Dawn Beyer - Building a Music Career on Your Own Terms with Live Video as the Foundation and How You Can Do It Too (S02, E01)

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The Podcast is BACK with Season 2!! This season, we’re coming back with a deeper focus on education and lessons for independent musicians and music business students across the country. The podcast will range from inspiring independent musicians living a career on their terms, to influential marketers and entrepreneurs, and highlighting many of the different careers within the music business.

The first guest of the new season is the return of Dawn Beyer! Dawn Beyer is a true pioneer and living proof of how you can build a career as an independent artist in today’s music industry. In the last episode, we learned about her journey as a struggling musician in Nashville making the rounds on Broadway, where she was playing for tips. After getting sick and worried about how to make ends meet by not being able to play on Broadway, she discovered Facebook Live. This discovery was a career changer for Dawn. In her first year, she made over $74k from tips with Facebook Live and a PayPal tip button. This new journey has led to true fans of Dawn’s music, who went from watching on Facebook Live to paying her to play in their living rooms, parties, and so much more. Today, Dawn offers some amazing coaching to teach other musicians on how she did, and how they can do it too.

After my first conversation with Dawn, I was really inspired by her amazing spirit and positive attitude to take on the music industry and find her way to push through and live her dream. Dawn didn’t wait around for a manager, label, or agent to give her permission to make a living doing music. She gave herself permission, and she went out and did it. In the first episode, she shared her amazing journey on how she made a living and built the foundation of her career after discovering Facebook Live. Today, she is touring the country playing for fans she made from her Facebook Live videos, but is also giving back and teaching other musicians how they can make a full time living playing music, and do it on their terms.

To learn more about Dawn Byer, please visit https://www.therealnashville.com/ and http://www.therealmakingit.com/

Highlights from this Episode
[4:12] What’s new in the life of Dawn Beyer
[7:28] Dawn’s 30-Day Tour
[8:55] Structure of Living Room Concerts
[10:58] Finding people to host you for a house concert
[15:26] Dawn’s content strategy
[17:03] What types of emails do people want to read?
[18:18] The programs Dawn is offering for musicians
[25:32] Songwriting process
[28:53] How often Dawn writes
[34:00] Details about Dawn’s courses and what people can expect
[36:48] Success stories from the program
[40:10] Creating a virtual tip jar
[46:35] Common mistakes musicians make
[50:34] Philosophy on Touring
[58:00] The lesson that took Dawn the longest to learn
[1:00:11] Rapid Fire Questions

Quotes from Dawn Beyer
“You have all the opportunity, and all the platforms available today.”
“I didn’t even have a laptop when I first started this.”
“Gather your core group, figure out who they actually are, and send them to where you can connect with them.”
“Figure out what making it really is for you.”
“There might be some other way, there might be some other making it.”
“It’s about not caring what other people think you should do, and making it for you.”
“The best way to play your own music is to get off Broadway.”
“The platform is what puts us out there and lets us connect with someone.”
“You have to have the ability to come through someone’s phone and be in their living room.”
“Once they are connected, they will be there for every album, every show, and everything you do.”
“If you’re writing about something you don’t care about, people will feel that.”
“Being real and raw, and just putting it out there, is the thing that anyone can do.”
“I don’t see any reason why you would start out playing bars first, when I can play in front of 50 people on Facebook right now.”
“If you’re going to go on the road driving from place to place, make as much out of that online as you can.”

Links to people, places, and things mentioned
Dawn Beyer - First Episode on the Podcast
The Real Making It
Rick Barker
Mailchimp
Garth Brooks
Cosmic Contract
Pearl Mae Foundation
Jim Palmer