There Are More Letters in “Business” Than in “Music”
Any business worth doing takes creative thinking, hard work, and some level of capital investment. That includes a band.
Just like any startup, there’s real risk. You can pour years into it, do everything right, and still walk away with nothing but the experience failure gives you. That’s the part most people don’t want to say out loud.
Being a working band is not just about writing good songs or perfecting your craft. Those things matter — a lot — but they are only part of it. The rest is business. Booking, promotion, money, people, logistics, decisions under pressure, and the daily grind of keeping the machine running. Ignore that side and the music rarely gets the chance to reach the people who might actually care.
Here’s something worth remembering:
Stand your whole band in front of a mirror.
The people looking back are the only ones who will ever feel about your music exactly the way you do.
Everyone else is going to feel it differently — or not feel it at all. Some will love it. Some will shrug. Some will never get it. That’s not personal. It’s just the truth. When you accept that early, you stop getting your feelings hurt every time the room doesn’t react the way you hoped. You stop taking indifference as rejection. You protect your energy for the work that actually moves the band forward.
There’s another shift that catches a lot of musicians off guard.
When you play only for your own entertainment, the music is pure. The moment you decide to make a living at it, your passion becomes your job. That change can quietly kill the very thing that made you start in the first place if you’re not careful.
The goal is not to turn off the musician so the businessman can take over. The goal is to let the passion for the craft power the businessman — while you deliberately keep the musician spirit alive and protected. Use the love of the music as fuel for the hard decisions, the long hours, and the risk. But never let the business side become the only voice in your head.
Do the work. Face the mirror. Protect the fire.
That’s how you stay in it for the long run without losing the reason you started.
— Rick Heid
