability to switch between mindsets.

Physical Spaces

Designate separate areas for creative work versus business tasks. For example, use your studio or practice space to make music. Use your home office or other specific space for administrative work, and use different devices for creative and business tasks if possible.

Visual Cues

Helpful visual cues could be different lighting and decor. These cues will subconsciously serve to signal different modes.

Mental Spaces

Develop and use rituals to enter each mindset. For example, you could use meditation before creative work and a review of goals before business tasks.

Use specific playlists or background sounds for each mode. You can even adopt different postures or seating arrangements to get yourself into the right frame of mind.

These tactics will help reduce mental clutter and distractions and train your brain to associate specific environments with thinking modes and tasks. These tactics will also make transitions between creative and business work more seamless and thus support your creative and business efforts.

Maintaining Creativity While Handling Business

Tips for preventing business concerns from stifling creativity

Here are some suggested tips for preventing business concerns from stifling creativity.

Set boundaries for creative time and turn off business-related (and preferably all) notifications
Practice mindfulness techniques, such as meditation or breathing exercises to clear your mind before creative sessions, and learn to acknowledge business and other non-creative thoughts without dwelling on them.
Use a “worry journal” to jot down business concerns that arise during creative time. Set these concerns aside to address later. This will help you better focus on creativity.

Re-frame business as fuel for creativity

View financial success as a means to fund more creative projects and think of business challenges as inspiration for artistic expression.

Schedule regular creative exercises

Engage in daily or weekly creativity-boosting activities such as free writing, random word prompts, cover song deconstruction, and improvisation.

These exercises can help keep your creative skills sharp, introduce new ideas to your work, and provide a playful, pressure-free way to engage with music regularly. The key is consistency. Try to incorporate at least one of these exercises into your routine regularly.

Limit consumption of industry and non-industry news

Set specific times to catch up on business news. I recommend reading or listening to podcasts for local and world news, rather than watching on TV or social media streams and recordings.

Avoid constantly checking stats and phone notifications. Phones can be the mind-numbing enemy of creativity.

Embrace imperfection in your creative process

Remember that not everything you write will be commercially viable. Allow yourself to create without judgment or business pressure. Listen to recordings that predate click tracks and digital technology. Enjoy and note the beauty of mistakes.

These strategies can create a mental and physical environment that allows your creativity to flourish, even as you manage the necessary business aspects of your music career.

Using business insights to fuel creative direction

Business insights can fuel your creative direction when used to blend your artistic vision with market awareness. Here are some examples.

Audience feedback as inspiration

Analyze listener comments and reviews for themes or emotions that resonate and use these insights to explore new lyrical topics or musical styles.

Trending sounds and production techniques

Stay informed about popular production styles in your genre. Experiment with incorporating these elements into your unique sound.

Data-driven creative decisions

Use streaming analytics to identify your most popular songs. Analyze and contemplate what makes these tracks successful. Consider those elements in new songs.

Collaboration opportunities

Use networking insights to identify potential collaborators and allow these partnerships to inspire new creative directions.

Platform-specific content creation

Understand the formats best suited for different platforms and create music or content tailored to the strengths of these platforms.

Genre-blending based on market trends

Identify growing cross-genre trends in the industry. Experiment with blending elements from these genres into your music.

Live performance insights

Record and review your performances to note which songs or moments got the best crowd reaction. Use this information to shape set lists or inspire new material

Seasonal and cultural trends

Be aware of seasonal patterns in music consumption to create content that aligns with cultural moments or seasons.

Sync licensing opportunities

Understand what types of music are in demand for TV, film, and advertising. Create pieces that could fit these needs while maintaining your artistic integrity.

Merchandise-inspired creativity

Consider visual themes or lyrics that could translate well to merchandise. Let these ideas influence your musical or visual artistic direction.

No compromise of artistic vision

You need not compromise your artistic vision by chasing trends and analytics but can find ways to make informed creative choices that potentially resonate with a wider audience. By blending business insights with your creative process, you can create music that’s both artistically fulfilling and commercially viable.

To be continued...

Watch your inbox for the next installment of this Liner Notes email series. I'll delve into more practical aspects, starting with revenue streams and moving into specific tools, case studies, and action steps.

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