Brian Schodorf – HuffPost 1.20.12

Mike Ragogna: Do you have any advice that you’d like to pass along to new artists?

Brian Sschodorf: Well, through this project, I basically got a crash course in the music business everyone knows that it’s a really tough business. Between digital downloads , piracy, and people not buying music as much, it’s really important to figure out what your niche is. For example, for this project, I thought that if we could team the movie with a record, we would have more success because people don’t want to buy just a record now, they want something extra. It’s also important to put events together, not just shows, but outreach opportunities with your tour. This album went to #1 on the Billboard jazz charts, and I think that’s because we teamed this with some outreach and the TV broadcast. So, I think it’s possible to succeed now, but you have to put that extra effort in. It’s also important to find lots of different revenue streams because record sales are way down, so you have to go the extra mile to figure out how you’re going to make money. If you want to do this for a living, you’ve got to figure out ways to get paid and keep the lights on. It’s definitely possible, people do it every day. If you’re a musician, you just have to keep striving for your craft and your passion.