The Musician's Hierarchy Of Needs

Living a happy and fulfilled creative life

(Shaking hands with Dr. Jill Biden after The White House 4th of July BBQ in 2021)

This time last year I was performing at the White House and meeting the POTUS and FLOTUS.

This year on the 4th of July weekend I was selling ice and t-shirts to tourists.

This stark contrast got me thinking a lot about a musician’s hierarchy of needs and, specifically, why I’m ok with the dichotomy these two vastly different holiday weekends represent in my life.

At the beginning of 2020, I was on a real music career high.

I’d played some of the biggest gigs of my life with Sugarland the previous year, I had endorsements from all the gear companies I loved, I’d been made bandleader for one of my favorite artists, Brandy Clark, and I was looking forward to a year filled with touring all over the world.

Then it all came to a sudden stop and I - along with most musicians - was left reeling, suddenly confronted with the question of who we were when the career hamster wheel flung us off and into months of quiet lock-down in our homes.

My self-confidence had been directly related to the statement, “I’m a bass player” for so long that one of the hardest parts of the last two years was disentangling my sense of self-worth from the gigs I was playing (or not, as the case may be).

Now I play bass sometimes, coach sometimes, write sometimes, sell t-shirts sometimes, and I can honestly say I’m ok with it all.

I know being in a position to look back and find the silver lining in a global pandemic clearly demonstrates my privilege, but I can now acknowledge just how valuable the last two years have been in terms of putting my priorities in order.

Teaching me that I can be truly happy on and off the stage.

I’m happy now because I’ve realized what my creative needs are, in order of most essential.

Below is my independent musician’s career success hierarchy of needs, a concept based (loosely) on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which you can check out here.

The Musician’s Hierarchy of Needs, in order of importance:

1. Financial Security

2. Inspiration

3. Intention

4. Creativity

5. Audience

6. Team

Financial Security

I took a long time to learn this myself, and it is the number one piece of advice I wish I could tell my younger self and understand sooner.

Taking care of your financial needs must come first because without financial security you can’t make smart decisions for your music career and you won’t have the necessary calm and clarity of mind to be creative.

When you’re stressing out about how to pay your rent or buy gas for the car you can’t make great music and you definitely can’t invest in learning new skills or running advertising campaigns.

It’s also very difficult to make good career decisions based on the music when you need to take every penny offered to you, whether it’s a good musical fit or not, simply because you’re desperate for income.

Taking care of your finances doesn’t mean you’re selling out or that you’re any less of an artiste, it just means you understand that finding a way to pay your bills is what will allow you the resources to invest in your music career and the anxiety-free headspace to be truly creative.

Side hustle, part-time job, freelance work… do whatever it takes to pay your bills until music can in a way that is in alignment with your creative integrity. And know that sometimes it never will, and that’s ok too - so long as you’re getting it done and are living a happy and balanced life.

Inspiration

If you don’t ensure there’s space for inspiration in your life you won’t have anything of interest to actually say with your music.

Inspiration comes from falling in and out of love. It comes from broken hearts and hilariously bad dates. It comes from traveling to new places. From observing people. From hearing the stories of your friends’ lives. From listening to the stories and struggles of co-workers with different backgrounds to you. It comes from books, movies, and podcasts. It comes when you’re walking or running. It also comes in the quiet idle time between activities.

One day Brandy Clark and I were chatting about whether songwriters must live in Nashville to be successful, and she said she thinks the best songwriters are often the ones who don’t live in Nashville, because people that live outside of the music industry interact with “real” people on a daily basis and therefore find inspiration for their songs in real-world situations. If you live in a music industry bubble and stop experiencing things that most people outside of the bubble can identify with your lyrics and music will cease to be relevant to your listeners and potential fans, most of whom are outside the industry.

Intention

Aka - why the hell are you doing this?

Until you figure out why it is you make music you will always struggle to articulate your goals, set boundaries around your time, and attract other people to your music.

Do you want to help LGBTQ+ youth feel less alone through your lyrics?

Hoping to help other PTSD survivors find solace and connection?

Think it’s important for women to achieve equal representation in music?

Want to be the world’s best virtuoso on your instrument?

Your why is at the center of all your goals, your marketing plan, and your audience growth strategy, and is the thing that your future fans will connect with on a level deep enough that they will fully buy into your artistry and become superfans ready to spend money on you.

Even if your why is to make money, that will impact the gigs you say yes to and the kind of music you pursue. For example, if your number one goal is making money, you’re probably going to prioritize commercial success over creative innovation.

If innovation is your number one goal then you’ll need to accept a lower financial return for longer and make sure you have that side hustle or freelance career flourishing as well.

Until you’ve figured out what your why is, you will struggle to grow a career in music.

Creativity

Now that you know why you’re making music, and your inspiration cup is overflowing, it’s time to sit down and be creative.

The reason this comes after inspiration and intention is so you can make the most of your time and create in the most fulfilling and fruitful way.

Whether it’s writing songs, practicing your instrument, or jamming with friends, pure creation time is essential and should come before the time you set aside for the business side of your career.

If you’re nailing your post schedule, crushing your engagement, but you’re not building in time to be creative and actually get really good at the thing you’re busy promoting, what’s the point in any of it?

It’s highly unlikely you will be able to build a fanbase for music that is just meh, so make sure you schedule time to regularly work on your craft.

Audience

This is the thing most musicians get wrong.

They fixate on building an audience first and forget about everything else.

They think that if they have an audience then everything else will follow, but hitting the road on tour or creating content to grow an audience online MUST come after financial stability, inspiration, intention, and creativity, otherwise it simply will not work.

People are inundated with options for entertainment online and in life, so to cut through the noise and grab someone’s attention you need to have a clear intention, be inspired with something worthwhile to say, have honed your craft, and be really good at what you do, and be coming from a place of financial stability, not desperation.

Once you’ve nailed steps 1 - 4 it’s so easy to create content in alignment with what’s truly meaningful to you, and attract people into your world who connect with it too.

When you are struggling to build an audience, it’s probably because what you’re making is uninspired, you’re not staying true to your intention, or - and this might sound harsh - what you’re making just isn’t good yet.

Team

Building a team comes last for two reasons:

• There’s a hell of a lot you not only can do yourself but MUST do yourself before anyone else can help you

• No one is going to want to sign you or manage you until you have momentum and a decent audience already built

Not all musicians need a team (as a session player I don’t) and the key thing to remember if a publisher, label, manager, or booking agent is something you want is that you’re always in a better negotiating position if they seek you out vs you chasing them down.

The industry is constantly shifting in favor of artists building audiences themselves utilizing social media and the best thing you can do as an independent musician is focus on 1-5, and leave Team as a maybe/only when it’s absolutely necessary.

The key takeaway here for independent musicians is simply this: if you’re frustrated with your lack of support team or the speed of your audience growth you need to spend some time investigating why you want it so bad.

Need to make more money? Find a part-time job.

Looking for validation? Focus on your intention.

Feeling uninspired? Seek out friends, go for a walk, or read a book.

You won’t find financial security, validation, or inspiration in your social media follower count.

For me, I’ve realized that it doesn’t really matter to me how I achieve financial stability (selling T-shirts works just as well as playing shows for that), and that my creative inspiration comes from living a more balanced life that includes gigs and touring, but also being at home and spending time helping Jake build his business.

My intention has shifted from just wanting to play great music myself to wanting to help women musicians worldwide feel empowered and inspired to build careers in music.

I absolutely adore getting back on stage and playing music with my friends, and I’m very grateful that those opportunities are starting to turn up with more frequency, but I also find creative satisfaction in writing, creating tutorials for musicians, and even in designing clothing displays at Jake’s store.

My audience growth is slow and steady and - most importantly - I’m attracting the right kind of people into my orbit.

A team isn’t something I need right now in terms of a manager or label, though I’m incredibly stoked to have found a great business partner for the coaching work I’m planning and to be making plans with my bandmate in Tattletale Saints for an album and tour.

The last two years have taught me that this is what creative happiness is.