, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artisticEver see an amazing band perform and wonder why you've never heard of them before? Ever see an astonishing artist on the street and wonder why isn't their work isn?t in a gallery?  Ever see an astounding independent film and wonder why people all over the world don't know about it?

Me too!

It breaks my heart to know that there are musicians, painters, sculptors, and filmmakers everywhere starving. Starving... for their art.

Why is a branding expert like me, who mostly deals with entrepreneurs and small business owners, addressing musicians, artists, and filmmakers? It's simple. Artists are the ultimate entrepreneurs.

Think about it.  Some create products and look for a market; others look at a market and create products.  Every entrepreneur starts the same way! It's the notion of business that often trips artists up.

Creating any piece of music, art, or film, is like creating a product.  I'm not suggesting that all products, art-based or otherwise, are equal.  We all know a good product, or painting, or film or vacuum cleaner when we experience it.  Its just with some artists, imaginary barriers get created. These illusive barriers can keep them from creating the very success they want.

All creators have the same goals: to make a good product that is useful or meaningful, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artistic

at there are musicians, painters, sculptors, and filmmakers everywhere starving. Starving... for their art.

Why is a branding expert like me, who mostly deals with entrepreneurs and small business owners, addressing musicians, artists, and filmmakers? It's simple. Artists are the ultimate entrepreneurs.

Think about it.  Some create products and look for a market; others look at a market and create products.  Every entrepreneur starts the same way! It's the notion of business that often trips artists up.

Creating any piece of music, art, or film, is like creating a product.  I'm not suggesting that all products, art-based or otherwise, are equal.  We all know a good product, or painting, or film or vacuum cleaner when we experience it.  Its just with some artists, imaginary barriers get created. These illusive barriers can keep them from creating the very success they want.

All creators have the same goals: to make a good product that is useful or meaningful, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artistic

  Some create products and look for a market; others look at a market and create products.  Every entrepreneur starts the same way! It's the notion of business that often trips artists up.

Creating any piece of music, art, or film, is like creating a product.  I'm not suggesting that all products, art-based or otherwise, are equal.  We all know a good product, or painting, or film or vacuum cleaner when we experience it.  Its just with some artists, imaginary barriers get created. These illusive barriers can keep them from creating the very success they want.

All creators have the same goals: to make a good product that is useful or meaningful, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artistic

equal.  We all know a good product, or painting, or film or vacuum cleaner when we experience it.  Its just with some artists, imaginary barriers get created. These illusive barriers can keep them from creating the very success they want.

All creators have the same goals: to make a good product that is useful or meaningful, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artistic

, have it well liked by many people and to be paid portionally to the market they reach. Who doesn't want that? Making music, paintings, sculptures, photography or film should be addressed like any business with the same attention to the big picture, IF you want to make a great living from it.  But something often holds artistic creators back from making a great living from their art.

As usual fear is the culprit.

Artists sometimes fear that if they develop the recognition and financial success that comes from branding from them 'selves', their peers will think that they've 'sold-out' if they 'make it'.  Fellow starving artists might say that on the surface, but what they are really saying is that they are envious of the success that you have created. It's far easier to put down someone else's success than to make it them self.  What's more important: what your peers think OR having your 'art' enjoyed by as many people as possible and having the financial freedom that comes along with it?

Another fear that may prevent artists from taking their craft mainstream is that they think that they will lose control of it by becoming a business and, heaven forbid, a BIG business at that. Just like the art you make, what your business becomes is in your control. If you develop your brand based on your vision of it from the start, you protect it from becoming something else.  Business is not bad - people that run them can make bad decisions. The power of your business is always in your hands.

The largest fear for some artists is that the very nature of getting paid, and paid well, for their art will change it. This will