How to Monetize your Music without Selling a Single Ticket with Dr. Fabiana Claure

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, and welcome to the Blue Sky Studios podcast, where we talk with real people in the music industry. Guys, I have a great guest for you today. I'm going to let her introduce herself and tell you guys a little bit about what.

[00:00:17] Hello everyone. My name is Fabiana Claure. I am a pianist and entrepreneur and a business strategist for musicians.

[00:00:25] I lived all my life becoming best pianist I could be. My focus was a hundred percent on performing. I have all of my degrees culminating in a doctor degree in piano performance for most of my life. That was my primary focus. It was just learning how to, you know, elevate my artistry and focus on becoming the best artists I could be. And towards the end of my education, I started to discover that actually need to learn how to make money with that art, that it wasn't enough to be a really, really good musician, that I also had to learn how to build a business and how to make money. And so at that point, I started learning [00:01:00] about the music business about the entertainment industry and what artists need to do to be able to be self-sufficient in our economy and not depend on outside entities, giving them income. And so very quickly I realized that the best way to do this is by becoming an entrepreneur. It's by owning and embracing the fact that no one is going to save us. No one is going to give us anything. We have to become curious.

[00:01:25] We have to develop that like hunger and thirst and desire for acquiring the skills that are not part of our training. They're not part of what musicians are usually given when they go through traditional schooling and we have to be okay and willing to jump into, you know, these new territories. Pretty quickly as I started learning about music business, I realized that. We actually have a lot of things in common being artists with business people. They're not two separate worlds. In fact, the earliest definition of an entrepreneur. I don't know if you know this Casey, but it [00:02:00]comes from the Oxford English dictionary music in 1897. They define an entrepreneur. As one who puts up musical performances,

[00:02:07] No way! I did not. That is news to me. How cool is that?

[00:02:10] That was the earliest definition of an entrepreneur. So this means that for the longest time musicians have been entrepreneurs, musicians have had to figure out how to create things for themselves.

[00:02:20] They've had to figure out how to build things out of nothing and be curious and innovative. It wasn't enough to just be good at their at their craft, you know? And so this is, this is a really interesting lesson because, you know, since then I started becoming very curious and I I became excited about learning about the music.

[00:02:40] And to this day, it's really interesting to me because I see so many parallels. You have to be flexible in the industry. You have to be adaptable. You have to be willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Well, guess what, when we do when we, you know, create concerts. When we perform in front of audiences, when we learn new pieces of music, that's exactly what we're doing every day.

[00:02:59] Like we [00:03:00] have a lot of those skills already built in, into our core, our DNA as musicians. So when you start welcoming that fact and looking at the music business as something that you already have inside of you, you just haven't discovered it yet. Then the whole process is very exciting and that's what I love doing.

[00:03:16] Since opening my music school, I ran it for five years. I created it. It was a brick and mortar school. And since then I moved to Texas, I opened it in Florida, along with my husband. Who's also a concert pianist. The two of us needed a job. So we just created our school so that we could work after finishing our doctorates.

[00:03:34] And in fact, we employ many of our colleagues who were unemployed at the time of finishing their degrees. And we ran our school for five years. Then I knew that there was something else that I could do. I felt that there was like I had reached this, this level. I had reached this professional milestone. I had built the business.

[00:03:49] I had allowed it to grow, become profitable. We were featured on national television twice. Our students were killing and getting all these awards and earning scholarships at universities. It was great, but I knew that there was [00:04:00] more out there for me and I applied to come to the University of North Texas to build their music business program, to help even more musicians continue growing and thriving in their careers, in music.

[00:04:09] So my husband at that time told me, "How are we going to move to Texas and leave our music school in Florida?" And that was a huge question mark that at that point I wasn't really worried about, cause I was like, "Let's see what happens if I even get the job. Who knows? We'll cross that bridge when we get there". Lo and behold, they gave me the job.

[00:04:24] So then we had to restructure our school and it taught us a lesson. We moved to Texas since for the last six years now we've been running it remotely and learning how to build a business that can be self-sustaining work without us. And so that has infused my perspective in coaching musicians. In my position at the university, my goal was not just to help them build businesses, but to help them build companies that could potentially become self-led if they wanted to.

[00:04:51] Then they could delegate that. They could even sell at some point. So start the process with, with that idea was something that I didn't have when I started my business. I [00:05:00] never thought I would one day just delegate it and have it continue running without me. So since then I ran the program at the university for five years.

[00:05:06] And once again, I reached that plateau of like, okay, I built this program. We were featured on Billboard Magazine for five years in a row as one of the top music business programs in the country. You know, it was amazing experience. And yet again, I started to feel the urge of like, there's more people out there that need my message.

[00:05:21] So I started creating an online coaching program two years ago in January of 2020. And guess what happened in March? We all know how the world changed and how important it was for musicians more than ever to know how to pivot into the online space and to build businesses because there were no concerts, there were no opportunities to do the normal ways musicians made money.

[00:05:40] So that grew my business that allowed me to be able to step into a place of leadership and help many musicians around the world. And last year, I decided to go all in and my business and give it all my energy and attention and actually quit my full-time job at the university. And so for the last year now I've been a hundred percent immersed in building my [00:06:00] online global business mentorship program that's called the Musicians Profit Umbrella, where we help musicians create five and six and multi-six-figure leaps by packaging their skills into an online brand. And today that's what I do. That's my passion, which is once again, empowering musicians in a new way.

[00:06:16] I realized looking back that through each one of these different stages, when I was, you know, I'm a music business owner and academy owner. Then when I was a university educator, To now as the founder and CEO of my program, I've been doing the same thing just in different ways. I was empowering musicians to be competitive, to go into school, to go into college. When I was teaching in my academy, then I was empowering musicians who were at college to build businesses so that they wouldn't graduate and fall off the cliff of unemployment to have something like I did when I finished my degree.

[00:06:44] And now are empowering musicians who are established or at this at the point of perhaps feeling a little burned out and suffocated with the businesses they've built and showing them how to create self-sustaining organizations. So they can scale to six figures and seven figures without feeling that they're sacrificing their [00:07:00] quality of life.

[00:07:00] So Fabiana, going back a little bit, that was, that was a whole lot to drink from. Wow. Why do you think so many musicians aren't prepared to be entrepreneurs?

[00:07:11] Well, because they are prepared to... they're trained to be approved by someone else. They're trained to practice their instrument really, really well and present themselves in competitions. So someone can give them a price. They're trained to practice their instrument and prepare a great portfolio to apply for a job so that someone gives them that coveted university position or orchestra position or placement in a band or whatever. There are trained to be people who are waiting to be picked, right?

[00:07:49] They, that they have to be always approved to apply, to get someone, to tell them, yes, you deserve this. Yes, you can get it. It's just the way the industry works. So they're not [00:08:00] trained to actually set themselves apart. They're trained to fit in, to conform, to standards, to conform to the norms and in a way that creates a mindset of scarcity and a mindset of like there aren't enough opportunities, so I have to try and be the best that I can be and hope that someone chooses me. Versus an entrepreneur is the different mentality.

[00:08:20] So someone listening to right now and they're like, oh my goodness. That's that's me. Like, I've felt that before. What should they be thinking about to change that paradigm?

[00:08:30] First of all, you are amazing. I just want you to know that whoever you are listening to this podcast, you are here, you are in this community, you are around Casey's world because you know, you have something valuable and you know, that people can benefit from what you do. You just perhaps don't know yet how to communicate that value. You're not yet clear on how to package it, how to monetize it, but you're here. You're listening to this because you are already sitting on a goldmine. That's the first thing I want to know. You don't need [00:09:00] more degrees. You don't need more certificates. You don't need a layer of testimonials all this proof that you are worthy.

[00:09:09] I just want you to know that you are worthy. And so once you start embracing that and recognizing the gifts that you can provide for others and recognizing that yes, there are probably a lot of things that you still want to learn. That's great. No one is saying not to continue your education. I mean, I have a doctorate degree that's as far as you can get in terms of education, but what I'm saying is most musicians get tripped with the idea that they are not enough, that they're not worthy, that they need to do X, Y, Z.

[00:09:36] Again, that mentality of someone has to give them permission to stand in their authority. Someone has to tell them, yes, you've been appointed this job. Yes. You've been given this degree as you've been given this position, this role in this orchestra or whatever. And so that stops them from actually saying I actually have already a lot, even my students, when I was working with music students in the college level, they're like, oh, but I'm just a student, Dr. Claure. I would [00:10:00] always tell them you're going through your education right now. But you are remarkable. You have a lot to offer. And so is asking everyone, you know, What have you knew for a fact that you're remarkable, but if you would just operate under that assumption instead of questioning it, if you knew that you had a lot of value to provide to others through your artistry, through your experiences, through the things that you've perhaps had to overcome in the past, that you now know how to get.

[00:10:26] If you knew that people would be happily willing to pay to access your, your, your mind, your brilliance, your, your guidance, your mentorship in some way, what would you do? How would you operate? You would probably operate in a much more practical and direct and focused way, because that question would not be a question.

[00:10:44] It would be a fact, right? So that's the first step is. Working under the assumption that you have a lot to offer and that people are going to pay for what you have to offer.

[00:10:55] Okay. What's our next step? What do they need to do?

[00:10:58] Well, the next step is [00:11:00] to really start going into looking at, you know, what, what are the skills that you want to use to help people? You need to combine what you are excited about helping people achieve with what people actually are looking for and what they need. Right? It's that combination.

[00:11:16] So someone listening right now, we work with a lot of singer songwriters, so let's, let's use one of them as an example. So they're... They have a day job. They're doing music on the side. Maybe they play three or four gigs a month and they're trying to expand, like give, give them some advice. And let's just say that they're where you are. Like, I think your first step was great. Kind of reframing your worth as a musician. I thought that was awesome. So let's just say that they're there, they're writing killer songs. They're starting to get good gigs. What's kind of the next thing for them?

[00:11:46] The next thing for them is to recognize that this is a very important one and it's kind of like a broad topic, but I'm going to try to condense it as much as. The way to make money as a musician, the best way, in my [00:12:00] opinion, at least to create a stable, sustainable income that allows you to tap into your artistry without you needing.

[00:12:09] Let's say another job to pay the bills is by building an online business is by packaging your skills in a way that allows you to give people access to your. And your artistry helps that brand building element, meaning they're not separate what you do as an artist with your singer songwriting. Helps elevate your position in the market helps people understand who you are, what you're about, how you could help them helps create fans.

[00:12:36] If we were to say that you know that, but your goal should not be just to make money by playing music on stages, by teaching one-on-one lessons. Those are the old paradigms of, of, of models that have kept music. In very low income brackets for millennia. And for the last five years, musicians have now been stepping into the online space where they coach and they [00:13:00] mentor and they guide others.

[00:13:01] And overcoming a variety of things. It can be musical related challenges like music, education and music lessons. It could be a combination of life lessons with wellness lessons, with music, with business, with whatever it is that is your specialty that you love teaching and giving people access to you through an online program.

[00:13:21] And then everything you do as an artist, you can choose what gigs to take. You can choose how many. You know, touring venues, you want to accept, you can choose all of that because your income does not rely on that. That is part of your business because it, it builds your brand and reaffirms your identity and it attracts clients to you.

[00:13:39] So people who come to your shows, you know, if you think about artists, like let's say Jacob, Callier, you know, it's a very, very famous. He plays, he tours. He gives all these concerts, but he also has all these online membership options that people pay to have access to him. It paid to access his brilliance to access his process.

[00:13:55] They want to be a part of, of his mind. That's what I believe is the future for [00:14:00] musicians. And that's what I specialize in helping them create in my. 'cause that's what I feel is the quickest and easiest and most sustainable way for artists to make money.

[00:14:09] Cool. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. So do you feel like it's just starting small when you're, you're kind of getting going, you use the example of a membership sort of site for someone listening and they're, they're all in. They're like, this is great. I love this. Okay. I need to change my paradigm. I need to take my business online for them. What should their expectations be that first year of doing those things?

[00:14:34] Oh my gosh. I love that question because here's the good news. You can make a lot of money quickly. If you do this, you don't need to start small. You don't need to underprice your services. You don't need to start at anything small or anything around the word, small. Here's why, because it is easier for musicians and creatives and anyone really who packages their skills to work with [00:15:00] few paying clients who pay actually high ticket prices, because there's a high touch and high touch component of of transformation that you provide.

[00:15:10] Right. And so most of the times I hear musicians think, oh, I'll just create like a course of membership and I'll just charge like $200 or something. But the problem with those lower ticket price points is that you need mass reach. You need a big audience, you need a lot of people to buy that so that it becomes sustainable.

[00:15:27] So that it makes sense from a time standpoint, from an energy standpoint. But the bad news is that in order for you to sell something low priced mass scale, to sell it to many people. You need to have a large audience and you need to have an infrastructure. You need to have a team to help you oversee and optimize.

[00:15:42] You need a lot of things that you don't get to see. But that are not the best way to start. The best way to start is actually working with a few clients who can pay you high ticket prices, high ticket, meaning from $3,000 and up. So for example, the clients that I work with that come into my program, they charge like [00:16:00] $5,000 for a six month program.

[00:16:01] They are unapologetic and saying, you know, here's the value of what my program is going to do for you. There's a process and keeping up on those prices and understanding how to position those prices. The number one process is really. Knowing and understanding the value of the result that your program will do for people.

[00:16:16] So whatever it is that you're trying to get people access, to let that transformation that you envision you can help people achieve. That's what you're going to sell. You're going to sell the transformation. You're not going to sell how much time they're going to spend on. You're going to tap into the desires of your ideal clients, and you're going to talk to those desires.

[00:16:31] And that's what your program, the transformation, whether it's meeting once a week with you, whether it's having a combination of maybe some prerecorded videos with meeting every once in a while in a group setting, whether it's having access to you through the Facebook group, where they can pull some questions and get your feedback, any format that you decide to structure your program.

[00:16:48] The bottom line is, it's not about how much time they spend with you. It's about what are they going to get at the end of the experience?

[00:16:55] Yeah, the value. And I guess I'm just trying to track here, Fabiana. Sounds [00:17:00] awesome. And don't get me wrong. I'd love to have three or four people pay in those price points as well for, for anything quite frankly. But I'm just trying to imagine, like, who are the ideal customers for a country artist just starting out or a singer songwriter?

[00:17:13] Like I think for me, it. It makes a little more sense for a cellist, like I can bridge the gap, but help me understand, like, what would you, if I, if I were coming to you and I was like, Hey, I want to work with you. I'm a singer songwriter. And I kind of told you, for example, just playing a few gigs a year who are my ideal customers I'm looking for, that would be willing to pay those price points.

[00:17:34] That's a great idea. That's a great question. So here's how I like to frame it. And this is usually like a very cool trick to help you identify your ideal clients.

[00:17:43] If you're trying to envision this program that I'm talking about and who it would serve the best way to envision this is by looking at who's already in your network and looking at your existing crowd, not envisioning someone that you've never interacted with before. Just this fictitional character, this [00:18:00] ideal avatar, and I know a lot of exercises to finding your ideal clients can be very much.

[00:18:05] What color of eyes, where do they like to shop? What are they thinking? I ask you to just take a hard look at your existing community. Has anyone ever asked you for advice about anything? Have people been coming to you and asking you about things informally in passing? And you've been like, oh yeah, Talking very casually about these things.

[00:18:25] Can you recall having had conversations with people who were like, oh my gosh, I just wanted to ask you this thing. Cause I was trying to do this and I re, and I know, you know, this, I just want to, if you have five people that you can remember who come to you in the last two years, reaching out for something specific, that's a starting point.

[00:18:42] That's a starting point because that means people are already remember. I told you, you are already like, you're ready. You have everything, you know, People right now are associating you with some sort of a gift, some sort of a zone of genius. If you will, you don't know it yet because you haven't thought about it in this way.

[00:18:59] You, [00:19:00] because you've been so focused on looking for gigs, looking for performances, looking for record producers. Okay. But people right now are already associating you with some sort of gifts, some sort of way that you can help them. And because it's so natural to you, like it's like second nature. You don't, you don't value it.

[00:19:16] You don't realize it's valuable. You're just like, oh yeah. I'll show, I'll tell you how to do this. You know, like, Casey, how do you do a podcast? Like, tell me about this. Like, how did you, oh yeah. You know, I'll just go here and just do there. It's like second nature for you. I'm just giving you an exact. Someone must've come to you.

[00:19:31] Right. And you just don't realize that this is a skilled monetizeable school. You're just like, oh yeah, I do this. Hey. Yeah. The things you take for granted that come easily to you, that you're just like, eh. Yeah. And that people have been coming to you for asking that's already a sign. That's your first starting point was like that's how I started my business.

[00:19:47] People kept coming to me and ask you some yadda, how do I do this? How do I build my business? I'd be like, yeah, yeah. You know, so that's what I want. All our listeners to realize is like those things. And if no one has ever come to you, if no one has ever [00:20:00] asked you for advice on anything, which could also be the.

[00:20:03] Have you ever created transformation for people? Have you ever said, or told someone something and they've been like, oh my gosh, that's so incredible. And you're like, oh really? Oh, okay. Okay. Can you remember any conversations that you've just passively talked about and given people something and they've been like, oh my gosh, this is so valuable.

[00:20:22] Those are also hints. But the other thing is, if you knew that the people that you're going to help are not going to pay you until they get resolved. What would their inherit qualities need to be? How would you be able to say yes, these are my ideal clients. It's so interesting when you put it in that position, because if you were to envision, let's say, I want to come to you for, for podcast producing.

[00:20:42] Let's say Casey. And I'm like, Casey, how do I get results? And you know that if you sell me your program, that helps physicians create podcasts, but that you're not going to get paid unless I get a result. You would probably be very specific with the type of client you would be willing to work with. You wouldn't just accept everyone.

[00:20:58] You wouldn't be like, Hmm. [00:21:00] The person that I'd be willing to mentor needs to be probably very committed needs to persevere, needs to be willing to perhaps get themselves out of their comfort zone and learn about tech. Like you would have specific criteria that, you know, would be winning traits that would allow your clients to get results.

[00:21:16] And so that's also another way for you to think, okay, if I'm going to be talking to my ideal. If I would have this hypothesis. So it's like, I'm not getting paid unless they get. Settle, your focus is going to be very clear because you're new. You're going to know these are the people I need to attract.

[00:21:32] Does that make sense?

[00:21:33] Yeah, absolutely. So I'm thinking, and we are coming to a close here, so thanks for tracking with me. I like what you're saying. It's just kind of wanting to pull it out and make it a little more tangible for our listeners. Like, I guess maybe we could do a few examples. So when you were talking, I was like, man, I could see some of the people we work with being asked by friends who are doctors, lawyers, and they play music, but they just do it for fun, man. How do you write a song like that? And that could be a way that they [00:22:00] could monetize. Maybe give me a few more tangible examples. And, and again, for our listeners, like things like that, that maybe you've seen other people do before.

[00:22:11] Yeah. So I want you to kind of open up yourself and your mind a little bit beyond music. I have had clients who, for example, had a musical background, they were musicians, but they also had, let's say a PR training. They had education around communication and PR and I had one a client, her name's Asher Alondo.

[00:22:31] She was a jazz ukulele player. She is a jazzy glue player vocalist, but she also has a background in PR and communications. And when she came into my program, we looked at all of her different skills. We don't just look at music. So I want you to open up your mind a little bit and just not think this has to be just about music.

[00:22:46] And to look at what are your other areas of expertise? Is there something in your life that you struggled with that had to learn how to overcome? Maybe health-related maybe mindset related, maybe like anything at all that you've had to [00:23:00] get good at, and that has somehow helped you in your musical development.

[00:23:04] Maybe it's learning how to publish, maybe. So learning how to write music. In addition to being the performer, maybe it's learning how to find the gigs and be prolific and getting. Booked. I want you to realize that all of those skills you can sell, you can monetize those skills. They can be part of your umbrella.

[00:23:21] Right? And so my client, Ashley, for example, she created a pro. Call mastering the art of charismatic communication. She figured there's so many people who have a lot of stage presence, challenges. They don't know how to speak on stage. They don't know how to communicate in front of people. They get all tripped up they're introverts and they just don't have an effective leadership ability when they're standing in a room they crumble.

[00:23:44] So her program was about helping leaders, creatives, and non-creatives learn how to speak on stage, learn how to become confident, communicators, learn how to become charismatic. She infused her art in that and that, you know, she played, she would sing from stage. She would speak. So [00:24:00] people were into her site as an artist, but she was also helping other people who perhaps were not necessarily musicians, but at the same time, helping them tap into their own creativity to release a little bit.

[00:24:10] Like, you know, just shyness or whatever you want to call it. Right? So I want to encourage all of your listeners to not just think this needs to be a musical offer, but that perhaps there's something else you can infuse. I had another client who was a voice teacher at a university, and she had created a long career as an academic.

[00:24:26] She taught voice. She was singing an opera singer. But she had to overcome some health challenges in her vocal chords. So she had to learn self-teach herself on biohacking and learning about that part of wellness and natural medicine, I have to say. So she created a program called your voice where she teaches singers, how to, how to sing, but also how to take care of their vocal cord.

[00:24:47] Right. Things like that. I want to encourage your listeners to be creative and not thinking the program is just, I'll teach you how to sing, but it's like, what else can you include in this offer that is also going to set you apart?

[00:24:58] Yeah, that's great. [00:25:00] And just being honest with you Fabiana, I've gone from suspicious to bought in, like I'm with you.

[00:25:04] So great, great job. I did. We haven't met before for our listeners, so this is kind of our first conversation, but I love what you're putting down for our listeners today. For those who are listening, who would love to reach out to you to learn more. Where can they find out more about you and your business?

[00:25:19] Yeah, absolutely. So I actually have a really cool training that I think would be a great place for any listener to start, because it shows you the 10 steps that I usually start this process with. And it walks you through how to create your own umbrella, your own musicians, profit umbrella in a single sheet of paper.

[00:25:35] One of the things that trips most musicians is like when you hear the word business plan is like *gasp* what? 20 pages with a table of content and an appendix with a spreadsheets? No, it's too overwhelming. So I've made it in a very simple 90 minute session where you walk away from the training in a single sheet of paper, you have your business there set up that condenses it, it makes it really manageable to start with the process.

[00:25:56] So that's, you can check that out on my website, [00:26:00] Fabianaclaure.com/gift. I'll spell it out. F A B I A N A C L A U R E.com forward slash gift. So that would be a great place to start. If you're curious about, like, what are you, how do you actually get this process going? And then of course, I've got, you know, a lot of content that I share online.

[00:26:17] My website is a great place to start. Fabianaclaure.com. And then, I have a Facebook group also called Musicians Creating Prosperity with a bunch of musicians from around the world, committed to build this movement of prosperity. So I'm welcoming anyone who wants to join me and follow me there too.

[00:26:32] That's great. Thank you so much for sharing with us today. We really appreciate it.

[00:26:36] Thank you Casey. Thank you for having me and great job creating this space for musicians. Much needed to have this conversation.

[00:26:41] Absolutely. And thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of the Blue Sky Studios podcast. Have a great day, everyone.