Crash 'n Crunch: The Beatqualizer on Branding as a Drummer (Episode 197)

Make Music Your Business.

Drummer, producer, single father and brand builder. In Episode 197 of The Career Musician, Nomad sits down with Bryant Wilson, better known as The Beatqualizer, a drummer out of Baltimore who rebuilt his career after COVID knocked him out of the game for years.

Joel Meza sets it up in the intro: Bryant is a case study in branding, being diverse, and pivoting when life happens. If you want to know how to build a music career on your own terms, his story is a blueprint. Yes, it includes cereal.

A name that says what you do

The name came out of a car ride with his production team. "You can't just be Bryant Drums," they told him. He produces, he does everything. He was thinking about the word equal, because he can do what everybody else does. The Beatqualizer was born.

Nomad shares his own version: by 30 he had lived at more than 25 addresses, across the States and in Japan. Nomadic. Nomad. A good artist name is a literal translation of who you are.

Consistent income first, with no shame in any gig

After COVID, Bryant says it took him about three to four years to land another gig. He thought about relocating and started to feel like time was running out. Then he picked up a wedding band, once or twice a weekend, and now he takes whatever comes.

Nomad loves it. As musicians, income is sporadic, so consistent work matters most. He runs the math on a steady wedding gig: a few nights a month adds up to a bill paid, rent, insurance or groceries. That is how you build.

"There's no shame in any gig you take... the only thing that matters is providing consistent income for you and your family."

Nomad, 3:36

You can be on an arena tour one month and playing wedding bands and corporate events the next. Work begets work, and steady work keeps the lights on while you build.

Create your own opportunities

Bryant's second leg is a home drum studio. His mentor, Brian Frasier-Moore, told him he could definitely play, but there was "other little stuff" he had to figure out. Seeing Brian's studio inspired him: he didn't need to pay anyone to record him. He could record himself and send it out.

Brian gave him gear suggestions, Bryant did his research, started on Focusrite and moved up to a Universal Audio Apollo. He is still learning something new all the time through YouTube University. He spread the word through drum covers on social media, then paid someone to build a website where clients can book remote sessions. Nomad's point: some things you just delegate.

Brand yourself like a business

Everybody can play drums, Bryant says. So what can he do that is different? Everybody sells hats and shirts. He made a beat pack with his production team, a caricature of himself for his drum head, and branded cereal, inspired by how Master P put his name on products. People have actually bought it. He just has to find time to make more.

How does he get it all done? A couple of times a year he does a 90-day run: he writes down his goals and crushes them one by one. That is Savvy from the ETHOS code. Get paid in your brand name, and be willing to own it.

Seasons, consistency and the big gig

Growing up in Baltimore was hard, Bryant says, and it was difficult to focus on drums. He figured it out in his 30s. Hard battles happen, but they don't last forever. Nomad calls it seasons: the bad season won't last forever, and neither will the good one.

His one piece of advice is consistency, plus one warning: comparison.

"Just stay consistent, bro... We don't know when the time's going to happen."

Bryant Wilson, 19:00

Bryant still wants the biggest gig of his life. Nomad, who spent 12 years with Babyface, the last 10 as his MD, shares three rules for upper echelon gigs: don't try to be friends with the artist (you are their employee), don't take it for granted, and remember that touring, especially overseas, can be grueling. Sleep deprivation can make you say something you regret. Around the artist, it is business. Low maintenance / no drama.

"Just as fast as you got it, you could lose it."

Nomad, 22:55

The takeaway

Steady gigs, your own studio, products with your name on them, and the patience to ride out the seasons. Write your goals down and stay consistent. When the big audition does come, prepare with the free Audition Secrets guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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