Do you know what an outstanding lyric does? It grabs your listener by the mind. Your listener is stimulated by the mechanics of the language he/she speaks to daydream a picture in the mind’s eye that is the experience of your song. This is powerful, and whether you use that picture to make a point, to set a scene, or to convince and convert to make a difference in the world, the bottom line is a lyric grabs a listener by the mind and makes the mind’s eye see whatever you paint for them. Some paintings are better than others, just like some books are better than others.

Somewhere along the lines, musicians have been brainwashed. I don’t mean they are now covert operatives activated by a special chord progression, but I do mean that a lot musicians today are not comfortable making money with their music. Some even have concerns playing their music so as not to impose their creativity upon others. Let’s take a look at three mindsets that could hold you back from making money with your music.