Dear Passengers,You CAN make music for a living

I haven't had a good night of sleep in weeks. It's Road Rally season! ;-) We're
just a few days out from the downbeat.

Chris and Clint (two of my senior staffers) haven't had a weekend off in several
weeks.

My point?

I think the three of us share the attitude that anything worth doing is worth
doing well. It just feels better to go through life like that. Why would you
want to do a mediocre job?

But the personal reward isn't the ONLY reward. The smiles on the faces of the
people who come to the Road Rally really tell the story. It feels good to us
(and by that, I mean ALL of us -- the entire staff) when our members have a
great time at the convention.

The music industry has earned a reputation for being exclusionary -- they'll do
whatever it takes to keep you on the other side of the gate. Even though our job
is to filter music, somehow the vast majority of our 11,000 members seem to
ÆgetÆ that we're on their side. We love to open doors and break down walls.

I think a lot of our members finally feel like they have somebody in the
industry who will not only listen to their music, but listen to THEM as well.

I'm really proud of that, and want to publicly thank my staff because they ÆgetÆ
that treating our members well is the most important thing.

I know . . . I know, I'm getting gushy here. But I honestly love what I do for a
living, I love my staff, and I love our members. I feel like the luckiest guy on
the planet and I want every one of YOU to feel this way.

I was moderating a panel at the Folk Alliance's Western Regional conference
yesterday. I was in charge of moderating the Film and TV music panel with Todd
Brabec, VP of ASCAP, Jeff Brabec, VP of Chrysalis Music, Ted Lowe, President of
ChoiceTracks, and an extraordinary songwriter named Tom Kimmell.

If there was one thing that we all agreed on, it was that Film and TV music
placements are a great way to earn a living making music. I'm not talking about
big, lush scores. I'm talking about music you probably have sitting around that
you made in your basement studio.

I know I talk about this a lot, but it's SO worth repeating. You CAN get out of
that dead end job. You CAN make music for a living. You CAN be as gushy about
how much you love your life as I am. ;-)

Think about it. Think about it a lot.

I'm going to get back to you about this as we get closer to the end of the year.
I want you to make a plan that you can start in 2006. I want you to let me help
you find a way out of your boring, sucky job, and re-invent your life. You can
do this!

I'm going to help you.

Talk to you soon,

Michael