Navigating the Music Industry: Lessons in Success W/ Dustin Lynch

0:00Welcome to the Big Success Podcast. Cutting-edge conversations on business and personal success, as well as how to level up. Here's your host, number one business coach in the world, Brad Sugars. So, normally the podcast is done in studio, and normally it's not done in front of a live audience. So, thank you, buddy, for doing the first one of these with me. Yeah, for sure. I want to take you back a little ways as an intro to me and Dustin. And there's a great country music event that Luke Bryan puts on every year down in Mexico. And he's the mayor of this event. Basically, the pool party is only legendary because Dustin makes the pool party a party.

0:43And there's thousands of people in this pool complex. Now, the first year I went down there, a buddy of mine and a friend of his that has big buses, right? The tour buses. So when they go on tour, Nick's company has all them tour buses, which if any of you follow my social media, in the middle of COVID, I borrowed two of Nick's tour buses and took them around the country with my kids in one bus and me and my wife in the other bus sort of thing. So it's like we had drivers, we had two of these big black Prevosts and we'd turn up places. Now that's his lifestyle in many ways, although now it's more private jets than buses because that's the star size.

1:22But we got to meet at a house party, which was the house he was in when he was performing at the event. And And I didn't know anyone other than Nick and his girl. And we arrived. And I didn't know this, but apparently when people arrive at country music styles parties, they don't bring anything with them. They just turn up and mooch off everybody. Well, me and Lauren turned up with a bottle of tequila, a bottle of rum, some cigars. We're there ready to party. Well, I'm out having a cigar out by the ocean. And Dustin walks over and we say g'day. We meet each other for the first time. I'm having a cigar.

1:54And he goes, I have one with you. I'm like, you're singing tomorrow, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'll have a cigar. Last night, two guys are with me going, you want to have a cigar tonight? No, I'm speaking tomorrow. I need my voice. Suffice to say, the first line on stage the next day from Dustin after having a cigar and turning green and driving the porcelain bus for a little while was the whole idea of, well, lost my voice screaming for, was it Little Big Town? Little Big Town. Little Big Town last night. I'm like, no one ever screams for Little Big Town. But welcome. Thank you for doing this.

2:30We've been friends for a long time now. We actually did an album launch at my house one year. Yeah. Yeah. So what's your version of that story? Just to get us started. My version, my version is I come to and I'm holding a cigar and I go. Now, this is after the pool party. And part of the pool party is is the rise and fall on stage of band members. because we have this thing called the wheel and each slice of the pie is a different drink essentially. So as the show goes, it gets a little looser, a little looser. So my version of the story is I was loose. All right. And by the time the after party happens, the first thing I remember is who's this guy and why am I holding a cigar?

3:20because I don't smoke cigars, but it was tasty. So that's the only difference. I don't think I really remember meeting you until that first hit of the cigar woke me back up and the rest is history. We had a good friend named Corbin at that party and all I remember that night at the concert is a photo of me with Corbin in his overalls on my shoulders at the front of the stage cheering for dust. It's like, how did I end up with Corbin with no t-shirt and overalls on my shoulders. It's safe to say you also give Crash My Playa Festival a try in Mexico. Since then, we've had a lot of fun together, a lot of family time together and sorts of things.

3:56So I wanted to ask Dustin about success. You know, when he's interviewed most of the time, it's always about the music. And what most of you don't know about Dustin is that when he chose to be in music, and before I get to the success questions, I want to ask you, how did your parents react when and you told them you're going to drop out of medical school and go and become a country music singer? My back was against the wall. There was a stern finger to the nose. Are you really going to give all this up? You've worked so hard. You've worked so hard. But I just had this drive inside of the what if.

4:30And I just knew I couldn't live with myself if I didn't give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. It wasn't an instant gratification type of decision. It took years of grinding it out, literally giving up med school to go play. I don't know if you guys have made it to lower Broadway yet, but to go play in these honky tonks on lower Broadway. Some nights for zero dollars. Tip jar, tip bucket. Yeah, tip bucket and just two bartenders on a Tuesday. That was tough to swallow, you know, growing up. just around in my small town in Tennessee. What I thought success was was the guy with the nicest car pulling up to tee off.

5:11So let's do that. How do you today define success, and how did that change over time? Well, it's evolved. I think it probably started there. I learned a lot from the game of golf, and I was a competitive golfer all through my younger years through college and then pulled the plug on that as well for music. But I think it's evolved over the years of the music business, you know, initial success to a young artist, a young writer, which I preach this as loud as I can. Anybody moving to town is everybody wants a deal. They want a record deal. They want a publishing deal. So they can brag to their small town in Kansas that they've got one.

5:50That was success for me early on. As the years evolved, though, it's become more, I think, selfish personally. as to what success is for me. There's a lot of ups and downs in all types of business. The music business is very scary because you're never promised another song. You're never promised anybody's going to like another song or another thing you do, which is exciting. It's inspiring for me. That's what probably keeps me going as hard as I go. But I've had some downs. I've had some ups. But finding that level appreciation and gratitude, I think, every day with just the ride and the journey is probably what it is for me now.

6:30it's not um it's fallen in love for me with with the magic of creating more so than the magic of of getting a paycheck every night on stage and and really um i think what what what drives me right now is just seeing the joy on others faces uh whenever we perform you know it's a really neat experience to be on stage and and look out and see people having fun and meeting each other and making out and dancing um it's a really cool job we won't mention that one in talladega yeah so uh one one time my wife and i were doing a cooking class in uh georgia and so just out of atlanta just out of georgia and atlanta and he was playing in talladega so we jumped on the jet flew up watched him flew home that night so i think we had a big old party but we arrived there not knowing he was on a mom was traveling with him so that he didn't drink the entire time we arrived there and we were loose yeah and he's like no no i'm not drinking right now seriously But he did appreciate it because we were cooking barbecue at the cooking school.

7:31We did arrive with trays of barbecue food. It was awesome. The band did enjoy us that one. For sure. So let's go back and think about this. What age were you when you think, or what happened? Where did you decide success was going to be your reality? Was it something your parents instilled into you? Did something happen where you said, I'm going to be successful. That's who I am. Oh, gosh. I think my initial thought when you just asked that would be when I started seeing doors open that I wasn't having to open myself. And it was really just following some gut decisions I had made creatively. And at this point, we were in the fraternity sorority party circuit pretty heavily.

8:20Any frat house people like you went to a fraternity? You know what that party circuit is. Yeah, so we would – it kind of started organically here in Nashville. And when away teams would come play Vanderbilt, they would see us play down at one of the college bars. And then we would catch a gig out of that, and then we would get out. So that started growing pretty quickly for me to where I started needing help. I started needing someone to help me book. I started needing a bigger truck to pull my trailer and my speakers that I was setting up. and that's when I realized, wow, I'm addicted to growth and growing something that wasn't there three months ago.

9:03And just, I think that's really where it turned me on. Like, wow, this is fun. Yeah. So then if, let's go back a little in music for you, there was a song you wrote for Grandma and Grandpa, Cowboys and Angels, and your label said no when not releasing that song. Tell us about how you persevered and knowing that song, like you believed in it so much. How did that work? Yeah, I love that you're asking that question. So the song he's talking about is Cowboys and Angels, and I get to sing that song on the Grand Ole Opry stage here next week, and it's my grandparents. They're coming up for it. My grandmom said for her anniversary she wants to be at the Grand Ole Opry.

9:50So they're celebrating 68 years of marriage next Wednesday. Yeah. But this song is something that I just wanted to write for them. And that was my only goal was just hoping they would like it and gift it to them. And it's gone on to change my life. and uh but there were years like you said there was a couple years that my record label um my first record deal that i was so excited to tell everybody about um weren't believers in the song they they uh they heard the song were like yeah that's it's too country it's too this it's too sappy whatever their excuses were and it was the first time where i felt like i was right and they were wrong.

10:39They have a great, well, they had a great track record at that point with artists and really a lot of momentum in town. And so I was really putting a lot of weight behind an older gentleman and an older lady telling me what was good. And so you start second guessing yourself like, man, is my gut wrong? I just feel like this is a different thing. And how I pivoted from that is just go, okay, well, I'm going to keep swinging the bat, but I'm also going to figure out how to start getting my music, my original music out there more at these frat parties, more at these wedding receptions. And we started seeing a life of its own kind of start growing at these events.

11:21And that's when I go, okay, I still think I have something. So fast forward, I was able to switch gears and get out of that deal and into another one. And within three months, we had Cowboys and Angels hitting the radio, and it went on to still be, it's still one of my most impactful songs we do every night, 10 years later. Damn good song. So then let's talk about the, what's your formula for success? Or what's your, how does success happen in your mind? What's the process by which it happens? I'm a, I love, I mentioned this earlier, I love the challenge of, you know, growing, but also kind of the me versus me in the music business.

12:00I'm single, so I have no excuse other than to wake up and work and try to get better every day. It's tough being a creative because there's no concrete, hey, I went to work and I did this. I think that's probably why I love working out on the farm and cutting grass and cutting down trees and stuff because at the end of the day, you can write. I mean, I'll go in and write a song today, and my average is pretty terrible on whether anybody gets to hear that song. It's still a lot of fun, but you can really be grinding at something like that and turn in a lot of songs and I'm the gatekeeper, not like any of them at the end of the month.

12:39Yeah. And feel like, man, I just wasted the whole month of April, not only putting on shows, but writing on my days off here in town. And I have nothing to show for it.

12:53And, you know, that's just something I think I've learned to accept that at some point I'm going to make a free throw and it's going to pay off greatly. And so I think what, what really gears me though, is just the me versus me. And I probably, probably would equate that to just being a young golfer. You know, there's the, there's, there's a difference in it. Obviously now I've got a great support team, but there's still is that me versus me. How, how big can I grow this thing? How big can we grow this thing? Can I write the best song of the year? And I've got a lot of, a lot of great talented friends that are trying to do the same.

13:27So it's a fun competition. Well, last year you had song of the year. Yeah. So I don't know if you know this, but he and Mackenzie Porter re-released a song that you first did with? With Lauren Alaina. Lauren Alaina. And then during COVID, and it didn't hit the way it should have hit, but that was COVID. And then the re-release became, it was number one at the end of last year. How many weeks at number one? Yeah, we were seven weeks at number one and the longest running top 10 in Billboard history, which is crazy. So, yeah. But I think that comes back to your belief in the music, too. It was. Yeah, a lot of people don't realize, you know, a song hits the radio.

14:04They think we just recorded it and put it out. But it took me two and a half years of making phone calls and timings, everything with collaborations, just trying to get the right people involved and when we can release it. So two and a half years is the amount of work I had on the phone, just trying to get that song out and to the top of the charts. and another, I think, testament to trusting your gut and something you believe in. That was one of those that I know part of my team was like, dude, give it up. I just, I had a really good feeling about it, and I'm glad I stuck with it because it's definitely changed our lives.

14:39So then that leads to my next question, Flip, but how does failure teach success in your mind? Well, for me, it doesn't feel good, you know, and I've had different types of failure. I've had failure because it's been my fault, which I like that failure the most because I can take it on the chin and go, all right, dude, you can do better next time. But the ones that bother me are through the years, at least when it comes to music, are failure because I went against what I believed and I was trusting someone else. And I think that's what I've learned to not let happen anymore. And I've, over the years, I think gained a little bit of respect now in my circle where I feel strongly about something.

15:26I feel like I can speak up. As a young kid, man, when you're sitting with a bunch of execs that have been in the music business and are literally on top of the music game right now, it's tough to speak up when you feel a certain way or even articulate what that is. And I think just maturing through the years has allowed me to sit at a table and have those conversations a little bit more efficiently. This is the Big Success Podcast. We're going to take a break from the podcast and we'll be back in just a moment. Marketing is the lifeblood of a business. And when done right, it's a phenomenal investment.

16:00It's profitably buying lifetime customers. How you get prospects to identify themselves as needing you is what Raise Your Hand Marketing by Brad Sugars and Josh Bardsley is all about. getting your suspects to become prospects and raise their hand to say, I'm ready to engage with you. So we're back here on the Big Success Podcast with the Dustin Lynch. So I want to break down a little bit of your area of expertise because what most people don't realize about a country music style these days is it is a business. You have a corporation that you run and you are the CEO of the Dustin Lynch business, basically.

16:35So let's talk about branding and marketing. How do you succeed at branding and marketing yourself out there in the world? Yeah, it starts with what I was doing when we were texting last night. I'm in the studio. It starts for me. It starts with the song. And what is that song? You know, we're trying to find great songs. But on top of that, this far into my career, I have to find a great song that matches my brand, my flavor. And through the years, trying to hone in on what that is. Where's my lane in country music? what is the general population when they turn the radio on or they're streaming, however they're consuming music, what do they want me to hear, or what do they want me to say, how do they want me to sound?

17:20It's just self-discovery. And I think we have learned, I've swing for that fence and this fence when it comes to stylistically as doing still country. But what we've learned is kind of right down the middle what has worked for us, And it's so obvious when you step back, you go, dude, just do that again. But I think as creatives, we always try to find those unicorn type of songs. But for me, it's just been honing in and being at the end of the day. Like I said, it's easy to see. What are you comfortable doing on stage? There's certain songs we've had success with that are a pain in my butt every night to sing.

18:00It's me, but it's not all the way me. And it seems like the ones that come easier to me are the ones that I enjoy singing. And I've learned that I got to be sure that I'm going to enjoy singing it. Because if it is a hit, I got to sing the dang thing the rest of my life. So he better. There's a couple songs. Once you've got the right product, how do you make it out there? Because I know you spend a ton of time and like even in Vegas, one night he played in Vegas and bought 60 record execs to my house for a party. That's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. Yeah. there's a lot of promotion there's got to be a storyline at the end of the day, you mentioned it I'm a product, I'm a brand our songs are the product too it's just a different iteration I guess of it but there's got to be a little bit of a story we were talking about that this morning of it's this song and here's why that goes into selling a song we're literally selling a handful of gatekeepers and tastemakers when it comes to FM radio, when it comes to YouTube music, and any of the streamers, we're selling them on, hey, this is a song that deserves you guys propping up, highlighting, and here's why.

19:18And we've lucked out through the years and had not only songs that have performed well for them, because they're watching all their metrics on are people tuning out, are they leaving when the song comes on, Are they staying longer because it came on on my station? Because all they're wanting to do is sell ads. That's it. And that's how that world works. So luckily, we've had some songs that not only have performed well for them, we've had, I think, half of our releases continue to be what they call recurrent golds. And that's still songs in the past 10 years that still have a positive reaction whenever they come on.

19:57Yeah, I remember texting him one day driving around Vegas, and I'd been in my car like a lot the last two days. I'm like, shit, dude, I hear you every 45 minutes on the radio station. He goes, thank you. That's the whole thing. So let's take a look at the other side of it then. Building a band, which is really building a team, because it's not just the band, it's management, it's the road crew, it's all of that stuff. How do you succeed at building that team? Well, band members and crew members are an interesting challenge because everybody sees us for 60 to 90 minutes on stage having the time of our lives.

20:37We're doing what we were born to do. That's be on stage and entertain and just literally exude as much energy as we can and connect with as many people as we can on the good nights. um and but then you've got 23 more hours to live with these people on a single wide trailer on wheels which is a tour bus and uh people don't realize you know we're in there in these tour buses some tour buses have 12 people they have 12 beds in them um you know 12 eight beds whatever it is you're on top of of yeah you got your two feet it's life space it's like eight feet by two feet tall by three feet wide. Imagine going to work and literally being stuck in a trailer with someone for sometimes weeks at a time.

21:25It's an interesting workplace, you know, and it's one of those things where you just got to jump in there and do it and make life work. So I think through the years, you find what people you like doing life with are they into the adventure of travel, a new city literally every day. And it's evolved because, you know, we started out in a van with single dudes and now we've got, now my band guys have wife and kids so that the challenge of getting them home has become a real thing. But building a team for me is just, are we having fun? Because hell, if you can't have fun doing music, or honestly, in my opinion, if you can't have fun doing what you do for work, freaking try something new, right?

22:08and I keep reminding my guys we're we're lucky enough to most of my teammates right now on the road have had real jobs because what we do is not real in my opinion um so we've all had real jobs before music became the full-time job and and it's easy to forget and complain about you know whatever catering we've got at whatever arena or a cold hockey shower which is the the current challenge is everybody's bitching about cold showers. And it's like, well, this is where the Preds play. So, I mean, I don't know. It's like this is what the Hockey Boys go through every night. But it's easy to forget, hey, this is the dream.

22:48This is literally the top of the pyramid right here. Well, it's interesting because if I look at some of Dustin's bandmates, and I've known a lot of them for a long time. Billy just hit 10 years with you. And he wasn't the original drummer when I first met you. You recruited him in, stole him from another band. If we take a look at LaCorte, Chris is killing it out there, writing songs, hitting number ones out there on his own. So they've all got side gigs. Billy just played for the, was it how many year anniversary for the drum? Resilient, yeah. I don't remember what the number was. It's like 20 or 40 year anniversary or something.

23:25So when you talk recruiting the right people, like going and finding the right manager, going and finding those people, Is there any keys you got to recruiting people or is it just, you know, make sure that they fit the group? What's the thing? I think it's both. I think it's fit the group for me. I think, you know, outside of my band members, because that's kind of locked in. You mentioned we've got three guys that have been with me for over 10 years, which is in the music industry is. I'm proud of that. Yeah. And but but as far as let's go to the creative team, it's got to be a passion for the same vision.

23:57You know, and that's who are we who are we making music for?

24:03if everybody can identify who that is and describe to me what that is, we get along pretty, pretty good. And I'll go through that. Literally, I'll go when I leave here, I'm going to the studio to write with a couple of new collaborators I've never written with. But the first, the worst thing they can do is, is not know what, who we're aiming for. And that's what I will do today. I'll, I will, my main goal will be steer them hey this is who i'm aiming my music for this year on this next project that we're recording right now um what do we want to say to them and so i think that is you know creatively and then and as you know outside of the music all the visuals behind um everything we do and uh it is a big deal even down to the to the daily social media posts I have to be very careful about what I'm showing, when I'm showing it, who I'm showing, and make sure that that's all pointing back to the overarching message of the brand and the music we put out.

25:04Well, actually, it's sponsors, all of that sort of stuff come into play. I want to go back. What's the key to success to breaking through? I mean, it applies to across anything, whether you're breaking into a new customer or whether you're breaking into a new industry. when you broke into this business? How do you do that? What's the key to success on breaking into an impossible industry? Man, if I could, I think with the music industry, if I could put my finger on how it was done, I would probably have a long line of people calling me. I think for me it was just continue to chase what others before me had done, And that was, hey, try to write and record the best songs you can get your hands on.

25:50And the person that told me that to my face was at his Hall of Fame luncheon. I got to go meet Garth Brooks for the first time. He's one of my heroes. And I think we had just released Cowboys and Angels, so he had kind of heard of me. And probably why he allowed me to come say hi to him. and I shook his hand and, you know, typical young guy like, Gar, give me one piece of ice for a roll out of here. And that's what he said. He said, hey, whether you write them or not, keep chasing the best song you possibly can because that's what people want to hear from you. And I just never forgot that. And so I just, that's really where my focus is.

26:34I constantly am looking for the next best song and I'm obsessed with it and I love it. Well, that leads me then. How do you stay relevant? Is that the same answer? Because you've had number ones after number ones. From each album, there's multiple number ones. How do you stay relevant? Well, we've had to, you know, our music has had to, how we create music today is drastically different than how we did it whenever I wrote Cowboys and Angels. So from day one of creating a song, you know, this town and the creative process has changed just based on the technology that's changed and how we create.