Your Music Business

by Colin Holter (as reported on http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=5610)

Yesterday I attended an in-depth session on "Higher Education and the Real World of Practice," two topics near and dear to me. The session, which included both small-group discussions and germane spiels from recognized experts, focused on training university and (especially) conservatory graduates with business acumen, administrative skills, and other "peripheral" skills besides playing technique, theory, and music history. Apparently 85 percent of music majors end up working "in the field," although fewer than five percent are full-time professional performers. These are some pretty telling figures: Most music students will be doing something in music—teaching, administration, and so forth—but not what they went to college to do.

What I don't know is how these numbers vary by institution. My time has been spent mostly in large-ish public universities, including two Big Ten schools. I wonder if the percentages I've seen are representative of such factories—or, by the same token, of conservatories, liberal arts schools, or Ivy League joints. Anecdotally, at least, they seem reflective of my own experience and my friends'.

I'm speaking conjecturally here, but if the session's statistics are valid across the board, I have to wonder how the conservatories, which equip their graduates with (maybe) the best specialized training and (maybe) the poorest generalized training, can justify their programs. Practicing eight hours a day is a great way to become a virtuoso, but it's also a great way to develop an eating disorder, and apparently it makes you only incrementally more likely to sustain a career as a full-time soloist or orchestral player than someone who only put in four hours per day. Conservatory training continues to carry a great deal of prestige among musicians; however, if most conservatory graduates (like most other music graduates) aren't putting food on the table by playing three hundred nights a year, maybe their curricula should be reevaluated accordingly. In any case, more preparation to handle logistical and managerial duties can only help music students no matter where they're enrolled.

Being an entrepreneur in the music industry is a valuable skill to have and being an entrepreneur as a performer in the music is an even better skill to develop. Enter the Bite-Size Arts Ensemble - a terrifically entrepreneurial music ensemble. In their own words: "This posting is a shameless request for you to join the mailing list for my new ensemble called The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble. Besides being an artistic entrepreneurial performance based vehicle, a 501c3, created to help artist develop their marketing skills and gain exposure testing their concepts to become more entrepreneurial, The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble offers a unique opportunity to experience a variety of different kinds of artistry jam packed into one heaping bite-size format.

"By clicking on this link you can sign up to be on our mailing list for future communication about upcoming performances. You can also hear the music of the artists I am currently working with if you do. And, if you are technically savvy you can easily take a widget from ReverbNation and post it on your own website or blog to help promote this ensemble.

"Just click here to add your name to our mailing list.

http://www.reverbnation.com/bitesizeartsensemble?add_email=true

"About Our Upcoming Shows:
Each of our shows combines a variety of artistic and culturally rich mediums. You may find classical music, jazz, a fashion show, poetry, a theatrical scene, and original artwork displayed in one Bite-Size production. Our first show features classical, jazz, pop, film and a juggler!

"As an audience member, not only will there be something for everyone in each of our shows, but our hope is to inspire you to discover something new about your own creativity in the process. Not only will each artist we present offer you insights to what inspires their work inside our productions, but our meet and greet the artists reception afterwards will allow you to ask your own questions and get to know each artists we present better as well as sign up for classes and workshops each artists offers."

A revolution is happening the music world. As reported in London's Daily Telegraph, "More than two million people worldwide have downloaded Coldplay’s latest single since it was made available free online a week ago, new figures show. That means it would have 'outsold' the whole of last week’s top 40 singles “four times over” according to the band’s representatives. The song, Violet Hill, is the band’s first single from the group’s long-awaited fourth album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends. It was made available as a free digital download on the band’s website last Tuesday." This is just another tactic that musicians are using to market their "product" and create a larger revenue scheme later on. In business this is known as a "loss leader". And manufacturing, retail and hospitality organizations have been using this marketing scheme for years. But can it really benefit the music industry or is it just a fad?

In a new book by Chris Anderson called "Free" to be published next year, the idea put forward is that giving something away for free is not going to create business but NOT giving somethiong away for free may turn business away. As Stuart Jefferies says in the Guardian Newspaper, "Anderson's idea is that the internet, by reducing marginal costs, encourages businesses to make their money by offering free goods or services to an extent we have not witnessed before. And that this change in supply alters the nature of demand: free services such as Craigslist, Skype, Freeview, Wikipedia and Google have created a generation that doesn't just resent paying, but expects stuff to be free."

Taken to the extreme, where does this leave the music industry? Is it a good trend? Or just another mechanism that is going to make musicians practice their art for no financial return?

Read about Anderson's book here.

"Last year witnessed a backlash against claims of imminent digital utopias. The wealth of column inches given to Andrew Keen’s anti-web polemic, The Cult of the Amateur (reviewed in the TLS, September 14, 2007), demonstrated the mainstream media’s bloodlust towards their online rivals, with blogs the target of particular ire. In Keen’s grandiloquent analysis, the publishing possibilities of web 2.0 – in other words, the sum of user-generated content – do not democratize information, but rather erode knowledge and degrade the Western cultural inheritance. Cass R. Sunstein’s Republic.com 2.0 (the inelegant title indicates a comprehensive update of the six-year-old original, Republic.com) derives from similar concerns, but provides a measured antidote to such apocalyptic forebodings.

"The current crop of authors addressing the web’s relationships to culture and commerce tend to adopt frameworks derived from business management or postmodern theory. Sunstein’s background is in legal academia, which provides the rigour for this original meditation on the internet’s fluid relationship with democratic systems and popular participation. As in much contemporary writing on the public sphere, Jürgen Habermas is an abiding, if scantly acknowledged, presence. Sunstein stresses the essentially deliberative nature of democracy – particularly as framed by the American Constitution – before questioning how contemporary technologies fulfil its requirements. After providing an outline of modern democracy’s origins, he argues that state commitment to heterogeneous public debate is of equal importance to open institutions and an independent Fourth Estate. For Sunstein, democratic structures that characterized the pre-internet age – from public squares and soapboxes to national legislatures – are no longer enough on their own. Who will risk a chance debate with a potentially antithetical stranger when a carefully chosen message board provides the certainty of like-minded views? True democracy can no longer be assured simply through the presence of its traditional emblems; its principles should be searched for instead in the quality, vigour and levels of representation that emerging forms of online debate allow. Transformed structures will be required to accommodate a new generation’s existing practices, but also to entice them into an engagement with oppositional views."

Read more...

A Jewish man, about to leave for America, consulted his rabbi for any last pieces of advice. The rabbi replied, “All I can tell you is that life is like a waterfall!” With this in mind, the man set off for the new world and was extremely successful in his adopted country. Throughout his years abroad, the man constantly referred to his rabbi’s valued insight, passing it on to others whom he felt would benefit from these great words. After many years, he received news that his mentor was dying. He hurried back to thank him for all his help in life and, particularly, for his parting words of wisdom all those many years ago. However, at the rabbi’s bedside, the man was compelled to find out one last piece of information, so he asked reverently, “Rabbi, through all my hardships and many disappointments, I have thought often of your advice and it has always helped me. But, rabbi, if I may ask you—why is life like a waterfall?” After pondering the question for a long time and obviously considering the answer very carefully, through cracked lips and in a slightly hoarse voice, the rabbi whispered tiredly with a slight shrug, “OK…so life is not like a waterfall.”

In an article I wrote in 2003 I stated that in order to survive in the current classical music environment the modern day performing artist and musician has to have various skills available to him or her. These include the obvious ones of musical talent, artistic integrity and technical ability. However, the less obvious skills (an possibly unnecessary until today) are the capabilities to market and sell oneself, raise funds and sponsorship, think creatively across a broad spectrum of media outlets, learn to communicate effectively with a complex and sophisticated audience that includes agents, presenters, sponsors, promoters and the paying public and take control of career development issues and strategic planning.

All of this I still stand by for the simple reason that the music industry is like a waterfall. The music world is difficult, complex and competitive. The classical music industry is under threat, not only from the impact of other forms of entertainment, social attitudes and political infighting, but also from musicians and the musical governing bodies themselves. Recently we have all read (without, unfortunately, being very surprised) that the average income for a musician from purely performing pursuits is under $50,000 per year. What is shocking is that this information was not a bolt from the blue but a repeat finding of the previous year’ survey and of the years previous to that. Orchestras in the UK and US are constantly in the grip of a funding crisis while festivals, music club and societies and, latterly, the recording industry are all experiencing difficulties concerning growth and new market penetration. And my question has constantly been, “what are musicians doing about it and why are they not doing more to sort it out”?

Complaining, kvetching and bemoaning the state of the industry, is not going to make it change. Musicians and musical organisations cannot simply spend an inordinate amount of time brow beating themselves over the downturn of musical fortunes while still continuing to churn out concerts or musical events in a traditional manner that was established well over 100 years ago. What all musicians need to do is to empower themselves to take matters into their own hands and work towards a diversification of business focus so as to recapture a market share via differentiated channels. And this is why the music industry is like a waterfall: predictable, yet constantly in motion and forever changing.

Sitting and watching TV during the last night of the Proms in London recently, I was amazed, gratified and a little shocked to see how many people braved the cold and rain to attend a proms in the park type events around the country. This is great but did not happen by accident. A tremendous amount of planning, fundraising and marketing went into the successful execution of all of those events. In addition, new websites offering music downloads recorded specifically for that purpose, innovative programming of concerts, creative outreach events and the use of technology in the concert hall all show an enterprising spirit that needs a business thought process to bring to fruition.

Norman Lebrecht summed this up nicely in an article published in September 2005 by saying, “If playing in an orchestra cannot afford a living, [musicians] must develop other skills and engage occupationally with the world at large”. And this really is the key: engaging occupationally. Understanding how the business world impacts your work as a musician is only half the battle. The other half is learning how to leverage some of the key business skills so that they can be employed to progress your career. Engaging with the industry from all angles is vital if you are going to develop a sustainable career. Pounding the pavements, making those calls and thinking strategically are crucial constituent components of a successful business plan, while always taking care that the product you are selling lives up to the quality of its promotion. Therefore, while performing your art well is one of the most vital ingredients for a successful career, it is not the only ingredient and, surprisingly, not the most important. A decent product with lousy business acumen will be as sure to fail as much as brilliant business expertise supporting a dreadful product.

Waterfalls erode, create rivers and change shape, however very, very slowly. And the classical music industry is a little like a waterfall in that respect as well. Although always last to do so, the classical music industry does manage to keep up with new business initiatives and current trends although often in a rather grudging and bad tempered manner. I attended a concert conducted by Ben Zander a few months ago, and prior to performing a new work, Zander shared with the audience something his father had often told him. “When looking at an art work or hearing a piece of music you don’t like and simply dismissing it as rubbish, it is similar to throwing a book at someone’s head: if there is a hollow sound as the book connects with the head, that is not always the fault of the book.” In the same way, as so many musicians shun and dismiss the world of business as something unseemly and not fittingly juxtaposed with the esoteric nature of a musician’s prime artistic endeavour, this antagonism towards all things related to money, marketing and management is not always the fault of the business world. An open mind leads to unthought-of possibilities and the investigation of new working practices and methodologies is a worthwhile pursuit if only to broaden ones outlook.

A Jewish man from San Jose prayed each day to win the California lottery. “God,” he’d say, “please let me win the lottery. Please, please, please let me win the lottery.” After about 10 years of praying and never winning, he was getting extremely exasperated. Finally, in an outpouring of emotion he looked skywards and shouted, “God, why haven’t I won the lottery? I’ve prayed to you every day for 10 years and I still haven’t won the lottery!!” “Shlomo,” a voice boomed from above. “Yes?” the man replied. “At least meet me halfway,” the voice boomed again, “and go and buy a lottery ticket!” Complaining about the industry is not going to make it change. Only musicians themselves can do that and to start the process all musicians have to go and buy a lottery ticket – i.e. learn about the industry, master the business techniques and gain the skills required to make it all happen.

Last week Oasis, a new airline flying between the UK and Hong Kong went bust. This was just the latest in a series of airline collapses that has seen the closing of established airlines such as Aloha Air and of brand new ones such as Skybus. Alitalia (the national airline of Italy) is on its way out and US majors are in and out of bankruptcy court on a rolling schedule. Ask anyone in the street why airlines are going out of business and everyone will provide an informed opinion: fuel prices are high, security is an issue, environmental concerns are stopping people flying, the over-all economy is weak. The list goes on. The point is, is that just about everyone expects airlines to go out of business and just about everyone has an opinion why they think airlines are going out of business.

Not so with orchestras!

The last decade has seen the demise and downfall of several major symphony orchestras. The Florida Symphony Orchestra, the San Jose Symphony, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Colorado Springs Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony have all been in trouble with some shutting down altogether. In Europe the picture is no better: the major symphony orchestras are all fighting for a smaller pool of funds with smaller orchestras, such as the London Mozart Players and the City of London Sinfonia having their government funding cut altogether. And now it is the turn of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Ohio.

As reported in the New York Times, the Columbus Symphony Orchestras is in extreme difficulty. "Like many other American arts organizations, it fell on particularly hard times in the wake of 9/11; unlike most other institutions, it has yet to bounce back. Not incidentally, it was also in administrative disarray from 2003 to mid-2006, when it functioned without either a full-time executive director or a music director."

And this raises two crucial questions: one, why are so many orchestras going out of business or are simply living on the poverty line, limping from season to season without any security? And, two, why is an orchestras such as the Columbus Symphony with an annual budget of $12 million not being run like any other business of a similar size? And maybe this is where airlines and orchestras share some common symptoms. The preferred, immediate solution to the Columbus Symphony's problems is, as always, staff cut backs. Reduce the number of full-time musicians. Reduce the number of working weeks. Reduce the amount everyone is paid. This is exactly what Northwest Airlines did before emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So did Continental Airlines. And Delta. The list goes on.

The one thing that really seems to be missing in true organizational leadership (in both the airline industry and orchestra sphere). With sponsors falling by the wayside because of the global economic situation (for example the removable by UBS of their sponsorship of the Verbier Festival Orchestra), it is time for all orchestras to become more business minded and those taking on the role of leading a orchestra into the future need to treat it not as an arts job but a multi-million dollar business enterprise.

For sure, the problems associated with running an orchestra are a lot greater than running any other type of manufacturing or service business. This is simply because, as Prof. Robert J. Flanagan of the Stanford Graduate School of Business stated in a survey a few years ago, "it took about 80 musicians 45 minutes to perform Brahms's First Symphony when he wrote it, and it still does, and always will. In the absence of the private sector's productivity gains (like making five times as many widgets in one-half the time), it is logical that operating costs may rise faster than earned revenues. Indeed, [this] 'performance income gap' has widened over the years, and is likely to continue to do so." But the outlook is not all bad. According to Flanagan's findings' " there was an 18% increase in ticket sale income to orchestra concerts between the 2004-05 season and 2005-06. And, equally encouraging, paid attendance at classical concerts for American orchestras in 2005-06 was 11% up from the previous year, again after a few years of flat or declining attendance. Attendance for all concerts given by orchestras - including family, education, pops, chamber, summer, and youth concerts - was also up 11%."

So why are orchestras still failing or struggling? The League of American Orchestras is trying to redress the balance by training the leaders of the future. But is there more that can be done? How can we once again make being a member of an orchestra a secure professional with a business model that can project more than just a couple of seasons into the future?

Creative Industries 2008: The 50 City Report statistically measures the scope and economic size of the arts in the 50 most populated cities in America. Americans for the Arts is able to track the type and number of arts-centric businesses and employees on an annual basis using Dun & Bradstreet’s national database of 14.3 million active businesses and 135.6 million employees in the United States. Widely acknowledged as the most comprehensive and trusted source for business profiles and listings, Dun & Bradstreet is recognized by both global industry associations and the U.S. Federal Government.

As of January 2008, our analysis reveals that 612,095 arts businesses exist across the nation and employ 2.98 million individuals. The Creative Industries report demonstrates that arts-centric businesses are contributing significantly to local economies across the country — representing 4.3 percent of all businesses and 2.2 percent of all jobs in the United States. The Creative Industries report demonstrates that arts-centric businesses are contributing significantly to local economies throughout the nation.

Download the Creative Arts report by clicking here

The Philharmonia Orchestra has announced a new scheme to allow audiences to interact with the orchestra during a performance. For many years concert-goers have shown their appreciation for performances by applauding, cheering, or standing, with less popular works being booed (or in the case of the Rite of Spring resulting in a riot).

But now the Philharmonia Orchestra will allow the audience to have their say during the concert: For a series of forthcoming concerts this month, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London will provide each member of the orchestra with a pair of flags, one red and one green. As the concert takes place audience members will be invited to hold up a flag according to whether they’re enjoying the performance, and technology will do the rest.

CCTV cameras trained on the audience will relay the image to a computer which will analyse the numbers of flags. If the number of people not enjoying the performance goes over 50% then the computer will send a message to the conductor via an earpiece to move on to the next piece.

Philharmonia Orchestra Managing Director David Whelton said: “Gone are the days when you had to wait until the end of the performance to let the musicians know what you think - now you can respond straight away. With this system it’s a bit like being able to ‘skip’ a track on your mp3 player.”

The orchestra will also provide an ‘emergency stop’ mechanism in case something goes very wrong. Under each seat in the concert hall will be an air-horn, which can be used by the audience if they feel the orchestra have made a mistake.

Principal Percussionist David Corkhill commented: “We really want to know if people are listening properly, so we may even add in ‘deliberate’ mistakes to test the audience. For us, members of the audience standing up and sounding an air-horn will really keep us on our toes, and make for electrifying performances.”

The new scheme “Audiences: Participate, Respond, Interact – LIVE” will start from April 1st, but will not run at every concert, so if you don’t get handed a flag or air horn, please don’t try to take part.

A film about this scheme is available to view at www.philharmonia.co.uk/audiences

Writing a sponsorship proposal can be a daunting task. Getting corporate funding can be an uphill battle. Getting people to give your artistic event money can be difficult at the best of times. To help anyone in the planning process of an artistic event, capital campaign or simply trying to raise some operational funds from private donors, I have recently published "Writing the Perfect Sponsorship Proposal", an easy, clear and straight-forward look at what you need to consider when writing a proposal. With many useful tips and techniques, I hope this short eBook will guide you through the process of putting your ideas onto paper and trying to convince someone else to give you funding.

For the next few weeks Polyphonic will be talking about
entrepreneurship. The word "entrepreneur" is seen in print and heard in
conversations more and more lately. So what does the subject of
entrepreneurship, being entrepreneurial or being an entrepreneur, have
to do with us? We're orchestra musicians. We're artists. We play music
because we love it. That's true, but we also like to eat and have a roof
over our heads.

The truth is that musicians, in general, are very entrepreneurial. We
have to be because very few of us can rely on just one type of activity
to put bread on the table. We may play in an orchestra, but we also
might teach at home or at a local school or university. We may repair,
refurbish or even make instruments. Some of us play freelance gigs, or
compose, arrange and publish music. And others may have
"side-businesses" outside of music as accountants or realtors - you name
it. As musicians we usually put together several income streams to
create our careers. The good news is that by doing this we craft a
career around our strengths and interests - something that is unique to
us.

Polyphonic has put together a panel of musicians who are entrepreneurial
in very different ways. Join the discussion! Go to:

http://www.polyphonic.org/panels.php?id=15&day=1

Why does opera, of all classical music genres, need to be popularized? Many art forms have a select and highly segmented audience such as Byzantine visual art, poetry readings or unique world music such as Siberian Throat Singing. But the Royal Opera House in the United Kingdom has a mission to popularize opera by increasing the cost of tickets for those people who really do want to go to the opera in order to subsidize a few lower price tickets for those who probably don't. As reported in the Guardian Newspaper, "The Royal Opera House is turning Robin Hood in a move to make high culture more affordable for a new audience. From next season it will send its top price tickets to a steepling £210 ($420) each for popular productions, and use the extra money to make a raft of seats cheaper."

Wouldn't it be better to make ALL the seats cheaper so that people who really enjoyed opera could have more access to more seats rather than just a few discounted offerings, that will most likely sell out a lot sooner? You would never see a pop musician charging higher prices to some in order to subsidize cheaper seats for others. Or a sports event - a soccer final or Superbowl for example - charging some people more to reduce the cost of other tickets. If people don't want to go to the opera, cheaper tickets are not going to change their mind and all a policy like this does is penalize those who really do want to go to the opera but, now, may not be able to afford it.

What's the first word that comes to mind when you think of Starbucks? And the second? And the third? Probably coffee, cake and more coffee. How many of you, honestly, said CDs or music? But, did you know, that Starbucks actually has its own recording label - Hear Music - that last year sold 4.4 million CDs in the US alone. However, as reported by Jeff Leeds in the International Herald Tribune, "... the ardor for Starbucks has gone the way of yesterday morning's grounds. Critics in the music industry say the company squandered its cachet by mismanaging the effort to broaden its music mix. The choices that reflect its early taste for the offbeat - like an album from Lizz Wright, a torchy pop singer - are now squeezed in with offerings not unlike those at Wal-Mart, including the latest releases from Alicia Keys and James Blunt. The shift has not been lost on some customers." Jeff Leeds continues. "In a business where CD sales are in free fall, many executives remain thankful for exposure in Starbucks' 6,800 company-owned shops, including Tom Corson, executive vice president at the RCA Music Group, which released the current album by Keys. It has sold more than 120,000 copies at Starbucks."

However, from a purely marketing perspective, is this a wise strategy for Starbucks to be following? In the highly competitive market we have today, where every outlet from McDonalds to the average road-side filling station is selling a damn fine cup of coffee, should Starbucks be continuing a strategy of "impulse" music purchases to bolster a declining P&L sheet? You know a company is in trouble when it starts advertising on TV. And that is exactly what Startbucks is planning to do. Rob Frankel, author of The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build A Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else, writes: "No matter how fast Starbucks dances, the Titanic will keep sinking. Sure, they'll try all kinds of cross-merchandising with all kinds of products they hope and pray will add to their coffers. But until they've defined why Starbucks is the only solution to their prospects' problems, Starbucks will keep playing hit-and-miss."

And, I fear, selling CDs is not one of them. What do you think?

Click here for Jeff Leed's article

Do people really know what it's like to be a professional musician? Do musicians themselves even know what their peers think and do? A large-scale groundbreaking new study from a University of Pennsylvania researcher (and musician) is attempting to find out.

This study is different from all prior studies on musicians in that it is collecting information from diverse geographic areas and many types of musicians. Although the media churns out a continuous stream of images depicting musicians, there is a profound lack of systematically gathered information about musicians' lives; their occupations, attitudes, and behaviors.

Here is an opportunity to weigh in as a musician on issues of importance to all musicians by taking an online survey. The survey is easy to take as nearly all the items are multiple- choice and are responded to with mouse clicks.

Additionally, you don't have to provide any personal information as survey responses are anonymous.

The Philadelphia Local of the American Federation of Musicians http://www.local77afm.org is supporting this study by providing a link to the survey from its website.

No matter what your style of music or musical occupation, get counted by participating. Results will be published and posted so all can benefit.

Go directly to the survey site: http://www.musicianstudy.org.

As part of its efforts to reinvigorate opera and reach out to a broader public,the Metropolitan Opera of New York launched a groundbreaking new program: the Metropolitan Opera - Live in High-Definition, six opera performances transmitted live in high-definition to movie theaters around the world.

“The Met’s experiment of merging film with live performance has created a new art form,” said the Los Angeles Times of the series. In its inaugural season, the series enjoyed critical acclaim and global box office success, attracting an audience of more than 325,000 attendees.

During the upcoming 2007-08 season, the Live in HD series will expand to feature eight live Metropolitan Opera performances. Attendance will grow significantly to more than 150,000 globally for each live transmission.

More information about how the series was created and developed can be found by clicking here.

See the list of performances by clicking here.

I am in the process of organizing a music festival to be held in Cambridge, MA (see earlier blog entry) I have been playing around with a few themes for this festival and what I would love to do is run festival for strange combinations of instruments. Ideas so far are ensembles like the New Century Saxophone Quartet, the Turtle Island String Quartet or specific works such as the Trout Quintet (Schubert) or Beethoven Septet.

What I need from you are ideas? Any suggestions?

Jill Sobule has taken charge and decided to control her own fate - as far as her recording career is concerned. As report on Yahoo News, "Sobule, whose witty and poignant writing first attracted attention with the song 'I Kissed a Girl,' has set up a Web site asking fans to donate money so she can make a new CD. She set a goal of $75,000 and, in a month, she's made about $54,000." I think this is fantastic progress in the world of music business and, in Sobule's own words, "The old kind of paradigm, where you've always waited for other people to do things, you'd have your manager and your agent. You'd wait for the big record company to give you money to do things and they tell you what to do. This [managing your own career] is so great. I want to do everything like this."

The more artists of all genres begin to control their own career and take charge of their own business, I firmly believe there will be greater creativity, innovation and success for many more performing, recording and graphic artists. Well done Jill!

You can read the complete story on Yahoo News by clicking here.

If you're a musician, artist, dancer, actor, or artisan you probably know how difficult it is to make a career in the arts. It's a demanding field and the pursuit of traditional jobs is very competitive. Fortunately, there are professionals whose success is based on the jobs they create, not on the traditional positions available. As entrepreneurs, they fuel their careers by creating opportunities.

ArtsStart.org teaches opportunity creation through the I'mART analysis model. It is a tool designed for artistic temperaments to easily understand. Many artists shy away from "business speak", so we start the conversation using concepts and skills that are approachable and easy to implement. But you don't have to stop there; I'mART was created to compliment the skills that top entrepreneur educators have taught for decades. I’mART is easy to start, rich in content, and simple to remember.

As with all classical music and high-art performance events these days, getting a newer and younger audience into the hall is an ongoing battle. So the Boston Symphony Orchestra has come up with an innovative solution: pay-your-age tickets. Under this scheme, there are a limited number of tickets available that you can purchase for a price that is equivalent to your age. A nice idea! What else can arts organization do in order to drum up audiences?

Believe it or not, iTunes is not the biggest seller of music. In fact, with sales today of over 4 billion "songs" sold, iTunes comes in at number two. So, who is number one? Who would have guessed but Walmart! The multinational retailer accounts for approximately 16% of US music sales, with iTunes following a close second. BestBuy, the electronics retailer, is number three.

What is even more interesting, however, is that Apple Mac users are much more likely to download digital music than PC users. According to NPD’s quarterly Digital Music Monitor, "in the third quarter of 2007 half of all Mac users had paid to download music tracks from sites like iTunes, but just 16 percent of PC owners had done so. And while Mac users were more likely to pay to download digital music than their PC-using counterparts, they were also more likely to purchase CDs".

The National Endowment for the Arts is the largest annual funder of the arts in the United States. An independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Arts is the official arts organization of the United States government. The NEA’s budget of $125.6 million for FY 2006 represents less than 1 percent of total arts philanthropy in the U.S.