NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Welcome to The Nashville Dispatch, a feature on NRI NOW.
The Nashville Dispatch is a monthly column submitted by Burrillville native Keith Bradford, host of Ya Gotta Love It, a country music show on NBRN based in Nashville, Tenn.
Bradford covers topics in the music business designed to inform, entertain, and enlighten people interested in the topic, particularly in the country genre. Also a singer and song writer, Bradford is the owner and operator of KMA Records in Nashville and brings more than 60 years of industry knowledge to the endeavor.
Do you have questions about the music business? Have a topic or artist you’d like Keith to discuss? Send your questions and requests to keith@nbrnonline.com.
Questionnaire
This goes out to everyone in the music business that is still aspiring to go to the next level.
- Have you ever performed for a president of the United States?
- Have you ever appeared on the Grand Ole Opry?
- Have you ever had any of your songs show up in the Billboard charts?
- Have you ever had an internationally known country music star write a song for you and then invite you on their television show to perform the song?
- Have you ever been nominated for a Grammy?
The last question for this go round is a humorous one.
6. Have you ever met and had your picture taken with Roy Rogers?
If you answered ‘no’ to any of these questions then congratulations because you are in the majority of musicians trying to make their mark in country music. At the risk of sounding like I am bragging I can honestly say my answer to every one of these questions is a big fat ‘yes.’
I have been truly blessed in my career. Determination, and a little luck played a part of all the wonderful things that happened in my 60 plus years in the business.
Knowledge or wisdom is still and always has been the key to success or failure. In these articles each month you will find information very difficult to find in a book you checked out at the library. I have banged my head up against a wall on many occasions and if I can prevent just one of you from the same mistakes, then I feel like I have done my job in paying it forward.
Some of my biggest critics say that everything I discuss about the music business, they already know and find my content repetitive. Well I am here to tell you first hand that repetition is the greatest and best tool there is when trying to get someone to retain what they need to know. The biggest problem I face with people just starting out in the business is that they don’t even know that they don’t know. Ignorance is no excuse, and breaking protocol in the music business can cost you dearly. I am not saying you are going to receive a fine for stepping on someone’s toes or over stepping your boundaries, but what I am saying is sometimes the consequences can be more severe than a monetary punishment.
I will close this segment with a final question. Did you know that sending your song to a publisher without their express consent to send it is not only unethical, but in my cases, your package will be retuned and marked, “No un-solicited material accepted?” That is the polite way you might be treated. In many cases, the package is simply tossed in the trash unopened.
The Music Business – Ya Gotta Luv It
