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.
Rosner says of the Sierrasil team: “They are great people from top to bottom and great supporters of developing artists in Canada.” As artists gain awareness of the need to apply sound business tactics, businesses like Sierrasil see the collaboration with artists as an opportunity to market their product in a way that emphasizes the human quality of business. In the end, business is not just about a company name or brand, it is also about transactions made by people. If you expect people to do business with you, you better understand people. Musicians tend to be very gifted at understanding and appreciating people, especially their fans. Hughes goes so far as to say that “…for me, music connects my spirit with a higher power, and transcends thoughts and ideas to a more spiritual plane.”
For a company like Sierrasil, whose vision is to help one million or more people live healthier and more active lives, connecting with the whole person is important; music is one of the best vehicles to make that connection. Sierrasil offers relief for joint pain, and as someone who uses it regularly, Rosner saw it as a product that would benefit many people.
When asked about the biggest challenges of being a more mature musician, Hughes replied, “There is a perception in certain genres that music is a young person’s game (ironic, given the age of the highest grossing tour performers!)…in some way you are fighting that perception and some would say you are striving, while others say you are motivating!” He advises: “Having the right attitude is very important at all ages, but especially as a mature musician. Know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Health and fitness are also important to have the energy needed to perform at a high level.”
When he was asked about his music goals Hughes replied, “My goals are simply to make great original music, share it with as many people as possible and to play at interesting and fun venues!” Perhaps one of these venues will be a festival you attend in your RV. If so, be sure to get a front row seat to take in this engaging performer. For more details on Tod Hughes, check out: www.todhughes.ca or www.facebook.com/ todhughesprojectwww.reverbnation.com/ todhughesproject .
Do you attend music festivals in your RV? If so, which ones are your favourites and offer the best amenities for RVers? Have your RV travels introduced you to emerging musicians, known in their corner of the world, but as yet undiscovered in other parts? If so, please keep the conversation going and share any comments about your RV music destinations at katrinaboguski@ hotmail.ca .
To succeed in ANY vocation, one needs to understand how the industry works, and when you don’t understand how something works, enlist the help of those who do understand. Tod has done just that. He partnered with Musik Radio Promotions to release his music world-wide! Do YOU want YOUR music to be heard on over 250,000 around the world? Then contact the Musik Radio Promotions Team today and get YOUR music heard!!