Who Influences Your Music Career?

I’ve always been a huge basketball fan and see lots of parallels between professional basketball and professional music. So, it was with great interest that I tuned in to watch Lebron James announce “The Decision” on Wednesday night. I wanted to see how Lebron navigated his basketball career choice. Could I apply anything from the situation to my music career?

For over two years leading up to this night the media had obsessed over which team Lebron would sign with. Thousands of articles and tweets were written asking this question: Who influences Lebron? The answer to this question is sort of shocking. It’s amazing to realize that Lebron, being one of the most powerful men in the world, has advisors. He does though. In fact, they were a deliberate and carefully chosen group of people.
On the level Lebron is at there is no room for decisions to be made on a mediocre level. They have to be GREAT decisions.

I’ve never set a goal of mediocrity either. From Day 1 I knew that I had to control who gave me advice. I didn’t want the same old mediocre results that most musicians get.
On the musical level I’ve had many different musical advisers. Two in particular are Bruce Katz (from Greg Allman’s Band) and Jim Trompeter (from Gloria Estefan and  Miami Sound Machine). Both have been hugely influential on me. Both of these guys play on a world-class level. It was a simple decision. I love their music and I wanted to be where they were. Their advising and influence over the years has helped me get to where I am today in my music career.

On the music business level I’ve been really careful who I’ve taken influence from as well. In fact I’ve been even more cautious. There are plenty of people who’ve given me “advice” over the years. A lot of the “advice” may have been well intentioned but often times a cookie cutter approach. Great music and great music marketing can’t be cookie cutter.

When I first started I wanted to learn how to share my music with people and make a fantastic living. My friend Joe Lilly runs a $50 million dollar marketing company and also is a guitar player. He is someone I’m proud to let influence me because I know Joe’s track record. He understands marketing on an insanely high level. Top 1% type level.

What about you? Do you have advisors? Do you have a specific group of people who advise you in your music career? Have they been there before? Do they share the same goals as you? Do they know what it takes to get there?

For some real life changing music career advice click here