Hi there! Welcome to the Music Entrepreneur page. I’m beyond excited to get going with all of this so that I can help you achieve your goals of making money playing music…and maybe even quit that job you don’t like! So here we go!
I know that for many of you I am a total stranger at the moment, but that will soon change (I hope). This post is meant to be a very quick n dirty introduction to me as well as to let you know what to expect to find here in the coming days, months, and hopefully years.
My name is Bradly Cooper and I’m a full-time musician from Toronto. I drew kind of a crappy deal having the same name as a major Hollywood actor but I’m rolling with it! I’ve dabbled with using the stage name Bradly Mitchell (my middle name) just so that I’d be able to rank on Google at some point BEFORE page 5,000… lol! I’m in the middle of organizing a ton of exciting content that I will be uploading here as the days go by.
Question 1: “What kind of stuff should I expect to learn from you Brad”?
Great question! (what an awkward self Q&A huh? :P) I will be imparting all of my knowledge about how to go from working a regular-ass traditional job to becoming a full-time musician. For anyone who is already playing music for money I want to give you other tips and tricks that I know will help you step your game up to the next level. I’ll cover things like:
- How to find gigs
- How to crush (and I mean absolutely SLAY your gigs and get paid tips while growing your social media)
- How to find students to teach
- How to start your own brand and market your music to generate sales (Through your own website or platforms such as iTunes).
- What equipment you need
- How to know when you’re ready to quit your job
- and so much more!
Question 2: “Ok, fair enough. Who doesn’t want to quit their boring job? But why should I listen to you Brad”?
Another great question! I’m just some dude writing on the internet and I understand the cynicism that goes along with that. The reason you should lend me your ears is two-fold.
- First I care immensely about you succeeding. I love what I do but the next level for me is to help others achieve success with music too. I’m passionate about being the best musician I can be and helping others to do the same so that together we can improve the quality of live music in our cities around the World! The better we are as music entrepreneurs the more seriously musicians will be taken, and that bodes well for all of us!
- The other reason why I am able to help you grow as a music entrepreneur is that I’ve done it! I’ve done it myself not once but twice. As I mentioned, I’m from Toronto, Canada. In the summer of 2015 i already had a few years under my belt as a full-time musician and things were going great. I was playing a ton of gigs and private parties and teaching as many private students as I wanted to. When my girlfriend moved to Edinburgh, Scotland (what a class city) to complete her masters’ degree (sugar momma!!!) I followed her and thought “I can do music over there full-time to support us”. I didn’t know 100% that it would work as there were a lot of question marks. But I believed in myself and knew I’d give it 100%.
This is me, arriving in Glasgow (another class city, I love Scotland!) on August 18, 2015, struggling to carry all of my music equipment and ready to make a name for myself!
I used a lot of my old tricks to find work in Edinburgh however I could not count on the network of musicians in my inner circle that I had fostered back home in Toronto. I was a lone wolf! I had no musician friends to have my back and help me so I had to learn a ton of new stuff to find success.
The #1 thing I learned is that you have to treat it as if it’s Do or Die! I HAD to act fast. I HAD to fight hard and desperate. I learned that as an outsider I had to make myself known. I went door-to-door to every pub, club, and restaurant I would find until FINALLLYYYYY somebody gave me a chance and I had my first gig booked in at the Black Bull in the Grassmarket, in Edinburgh. The rest is history really. At this point I play 6-9 shows per week and don’t even teach anymore as I grew kinda tired of that (always an option to go back to though!). By acting like a stranger in your own city you will have the right mindset to get out there and make things happen for yourself! Growing a network of music friends is a must too but firstl you gotta have that hunger and desire to make it on your own! When you have your own gigs you get treated seriously.
So there I go, rambling when I said it’d be quick n dirty (I don’t know why I like that expression so much?) but in reality I’m too excited to get started with helping you kick ass in this business and get you on the path to living your true life! There’s so much more coming very shortly.
Are you an artist trapped in the life of a 9-to-5er?
P.S. just for fun, here’s a video I put together when I first moved to Scotland! Be well!