I’m a huge fan of Steven Wilson, both his solo work and his former band Porcupine Tree. Steven Wilson is a true artist, the way David Bowie was. He never makes the same record twice, and he’s making some of his best music now, in his 50’s. I’ve watched several interviews and some documentaries, and I’ve pieced together Steven’s advice to anyone who basically wants to do what he does – make exactly the music you want to make. This is a compilation, so it’s not exactly word for word, but it’s pretty darn close.
“If you’re starting and you really want to make music, do it because you love it, and don’t even think about having a career. And if you end up having a career, great. But (playing the game like everyone else) is a surefire way to destroy everything that is unique and special about what you do, and what you can do.
And that’s the problem with a lot of people, is that they still think of music as a possible career path, and there’s too much music in the world. There’s already too many musicians, too much music, you’re trying to get into an industry where there’s already tons and tons of music. The mistake a lot of people make is thinking they have to compromise and fall in line with everything that everyone else thinks will make them successful, which is the WORST thing you can do.
You need to accentuate what’s different about yourself. Unfortunately that also makes it a lot harder. So I say don’t even think about music as a career. Which is a hard lesson to say to someone. All they want in life is to be a professional musician.”
I think a lot of people would really struggle with this. Don’t think about music as a career? Most aspiring artists don’t want to hear that. But he’s RIGHT. You can’t be John Mayer or Taylor Swift. If you want to sound like them, you’ll be in a very large group of thousands of others who also want to sound like them.
More importantly, if you set out to be the best artist you can be and you don’t worry about making a living at it, as long as you work hard, you’ll succeed. If you set out to be a famous recording artist, you might as well play the lottery. You’ve gone from a surefire plan to a one in a million shot in the dark.
So what do you REALLY want to do? Do you want to be an actual “artist?” A real artist is someone who creates to please themself. They don’t worry about other people. It’s ironic, but Steven is correct – your best shot at having a music career is to not worry about having one, and to concentrate on making the best art you can, and learn what’s unique about you, and bring that out. And if you’ve got talent and you end up making good art, you might end up with a career.
Great advice.
