Being fully prepared when entering the industry

 

 

Marcelo is a music artist working as a composer, performer and producer in Brazil and has spent many years managing his own workload. The current music market has influenced Marcelo’s ability to work solely as a performer and his experiences around these challenges have meant that he now finds himself more as a coach and mentor through his music production. Learning from his own hardships and struggles of being able to survive and support his own family through being a musician has ironically meant that he has been responsible for the rise of several artists and bands from the region, who emerged to a national and international status.

 

"It is very easy for me to work as a producer, it feels natural, like I was born to do it.” But, he explains that the journey of being an artist and producer was long and hard; "I wasn’t able to go deep as an artist and a producer at the same time; I was trying to do both things too well and I began to suffer; I wasn’t sleeping and I had no time to live my life outside of music; I became stuck as a professional too.”

 

 

Marcelo’s own experience of working as a musician and finding the balance between artistry and management has become very much part of his success. He understands, with clarity, the necessity of an artist needing to understand every part of the creative process and considers the entire management of work part of this. "Taking care of the whole pathway, from creation to delivery is more complex than many new artists think. The music production industry is growing in ‘how to do’ instructions. Being able to produce music at home and pressing the right buttons is only part of the process; it is not all about the tools and knobs. The music is the most important part. Online instructions and social media information don’t say anything about the parts of the music that make music human. Tools are meant to be serving the music, but the part that makes a musician survive is the human part.”

 

 

Since the age of ten, Marcelo has had a love for music and plays many instruments. He explains that when he set out as a musician he had very little understanding of what it meant to live such a life. He explains the importance of every emerging musician needing to understand how music works in their own culture and how government and politics influence weaknesses and successes. "Currently, artists need to be business people, but it is hard to bring this mentality to them. We need to change people’s mind set and we need to understand the importance of it. Artists need to understand why they are charging money and professionalise themselves with a business mind. Musicians need to have the mind of a producer so they can communicate to the guys who have the money!”. 

 

 

Marcelo goes on to explain that the subject of money is very hard for an artist. "You have to go through several phases as an artist and work your way around the fact that spectators and contractors often do not see the difference between an amateur and professional. It is worth more for a contractor to ask for an amateur to perform for free, when they realise that spectators do not know the difference. But as you notice your popularity increasing and you get to understand what your target market is becoming then it is them you have to play to. As the bar fills up, you charge them!” He acknowledges the difficulty in the size of Brazil and how audiences are sparse and spread around the country, "travelling is a huge cost, and you have to travel to find your audiences, it’s so important to consider this every time you have a desire to play”. 

 

 

Travel, touring internationally and gaining artist status globally was part of Marcelo’s lifestyle that later developed into burn-out. "I was the executive producer, the manager, the composer, the music producer and also the financial guy of my own band. I was making the money and kept spending it on my own productions. For a while that was fine, but I soon began to realise that I was feeding the recording for and producing bands that were getting bigger than my own. My producer branding was a lot bigger than my art. There was an existential paradox that where I was not evolving deeply as an artist or producer, as there was just so much to do for both. And as you get better, people’s expectations get bigger. The efforts become more and more exhausting. The effort to become popular meant that my music started changing, and I didn’t want to change my music”. This ironic sabotage that Marcelo describes has given him clarity in thinking. Whilst he has chosen not to sell his music, he is helping others to sell their music, but with a knowledge and encouragement that musicians need to know their professional world well. 

 

"I am in a bit of a fight, politically, I want to make sure that musicians are able to access professional music education.” He explains that Brazil provides conferences for musicians, where they can learn about what is needed to work successfully. However, it seems that the size of Brazil is a challenge as there is a reluctance to travel. "This education wakes up artists, but we need more conferences so that they reach more local musicians. Every artist thinks they are ready to produce good work, but it is not until they understand first hand that they realise what is needed to become more professional. Artists need to be better prepared. I have seen for myself that the artist who learns about business, management, administration, and the real art of producing are now ruling it and the city where they live and work is better for it too. It is important to understand that doors will close for you because you didn’t prepare yourself properly.”

 

 

Marcelo talks of the changes of government, influencing grants and developments in technology since the 80s. "Artists have a lot of freedom now and do whatever they want because they can do it themselves. People can publicise their music on social media, but this means you have many artists releasing tracks, professionals or not. There is a lot of activity going on and audiences can often loose track, music gets lost and people are waiting to be told what is cool.” This independent surge is considered by Marcelo to be one of the reasons why artists must learn the business side of their art, "at some point independent artists need help from someone, you can’t work entirely independently”, it seems that by this he means that learning from others and listening to the human knowledge and experience can put both music and music artist back on track. 

 

 

But Marcelo’s prediction is that an artist’s life may never change that much. Whilst he sees the importance of every artist knowing and understanding business, he acknowledges what he describes as a very ‘delicate’ issue. "The world of music is made up of a segmented market; there are a lot of different styles of music and each group has their own way to make the market work for them. Each one has it’s own logical way that it operates. This is often a problem for the artist. We are an artist for the art, not for the professional tactics. We have an immediate diminished outlook. There are styles that might make an artist rich, but if they don’t like it, then they won’t do it! If something is not connected to their heart, mind and soul then they are living on borrowed time. If what we love is not selling and we are not making money, then we cope with that curse, for the rest of our life; we are tied to it. We want to make money, but we have to be true to the bit that feeds our soul.”

 

Marcelo describes the importance of knowing deeply, what makes you happy, as a functioning artist, and understanding exactly what brings you joy or unhappiness. "I realised that I love to create and produce, but I also realised, at some point, that I don’t want to play the same things more than ten times. I needed a new creative challenge; that is what keeps me alive. I want to make new things!” And, here lies the concluding part of the conversation with Marcelo. Whilst he advocates the importance of understanding business and management, he acknowledges that as a working artist there is an underlying complexity: "Being successful isn’t just knowing how to be a business person, it is also understanding exactly what part of the art you enjoy the most, which enables you to be that business person and artist that will make you successful”.