I've been playing music for a living since I was young. It paid off the mortgage, buys cars, buys food, and so on. Other than car payments, I'm in zero debt and I go on vacation once a year (I've been on every continent but Antarctica).

I don't live like a well-to-do person. The house is a modest house in a desirable neighborhood, I buy Dodge/Ford cars instead of BMW/Benz price points, no jewelry, no luxuries but comfort (I'd rather spend my money on travel).

I have played in dive bars, singles clubs, show lounges, 5 star hotels, cruise ships, and even as the opening act for major headliners in concert while their hits were in the top 10 on Billboard.

As Tony pointed out, give the audience what they want. I might add be better than your competition.

I have friends who are my competitors in this business. Some of them are very good musicians and entertainers. My objective is to do a better job than they do. We are small businesses in competition for limited gigs. A few of us get the most and the better paying gigs because we are better than the rest. That's it.

We practice songs until we have them down well. I do my own backing tracks and if it takes a few days to get one song to the best of my abilities, I give it that much time.

We play the songs the audience wants. We collect requests, and when something gets requested often, if it is within our capabilities, we learn it. Even if a regular customer repeatedly requests a song, and he/she is the only one who requests it, we learn it.

We remember who asks for songs, and when they come in and get settled, we find an appropriate time to play it for them, and let them know it's for them, either say, "Here's one for Jim" or just nod and a wink.

We play what the audience wants to hear, when the audience wants to hear it. In other words, we watch the audience, use our experience to pace them and play what's appropriate for the time.

I hear bands saying, "We don't play Brown Eyed Girl, Old Time Rock And Roll, Mustang Sally, Uptown Funk or whatever but we are not like that. We play popular music, it's popular for a reason, and if the audience likes it, we will enjoy playing it. Really, we get lost into the music when we start playing, whether it's a simple song or a challenging one.

We involve the audience, it's a dialog with them, not a lecture.

We realize we are in a service business. Our job is to give the audience the best experience we can. If they go home with a smile on their faces, if they enjoyed themselves, we've done our job.

Like any business, if you want to make money in that business, give the customers what they want, and do a better job than your competition.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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