"It's about the journey, not the destination."
I've always loved this quote. It resonates with me and I truly believe in its meaning. Life is about experiencing, learning, hurting, laughing, crying, dancing. It's about believing in yourself, about taking risks, about getting right back up after you've fallen. It's not easy to "live the moment"; we all have responsibilities, bills, families and friends. I often feel like my life is a balancing act between music on the one side and work on the other, plus my family and friends and other aspirations and hobbies. As I've been doing this for while, I've become pretty good at it, but I often wonder about the future and whether I'll be able to do as much. No one knows, but what I do know is that I'm dedicated as hell! haha :)
And that gets me to week 8 of the Social Media Challenge (one week to go!!!)! Week 8 is precisely about this journey and about how to make sure that there's continuity in what you do. Over the last few years, I've really been focusing on gaining more experience and confidence as an artist and getting known. I've done numerous benefit concerts, worked with a variety of artists and did two solo tours, which I planned, organized and booked on my own. That said, I haven't been very good (or very pre-occupied) with making money…or at the very least covering my costs!
As I don't have a CD for sale yer (or anything else for that matter!), I've taken a bit of a different approach to this week and decided to focus on three objectives: 1) gaining more exposure, 2) strengthening my fan base, and 3) getting more regular paid gigs. I've actually hired a publicist a few weeks ago who has been helping me find gigs. It's also been really useful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to help me with my career (check out their site - ArtsPublicity). I've also been working with different artists in Ottawa, which I've found really rewarding and truly inspiring!
Given my balancing act between music and work, I've been thinking a lot over the last few months about ways that I can combine the two. Last week, I organized a concert for International Women's Day and invited two other female singer-songwriters to join me. We took turns singing songs about inspirational women, challenges women face and achievements. We had a TV and radio interview and the event was streamed live over the internet, allowing people to watch from their laptop or smartphone! The feedback I received was so great that I've decided to launch a live webcast concert series that will take place once a month and will have different guest. Stay tuned for more details on this great endeavour!!! Click here to view the live webcast.
Apart from that, I've also applied for funding to help me cover the costs of my CD, so I'm crossing my fingers :)!!!
So, that's my continuity plan (in addition to my five goals from week 1):
1. Play gigs on a regular basis by myself and with other artists (cover gigs, house concerts, private parties);
2. Start a live webcast concert series!
3. Apply for funding.
That's it! So much work to do!!! haha But it's all worth it :)
I will leave you with this video from our International Women's Day concert. It's a song I wrote specifically for the event and I just love how it came out. Thanks to Brea Lawrenson and Braiden Turner :))))
:)
Kristine