Lessons learned from the “Storm Queen” project…

The “Storm Queen” project is rolling to an end in a way. I am still doing shows and working to get my new album played on radio; but the recording, photos, design, fan funding and launches are now all done. Here are some of the lessons that I have either learned, or have been reinforced for me through this process:

Things take longer than you expect! The mixing took longer than I expected, getting the perfect weather for the photo shoot took longer than expected, getting the photos back took longer than expected, editing all of the sheet music from the album took longer than expected… Luckily, I had lots of time in my timeline, so even though things took longer – everything was still done in time for the launch.
Nobody sees all of your social media posts. During my fan funding campaign, I would spend hours every day sending out posts about my campaign. I felt like I must be driving everyone crazy, but when I would talk to my friends and fans, they would say that they had seen only some of the posts.
Develop relationships over time. Through the years I have worked with many people in the media, and I have developed relationships with them. When my album was about to be released, I was able to contact them and get a lot of coverage in my area. I was not having to introduce myself at this point because the work of developing those relationships had already been done.
Give media lots of lead-time. Even though I did not want to have articles released too early, I got in contact with the media with a lot of lead-time so they could pitch working with me to their editors and program directors.
Be persistent! With one specific interview that I really wanted to get, I contacted the reporter every couple of days for several weeks. I felt like I was being a real nuisance, but when we did finally meet I was told that it was really good that I had followed up so relentlessly because otherwise the article would not have been run.
Keep being persistent! This was the first time that I ever tried to get sponsors for a concert. I made a point of not accepting silence as a no and got two sponsors because I made the effort of actively following up on my initial contact.
Action can be better than perfect planning. I had timed out when I wanted to do my fan funding campaign and in the end I ran it when I could, instead of at “the perfect time”. I needed to take that actio
n or I would have run out of time. In the end it was very successful, even though it was not when I would have liked.
Give others the benefit of the doubt. I was very nervous about hiring my colleagues from Symphony NB to back me up. I was not sure what they would think about my music and about the style of music that they were being asked to play. They were all really supportive, and the show was great! I did not feel as nervous as I had expected when I was playing in front of them, which was great. They all understood how much work had gone into this project, and were happy to be a part of it.
Be in the moment. Sometimes when I do gigs I get thinking about what the next piece is or what I am going to say to introduce it. That is usually when I make mistakes. I go into gigs really well prepared, and should not have any trouble playing the music. For this project I made a point of working on staying in the moment in the show, and felt that it went really well. This will be an ongoing goal for me as my career continues.

The whole “Storm Queen” project was an amazing experience. It was a lot of work, but it was worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears that it took to put the whole thing together. I am very proud of the recording, the imagery that goes with it, and the launches! I look forward to the next adventure!