D.I.Y.

Grimes Shares Tips On Being The Boss Of Your Music And Your Music Business

Rookie-yearbook-threeLike a lot of artists, Grimes has learned about business on the job. She's also young and female which can create challenges especially when people assume those facts tell them something important about her ability to take care of business. Though the artistic/entrepreneurial journey never really ends, Grimes has reached a point where she has some important lessons to share about being the boss of your own music and your music business.

"Boss Lady Lessons From a Pop Star"

Grimes includes a lesson on being your own boss as a musician:

"You will never hear more people tell you that you’re wrong than when you’re succeeding"

"After my album Visions came out, I spent a really long time freaking out because people were telling me that in order to take “the next step” in my career, I would have to become a much better “musician,” that I’d need a backing band, etc. I now realize that (a) none of those people have music careers, and (b) I wasted a lot of time trying to do things I was told were “important for every professional musician” to do, without realizing that as a fan, I am far more interested in things that I’ve never seen before."

Grimes addresses an important role the boss has to play which, for nice people like Grimes, can seem like being "mean":

"Be nice to the people you work with."

"It is of utmost importance to treat people with kindness, because you want them to work hard and care about the thing you are building together. However, in order to get things done, sometimes you need to be mean. I’m really bad at this, but you absolutely need to let people know when something is unacceptable, or they’ll keep doing it and you’ll resent them and it creates bad vibes."

And she even shares some tips for dealing with what some call "imposter syndrome":

"Really, the most important thing is eliminating self-doubt."

"I’ve found that if I act like a boss, I can convince myself that I am a boss when I need to be one. I copy things that I’ve seen politicians and actors do; I make eye contact with people; I try to keep my shoulders back and my head high; I gesticulate wildly and sometimes take long pauses (silence can be very intimidating). I try to act like I’m powerful, onstage and off."

"I am often treated with disrespect, but I respond as respectfully as I can, because it makes trolls look stupid when you don’t stumble. As time has gone by, I’ve noticed that the crappy people have been phasing out and I’m surrounded more and more by people I trust, and with whom I share mutual respect—which, by the way, breeds real confidence."

Elle has more of this excerpt by Grimes from Tavi Gevinson's "Rookie Yearbook Three."

More:

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand and is relaunching Crowdfunding For Musicians. Contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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