Are you just a fan of music?

Again, I'm continuing my blogs that I started last week on whether a career as a professional songwriter, musician, artist, or producer is right for you. Check out my other blogs on this subject. Next, I want you to examine whether you are a fan of music or a professional music creator?

According to dictionary.com, a profession is a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science: the profession of teaching. The American Heritage dictionary defines profession as an occupation or career; or an occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study.

However, dictionary.com defines a fan as an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.

So ask yourself this, am I just a fan of music or am I in the profession of making music?

See a fan is somebody who would rather watch others make music on Youtube instead of making music themselves.

A fan would rather google their favorite celebrities to see how famous they are, see how many magazines they are on, how many websites, how many fans they have, how many friends they have on a social networking site, etc. But a professional would work on becoming famous themselves, building their own buzz, making fans of their music, and promoting and branding themselves so that they too are generating fans.

A fan would rather watch TV shows of famous celebrities get awards than work on making award-winning music.

A fan would only admire what other famous people are doing but a professional studies what famous people do and do it themselves.

A fan, when seeing other celebrities in the music business venture out into other businesses and endeavors or expand their musical talents, would say, well I can't do that; but a professional would say, I can learn how to do that!

A fan doesn't study music, the business, and celebrities but a professional does.

A fan merely listens to music but a professional not only listens to music but makes music for them and others to listen to.

A fan knows everything possible about their favorite celebrity but a professional knows the things that he or she needs to know about that celebrity so that the professional can duplicate what that celebrity did to get to where the celebrity got to.

A fan won't do the things that a celebrity does but will only talk about all the things the celebrity does and is doing.

A fan doesn't do music as a living and only buys music; a professional not only buys music but makes music for people to buy.

A fan doesn't want to do music for a living but a professional knows that he is in a profession to make money and to earn a living so he sells his music.

A fan won't sacrifice or give up doing some things to get to where the celebrity is but a professional knows and understands that his or her time is better spent devoting it to studying, learning the business, and doing music.

A fan doesn't care what he or she doesn't know about the music business; a professional does.

What am I saying? As the dictionary.com stated, a profession is a learned occupation that requires considerable training and specialized study.

If you spend most of your time simply watching TV shows of all of your favorite celebrities rather than studying what they do, how they did what they did, finding out how you can do it too, learning your craft, expanding your musical talents, learning the business, etc., then you are merely a fan of music. You are really not interested in being in the profession of music. So again, I'd say, save yourself some money, get out of the profession of music, and find some other way to still enjoy music as a fan, such as becoming a music retailer, and stop attempting to become a professional songwriter, musician, artist, or producer.

Thedy B, Attorney/Songwriter
Hits A Million, LLC
hitsamillion.blogspot.com