BB King recently passed away on May 14, 2015. He was 89 years old and had an accomplished musical career where he received 18 Grammy Awards, the Presidential Medal of the Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors. In 1991, he opened B.B. King's Blues Club in Memphis; he later opened clubs in New York, Los Angeles and Connecticut.
What can we learn from his career? Is there any guidance we can pull from the choices he made?
B.B. King’s Musical Life
BB King started singing on the choir in the Church
BB King bought his first guitar at 12 years old. It was bought for him and he worked hard to pay it back.
He first decided to be a radio musician in 1941. He was 16 years old. In the following 8 years he developed a sound and an audience working extremely hard as a tractor driver, entertainer, guitarist and disc jockey.
He started recording in 1949 signing with various record labels and eventually creating his own label.
Started touring full-time in 1955. He averaged 200 to 300 performances a year until his death recording several hits and receiving numerous awards.
Looking at the numbers
4 years learning to play the guitar from 1937 to 1941
8 years of desire and focus, working hard to develop an audience as an amateur musician in pursuit of his career choice of becoming a radio musician.
18 years total of preparation before going fully professional excluding the early years of singing in the church before he had a guitar.
Interpretation
B.B. King was successful because he had many key signatures to his brand. There was his singing, his guitar playing, a unique fusion of Pop, Gospel, Jazz & Blues and his guitar which he called “Lucille”.
These aspects of his product all developed over a 12 year period when he was an amateur musician. It was in this period he created the value to his audience and the industry that became the basis for the lengthy and successful career that followed.
There seems to have been five phases in his musical journey:
Phase 1 – For the love of it
He was a child when he started singing on the church choir. There is no evidence that he had any thought of making money from singing gospel or church music. He just enjoyed participating in the choir and it was the preacher who gave him his first lessons on the guitar.
Application
This is a time of enjoyment and passion. This is a time when you sing and play just because it feels good, in other words you are simply happy to have the opportunity to do it as often as possible. You enjoy it so much that you do it willingly for free.
The challenge with many of us today in Jamaica is that this place of wanting to do music for the love of it is where we are and we are not willing to admit it. There is often no true desire to be “professional” but we are often forced to keep up appearances as if we are in the industry by recording, performing, and playing the part of the “artiste” but the truth is that we just want to express ourselves and have fun.
There is no easy fix for this as in Jamaica there are few venues or opportunities for amateur musicians to perform to merely have “fun”, however it is a very important phase to have where you say yes to opportunities without the necessity of financial obligation. This allows you to freely grow in your expression and develop the key relationships and collaborations which will follow you your entire musical life.
So don’t give up your day job so quickly as yet to become a musician. Be prepared to be an amateur musician until you truly have a reason to go professional. Take the time to develop a marketable product and wait until you have an audience and contracts in place before you take the full time plunge. Enjoy the freedom that comes from not having to depend on music for your financial well-being. You will be able to make independent artistic and creative choices that will ensure that you find your unique musical voice.
What if music is the only job you can do for a living? If that is the case then be prepared to do music that you might not naturally want to do, the market will dictate your choices.
Phase 2 - Dedicated study
Making the investment to purchase his guitar shows that at this point B.B King’s commitment is growing beyond his participation in the choir. The guitar was bought for him by an employer and B.B. King agreed to pay for the guitar by working it off, which he did. During this four year period he taught himself the guitar by taking tips from others and using books, some borrowed and others he ordered through the mail.
Application
There comes a point when doing music for the love of it is not enough. You need to go deeper into knowing yourself and understanding how music is organised and the purpose of music. This time is not about making money, it is almost spiritual in nature in that you take the time to reflect while you struggle to master your instrument, whether your instrument is your voice, a guitar or a computer program. It is in this time you develop the discipline that will allow you to persevere to the end to achieve your goals. It has been said that discipline is the ability to do the thing that you do not want to do. Being able to practice on your own and pursue your goals without applause and financial gain is crucial to have before entering into a musical career. It will be your ability to work steadfastly on your own in the quiet that will allow you to survive the inevitable ups and downs of the music business.
One of the ways to do this is to enrol in a music learning program. You can take private lessons, sit examinations or you can enrol into a three to four year college program. You can also do this on your own as there are many learning experiences available through software or on the Internet. The key is to take the time to learn and to do so carefully with deliberation and discipline.
Many in Jamaica do not experience this phase as they jump from loving music to being a “professional” in one leap. They never develop the skills to of practice, song writing, rehearsal, production or arranging that is required to be a music industry professional. Even those who are enrolled in College are busy seeking gigs and often do not focus on acquiring the discipline that comes from having a dedicated time of study in their lives.
Phase 3 – Pursue a market based career choice
He then got exposed to the possibility of music as a career and then decided his path. He wanted to be a radio musician. This is interesting as it was a choice that used a form of mass media, the radio. B.B. King chose a path that would guarantee him the greatest asset of all, an audience.
Application
This is the first major step from doing music merely for the love of it. You now must visualize your audience and how you will connect to them. At this point you are not doing music merely for the love of it but you are now choosing to love your audience and maintaining that relationship will become your career from now on.
You have to look around and see how successful musicians today are reaching their audience and pursue those channels. It is more challenging today as the role of Radio and Television has changed and the presence of the Internet has changed the mass media landscape significantly. Focus your attention on artists who have a large following and see if by researching their stories can ascertain how they developed their audiences and if you can apply the same principles or strategies.
Phase 4 - Creating value through self –financed Development
He then pursued the path for 8 years as an amateur musician. Once he had acquired an audience he then became a professional, contracted performer. He financed himself by driving a tractor, working as a radio deejay and playing various types of gigs.
Application
Get a job that will allow you to buy and repair your instrument. Having a job, even a small one will allow you to buy music books and other resources to keep you improving yourself. You will be able to pay for rehearsal and studio time to record your music and find your “sound”. Be humble about it and take the time to develop your product.
Develop other skills, learn to relate to other persons, socialize and become well acquainted the dreams and aspirations of others. These persons may well become the beginning of your audience.
Take as many gigs as possible, free gigs, large gigs, small gigs and increase your musical network and learn as much as possible about performing in as many different type of situations as possible. This will help you to develop your performance skills and your own musical style.
Phase 5 - Enter the Industry and become a business
In 1949 BB King got his first record deal and in 1952 he started touring full time. He had booking agents and even formed his own label. He was now officially participating in the Music Industry.
Application
Once you have acquired an audience it is now time to enter the music industry by entering into agreements with managers, booking agents and distribution companies. You will structure yourself as a business with clear sources of revenues and expenses. You will have to put in systems to manage those revenues and expenses and when the expenses start to consistently exceed the revenues you will have to modify your products and services or decided to exit the industry.
This is now the furthest point away from doing music for the love of it. There are responsibilities and legal agreements in place which have to be honoured. You now have embarked on a professional career in music.
Let us review
1. Have a period of just loving music
2. Take a few years to learn your instrument
3. Choose a viable path, one with a market
4. Pursue the path while supporting yourself as an amateur and achieve an audience
5. Go professional with contracts in place
Pros & Cons
The downside of BB Kings career was the thing that made it so great. He performed on average 300 shows a year. This was possibly because of the fact he was in his own admission not a well-trained musician in terms of theory, chords and so on and had to depend on improvisation to deliver his performances. This meant that he had to keep performing to make a living, he had no option of scoring a film, being a musical director or producer for other musicians or artists. He was totally dependent on being on stage to make a living. It is very possible that the heavy performing schedule may have significantly contributed to the decline of his marriages and his health.
He lived to 89 years though so beat that with a stick.
Rest in Peace B.B. King