Who Are Your People?
As I was putting together the graphic for this week’s composer quote, I realized that these words are the bedrock of success in the music industry.
It seems so simple…you need people. Got it.
When I was younger, I used to interpret the familiar phrase, “it’s all who you know,” as some sort of directive. It gave me a clear plan for moving forward:
Step 1: Find the big shots (somehow)
Step 2: Get my music and writing into their hands (somehow)
Step 3: Be rich and famous (somehow)
In retrospect, of course this sounds silly. But I think that—if we are honest with ourselves—there is some part of us that’s still a teenager and still thinks this is how it’s done.
But it’s not. That’s what we call “magical thinking,” meaning that we tend to link a cause and an outcome together that have absolutely no basis in fact. Sometimes it looks like superstition, and at others it seems like bargaining. We all know bargaining: “If I can just land this one placement, I’ll never procrastinate again!”
A great example of magical thinking is “if I write 52 cues per year, I will be successful.”
Wait. What?
Isn’t that our whole thing here at 52 Cues?
Yes…and no.
The first part of success in the music industry is definitely working on your craft, producing cues of higher and higher quality. The process of working that has fringe benefits, too! We get faster at putting cues together. We know our sample libraries better. We formulate templates that work for us rather than creating the wheel over and over again.
The second part of success is relationships. That’s the “who you know” part of the equation. It’s not about finding the big shots and convincing them that you’re awesome (of course, you are!), but it’s about finding connection with real people and seeing what kind of creativity sparks from that connection.
So Marsalis actually gives us three types of people we need:
You need a team. Your team of people is ideally those who believe in you, care about your success, and who are willing to tell you the truth—even if you don’t want to hear it—because they are invested in you.
You need people to push you. We can all become complacent when we’re detached from people around us, sitting alone in our composing nooks without a lot of input. We need mentors, educators, and peers who will push us toward excellence. There’s always someone who knows more than you do (sorry, that’s just a fact!). Find those people and listen to what they have to say.
You need opponents. Opponents sharpen us by providing competition, friction, and something to aim for. This doesn’t mean we’re tearing each other down to be successful at all costs. But we need that friction to knock away all the rough parts of us, and refine our talent and craft.
So: who are your people? Do you have a team of folks to support you? Do you have people who will push you to do better? Do you have opponents that provide you with healthy competition?
If not, maybe it’s time to start building those relationships.
Peace and productivity,
Shannon Kropf