Awareness, Acceptance, Demand: Josh Pegram on Music Branding for Musicians (Episode 16)

Everything you do is an audition.

The night before this episode, Nomad was in his own studio when a text came in from Tommy Sims: I'm coming to your fair city, are you available? The next day he was at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, in Studio One, the room where Prince made Purple Rain, cutting "Last Tear" for Kyla Jade, a finalist on The Voice. Tommy produced and played bass, James Waddell engineered, Aaron Lindsey and Kevin Randolph played keys, Victor Indrizzo played drums, and Nomad played guitar.

There was also a quiet guy in the room who wasn't playing anything. That was Josh Pegram, Tommy's manager and a marketing and branding specialist who calls himself a dot connector. In Episode 16 of The Career Musician, he breaks down music branding for musicians in three words: awareness, acceptance, demand.

The hang is where it happens

Nomad and Josh met because of the downtime. While they waited on parts, they got to talking: what do you do? Then it got deeper. Josh's point is that "just send me a file" culture skips that part. Remote work is great, but it has pulled back a lot of the human element of how business gets done.

The call came in 24 hours before the session, and the people who got the call were ready. Then they used the hurry-up-and-wait time to build relationships. Everything you do is an audition, including the conversation on the couch while the drummer tracks.

Build your music career like a business

Josh caught the bug at 10, standing at front of house with an uncle who started working with ZZ Top in 1975. Knowing how hard the industry was to break into, he used his corporate background from the cable industry. He moved to Nashville, kept his day job, and created the first-ever Garth Brooks video on-demand channel. That led to a Taylor Swift exclusive and a Soul Train exclusive, then to working with Garth's manager and signing The Band Perry.

Nomad's takeaway: Josh modeled his music career on his corporate career, with a game plan and daily consistency. You can't enter any industry without one. Make Music Your Business.

Awareness, acceptance, demand

"If you're out there trying to make a living and carve out your space in the musician world, it's awareness, acceptance, demand for your brand."

Josh Pegram, 10:52

Awareness: people have to know what you're doing. Never assume they know, whether you've been at it six months or sixty years. Get up every day and let people know you're available, what styles you play, and what you have moved into.

Acceptance: first from the decision makers in the industry, then from the public. Nomad added that acceptance starts with you. If you don't accept that you're doing this, how is anyone else going to?

Demand: once people get a taste and like it, they start asking for it. And you can never take any of the three for granted. As Nomad put it, out of sight, out of mind. It's not about begging for work, it's about staying connected to your network.

Dilution by over distribution

Josh learned this phrase in the cable business, and it fits social media perfectly. Awareness doesn't mean uploading everything you have. It's like a conversation: we all talk more than we listen. Know your audience, and when you have something worthy, put it out on purpose. Your audience will respect that.

Nomad owned it. He's guilty of posting everything because this is the one that's going to break him. Be realistic about what you post, when, and how much.

You can live in more than one box

The hardest part of awareness is when you change lanes. You're the guitar player, so people won't accept you as a producer, composer or artist. And when you're branded as the guy with five or six sounds, the minute you go on tour, the phone stops ringing.

Josh's examples: Jonathan Cain of Journey, who co-wrote some of the biggest songs in pop, moved to Nashville and people would not accept that he could write country. Chris Stapleton was known as a songwriter and guitar player before people learned what he really does.

"You're gonna get locked in a box, but I think you can get locked in a few boxes."

Josh Pegram, 19:38

So tell people, at the right time, without abusing it. Trickle it out. Somebody on the other end may be wondering who they know that can do exactly that. And with thousands of hopeful composers in one city, the people who stand out are the ones doing this tastefully every day, backed by real talent and a real resume. If you tour, use what you see from the crowd. It's an advantage the people stuck in offices don't have.

Get out of your own head

Josh closed on the human side. He wants to be the person you can cry on and high-five with, and he says we live with a lot of "synthetic vulnerability." Social media shows our five perfect minutes. It's okay to share both sides.

His biggest enemy is the internal dialogue that talks him out of things. Nomad's word for 2018 was consistency, and they both pointed to Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect: small daily actions that become habits add up to something big when they line up with your core values.

"I knew 100% nothing would happen if I stayed back at home."

Josh Pegram, 27:51

He didn't want to leave his wife and two kids to fly to LA. He went anyway, because the room is where things happen. That is Luck = preparation + opportunity in practice.

The takeaway

Build awareness every day, earn acceptance, and let demand follow. Post with purpose, tell people about every lane you work in, and never let tech replace the hang. Keep doing what you do. If you want more calls like the one Nomad got that night, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

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

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