Canadian Musician November / December 2019 | Page 9

FIRST
TAKE
Invest in
YOURSELF
By Andrew King, Editor-in-Chief
T
he idea of reinvesting every possible dollar into a fledg-
ing business seems to be a commonality among suc-
cessful startups-turned-supercorps. Of course, that
goes hand-in-hand with successful planning and a
rock-solid growth strategy, but whether it’s money,
time, or any type of resource, the more that gets fed
back into the machine, the more power and potential it has.
With that, I’ll happily (for the second time this year) borrow Jay-Z’s
iconic line from Kanye’s “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” remix: “I’m not
a businessman; I’m a business, man.” If you’re an artist vying for any
kind of career in today’s music business, that same line applies to
you, so why not follow the example of some of the most successful
moguls out there – including Hova himself – and invest the rewards
of your hard work right back into yourself? Billionaire Warren Buffett
says that’s the most important investment you can make, and he
knows a thing or two…
I was inspired to tackle this topic after realizing that so much
of the content from this issue either directly or indirectly reinforces
that idea and the many potential benefits of putting it into practice.
The most obvious of those is our 2019 Focus on Music Education
(“Striking a Balance to Boost Your Career,” pg. 47) by Omar Shabbar,
where we talk about the complementary yin-yang of acquiring knowl-
edge and then deploying what we’ve learned through performance.
From post-secondary studies to private or online lessons to endeav-
ours that don’t even involve a direct monetary investment like online
research or picking an acquaintance’s brain, there are countless ways
to expand your mental library, hone your craft, and push yourself
forward. Check out Omar’s piece for some examples from people at
different points on their different career paths – including Protest the
Hero vocalist Rody Walker, who, despite being one of the more ac-
complished and technically-gifted singers in modern metal, recently
took some singing lessons to get his groove back.
Kevin Young’s article (“Are You Stage Ready?”, pg. 38) is all about
putting in the time to prepare an absolutely killer live show with a
“devil is in the details” approach.
Each of our featured artists – City and Colour, Dominique Fils-
Aimé, and The East Pointers – offer some great examples to follow.
Consider that “investing” can be virtually synonymous with “risk-taking,”
often involving the foregoing of an immediate reward to chase the
prospects of a bigger one down the road. (Nothing ventured, noth-
ing gained, as they say.) In that sense, was Dallas Green investing in
himself when he stepped away from Alexisonfire to focus on his solo
career as City and Colour? Sure he was.
In much the same way, Dominique put a career as a psychologist
on pause to participate in La Voix, Quebec’s version of The Voice. A
few years later, she dropped a truly brilliant sophomore LP that was
shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize.
Despite being an in-demand live draw in markets around the
world, The East Pointers did a fair bit of showcasing throughout 2019,
surely sacrificing some live revenue to generate opportunities and
build their profile in the ever-important American market.
Beyond all of that, have a look at some of our columns. In our Bass
column, tech-to-the-stars HooGie Donais shows you how investing a
bit of time into taking care of your instrument will keep it – and you
– performing at peak level. Vocal contributor Aphrose takes a similar
approach to caring for your voice. Ruben Young talks about dropping
big money to fly around the continent to collaborate with other aritsts
and how it yielded some pretty sweet results. Craig Broombaug shares
a handful of steps you can take today to immediately improve your
home recordings.
Again, there’s no shortage of ways to invest in yourself. Even just
holding this magazine, you’re spending time to collect some new
ideas and, hopefully, put them to work for yourself. Good on you.
Perhaps the best part is that, should you invest wisely and often
to the point that media outlets like ours come knocking at your door
to share your story, you’ll be paying it forward and likely imparting
some fresh wisdom on others looking to get their musical enterprises
off the ground.
To quote Buffett once more, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today
because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” There’s no shortage
of seeds out there – again, you’ll find plenty in these very pages – so
go put some into the ground and get ‘em growing!
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 9