 So I know a lot of people my age and older love to paint the younger generation as a bunch of FOMO-having, anxiety-driven, lazy wrecks, and the way some of this comes about is the constant wondering whether you're doing the right thing for your dreams, which I think is a smart and healthy place to put your thoughts. And frankly, I think the old people complaining should probably die off before they vote again, but that's another story for another time. But one of the main things I hear young people wonder about is if they should move somewhere else to build a music career. So this video I'm going to discuss if you should move to another city for your music career. Hi, I'm Jesse Cannon, a music marketing nerd who's teaching musicians how to grow their fanbase from zero to 10,000 fans, and this is Muse Formation. So like I was just saying, this is one of the most asked questions I get in the comments, which I read and answer all of, as you can see. But those comments are constantly asking whether you should move somewhere different for your career, so it's easier to build a fanbase. So let's talk the dynamics of this and why it's a good question. As I often tell you, the reason I think Facebook ads are the biggest waste of time and money, along with your hopes and dreams, is they are an illusion of progress that isn't progressing on what actually matters. And what actually matters is finding community. As time and time again, what you see with artists who buy tons of Facebook ads have some numbers they don't really ever blow up. Yet the artists who do blow up and become household names somehow didn't use Facebook ads to get there. But what they did do was build their community and come up through it. But how does this apply to where you're gonna live is what you're probably wondering. So in my time at Atlantic Records, I noticed a thing that nearly everyone who got signed to the label in a pop or EDM context, they came there from collaborating with other people. And the fact is, if you're in those genres, Los Angeles is the place to be. It's where people go to be in writing rooms together and sit in a house or a studio and create. Yes, New York City is great for this too, but I don't think anyone in this field would dispute that LA is where it happens the most right now. So moving there is undoubtedly an advantage. I mean, you're where you can get in rooms with people and potentially be a part of a song that blows up and gives you a ton of attention. The fact is, most artists blow up in these genres from having co-written, produced or played on a song that blows up, and then it gets through to the gatekeepers and you get more doors open for you. So being in the city where that can happen and you can play that numbers game, well, it's not really a numbers game, but you can have the chance to work with more people. And yes, the more of this you do, the more chances it works out. So it's kind of close to a numbers game, but getting in these rooms and making things with people who then recommend you to other people and give you more opportunities, LA is the place where that's happening most often. But if you're of the indie DIY stripe, it's undeniable where I live in Brooklyn has sent us the majority of buzz bands for the past two decades. Even though literally for the past two decades before the 2000s, that wasn't the case. Before the strokes came along, being from New York City was a kiss of death, and bands from here would literally claim to not be from here for the sake of avoiding that kiss of death. But what changed and made it become the hotbed it's been for as long as most of you have been alive, you might be wondering. It wasn't that we needed an influx of good musicians. I've lived here before that, and there was plenty of creative people here before Julian Casablanca started doing coke in trendy bathrooms. It's that music became dominated by Brooklyn based indie labels and blogs and other influencers became the gatekeepers that told us who to listen to. And we have the majority of indie labels, people who work in the music business, writers and influential people here in the genre. Along with LA of course, but the music media, which really can help break an artist, lives here pretty much exclusively with few exceptions. As all the publications are based here, and as someone whose day job is in media, boy do I see it even more. So the fact is, if you're here or LA and Nashville, if you're in the country scene, you're just more likely to come in contact with someone who could potentially take you to all their connections and make some big moves that help build you up. I think of this way. The other week I was out at a party and in conversation with someone who handles a few playlists that are pretty influential. And sure enough, her boyfriend really loves this band I work with and she heard me say I worked with them. So she finally decided to listen to them since she thinks her boyfriend's taste is trash and respects mine. And look at that. I see them on her playlist. And let's just say this, stream machine go. The fact is, being in major cities for your genre, there's just more chances for things like that to happen. But here's a funny thing to poke a hole in this theory and make it more complex. While Brooklyn is responsible for tons of indie bands that break in tons of other genres, no one can deny it's been kind of slipping and Philly has become quite the hotspot. Philly is a pretty small city. I've spent a lot of time there. And when you're a musician, you live in one of about three neighborhoods and go to a handful of bars, which makes for some tight networking. You're hyper aware of the scene around you and it leads to a lot of friendships that end up with joint shows, tours and introductions. Since let's also remember part of this community advantage is when another musician likes what you do, they get signed to a label, management or booking agent. They will often show you to their team since their team is always asking who's good. And that's yet again how careers get built, not Facebook ads. Plus, you can work a job and have money to still go out to shows unlike in Brooklyn. But to make things even more messy, it's probably a good time to discuss Brian Eno's concept of seniors. I'll spare you all the nerdy explanations of this on the internet and put it this way. His concept is that when you're around other talented people in a scene, you discuss your art and those discussions and observations you make when you're looking at other artists who challenge you are what makes you into a great artist. I see it every day when a lot of talented people start hanging out, the lesser talented people step it up and get inspired. The mentorship along with competition and inspiration adds to this all. It's undeniably the reason to live around your peers who are creating music that you feel a kinship with since it helps build up artists and make them better. But there's also like another stripe of bands, what's called hard rock or prog or jam bands, where touring will be the only way they blow up. Well, if you're based in Maine or the southern tip of Texas, that doesn't leave you a good place to jump off from for shows unless you're going to play to fishermen on barges since you're hours away from all those major cities. But if you're in, say, Philly, you can be hitting Baltimore, DC, New Jersey, New York City and a ton of college towns just by leaving work at 4pm and you'll still be early to soundcheck and that gives a huge advantage if you're this type of band. But let's talk about what I like to call buzz bubbles. This is when a certain genre in a city gets hot for a while. Many artists will actually move there and while that sounds cheap and dumb to some of you, it actually works. And I always think of like there was a few bands that moved to Seattle during the grunge movement and that got them noticed. The fact is cities get hot for a while and A&R and other influential gatekeepers go deeper in those cities as there's something in the water there. I actually don't think there's anything wrong with moving to a city when it's bubbling up, but I will say, boy have I seen a lot of people do that when the bubble has already burst. And then they waste time building community a place they could probably have made a better choice about moving to hip hop constantly has these bubbles where some producers really are hot. And so going in that city and getting in that community can really be a way to blow up because all the A&R and gatekeepers are always asking these producers who they should be watching. Let's discuss one last dynamic of this. Every single day an artist from the middle of nowhere blows up. Where you live is not the most determinative thing of blowing up and building a fanbase. Finding a community, making great music and doing cool things is. But it is a shortcut that can be a thing that really pushes you over the edge and being in the right city at the right time can be a huge advantage. But here's the kicker. All this can be done on the internet. And we just had a whole entire year where nearly no one did any in person networking. But at least those of us were responsible. But the real fact is whether it's collaborating with others, meeting influential people, this can all be done online. But too often when I tell a talented and aspiring musician, they see this as an excuse to just be lazy. If you're going to do this online, you need to actually go to the discourse, the Facebook groups, the reddits and Twitter communities and be super active and not get discouraged when countless people don't want to be friends with you and realize this is a numbers and time allocation game. There's countless stories today of rising stars of the internet who did it all simply by making good music and working their community online and now have a solidified, promising career even though they're from a town of 20 people. It can be done, but it takes putting yourself out there and not lying to yourself. It's saying that's what you're doing because you put a fire emoji on someone's Instagram comments last week. It takes reaching out to other artists, fans and influential people over and over until you link and build a friendship and awareness of what you do. So I know you're probably thinking, this is kind of unlike me to leave things so open-ended as I usually give you solid advice with an imperative of what to do next. But this really is a messy subject. That's too complicated to tell you one single thing to do. But here's my advice. Take everything I just said and just show up as often as you can in some way. That means going out to all the shows when people in your genre are playing and hand out fires for your next show and get to know people. And if that's not something you can do, go on the internet and meet people in your community and really put in the hours. Alright, that's it. Like I said, I answer every comment and question down below and even make videos from them. Please like and subscribe to get notified as the next few videos are no joke some of my most game-changing videos I've ever made and you want to watch them right away and not miss them. On this channel, we teach how to go from zero to 10,000 fans. There's a playlist of videos that teach that right now or you can learn how to blow up on Spotify or TikTok. Click one and keep learning. Thanks for watching.