Friends and readers, here is my latest report.

It’s a hand-written report. I wrote it when I was bored at a conference and had some inspiration. I haven’t had the time to sit down to type and structure it out – but I will do that at some point because I don’t like my handwriting as much. Just not sure when, so I thought I’d get it out to you as soon as possible. I wrote it in one sitting so there may be some grammar errors too.

Forget all about that – read it, live it and take action. I wrote it to inspire and teach you about some important insights into the business of music in today’s internet age. That’s how you will get the most and best results.

This report is for musicians, music artists, music entrepreneurs, instrumentalists, vocalists, songwriters, singers, music managers, music executives. Anybody interested in succeeding in the music business.

Click here to download the report:

“10 Biggest Music Business Lessons Learned” – hand-written by Kavit Haria

UPDATE 19/5/09: We’ve managed to quickly type this report up as some of you had trouble reading my handwriting. Click here to download the 10 biggest lessons report

Like it? Is it helpful? If so, I have two simple requests:

1) Let me know. Share your feedback in the comments section.

2) Help spread the word. Pass this along to the entire universe. OK, maybe not the whole universe, but you know… all of your musician friends would be good.

About the Author

Kavit Haria

adminKavit Haria is the founder of InsiderMusicBusiness.com. He writes and speaks on the topics of music promotion, music business strategy and music entrepreneurship. He's also a Tabla player.

12 Responses to “10 Biggest Music Business Lessons Learned”

  1. Very nice- just finished the pdf.
    I like the hand-written touch- however some of the words were pretty hard to distinguish, not gonna lie. lol.

    Still, I thank you for the information and it looks like you brushed over a lot of the information on your last video post I seen.

    Keep it coming!

  2. Yes I like the handwritten aspect but um half of it was very hard to read.

    In regards to the strategy section number 9 it is important to realize and be open to alterations. Don’t lose sight of things if something goes south just sit down and rework constantly your strategy.

    Great information as usual fantastic read

  3. Excellent Lesson. I had no problem reading the lessons, but I write like you. Thank you for more insight into the music business, never enough. As I was reading the 10 Lessons Learned I read them out loud to Todd Berry. Very informative. Please check out Todd’s music on http://www.cdbaby.com/Toddberry

  4. I appreciate your efforts to make this concise and quick, being hand-written and all, but these points are really just common sense and standard good business practice. There’s no great insight here.

    I know marketing is important, but what about the balance between hype and substance? Surely excessive marketing undermines credibility …

  5. Thanks Kavit! I first read your book How to Design a Winning and Profitable Music Business and have been receiving your materials since. As a musician, writer and producer who has been planning a transition into the music biz full time, your information has been quite helpful. I appreciate the insight from the perspective of someone who is engaged personally in what he is teaching. Your words are not just helpful in terms of information, but encouraging as well. Continued success to you and thanks again!

    Somilia Rabee

  6. hello again Kavit..

    please let me congratulate you on your handwritten masterpiece!…

    you are absolutely right about every word in there…

    it’s like that..ABM…ABP..remember?! haha..for those who don’t know what that stands for..it’s Always Be Marketing and Always Be Promoting…

    but you know what…i’ve worked really hard over the last five years…and i do seem to have an excellent web presence…just google betty donelly and you’ll know what i mean…but this aside…i have sold exactly two merchandise items through Zazzle and so earned not more than maybe five dollars…over five years…that ain’t good i should say…!

    but hey it’s a start…i’ve worked my way through nearly all your e-books and videos and believe me ..just as you were inspired yesterday, i get frantic when i get info from you and have planned, thrown my plans away and re-planned and so on…

    if you don’t mind i’d love to share a little …

    i was stuck in a rut…my gods..!

    somehow i got this volunteer job as a dancer, you know, and so as a return favour i am now able to record my complete repertoire, and the cultural center will start a project next year to push me out of the starting blocks..the recordings will be used as demos to send out to venue operators and to sell at gigs…and i’ll surely carry some USB sticks around to sell on the fly…

    i believe everyone has to find his or her own way of getting that long wanted break…and i believe i’m on the right path…thanks to my persistence, and really..i might overdo it when it comes to hard work…but it pays off..not yet in monies, but i am convinced it will happen…but i should think about better handling my time…

    i learned how to plan ahead for one month, three months, six months and one year..but i haven’t got the slightest clue about planning long term for like three, five and ten years, beyond writing down dreams of performing with a full band someday..in big time theaters, stadiums and cool ancient greek or roman amphitheaters

    i already try to maintain contact with my myspace friends…but less so with twitter which i mainly use to send out blasts…but i do get more and more followers…i restrict myself to the main social networking sites (myspace mainly + facebook, a little), with 123 friend now or so…but myspace means a lot to me..with like 2800 friends and counting..like last week i got invited by INDEPENDENT MUSIC RADIO to upload five songs…dear me…it’s getting blasted on there every fifteen minutes or so in the belgian substation and occasionally on the main station in the rock genre…that’s http://www.imradio.com..it’s the first time i am on the radio!..thanks to actively promoting on myspace…and i think that many musicians will enjoy the Illinois based station with substations from most countries in the whole darn world!

    i could go on and on ..but i would like to conclude with an action i immediately took after reading your report, gotta be quick because i am expected to turn up at the cultural center for a recording session…on the program…two bass lines and two vocals!..

    what i did was immediately create a Wordpress Blog account to replace my more amateurish Blogger blog..

    dear Kavit…thank you for your precious information you shared (again)..i most certainly believe in you!..

    betty donelly

    PS..i have finally found the key to online monies…i’ve always had my stuff posted on third party websites and now i finally own my own domain..

    to be honest..i am a bit stuck in the HTML programming..and left it like it was since then..but if you’d like a sneak preview of what it’ll look like, please be my guest..the links mainly go nowhere …still have to figure out some stuff..but here goes:

    http://www.bettydonelly.pro

  7. Thanks! Very good reminders and tips to apply!

  8. Hi Kavit,

    Though the article was reinforcing and informative, I did not feel the earth move under my feet, It was pretty much marketing 101 if you know what I mean. Not to say that it isn’t worth reviewing, often hind sight is 20/20.

    In saying that I must admit it did remind me of several mistakes I have made along the way. The don’t get distracted away from your primary goal is one of them.

    When I started on this journey, my primary goal was to introduce my music to the world wide audience the internet made available, and possibly revive my career as a songwriter. However I found that my singing was a lot more popular than my songwriting, though I sang only my originals at the time, and the songs did real well on the ECMA charts, it divided my interests. Should I pursue the singing career, or stick to the songwriting? They both sort of go hand in hand, right? WRONG! That which distracts, divides and conquers. I don’t care how you justify it, any thing that takes away from your full attention to a primary goal is a distraction.

    It’s hard enough in this age of do it yourself music to manage just one aspect of the business, let alone two or three. To be honest with you, though every one talks about it, and with all the wisdom one can garner from the guru’s of getting it done, I don’t believe it’s a possibility in reality. You still have to have help from others, there are just too many hats to wear to get it all done yourself.

    In saying that, the one thing I have learned in the past two years is ” The more things change , the more they remain the same “.

    Even in this age of mass communication, you still have to get out and tour to make any real money, and to sell CD’s and merchandise, you still have to have to have a healthy marketing and promotion fund to really make an impact, and you still have to build an organization around you of people you trust to help you get everything done. The aspect of do it yourself is a myth, and misconception for the most part. It is not physically possible to do.

    My point is, in order to format a good business plan, that really stands a chance of succeeding, one has to realize the realities with which they are dealing. There is no room for the “Pie in the sky” mentality.

    Making it in the music business, regardless of whatever your goal is, is a long hard road. No one thing is going to catapult you into the spotlight, and make you an immediate success. The yellow brick road is traveled by taking one small step at a time, and carefully executing a plan that encompasses many small, but significant, processes a long the way.

    As always Kavit your insight is thought provoking, and I sure do appreciate it.

    Billy Darnell
    ASCAP/ECMA

  9. Hey Kavit ,
    About the hand-written report : yes it is hard to read some words but the good of hand-written is that I feel more your presence like ‘real’ on that pdf . Is cool to see the way that you ‘design’ your writing … I can tell that now I know more about you because the hand-writting ! Letters speaks !
    OK OK .. the subject is MUSIC and I want to thank you very much for foster the music itself around the globe . Thanks for the light on the road of so many musicians . You are great .

    Cebe , from Brazil

  10. Hi Kavit
    Thank you so much for this very enlightening and inspiring information …
    stay blessed
    Nyilahx
    http://www.nyilah.com

  11. I am very enthralled with your great reports to all your fellow musicians.

    These ideas have infused me with hope and the tools with which to make them a reality.

    Many people have been taught to believe it’s “wrong” to want to be compensated for their work. That playing music is a privilege and not to be placed on the same level with “survival jobs,” things we have learned to count on to sustain the music.

    But why not the music itself as the “survival job?” It’s something we all have to learn to understand better and put together a strategy to make it happen.

    Thanks to you, for sharing your innovative thoughts and secrets with us!

    -Amanda

  12. This is an excellent list. In response to some that didn’t find this list “earth-shattering” – it wasn’t supposed to be. Often the keys to success are so obvious we find ourselves kicking our own asses that we didn’t think of them on our own.

    The key to any successful endeavor is making goals, planning to meet them, and then making new goals once you’ve achieved them. Only then can we see our “path to success”. This path is not paved in front of us; because everyone’s path is different, we can only see it when we’ve succeeded.

    And the Henry Ford quote is, I believe, “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” I believe him. Do you?

    Wes Costello
    fullbirdmusic.com
    fullbirdmusic.com/blog

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