Making a career out of Americana

From the Crowdfire Stories Podcast 📻

What’s the true sound of American Roots music? And how do you make a career out of that sound?

Grant Maloy Smith has spent his whole life answering these questions as a successful American Roots Singer/Songwriter. He’s a member of the Recording Academy (the Grammys®), the CMA, and a BMI Recording and Billboard charting artist. He has sold-out shows from Hollywood to Austria and built a following of over 150K fans on social media — they love him so much he’s even received marriage proposals over Twitter!

On this podcast, he tells us what it’s like to really find your genre and make a career outside the mainstream, along the way breaking down many misconceptions about being a successful musician and explaining the importance of branding and marketing for all artists.

Short on time? Below are five key insights from the interview:

1. Selling records isn’t the money maker anymore. Live shows are how musicians make money. Focus on booking shows.
2. There’s a lot of time that goes into nitty-gritty work like booking shows, making travel plans, doing your own PR and Marketing and so on. Make time for that and recognize that being a musician means running a business.
3. Always have merchandise ready to sell at live shows! This is a big income stream for modern musicians since people really like to buy memorabilia from shows they attend.
4. Having an email list is crucial! Be sure to offer your fans something in exchange for joining your email list like an autographed print.
5. When you have a show coming up sort your email list by location and reach out to the people in those areas to invite them. The more you personalize the invitation the better!

“When I was really young I wanted to be one of the Beatles or Batman.” — Grant Maloy Smith

Thanks for listening and reading! Find out more about Grant here -

Grant’s Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Crowdfire Stories is a fun and inspiring podcast about how people use the power of social media to grow their personal brands and businesses. Make sure to subscribe on Soundcloud and iTunes so you don’t miss out on any of the amazing interviews.

If you know of any Creators — small businesses or individuals — to feature on the show, email me at cara@crowdfireapp.com or tweet to @CaraFnParrish.

Cara is Crowdfire’s Podcast Host and an International Marketing Consultant. She travels the world in her airstream with her boyfriend and her dog.