These days, everybody and their mom can record and put out an album, so how is one supposed to be heard above the noise? The answer is networking - developing your relationships. Networking is something that you always hear about in the context of businesses like finance and consulting, but it's equally important, if not more so, in the music industry. Now I'm not saying that you have to be everyone's best friend - on the contrary, you can absolutely dislike a person and/or their musical tastes but you should not let that stop you from doing business with them and being professional about it. Conversely, just because you're friends with someone doesn't mean you should trust them in a business deal.

The main reason that I think professionalism is important in the music industry is simply that you are your reputation. As an artist, not everyone you work with, from booking agents to sound engineers to promoters, is going to be completely familiar with you or be a fan of your music. They will, however, have likely heard of you or at the very least, have checked into you. And they will definitely remember how you behave in your dealings with them, and pass that knowledge on to other people. No one is perfect - everyone will have their failings. The important thing is to strive to behave in an professional manner, and recognize if you fail to do so and try to make amends. On the flip side, if someone is behaving less than professionally with you, you need to find a way to call them on it - preferably tactful, but be blunt if you have to be.

At the session, I told a couple of anecdotes about personal experiences I have had in the music industry. The first was a horrible experience I had as a DJ dealing with a party promoter. It occurred a few years ago, back when I was more active in the DJ scene here in Houston. I was on the Rice campus, taking a coffee break, when the girl behind the counter told me she was going to come and see me spin that Saturday. I had no idea what she was talking about. When she showed me the flyer, I found that I was the third billed DJ out of 12 or 15. I had to go and track down the party promoter, who claimed he had been meaning to call me. Right. If I hadn't found out, the party promoter could have capitalized on having my name on the flyer and not had to pay me, while at the same time making me look like the asshole for not showing up.

On the flip side of things, I had a positive experience dealing with The Oranges Band when I booked them to do a show at Rudyard's a few years back during SXSW week. I booked the show two months or so in advance, and negotiated the guarantees to what all parties felt was reasonable - if I managed to get 75 to 100 people to the show, I would come out OK. Well, about two or three weeks later, it got announced that Death Cab for Cutie would be playing the same night, and then another show that I can't recall got booked the same night as well. I knew I was pretty screwed, and I was. Probably only 20 people showed up that night. At the end of the night, I wrote out a check to the band for the guarantee - $400 or $500, if I remember correctly. I got hosed, but I had made a guarantee and intended to live up to my end of the bargain. The guys finished breaking down their stuff, and while I was hanging out having a beer they came back and insisted that they could not in good conscience take the check. I insisted that they do so, since I had made them a guarantee. They proceeded to rip up the check and told me to pay them less.

I've got tons of other stories, but those two should suffice to get my point across. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with the Oranges Band, and I would recommend them unabashedly to anyone else. I'll never DJ for that party promoter again, and if anyone asked me who it was (privately), I'd tell them never to work with him. Your reputation is important if you expect to continue to do business in the music industry, and by being a class act, you keep your reputation clean.

Ultimately, the best advice I can give you is this:

1. Know what is expected of you, and do your best to deliver.
2. Make clear what you expect of others, and expect them to deliver.
3. Hold people accountable for their behaviour, and expect to be held accountable for yours.
4. That said, be flexible and considerate of your business partners, and take circumstances into account.