“Be voracious when it comes to uncovering the secrets of the music business and how people outside the music business behave as entrepreneurs.”
And I wish more of my fine art friends would embrace this mentality (primarily so they can keep making art):
“[Art and business] seem diametrically opposed, but I don't think you can survive being just an artist or just a businessperson. If you're only business, you will lack the flair that attracts an audience. If you're only flair, you'll be taken advantage of.”
"You have to be both. Then you can surround yourself with smart people, secure in the knowledge you can control your own art and your own career--because if you don't, someone else definitely will."
I'm not much of an entrepreneur these days, but I know that the best way to succeed in life is to control your own destiny.
The most successful that I've seen amongst my musician/songwriter/composer friends enter unorthodox spaces that have strong potential, such as creating high quality sample libraries for instruments like guitars for use in DAWs (digital audio workstations - software like FL Studio, Cubase, Logic, Reason, etc.), aggressive promotion via forums & writing articles of interest to their potential audience on their blogs, and networking in scenes such as indie game developer communities (via forums & IRC) & events such as GDC and Video Games Live. I have an acquaintance who even found success networking with musicians at concerts!
It's certainly a tough business to be in - you have to love it, both the music and business side.
This is a video where a guitarist won a free lesson with Joe. It's incredible how much Joe can pack into a 45-minute lesson; it's obvious he's a fantastic teacher and he's totally dedicated to learning and improvement.
Watching Satch play live (and up close!) you see the passion in his face and his playing. This is a man that LOVES what he does - and he does it very well! If only we could all be that lucky.
http://www.guitar9.com/interview38.html
Which gets back to "Always be challenging yourself"
"We shared part of the building with Nolo Press, a company that made how-to books with tear-out pages for all sorts of legal situations. Their dumpster was right outside the door where we would hang out and have a smoke and a drink in between practicing, and it was always overflowing with damaged books. So we're out there wondering how we're ever going to make it in the music business and start absentmindedly flipping through books. One of them showed how to start all kinds of businesses."
This is the beauty of starting a business in the USA. It really is that simple.