Jason Blume

Hey - today I heard a very inspirational talk by Jason Blume (6 Steps to Songwriting Success; This Business of Songwriting). He basically said you gotta do these things to get where you want to go:

- be persistent and determined; when knocked down, dust yourself off and keep going

- be teachable, be willing to rewrite as many times as it takes

- success in music is not a straight line. It's not like, studying to be a doctor - you know if you do the work, you'll end up with your degree. Songwriters/artists have to do it all, cause we don't know which approach will work.

- we have to be good at creating opportunities (not wait for them to come along)

- network, connect, exchange CDs, emails, links - you don't know where the guy sitting next to you is going to be

- we're in a business where "good" is worthless. Only 'exceptional' will work, and you need to maintain that exceptional level, cause, if you do, and you keep putting it out there, eventually something will stick Be unique, special... blow them away.

- "luck" comes from working your butt off AND being prepared for the opportunity when it comes up. Are you doing everything you can do to get 'lucky'?