In his January 1961 farewell address, US President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned Americans about the newly established military-industrial complex: the enormous permanent relationship between government, the military and the defense industry.
Crucially, he wasn't arguing that the military shouldn't exist. His concern was that an institution necessary for one purpose could accumulate “unwarranted influence” and “misplaced power.”
I think musicians have developed a smaller, much less consequential version of the same problem.
Not an actual military-induced complex, obviously. A Music Industrial Advice Complex. Most of us in the music business have experienced this layer of people in the industry. Well-meaning advice-givers are frequently the ones telling songwriters and musicians how to make it, with the majority of the money just flowing from the aspiring musicians themselves up to the advice givers.
The stakes of military contracting and guitar playing are decidedly different. But I’m going to use key portions of Eisenhower’s prophetic farewell speech as a framework for music industry parallels. Hey, if it doesn’t completely apply in all facets, at least we’ve learned some history together here.
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…”
Who's making money from musicians' desire to succeed?
I’m not at all trying to say that everybody in the business of giving advice to musicians is a grifter. There is a lot of good advice out there, plenty of industry lifers who would love to be a part of breaking a great new artist, and other musicians who’ve succeeded and want to hold the rope for the rest of us to climb up.
But sometimes it’s just smart and not cynical to wonder: If you can make a living teaching musicians how to succeed, you don't necessarily need the musicians themselves to succeed.
The people selling advice often have a much more predictable business model than the people buying it. A musician's career may or may not produce money; teaching musicians how to pursue careers can produce money immediately. Let’s say you’re chasing your songwriting dream and investing in it like you think a professional would or should, putting $10,000 into a new album of songs. Who got paid?
- The studio and engineer got $5000
- Another $600 went to mastering.
- You paid $300 to a graphic artist
- You spent $1200 on printing CDs.
- $400 in costs for envelopes and postage.
- $2500 went to a PR firm with pretty vague deliverables.
In this scenario everybody trying to “help” you actually made money and you’re out $10k.
One of the problems might be that there is so much advice, not a scarcity. Musicians have never had more information about how to succeed — and perhaps never had more people trying to sell them information about how to succeed.
Eisenhower warned about defense contractors acquiring “unwarranted influence.” In music, I worry about the conventional wisdom of what musicians think they should be doing. That’s something that gets into artists’ heads and creates a psychology that says the marketing plan matters more than the music.
Of course, there is no magic formula for success. Some slightly-scammy would-be experts try to present their book or seminar or consulting as a formula to be followed, but the more damaging problem is that a lot of musicians somehow feel that if they did the right promotion or marketing in the right way at the right time, then it could magically get them where they want to go.
And so much advice is contradictory: Post constantly. Don't post too much. Tour. Don't tour unless you have an audience. Release singles. Release albums. Chase playlists. Don't chase playlists. Build your brand. Be authentic. Learn TikTok. Don't depend on TikTok.
Yes, some strategies are better than others. But the chances of that being accomplished because of a music industry guru are almost nil.
+Read more: "The Band Member Day Job Conundrum"
“The total influence - economic, political, even spiritual…”
Eisenhower specifically described the military-industrial combination as having influence beyond simply government procurement - it affected the country's economic and political life and even its “spiritual” life. The Music Industrial Advice Complex doesn't just sell tactics like: Get on Spotify playlists.
It can start influencing how musicians think about themselves:
- Am I successful?
- Am I building my brand correctly?
- Do I have enough followers?
- Am I releasing often enough?
- Am I networking enough?
- Am I “monetizing” my audience?
- Am I failing because I haven't bought the right course?
In other words, the advice twists what it feels like to be a musician. I think most of us have been there before. The impulse and follow-through to “do the work” of taking one’s music career seriously and paying attention to marketing and networking is admirable. Every D.I.Y. artist and band has had to become a small business.
But when musicians let an enormous ecosystem tell them how to have music careers: consultants, conferences, courses, podcasts, newsletters, social-media gurus, playlist experts, branding experts, managers, coaches, etc. all inadvertently get the artist to put the cart before the horse on some level. None of this advice has to be inherently bad to be negatively influencing what musicians think their music career is supposed to look like.
“We must never let the weight of this combination…”
Eisenhower's concern was that the institutional machinery could eventually overwhelm the larger purpose it was supposed to serve. Musicians can spend endless hours learning about:
- algorithms
- release schedules
- social media
- playlisting
- branding
- audience funnels
- email lists
- analytics
- content calendars
At some point, they're spending more time learning how to promote music than making music. But I doubt I’m the only musician here who has caught themselves sending emails, making calls, compiling spreadsheets, etc. for days before asking themselves, “Hey, when’s the last time I picked up a guitar?”
Information can become procrastination. There is a point where another webinar about music marketing is less valuable than sending ten emails, finishing the song, playing the gig, following up with the producer, or making the damn record.
“Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry…”
Eisenhower's solution wasn't to abolish the military-industrial complex. It was that citizens had to be knowledgeable enough to recognize and control its influence. Musicians don't need to stop listening to advice; they need to become better consumers of advice.
But this is the time to mention that there ARE some useless offerings out there – whether they’re irrelevant to you where you currently are in your music career, or some that are an outright scam.
I know an aspiring country songwriter here in San Diego who’s spending a fortune on hiring great players to play showcases and yet under-promoting the shows. Another good friend with a new album was recently pushed into a college radio promotional campaign that was not the right play for that kind of music.
Don’t become cynical but keep your bullshit meter powered on in the meantime.
+Read more: "What Musicians and Critics Get Wrong About Each Other"
“Balance between cost and hoped-for advantage…”
Eisenhower explicitly warned about maintaining “balance between cost and hoped for advantage” and between the necessary and the merely desirable. Does this sound like “return on investment” to the rest of us musicians?
A $500 conference isn't expensive if it produces an important relationship. A $2,000 consultant might be worth every penny if they solve a real problem.
But “every successful musician does X” is an absurd argument. As stated above, there is no magic bullet. Don’t let anybody tell you differently in their sponsored Instagram ad that keeps appearing in your feed. And especially not if their message is in ALL CAPS.
Be careful of the conference/course/consultant treadmill. We’ve all gone to conferences, met people, learned things, made relationships and gotten value from some of them. Great. But did ALL of those courses light a fire under you or provide you with a concrete result? Musicians have to distinguish useful networking and education from paying indefinitely for the feeling that they're doing something.
The lesson isn't “don't hire anybody”
The existence of a financial incentive for an “expert” doesn't make their advice dishonest. Advice can be valuable. Advice as a substitute for action isn't. At some point you have to stop optimizing the plan for becoming a musician and go be one.
What am I actually trying to accomplish? What will this cost me? What do I reasonably expect to get from it? And who benefits if I believe I need it?
Sometimes the $500 thing is worth $500. And sometimes the $5,000 thing is something the artist could have figured out in an afternoon.
