Most Music Industry Books Aren’t Worth Reading

This episode of the IAMN: I Am Northbound podcast is brought to you by The 4D Songwriter: How to Dominate the New Music Industry. Get your copy of this game-changing book at the4dsongwriter.com.

Episode Summary

In episode #23 of IAMN: I am Northbound, Jayson talks about;

Why most music industry books aren’t worth reading, the perfect Instagram bio and if you are really making progress toward your music goals.

Most Music Industry Books Aren’t Worth Reading

In this segment of IAMN: I Am Northbound, I give you my five reasons as to why most books on the new industry aren’t worth your time. And trust me, I’ve read them… My office is full of books, my inbox is full of lead magnets and my kindle is full of the books that are only available digitally! I almost always see five reasons why these books aren’t worth your time.

Overview

So, I’ve read a lot of books on the music industry. A LOT.

Mostly in my research for when I wrote mine — I wanted to make sure that mine was everything that these other books weren’t.

And I noticed they all seem to fall to the five reasons that make them not worth your time;

1. They’re a lead magnet: These types of ‘authors’ will write a bare-minimum PDF with a flashy title to get your email address so they can sell you more stuff.

2. Their ideas are too basic: Because a lot of people haven’t yet figured out the new music industry, their advice is too basic. I’ve read many books say things like ‘Make sure you tell your friends and family to share your album when it’s out’ as an ‘actionable piece of advice’! Hilarious

3. They quickly become dated: Any book that gives you ‘how-to’ advice that is specific to the current industry will become dated super quickly (sometimes before it even comes out!). The online world moves too quickly.

4. They don’t tell the full story: A lot of books on the music industry are designed to give you 10% of the value and then sell you on why you should buy the other 90%. These purchases will usually leave you disappointed because you’ll feel short changed. Understandably so!

5. They contain too much fluff: A lot of books on the music industry don’t have a lot to say (especially if they’re trying to sell you on a future course or program), so they usually contain a lot of fluff. One book contained 43% of fluff before it actually got to any value!

I kept all of these points in mind when writing The 4D Songwriter, and I am proud to say that it contains everything any music artist needs to know to dominate the new music industry — no fluff, it won’t date, it tells the full story.

Let’s Fix that Instagram Bio

In this segment of IAMN: I Am Northbound, I tell you the mistakes that most music artists are making with their Instagram bio. It may seem like it’s not a big deal, but it really is — Whether someone new ends up following you or not ultimately comes down to whether your bio is set correctly, so you must ensure it is as close to perfect as possible.

Overview

I notice that a lot of music artists are making mistakes with their Instagram bio and are not understanding how important it really is.

First of all, let’s discuss your bios importance:

If a new listener (and potential fan) comes to your profile, they are looking at two things:

First, they’ll look at your bio. They want to see exactly what makes you different from everyone else — and most importantly, why they should follow.

Second, they’ll look at your content. This also needs to be perfectly representative of your music, but that’s a topic for another video.

Some music artists put way too much in their bio. Yes, Instagram gives you a ton of space to put stuff, but that doesn’t mean you should fill it — once it gets full, a user will have to ‘tap to see more’, which you don’t want them to have to do. Your bio should perfectly communicate who you are, what you do and what is in it for your listeners without them needing to press any buttons to understand it.

Keep your bio clear and straight to the point. You want it to clearly communicate everything that needs to be said.

Most music artists are getting that part right — their bio will be clean and easy to read. The issue is that they are writing from the entirely wrong perspective!

Saying things like ’22. New York. Good Vibes Only.’ may be short and trendy, but think of a listener finding that content… what is in it for them? There’s not much in that bio that will make people want to follow.

I’ve spent years refining my bio and have found that a short sentence that both establishes what I am about and also what I can do for the person browsing my profile has been the reason I’ve been able to grow.

“I help music artists change the world.”

That will tell any music artist browsing my profile that they will be making a good decision by choosing to follow me!

So the question is, how can you sum up your entire operation to show how you’ll provide value to your listeners?

Are You Moving Toward Your Music Dreams?

In this segment, I want to ask you the question; ‘Are you moving toward your music dreams?’. A lot of artists will say they are, but when I ask them to tell me how they are taking daily, actionable steps toward their music goals, they realise that they might not be. Whether this segment is a wakeup call or just to provide guidance, I hope it helps you move closer toward your biggest music dreams.

Overview

Well… are you?

I work with a lot of music artists that say that they feel as though they are spinning their wheels and making no real progress forward toward their music dreams.

When I ask them this question, their answer is usually ‘Yes’.

But, when I ask them how they are taking daily actionable steps toward their music goals, they’ll usually pause for a moment, before saying, ‘Oh. Maybe not then.’

It’s quite easy to get caught up in thinking that you’re achieving nothing with your music goals, while only waiting for something to move forward.

Your goals won’t achieve themselves!

You must do something every single day that helps you take a step forward toward whatever goal (or goals) you have.

Every night you should be able to think about and identify the exact thing you did that day that will be responsible for you moving forward. This will also allow you to shape your approach to tomorrows ‘step’, based on the potential outcomes of the step you made today.

Jerry Seinfeld said his way of completing tasks was to buy a wall calendar (the kind you can get at any cheap shop) and put it somewhere you will see it often and have free time (People joke that the toilet is the best location).

Keep a sharpie marker beside it and cross each day off with a big black cross once you’ve completed your ‘step forward’ task that will help you with your music career.

When you first start, promise yourself that you will complete two full weeks in a row.

Then, it becomes all about keeping that chain of Xs alive — I’m sure you won’t want to break that perfect streak you have going.

The more you do, the easier it gets and the more momentum you’ll gain toward your biggest music dreams.

You can watch this episode above or on IGTV.

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