Music Success: Week 1

Breathe. Breathe again. This moment reminds me of being at the end of the Olympic swimming pool, with my cap and goggles on, standing on the blocks about to dive in and swim a race at the school carnival. I feel nervous!

Why…I ask myself?

Because this is a lot of firsts for me. I am jumping into deep water and in new territory, about to try a whole lot of stuff for the first time, and I am doing it in a blog in public, for anyone to see.

What is this all about?

Well; I am embarking on a nine week challenge set by US music PR guru Ariel Hyatt, called Music Success in Nine Weeks, and it is ‘a step by step guide on how to use social media and online tactics to supercharge my PR, build a fan base and earn more money’.

It involves me rolling up my sleeves and getting down and dirty with this online world, and sharing my experiences with you in regular blogs. It feels very confronting, but I am excited to be moving into the unchartered waters of the digital landscape.

It feels empowering already, as I am stepping onto the blocks and up to the plate and committing to learn more about this landscape myself, not rely on others to do it for me, such as my manager Lorda or music producer/internet consultant Barbara Griffin.

I am welcoming Ariel’s challenge, as I have been feeling more and more ambivalent about social media. I am on twitter, facebook, myspace and Youtube already but have recently felt conflicted about the whole lot, especially twitter and facebook. I need to face this ambivalence head on and get to the bottom of it!

I am sure by the time I get to the end of this challenge I will be in a better position to assess what I feel about social media, as I will have given it a red hot go rather than just dipping my toes in and dancing around the edges.

I have never had any real training with internet technology, or with PR, so this challenge is a first time for me in those fields too. During the last couple of years I have been immersed in recording the album, with my head filled with lyrics and chord charts and time spent sitting in recording/mixing/mastering studios.

Now I will be hopefully expanding my learning curve and gaining new skills in these new areas. Daunting! Breathe

Week one of Music Success in Nine Weeks has got me making lists of my goals. Ariel says that by just writing your goals down, you are TEN times more likely to achieve them!

Well, after having done what I am told, I can report that I already feel clearer about what I want and how I want to use my time. I feel more motivated as I have clear, specific goals with timelines attached. I also like her suggestion of writing down five successes or little victories you have had each day and one can be doing the laundry

With my album now finished and a single and music video coming out soon, plus some gigs on the horizon, there are a lot of things I need to do, and I can feel overwhelmed by it all at times. By writing down what Ariel calls ‘little victories’ over the last few days I am feeling less overwhelmed and realise I am getting things done and things are flowing along in a good way.

So far, so good – I have enjoyed this first week!

Jane Walker