So Many Terrible Gigs...Creating a Professional Identity

It's simple really - as professional violinists, my fiancé and I have realized that many of us struggle tremendously when attempting to succeed in the music business. We spend our entire lives practicing and learning how to play our instruments, but no one ever once explains the business side of being a performer (despite the performer's ability level). For years, we performed so many terrible gigs, simply hoping that our clients would pay us well. So many musicians allow the terms to be dictated to them. We simply hoped that performance opportunities would fall into our laps and that these gigs would pay well...they never did. We wanted to be respected so badly...then we figured it out.

One day, we connected the dots. It's all about creating an image and thus a brand name! We took the plunge (not quite yet the ring at that point, much to the dismay of my then girlfriend), and we set up a respectable website for free. We figured, "Let's do this for as little money as possible." We even printed darn good-looking business cards and had our own logo. We even made ourselves as searchable on the web as much as possible by adding our information to every free posting site possible. We eventually started to make money, but we knew our business was destined for more.

We finally began to understand that risk was an absolute for succeeding in the performance business. We finally set up a website that we paid to have hosted and even had some professional photographs taken; our business cards were "pretty" as my fiancé explained. :)

Another HARSH reality - those who fear 'doing' love to criticize.
Many of those around us laughed at our attempts to project a professional image due to our age and the fact we were college students. Brushing aside these critics, we struggled and worked our hardest to create a successful business. In the end, we succeeded, much to the dismay of our critics. And, not to mention, our personal relationship blossomed as we learned how to work together as a team in many ways.

It is our hope that this blog will serve as a point of inspiration for musicians in the tough but rewarding music performance business. We will share our insights as we recall our, um, interesting past, which is filled with valuable mistakes...and our current experiences in the performance world as we make our mark.

Best,
J & M