“Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity. To seize everything you ever wanted. One moment. Would you capture it or just let it slip?”

Yes, you recognize the words from the start on Eminem:s “Lose Yourself”. The problem right now is that people won’t capture the moment, they would let it slip. A career is like a rocket and you just ride it. When you start to say no to things you reached your hight and the rocked stops and starts go down again.

Right now I see so many record labels, managers, artists do this mistake, saying no to opportunities thinking they getting bigger ones in the future. The reality is that the rocket starts to stop already with the first no.

Most of the time they blame that they don’t have the money to take the chance. That is also bullshit. If you really going for it you find the money.

I watched one band that has done pretty well but have been very picky and said no to many things. In the end, they got a really nice deal. The problem is that since they have said no to many opportunities many won’t take in them and also they have taken the chances to develop to make an impact good enough.

The deal got them on one of the bigger showcases in Europe. A chance they had waited for. The problem was just that since they haven’t been around on the smaller ones, they got a really bad timeslot on the big festival. In reality, it was just a bought spot it was not that they were good in any way.

I was down on that showcase, and there was really no bigger industry people there. And with a smaller audience, they really couldn’t do a good show. After that, they said that showcasing was not a good thing, cost too much.

In reality, they paid more money for this chance and didn’t use its capacity.

At the same festival, one of my bands had one of the gold spots. Of course, since the festival knew that this band has done several small festivals and famous for their good live show. Packed room, TV, radio, and journalists were there. Opened doors to four new festivals.

Sure these four new festivals will cost us money, but it gives fuel to the rocket and open more doors. The other band I have a hard time to see that they are getting anywhere fast. They are still waiting for a bigger opportunity as an opening slot for a bigger band. the problem is that it will cost even more and they are definitely not ready for it. The waiting game cost you more then take a chance. The best things I have ever done was to let bands showcase on small festivals, there are the real opportunities. So would you capture it or let it slip?