The Greyhounds seem to have things figured out. I first started working with them in 2005 during my internship at Luther Wolf Agency. The band was touring 200+ dates per year behind a two-year old record. They had several albums worth of music to record, but every penny was tied up in overhead. The road ahead for the ‘hounds appeared to be coming to and end sooner or later.

When I first heard that the two founding members of the band, Andrew Trube and Anthony Farrell, had joined JJ Grey & Mofro as backing musicians, I assumed they had finally given up, although not for lack of trying. As it turns out, the Greyhounds are hotter than they have ever been and it’s only a matter of time before people wake up and realize it.

Mofro has become somewhat of an incubator for the Greyhounds. On a pure business front, the band is on a continuous free ride in a million-dollar tour bus, greeting their target audience and the best promoters all over the country. Musically, they have placed themselves in an environment of highly skilled and esteemed musicians who play nearly every night of the week. With next to zero “Greyhounds business” to manage, Andrew and Anthony have found more time to write, rehearse, and record their own material, and strategize how they will promote it when the time comes.

In the last year, the Greyhounds have independently released two records of original material and shot two music videos. They’ve had songs cut by Ruthie Foster, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, and one of their songs is being featured in a Jim Beam commercial. In December, for the first time in three years, the Greyhounds will be hitting the road on their own in support of their forth-coming record.

So how can we apply this? Work smarter not harder? I detest that phrase. If you’re looking for the easy way out, let me be the first to give you permission to walk away. Go find something that you’re passionate about; something that doesn’t feel like “work.”

Andrew and Anthony are career musicians and they anticipate the Greyhounds to be the last band standing. They are willing and eager to put everything they’ve got behind their band… always have and always will. Mofro has provided some pieces to their puzzle which will allow Andrew and Anthony to build a sustainable career for the Greyhounds.

There are lessons here around patience, efficiency, and the value of living in the moment. Remember, perception is reality, and this digital age has opened innumerable doors of opportunity. Look around.

At the dawn of the 21st Century, right around the time I was a freshman in college, the music industry began a dramatic transformation. For the first time in history, music was being recorded and distributed through digital mediums, which were not largely controlled by major record companies.

I attended to Berklee College of Music with a focus on Music Business. The topic of every discussion inside and outside of class was Peer to Peer file sharing. There were intense emotions around the subject because we were experiencing fear and liberation simultaneously.

The digital age begot opportunities for independent musicians and smaller labels to compete on a national scale. Digital recording systems reduced the cost of recording music, allowing more musicians to record more music. An outgrowth of online and social media provided opportunities for potential mass exposure with a global reach to any artist with original recorded music.

Think about the fundamental change this created for developing artists. The Beatles’ 1964 debut on the Ed Sullivan Show broke their career wide open in the United States, if not globally. Not to discount the band’s greatness and preparation, but the first musical act to perform on national television is a hell of an exposure opportunity. With an enormous growth in the quantity of music that is now available to the public, developing artists are hard pressed to find any real mass exposure.

So how does a great act prevail? Who are the modern day gate-keepers? What does success look like for a developing artist? That’s what this blog is about. Welcome.