Musik Radio Promotions artist, Tod Hughes, was recently featured in a Canadian RV publication “RV Times”, authored by Katrina Boguski! It’s a wonderful read about rekindling your musical dreams, even after taking time off to nurture a career in another profession, treating your music like a business, and reaching out to less commonly thought of demographics! It’s a great testament to Tod’s business-like mind-set towards achieving his music goals, and what good management can help you achieve! It speaks to everything we stand for at Musik and Film Records, empowering the artist! The original post can be found in the online edition of RV times, click here for the link! (The story is on page 24). Enjoy the article below!

Music festivals around North America are frequent destinations for RVers. While many people carefully consider their routes to such performances, few stop to consider the paths which musicians have taken to get there.

For most musicians, the road to the top is a steep uphill climb; the journey, more often than not, is one that young musicians abandon easily to deal with life’s more practical considerations. Once the dream has been abandoned, it is rare to see people pick it up again. One Canadian musician who bucks that trend is Tod Hughes. He’s been playing music for over 35 years, starting with guitar, then music theory, harmonica and songwriting. After a successful career in real estate, Tod is now rekindling the dream to succeed in music. By all accounts, his destination is within reach. He is an energetic performer who captivates his audiences. He brings with him a strong skill set he picked up from the business world. Hughes notes, “Organizing a band, promoting, recording and gigging is basically a business. Even if you are not doing it strictly for money, it is a business.” Tod Hughes is one of a few dozen musicians working with Mark Rosner of Rosner Management Services (RMS) (www.rosnermanagement.com). The musicians range in age from their pre-teens to their 50’s. While young musicians may be full of vim and vigor, they need to be equipped with the life skills and business skills to build their vision. A large part of being successful in the music industry has to do with being successful in business. Hughes says, “Many musicians don’t realize this and don’t excel at business or feel like a sell-out if they take a business-like approach, but it just makes sense.”

Just as a successful road trip often involves selecting the right travel companions, so too the road to success in music is best traveled with a supportive team. On this point Hughes advises that, “You want to be efficient, surround yourself with competent, reliable people, put out a great product at a reasonable cost, make a return on your investment and most of all put out a product (the music) that the market, (your fans), love!” While most musicians under the leadership of RMS don’t have the same business savvy as Hughes, they are not without support. Mark Rosner says, “[RMS develops] ALL aspects of emerging artists and helps them navigate a business that has typically no blueprint.” With the right support, vision, and direction, success happens progressively and safely.

Tod Hughes acknowledges working with Rosner Management Services has been a good fit. Of Rosner’s specific insight into the music industry Tod says, “Mark is knowledgeable about music as a business. That is something I don’t have a lot of experience with, so it is very helpful. Also, meeting other like-minded artists is awesome. Mark brings a creative approach to the business side of music and his enthusiasm and encouragement on the artistic side are really motivating.”

It’s not all about the numbers though. Hughes says focusing on music has taught him “that art is relevant, important.” He adds “…businesses need to think of an investment in the arts as well as investing in their own bottom line.” He encourages businesses to remember that the arts are important and need support too. Rosner sees the strong collaboration between business and the arts as a union that benefits a large number of people. He also sees ongoing partnerships with music and business as one of the driving forces reshaping the music industry. Musicians receive support and financial backing from companies, companies gain brand awareness, and sales by getting their product message out to the loyal fans. Those fans are also sometimes rewarded by insider deals and perks reserved exclusively for them. Rosner has been successful in attracting sponsorship partners through his other company Artist Deals, (www.artistdeals.ca). Sierrasil, a local BC company owned and operated by Michael Bentley, was an early adopter of the idea of partnering their brand with emerging musicians. Every time purchasers enter the promo code “TodHughesProject” on www. sierrasil.com Sierrasil supports the arts, and fans receive a discount. It’s a simple concept that rewards everyone.