Rick Barker - Taking Your Independent Music Career to the Next Level Through Digital Marketing, Content Creation, and Building Relationships

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Rick Barker is one of the leaders in the DIY Musician space. He is a phenomenal speaker and has a great way of explaining things. I love his philosophies on the music business and his style of coaching and mentoring. His career started in radio in 1989, where he spent over a decade of his career learning what listeners want to hear and how to build a community around music. Rick started a country music station in 2001, KRAZy Country, and launched the first country radio tour “Nashville to You,” where artists were paid to perform. Through his experience in radio, he met Scott Borchetta, founder and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, the label that signed Taylor Swift. Scott hired Rick to be a radio promoter for the label, which led him to become the manager for Taylor Swift early in her career. Taylor once told Rick that she wanted a Gold Record (500,000 in sales), and he told her “then let’s go meet 500,000 people.”

Today, Rick Barker coaches and manages musicians, working with over 1,600 clients. He teaches his lessons through his podcast “The Music Industry Blueprint,” YouTube Channel, courses, public speaking, and spending time coaching artists through Instagram Live. Rick is also the co-author of the book “$150,00 Music Degree.” People call him the Gary Vee of the music business. He’s constantly crushing it with valuable content through all his social media platforms, always going live, and finding ways to engage with people online. Not only is he a leader in the DIY Musician world, but he’s a brilliant digital marketer, spending countless hours always educating and improving himself.

This was a really fun episode full of amazing insight. In this episode, you’ll learn about Rick’s journey in the music business, and so many tips to building the right relationships, where to start in your music career, touring strategies, marketing strategies, and so much more. I’m excited to share this conversation with the amazing Rick Barker.

Quotes from Rick Barker
“Focused hustle is more important.”
“The best way today to build relationships is by putting out content and showing up on social media and say thank you.”
“The internet now allows us to play that game. We have direct access to fans.”
“Stop waiting to be discovered.”
“Stop trying to be everything to everyone, and just focus on who your audience is.”
“If you come in with something already happening, you can partner with a label. You don’t have to be at mercy to the label.”
“Fall in love with the fans. Write music for your fans.”
“When you buy courses, you’re buying someone else’s experience.”
“We want to know what you’ve done, not what you’ve learned.”
“Those that pay, pay attention.”
“I would do a lot of getting to know before you just show and say you have tickets on sale.”
“Too often people are trying to get seen before they’re ready.”
“All you need in the beginning is a vocal coach. If you want to be a songwriter, write songs.”
“Anyone who’s smart has a coach.”
“They’re not there to see you, they’re there to be entertained.”
“Get your music right, before you start to go out and do shows.”
“If people aren’t showing back up, it’s all on you.”
“Become a digital marketer. Period.”
“If you are not having success doing it yourself you don’t have the skills and need to learn them.”
“Until you have something to offer, don’t make those calls.”
“Build relationships with your venue first.”
“Become friends with promoters. They’re the ones taking the calls from the booking agents.”
“There is no competition. There is only collaboration.”
“Nobody can take advantage of you if you do your homework.”

Highlights from this Episode
[7:20] Inspiration to coaching musicians
[9:30] Focused hustle and redirecting your focus
[13:12] How Rick got started in the business
[16:00] Radio for Independent artists
[18:15] Benefit of labels
[20:05] Lessons learned from Taylor
[22:10] Standing out as an artist manager
[26:30] Coaches and Mentors
[32:15] Where to start after writing new music
[34:45] Playing open mics
[36:30] Knowing when you’re ready
[37:50] Live music producers
[38:58] Building your team
[40:35] Relationships and playing the right venues
[42:52] Building your email list
[45:00] Getting people to come back to shows
[46:20] Playing shows outside of your hometown
[48:50] Booking Agents
[50:05] Getting the attention agents and managers
[52:35] Become friends with promoters
[56:30] Getting to know Rick Barker