Your Role In the Music Industry Part 2

A little while ago I wrote the blog "Your Role In The Music Industry" which as you can guess explores the avenues you can take and adhere to in the music industry (MI). As a follow on from that post I was reflecting on myself and the very idea of "what will I do next?" as presented by my introductory banner.

 The question mark felt like it was literally hanging over my head and after my most recent project I decided to come back and write an update using the themes of that post and enlighten you how to proceed in a new direction

Admittedly in these early year(s) of BandCoach I have neglected my duties to provide interesting enough content to provide a tip building community that hit the ground running. Having the real world knock on my door asking for rent money every month and joining the rat race everyone will agree is a time consuming (more like wasted) experience.

However all is not lost as I have been dreaming and pushing my ambitions forward, the result being I have used my talents in my spare time (and work time at that!) to be productive and make a website which is now online called WhichBass.

WhichBass is a simple but detailed site explaining what to should look out for when buying a bass and what factors you should take into consideration to make a decision when purchasing. There are also lots of other pages giving guides on amplifiers, strings and effects as well as a basic first step lesson.

It has to be said I'm not trying to ram down your throats "buy a bass now" by any means, I do however want to show you what you can learn when you push yourself into uncharted waters and adding new talents or knowledge to your craft. This journey feels like I have added another string to my bass - as it were.
This is the overall timeline for WB.

1)    In summer 2012 I was naïvely searching blogs/articles for escaping the rat race and found a book detailing an interesting method to do so by building websites and making living off of them

2)    Obtained this book at Christmas 2012 and spent the next 3 weeks reading it thoroughly deciding this is what I wanted to purse and made a game plan

3)    Did some pre-emptive research and took the plunge buying a domain name whichbass.co.uk as well as hosting for my new found site

4)    Planned out a basic site design and content I would need, learning from examples of my niche already out there and what new buyers would need to know

5)    Researched content and pieced it together with my site design finishing on the first weekend of March 2013

The process is self-explanatory at a glance; I had an idea, decided I would take a risk in my life and went with it. Most of us are (being me) are beings so bogged down in our ways and not happy with change we stand still, I decided this would be my time to branch out and take a chance for once and further myself.

During this project I have honed my website design skills, learned in rather great detail the workings of bass guitar types, woods, materials, strings, amplifier components. Even a new area such as affiliate marketing of which I had no clue about up until now. I hardly copied and pasted from other sources, I took the time to understand what I was trying to explain and write it as my own. In doing so I am far more opinionated with musical mind than I started with.

I spent about six weeks writing content for the site and it was harder than I thought it would be funny enough. Whilst advertising my skills as a Band Coach and sound engineer I thought I had a great insight to how the gear and systems work. Not that I was wrong by any means but I didn’t quite understand the full picture to offer any great value. I truly wish I had the knowledge I have now when I was in some previous venues.

The research I did for WB has pushed me into new realms of professionalism and understanding as I have a new found knowledge for my trade and musical creation that will be forever with me.

After reading this post I want you to take that project or idea you've been holding off of doing, put pen to paper and make some sort of timeline or to do list and get cracking! Do your research, find some motivation or the reasoning as to why you want to progress your project and hold onto that.

It might take a long time and won't happen overnight, you only have as much time in the day as anyone else and sacrifices will have to be made if you are serious. I stopped recording for Alfie Williams and stopped having long bouts of gaming, after spending the last few months in another rat race that takes away all my time, I truly value my free time to do what I want to do and appreciate my weekends to be productive.

WB is hopefully the first step in a long line of musical/web integration and I hope you'll join me in aiming high, grabbing those projects by the proverbial's and making a positive change for yourself once in a while!

Whilst WB has no direct link to the content provided on BC,it may help bassists who need more information or another point of view on the types of bass guitars out there or the differences between popular models such as the Precision and the Jazz.