Transcription
Most music artists don't want to stop growing. They just get stuck at the same level. It doesn't matter where you are in your music career right now. Whether it's beginner, part-time, professional, or you're already touring. If you're here, you're likely curious about leveling up because getting to the next level is not as straightforward as it used to be.
The rules for leveling up in music completely changed. The strategy around what steps to take is shifting by the minute as things across the entire industry are evolving at a rapid pace. For artists, the rules in today's music world are quickly being altered.
I spent the last 20 years working on all sides of the music industry. And I've studied artists at every level and how they exist inside it. I've worked directly with some of the biggest music artists in the world. I lived the artist life myself, toured internationally, worked with major record labels, and experienced all sides of the music business. And what these years of experience gave me was a view on patterns and what it really takes to change levels as an artist.
And most people think that how you ascend in music today to gain the notoriety, the houses, the cars, the sold-out shows, they think it all comes from getting better at music and content. But I'm here to tell you that they're wrong. There's a lot more to it than that.
In this video, I'm going to show you exactly how artists level up in today's music industry from the very beginning all the way to icon status. And what I'm going to do from an artist perspective is I'm breaking down the entire journey into levels just like a video game. At each level, we're going to look at four things that actually determine whether you advance to the next level or remain. Those four categories are skills, brand, team, and mindset. I'll use the video game metaphor to simplify what usually can feel overwhelming so you know exactly what to focus on at each level-up moment. And towards the end of the video, I'll give some tactics on what you can implement now to not only help the transition up, but also to find happiness and joy in the same process.
So, who am I to even talk about this? I'm Chris Alba and there's a longer video on the neighborhood art supply channel that goes into my story, but quickly I've spent the last 12 years owning and operating a creative agency called the Cole Creatives. The Cole Creatives has primarily been focused in the sectors of music and fashion. We've worked with top-tier artists and brands mostly on the side of creative direction, production, storytelling, and brand strategy. We've done tens of millions of dollars in business and have been at the forefront of working with and watching artists go from local breakouts to internationally known music icons. I've seen how they make the sausage at every level and I know from experience what's generally required for an artist or a group to level up and that's what we're attacking today. And if you've already mastered a level and you feel like skipping ahead, go for it.
So, let's get into it.
Level one, from music for fun to part-time.
So, at this level, music is something you love. Researching how to do it, working on it, experimenting, and getting better is almost like an addiction. You think about it often, and you want more time with it. And you'd also like to be able to make some money with this new knowledge that you're earning and the time that you're spending with the craft. So, to go from the for-fun music artist to actually driving revenue, let's look at our four quadrants.
First, let's look at the skills needed. The main skill you'll need here is the skill of learning and retention. How do you best learn something? Everyone's different, but it's getting to know yourself and how your brain can download new skills. Are you a visual learner? If so, look for visual style tutorials. Are you a physical learner? You do better by actually doing it to comprehend how it's done. Do you work best with a mentor or an in-person teacher? The ones who show you exactly how to do something step by step. What gets the best result out of you? What kind of repetition and learning style do you need to retain it? Only you know best here. This isn't like a test in school where if you fail, you may get in trouble with your parents. This is a test regarding your dreams and aspirations. So, do some research on different learning techniques and see what works best for you. In order for someone to hire you, you're going to need to choose a thing and then be semi-good at that thing. And getting good comes from experience and learning. So, log it in.
Next, let's examine branding at this stage. So, here, some branding is semi-important, but it's not nearly as crucial as the later levels. You'll need a name for your work, and your brand should have some kind of vibe. You'll need a bio that tells the reader a little bit about who you are and your background. A one-sheet or an EPK, electronic press kit that showcases what you offer. And this should include anything notable that you've done to this point. It also should have some kind of visual that goes along with the brand.
Now, let's look at team. So, at this level, you likely won't have a team. You are the team. You wear all the hats, and that's okay. If we use the metaphor of a restaurant, someday you're going to own the restaurant. So, it's good to have washed the dishes, bust the tables, worked behind the bar, and managed the staff. Get to know the different sides of the business. You'll begin to understand what elements are required to share your work with people and get hired. The quicker you understand the different sides of the business, the quicker you can start to add value to other people's businesses in exchange for money.
Last, let's look at the category of mindset. So, when you're going from for fun to part-time, the first mindset shift becomes around some level of sacrifice. You're going to have to give up some time dedicated to fun with friends or streaming content to focus on your new skills surrounding your craft. When friends are out on the weekends, you're home learning and practicing. You might miss that new summer blockbuster at the movie theater because you are working on something having to do with your craft. Maybe it's an upcoming performance, finishing a song, or working on a project for a client. Being okay with this trade is the mindset shift. Even if you're in a band, there's still a lot of alone time. You still need to learn. You still need to practice and you'll need to be okay with that. At this stage, it's simple. The more hours you log with your music, the better you get. Often why artists won't make it to the next level from the for-fun stage is they don't shift their mindset around the sacrifice. The dedication, commitment, focus, or conviction might be lacking. Something that can be helpful here is to keep a daily journal for just your music stuff. Brighten it every day at the end of the day, even if it's just a couple sentences. Answer these questions: What did you do with music today? What did you learn? What are you focused on right now with your craft? This can help keep you on the rails and keep you motivated during this phase.
The next mindset shift needed to level up to part-time is being okay with hearing "no." Send your stuff out to people. When it's time, send 500 messages to people who may care about your stuff and may want to hire you. Or another version of this is make a hundred videos showcasing what you do and upload them to the platform of your choice and see if anything comes back. Find ways to get people to see your stuff. But be prepared for no reply at all, no engagement, or just "no." Access, analyze, learn, and then try again until you get a "yes." Music is about taking what's inside and making something from nothing and then sharing that something. This part's tough because you're dealing with vulnerability, insecurities, and putting yourself out there. And when you put yourself out there, the context at this phase is tough because they've never heard of you. It's tough to convince them, but that's okay. Get used to it.
Now, making money with creativity and something that you invented from nothing is incredible and it should absolutely be celebrated. And for some, this is enough and this is where it ends. But what if you don't want music to just be a part-time side hustle? You want music to be your career and a big part of your life? The thing that you would spend the majority of your time working on? That next level is what we're going to unlock next. You know you've cleared this level when music is no longer just something you love. It's something other people will pay for. You've logged enough hours to be a strong addition to other people's visions. You've built enough skill to create value. You've made the shift from practicing in private to your work being in public. You've earned your first real coins. And the game changes here. Once money enters the equation, a shift happens. Decisions matter more. And your next boss isn't talent time or learning. It's more challenging than that.
Level two, from part-time to professional.
Okay, so now you've made some money with music. This is no longer just a hobby. This is now turned into a mini side business and a way to make some extra money. You don't make enough yet to quit your day job, but you're consistently getting work and people seem to enjoy what you offer and invite you back on whatever gig it is. You likely have a small following of people who know what you do and you're semi-promoting yourself on certain platforms. You may have a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people that are tied to your world. So, what needs to happen at this stage in the game to get you to the next level? How can you quit your day job and live off of music? How can you become a professional in the music industry?
Let's look at skills. In order to become a professional, you're going to need something unique that you offer that other artists in the field can offer. There's something that you do better than most. And this could be all sorts of different things. You could be extremely gifted at the music itself, classically trained or an amazing engineer. Or you could be incredible at marketing. You know how to drive awareness around the thing that you're doing. Maybe you studied it in school or you worked for a company and now you're applying that to your music. Or maybe you're a great ticket seller or promoter. You somehow can get hundreds of people to come to a show to see you perform. Not just as a one-off. Every time you can sell tickets to whatever it is you do, or maybe it's networking. You're great at finding and meeting the right people who are buying talent and they like you. They give you shots on the things that they're working on. Whatever it is, you have a skill that the average part-time artist doesn't have. And how you earned this skill was through time and effort. You likely have or are earning your 10,000 hours against this skill. In order to get to the next level professional, you'll need to be strong in some arena that would be hard for the average artist in your scene to do.
Another skill that you'll need at this level is some kind of financial literacy. This part's big and often ignored at this stage. Now, I'm not talking about becoming an accountant. I'm talking about enough financial awareness so you can understand the game that you're playing. So this means understanding cash flow. Not just how much money comes in, but when it comes in and when it goes out. It means knowing your monthly burn so you understand how long you can survive if things slow down. It means knowing which gigs are actually profitable and which ones are more for a look. And separating the look gigs from the income gigs. A lot of artists confuse busy with progress. Being even semi-financially literate gives you a level of clarity. It helps you stop guessing and you start making intentional decisions about what's actually moving you towards your goal of becoming a professional. It is a creative field, but it is called the music business.
So now let's look at brand. For brand at the part-time level, you still don't need that much to be hired. Having some is important, but it's more about your work. You'll continue to be hired as long as you have some kind of reputation for being good. Now, in order to level up to the professional level, you are going to need to start forming what your brand, your story, your movie really is. What is your unique point of view and how does that match your skills? And you'll need to start telling the story to people. I have a bunch of videos on this channel that can help you with those exercises of starting to flesh out your brand. But in order to make the jump into being a working professional, you're going to at least need the main elements of your initial brand in place.
Then let's look at team. At this level, the team is likely still just you. And then if you're in a group, it's you and the other members of the group. You're wearing all the hats and doing all the work. In order to level up, you may want to consider adding help to the things that take you out of your magic skill. This is usually the level-up moment where artists find their managers. And often with early managers, it's usually just a friend, someone who believes in what you're doing and wants to help build with you. By adding this member of your team, you now can divide and conquer. And as a note, not every artist needs a manager here, but everyone typically needs help.
Now, let's look at mindset. Usually, at the part-time level, the mind starts to fall in love with the idea of doing this full-time. Some things are starting to work. So, in order to level up to professional, there's three key mindset shifts that'll need to happen.
Number one, you need to be open to help and scaling. You can't do it all yourself. To take this to a professional level, you're going to need collaborators. In exchange for their help, it's either paying them or giving some equity against the profits. If the deal is right, either is worth it if the person or people can help you jump to the next level.
Number two, you need to hone in on your superpower. Spend time analyzing what's working. Look for the patterns. Why is money actually coming in? Now, if your superpower is the music and that's what people are hiring you for, lock in on that. Or if it's the marketing or content, go all in on that. Whatever it is, make the choice to make that a priority and then find collaborators to fill in the other aspects outside of your superpower. You need to know what you do best in order to find your collaborators.
Number three, self-belief. So, this is a big one. In order to make the jump from part-time to professional, you need to believe that you can. Now, I don't recommend blindly jumping without some kind of soft safety net. But at some point, you do have to jump. And that jump is always scary, but without this first real jump, you'll never reach higher levels. And here's the good news, and I've seen this a bunch. So, let's say you jump and it actually doesn't work out on the first try. And then you have to go back to the job that you don't love so that you can save up again. Now, for some, they'll never jump again because they're too traumatized. But for many, the next time you jump, it's actually not as scary. Now, jumping is scary no matter what, but each time you do it, it becomes less and less scary. Eventually, you'll get so used to risk that life will actually start to feel boring if you aren't jumping from time to time.
And as a side note here, I personally think that artists that are at the part-time level should keep their day job as long as possible as it allows them more creative freedom to make the art that they want to make. Sometimes when you go all-in on music and you have little or no safety net, you start making desperate decisions that compromise your art so you can eat and have shelter. In the world of creative, the art needs to be amazing to work. So, if it's compromised too much by the business, you may actually start working backwards.
Going from part-time to professional is one of the biggest moments in a music artist's career. And as a professional, you are now truly building a music business with your art and creativity. And for some, this may be enough. And this is where the dream stops. And there's nothing wrong with existing and having a career as a professional. But for some, once you've existed for a period of time as a professional, you're going to want to level up. But where do you go from here? And that's what we're going to talk about next.
Level two complete. Promote unlocked. You know you've cleared level one when music is no longer accidental income. You understand why money is coming in. You can predict it. And you can sustain yourself without panicking every month. You've earned enough coins to stop surviving and start building. You can survive locally now, so the map expands. And your next boss isn't your city or your network, it's the audience.
Level three, from professional to touring artist.
Okay, so now you've made it out of your day job and you're officially a professional working musician. The majority of the money you make comes from your music and your creativity. You have an ongoing flow of gigs coming from different places. You have multiple revenue streams and you can safely support yourself with your music career. Quick note here, if you are a professional but only have one big income source, I strongly recommend diversifying. If that source goes away, you can quickly go back down a level in the game.
So now, as a professional in your city, how can you level up? For many artists, the next stage is touring. Maybe it's not internationally touring, maybe it's domestic, but you can travel to other cities and people will show up and spend money to see you and get involved in your brand. You have fans outside your city. Your community exists in other places. Often when you start touring at this level, you're either playing smaller soft-ticket rooms, which means rooms with built-in audiences, or you're on tour with a bigger act and they're sharing their fans with you. And the reason that bigger artist has you on is because it's a good look having you on the show. They think their fans would also like your project. Now, touring isn't the only way in the modern era of music, but it's still one of the clearest tests of where your demand lies in certain markets. It's not the only test, but it's the most unforgiving.
Now, in order to level up, let's look at the four quadrants of our game.
Skills. So, to go from professional to touring artist, you're now going to need to have more than just one great skill. Whether it's you or your small team, you're going to need to be strong at multiple things. Now the combination of being strong at multiple skills, firing at once allows you to make this jump. Your networking is good, your music is strong and resonating, the content marketing has found its audience, and the audience itself is growing. There's awareness and a small buzz around your project. Something clicked and something's working. So, in terms of skills, if we use the metaphor of being a basketball player, you can no longer just be a great shooter. Your game needs to start to become more well-rounded, and you'll use these well-rounded skills to build your audience. The audience and the money they spend with you allows you to tour. Touring only works when there's demand from an audience. So, this is the unlock at this level. And at this stage, touring isn't about going everywhere. It's identifying the cities that have momentum and going and stacking wins there. In my opinion, one strong city is worth more than five weak ones. Artists that level up their touring learn how to read demand signals and then build the routes around them to go to their people.
The next set of skills that you'll need at this phase is a huge attention on organization and time management. Touring makes things complex quick. Travel, show days, studio days, content days, communication, recovery. Your schedule is completely different. Now, if you don't create systems, the new boss that is this chaos will eat your energy and stall your growth. Artists who level up here learn how to protect their time so they can actually perform, connect, and stay healthy while doing it all. Another thing to call out in terms of touring is that these days so much of it comes from audiences connecting with the artist's content and how that content plays into the music. In my opinion, the days of the typical industry ladder is fading into the distance. Meaning none of the levels that I'm going to talk about today even require a label. What they do require though is leverage and an audience.
Now let's look at brand. So when it comes to brand and brand story, which is a lot of my world, to level up from professional to touring artist, it takes a new approach to this. For brand, this is the moment. This is it. At this stage, you start becoming a storyteller as much as you are a music artist. You need to have a strong sense of your brand here. Who you are, what you represent, your point of view, and then how it all looks. You're now telling your authentic, unique story to an audience. Now, I know that music artists generally despise the term "content," but making content, thinking of content, strategizing on what to post, and how to tell your story, this is what it's all about. This is what you need to hone in on now. In order to level up, you need to get this right. This is where so many artists get stuck. They are telling a story, but that story, that brand is confusing. I've had many artists through the years come to me and say that they've had these big viral breakout moments, but then afterwards, nothing happened. It went big on socials and people all over the world saw it and maybe even shared it, but then it fell flat. No other outcome besides going viral. That's almost always because of a weak or confusing story. Or on the other side of this, there's artists who have a solid music career and are working and professional and they want to start touring more, but the audience isn't there to support because their brand isn't connecting. There's some story to it, but again, it's confusing. Think about movies that you've seen where the movie was promoted really well and the idea seemed cool, but then when you got there and you watched it, the story lacked. You were confused and ultimately it didn't connect with you. At this stage, in order to level up, there needs to be a story happening, and that story should have a look and feel that matches what it's all about. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it does need to be there. The brand and its story is key to the level-up moment.
Next, let's look at team. So, usually when you start touring, you add an agent. It's not always the case, but generally this is where that part of your team enters the business. There's enough interest around the project where the agent feels confident to book the shows. If the agent can book shows, the agent can make money. So, for those that don't know, agents usually take a percentage of the booking, usually 10 to 20% of gross performance fee, depending on agency services. If a promoter is offering you $2,500 to come to their city and play a show, a good agent raises that fee. You make more money, they make more money. This doesn't mean that you can't start touring without an agent, you can definitely book it on your own with your team, but usually adding a good agent can level up how many markets you can get into. It also adds to the reputation of the brand.
Another member of the team that comes in at this phase is usually your business manager. There's a good amount of money that's getting made and spent at this level, so it's good to have someone who can manage that side of your business. This way you can focus on what you do best and your team can do the same. As a super important note here, it's staggering the amount of stories that I've been told through the years of business managers that have stolen money from the artist. It unfortunately happens a lot more than you might think. So when you're choosing this business manager, make sure you vet, make sure you have trust and make sure you do deep research on them and their team. Also, typically at this phase in terms of team, the artists will start adding specialists and consultants. People who come in and assess different parts of the business and see what's working and what's not. Based on these conversations, the artist and team will make their adjustments and refine everything they're doing. Adding these contracted team members are crucial at this stage. It's all about improving, growing, getting more efficient, getting better.
So then last quadrant, let's look at mindset. In order to level up from professional to touring artist, there's two main mindset shifts that will need to happen.
First mindset shift. When you're a professional, you 100% make your music business and career a priority, but you may still have other things going on in your life. For example, for me, when I went from waiting tables into being a music professional in my mid-20s, I was trying so many different kinds of entrepreneurial things at this stage. I had a concert promotion business I ran with my manager. I had a clothing store that I owned with my girlfriend. I had a side hustle being a graphic designer, helping other music friends and small labels. But my music career and DJing funded most of my life. Around this time, I remember having a conversation with a good buddy of mine, Valentino Khan. He was like, "This is crazy. You have so many things that you're doing. I only have Valentino Khan." He explained it in an endearing way, but I remember coming away from that conversation thinking, I feel like maybe I'm dividing my efforts into too many different things. Everyone's different and how they creatively work is different. But for me at that moment, I feel like Valentino was right. He had the right mindset around what he was trying to do. He had a singular mission and he was solely focused on this one project. No shiny object syndrome, pure focus. And from my experience, that's where the shift happens in this level-up moment. You prioritize the level-up outside of your mental well-being, family, and health. If it doesn't serve the level-up, it falls down the totem pole of priorities. Now, some people will have an emotional gut reaction to what I'm saying here. I know that feeling. I've had it myself. You'll think to yourself, "I can still juggle these other things. I don't want to give those up." And maybe you can, but part of this video is giving you my point of view from 20 years in music. And when I saw artists make the leap from one level to the next. And once artists started touring heavy, you could tell they made a shift. There was extreme focus there. They made it a priority. And whether or not it's healthy can be debated. They became obsessed with a single goal for a period of time, and you could tell they really wanted it. And as a note here, this obsession doesn't have to be forever. You can be locked in and focused for a few seasons, but however you do it and however it all works, you need to be all-in.
Second mindset shift, an attention to state. What state are you in? What gets you in the best state? Touring as a music artist is tough. On social platforms, people see the crowds, the planes, the exploration of new places, but often what they don't see is the grueling travel life behind the scenes. Airport food, three-star hotels, crazy Uber drivers, no consistent sleep regimen. It's amazing to travel and experience your audience in different cities, but those initial touring years are a hard moment for any music project. So, the mindset shift here is a focus on your state, but also how you think about your state. The shift is being open to the sacrifice, knowing that a lot of what it is is going to suck and will 100% take you out of your comfortable life, your comfortable home, and your local scene. But in this shift, you embrace the suck because you know on the other side is a direct connection with your people. The people who like what you like. It's hand-to-hand combat and you are right there with them in their city forming a different kind of bond being in the same room together. The sacrifice in this moment will reveal the next stair step to level up.
So going from professional to touring artist is a significant moment in any music career and for some this may be enough and the dream ends here. But for those wanting to continue up the mountain in their quest, what's the next level of the game?
Level three complete. Map expanded. Touring unlocked. You know you've cleared level three when people spend money to see you in cities that you don't live in. Not because it's free. Not because you're opening, because they chose you. You're their artist. You've earned enough coins now to stop thinking locally and start thinking domestically. The map expands. Routes appear. Cities light up. And now the next boss isn't the audience, it's the demand from them.
Level four, from touring artist to headliner.
So now you're touring consistently. You're visiting audiences in different cities. Money is coming in and money is going out against your tour. But many of the shows you're playing are either small cap rooms or you're supporting other artists. It's time to make the shift from support act to headliner. So, in order to have this level-up moment, let's look at our four quadrants.
Skills. This level-up moment is where skills stop being about raw talent and start being about execution and speed. Speed matters because at this level, opportunities move fast and windows close faster. Headlining artists can make big moves, big decisions, and do them quick. They can act before the moment passes. They make decisions quickly, commit, and move forward without second-guessing every choice. Even if they're wrong, the choice was made. Speed and execution are a crucial skill at this phase.
Next skill is expert-level time management. Your calendar is everything now. It's no longer just a list of gigs and shows. It's your most important strategic asset. Every "yes" creates downstream consequences. Every "no" protects your focus. Artists who level up in this moment understand that what they don't do is often more important than what they do. Time management and learning and building the systems around your time are everything at this stage.
The next crucial skill needed for this level-up moment is scaling. You're no longer just repeating tasks with your team. Now you're becoming a systems builder. In order to level up, there's going to be things that happen without you even being involved. You may roughly know about a thing, but you're not in the weeds of the details. And this is where many touring artists get stuck because they try to grow the actual output of what they're doing. They're trying new outcomes on an old system. This is where contracting those consultants becomes extremely valuable. The good ones can teach you how to scale. And if you don't build your systems correctly, this is where the climbing stops.
So then the next skill needed at this phase is leadership. Now there's a whole group of people following your direction. Your clarity, your energy, your standards are all set for the entire operation. If you're scattered, the team is scattered. If you're focused, the team is focused. A big part of this is getting people to want to work for you. Not for the money, but for the cause. Think about bosses that you've had who have poor leadership. Did you want to work harder for them? No, not at all. And on that note, people skills matter more than ever at this stage. Now, these aren't just friends. You're working with other experienced professionals. And you don't motivate these kinds of people by grinding them harder. You motivate them by communicating vision, direction, and trusting them to do their job. At this level, your skill isn't just what you can do. It's how well you rally the troops. Becoming a leader is a huge part of this level-up moment.
So then the next skill is adopting and adapting to new mediums of communication. You're open to change. In terms of business, the greats don't continue to do the things they've always done. The world changes and they adapt. And adaptation is a skill and that skill can be earned. You embrace the new forms of telling your story and getting your messages to audiences. You're unafraid of trying new things because you've been doing this from the beginning.
And the last crucial skill at this level is what I'm calling data analysis. This means that you're not just using your skills of execution and speed just for the sake of being fast. You're also understanding the "why" around the decisions that you're making. This doesn't necessarily need to be you, but you have people in your team that are masters at analyzing data. What's working and what's not working. And this is all kinds of data, but it could be data around content, money, performance, all of it. The data alongside your gut instincts gives you the reason behind the moves that you make.
Next, let's look at brand. To level up into a headliner, you're going to need to become a master-level storyteller. This is a huge shift when it happens. I know this all too well, and I've seen it firsthand many times over doing what I do with Cole. Now, master-level storyteller doesn't mean just posting more. It means your story and brand across all touch points feel cohesive. Everything connects. Everything has purpose. The music, the visuals, the live show, the content, the interviews, it all feels like it's coming from the same world. And this world has a singular point of view. The devil is in the details and you have mastered how to convey a simple universal idea across thousands of choices and decisions for your brand. If you aren't doing this yourself, you're likely collaborating with somebody like me to bring the story to life. But however it's done, you're clear in what the story is and you know how to execute it.
And another aspect when it comes to branding is you're planning and you're mapping all things. Now multi-month and multi-year calendars really start to matter here. You aren't thinking release to release or even project to project. You're thinking in arcs, eras, and chapters. You understand how releases, tours, visuals, and moments move the whole story forward. You know that what you're working on right now is one movie, but it's inside of a multi-saga franchise. And on the note of brand calendars, you also have content calendars. Content and content planning is no longer random or reactive. It's now extremely intentional. It supports the bigger narrative of the whole brand. So with all the things I'm saying, the key unlock for brand here is big-picture thinking. You've stopped asking, "Is this cool?" Now you're asking, "Does this support the story we're telling right now?" Everything reinforces the overarching brand story and the brand's belief system. If you want to learn how to build a brand belief and value system, you can check out this video here. The net of everything I'm saying is that at this level, brand moves to the top of the totem pole.
Next, let's look at team. So, this is a major scaling moment. You're now adding experienced people to the team who are great at what they do. Most of the people you bring in can do their jobs better than you ever could. And that's the point. These are industry professionals. At this stage, you may be working with dozens of people across different functions to execute the brand. And as I said before, to make this work, systems become mandatory. You'll develop clear ways to communicate high-level ideas so the entire team understands them. Another huge part of what you're going to be adding at this phase is team members who will deal with your audiences and fans. Fan ownership is critical. Now, at this level, you're no longer borrowing audiences. Algorithms change, platforms shift, but you own your audience. And just like revenue streams at this stage, you diversify how you hold and capture them. So it's finding the people to help you stay connected to your community. So overall at this level, team members aren't just attacking individual tasks. You now have a group of people that are helping you move mountains.
Next quadrant, mindset. The biggest mindset shift that happens at this level is the same that's happened at other levels. You're abandoning most of your old views on how to get things done. When you started, doing everything yourself was your strength. Now that's actually a hindrance. You can no longer be involved in every detail. You move from micromanaging and quality controlling everything to trusting systems and trusting people. You're no longer just an artist. Now you're leading a company. And running a company is fundamentally different than being an artist. If you tried to operate the way that you used to, this new system wouldn't work.
Another major mindset shift that's going to happen in this level-up moment is how you view time and money. Cost of things always matters. But at this level, time becomes far more valuable than money. Headlining artists are constantly asking questions like this: How can we invest in the right people to move faster? How can we execute bigger ideas more efficiently? How can we buy back more of our time? If we invest in this, how does that help our system? Time and efficiency are everything in this moment. And this is why a lot of artists get stuck at the touring level. This transition is super difficult because it goes against the natural instincts of creative people. A creative mind, what made you great is often intuitive, emotional, and moment-focused. It lives in the moment. And conversations about scaling, efficiency, systems building, and leadership can feel uncomfortable and draining. Jimmy Iovine, famed record producer and entrepreneur, talked openly about this. He said he necessarily didn't love business, but forced himself to learn it so he could defend his creative ideas. He understood that without structure and knowledge, the ideas he cared about wouldn't survive. He knew the ideas were worth the work that he put in to understand the business side of his endeavors.
So then the next mindset shift here is around coaching. When it comes to sports, good players often want to be great. And they know to expedite the results surrounding their skills and learning, they're going to need a good coach. Music is no different. At this stage, it's time to welcome mentors and coaches and start building up the people in your corner to make you great.
Another mindset shift along the same lines. So, at this level, similar to other levels, the main boss you need to defeat is your old self. You have to ask, "Who do I need to become to operate at this level?" Then you commit to making those changes even if they feel unnatural. Becoming a headliner is a part of the mountain artists never see, but not because it's impossible, but because it requires evolving and becoming someone different. And if you reach headliner status, for many, and I mean many, this is enough. But for a rare few, there's one more final level.
Level four complete. Headliner status unlocked. You know you've cleared level four when the name of your brand alone anchors the show. You're no longer filling slots. You carry the weight of the draw. Money is spent because of you. You have an abundance of coins now that allow you to dictate and start directing. The system now bends around you instead of the other way around. Now you have the leverage. But now there's one more final boss. And it isn't growth, it's legacy.
Level five, from headliner to icon.
Okay, so now you've achieved headliner status. But most artists who've made it this far are the types that enjoy level jumping and climbing as much as the result. Simply put, even though you're here, you still want to continue to grow. And this is where you go from the top 1% to the top 0.0001%. And this jump is not for the faint of heart. This level is for the masters. In hoops, Michael, LeBron, Kobe, or Steph are not some of the greats because they did one thing really well. They were masters at multiple things. Their ability to flip between master-level skills is unmatched by the rest of the field. To become an icon, you must become a master in multiple disciplines.
So, let's look at our four quadrants to make this transition.
Skills. To make the jump from headliner to icon is a combination of developing skills further from good to great into master level. You're looking at all sides of the offering, all touch points, and either you or someone on your team is a master at those. At this stage, the main thing you will become is a master conductor. Instead of leading your small section of players in the orchestra, you are now conducting the entire orchestra. In this level-up moment, you will also become a master listener. You will listen to all ideas presented to you from very smart people and you'll make your assessment based on that information you've been given and you'll make a decision. Also, at this level, you're learning how to become a master visionary. You can see the future now. However you do it, you keep high-level vision documents and vision boards because once you know the direction, you point the entire fleet in that direction. And in this level-up moment, you will also become a master decision-maker. You're comfortable with making clear, defined, big decisions. If your decisions end up being wrong, you know how to adjust, recalibrate, and go again. And here's a fun addition here. Remember level one? Often artists at this level will still keep that same daily journal. They answer these questions: What did I do? What did I learn? And what am I focused on right now? Because of the level, the answers are different, but the skill around doing it remains.
At this level-up moment, the brand is everything. You've now figured out how to make the brand bigger than you. The ideals, principles, and beliefs are being conveyed in every touch point of the brand. From a single social post to the big media outlet moments, the shows and the companies you started against the brand are all telling the same story and come from the same point of view. You've built an army and everyone in that army knows exactly what you stand for, what the brand represents, and how you move and shape culture with that brand. When it comes to brand, there's very little guessing at this stage. It's more scaling the brand narrative. In movie terms, you aren't writing the script on Iron Man 1. You're looking at how all the Marvel properties should exist across multiple IP offerings. The big thing to note here is brand clarity. You have hard lines around what your brand is and what it isn't, what it represents and what it doesn't. You use phrases like "this is what we always do" and "this is what we never do," and you have serious conviction around those statements. So much of brand during this phase is protecting the legacy of what you've already built while continuing to evolve and grow the story. They're tricky waters to navigate, but you'll become a master at this too.
Team, now your team has likely grown to working with hundreds of people with multiple companies. You will have created an ecosystem and a culture within. The way you used to make songs, now you make companies. You still make music, but now instead of moving sections of a song around in an arrangement, you're arranging companies. You're coaching and working with the managers who manage those companies to make sure they're aligned in the direction that you're headed. Instead of being a captain for your one large ship, you're now an admiral that commands an entire fleet of ships. At this stage, you are never in the weeds. You are fully big picture. Now, what you will have at this stage though is you'll have a very tight inner circle, a trusted team of a few people who you lead with. Just like a company, you'll have your CEO, chief executive officer, your CCO, chief creative officer, your CFO, chief financial officer, head of strategy, head of operations, head of day-to-day management, and head of legal and IP. These are your people, and this team helps you run the fleet. They protect brand, time, energy, reputation, and the long-term goals. So much of what they're making decisions on revolves around what not to do versus what to do. Now, in the future, are some of these roles AI? Maybe, likely. But these roles will need to be filled regardless. Now, although the team has grown and you will house some main in-house employees, a lot of what you're going to
do is contract work with bigger contracted teams. Contracting rotating directors, designers, producers, architects of the moment, people who bring the visions to life. But the difference now is the people that you hire in these roles are the best in the world at their craft. You're hiring people based on extremely strong portfolios and reputation.
More than anything in this level up moment, you and your team have become masters at structure and efficiency around creating and running these companies. Mindset. Your mindset is now why you're here. The mindset shift that'll happen at this stage is a big one. This is a different kind of metaphorical suit that you'll be wearing that could not be more different from your artist suit. You're now a leader and you have all these people that are waiting to be led. You have to tell them where the battle lies and where to build once we've won.
The big mindset shift here is knowing what you do and what you don't do. And you never slip into other people's jobs. At this stage, you know what you do best and you've hired the best people in the world to do what they do best. You're going to be okay with knowing that there's going to be big losses, but also big wins. The swings at this level are so much bigger. So, the risk to award plays that same game. As I said in the beginning, you'll always have fear. That never leaves you, but now you put your fear to the side and make the decisions that you need to make. You feel more comfortable than you ever have going head first into new things.
The next mindset shift here has to do with health and state. It's not so dissimilar from before, but now it's on another level. It's difficult to operate businesses at the level that you are if you're constantly burning the candle at both ends like you did when you were touring. Now you need your body and mind to be at peak level condition. Many of the headliners I know personally that are looking to continue their growth are insane biohackers. They do all the things. The cold plunging, NAD, stem cells, meditation, clean food, and little or no alcohol. They treat their bodies and their mind like an F1 car that they're looking to get the max amount of performance from. So, no matter what level you're at, this is a good shift to start to make if you want to continue to grow.
The last mindset shift that often happens here is you develop a deeper love for the game. For better or for worse, this game gave you the life you now have. The mindset shift here comes around the idea of greatness. The greats want to be great because of the deep respect they have for the craft, their respect for the art, the audience, and the business. They all exist together, and the icons bring respect to each. The shift now is actually moving away from a results-driven mind into a mind of devotion around growth. And growth doesn't just mean scale. It's growth on all sides. Growing a deeper bond with the audience and giving them more.
Level five complete. Icon status unlocked. You know you've cleared level five when the work no longer depends on momentum. It endures. It has legacy. Your name now becomes a reference point. Your ideas outlive cycles. And if you were to leave the game, it would leave a gap in the culture. You've now moved from playing the game to shaping the game itself. Now there's no leaderboard, no ranking, no next boss. You've reached the edge of the map. But wait, have you?
Bonus level, internal climb. So far, everything we've talked about has been about external building and growing. But many conversations I've had with icon-level artists, they describe a feeling of emptiness or sadness that happens when they reach the top of the mountain. And for mountain climbers, that sadness is the realization that there's nowhere else to go. But there actually is. A whole other mountain exists. But where is this mountain? And I know that this is going to sound woo-woo, but the new mountain exists inside. The new journey is about going deeper within self, continuing to explore the mountain within. And now what you're doing is you're exploring your humanity.
This is why many iconic artists get into philanthropy. You start to realize that the feeling that you got chasing your dreams and keeping promises to your younger self can now be felt by helping others. Taking the knowledge and resources that you have and creating a better world. And the best news for this bonus level is that it never ends. There's no mountaintop for helping others. And another secret to this bonus level, you don't need to wait to become an icon to explore the side of yourself. You can do this at any level and you can find joy and happiness in doing so.
It's a big part of why I'm even here. Taking my Sunday away from having fun or relaxing. Helping other people navigate this journey is exciting to me. These days, it's less about me and it's more about us, other artists and the artist community. I've lived my whole life on different sides of art and commerce. And being able to share some of that knowledge with you and having it help you in any way brings a whole other level of joy and happiness to me personally. I know what a video like this would mean to my younger self. So, I get excited by the opportunity that I can help another version of me.
So, wherever you find yourself on your climb, I hope some of this information helps you assess the changes that need to happen to level up should you choose. And I said this before, but it's worth saying it again. If your dream is to get to the part-time level and let music be something that drives some extra income, but gives you joy and happiness, that's good enough, and that's totally okay. I don't necessarily think icon level is better than the other levels. There's an insane amount of life-altering sacrifice that comes with each level up. Everyone's goals for what they want from a career in music is different. And for me personally, I respect all levels.
But regardless, if you made it this far and you're still here for this video, it says something about you. The majority of the people watching fell off by this point. But you didn't. Why? Likely because you have a burning question and calling inside to reach one of these levels. And if you're here at this moment in this long video, you have a shot. You listened, you learned, and you were patient. And that's what the game is all about. So, I hope this helps and should you want to collaborate with us directly to help build or strategize your music career or brand, you know where we are. All things the Cold Creatives, thecolcreatives.com. But until next time, enjoy playing the game and I'll see you on the next one. Peace.