A successful artist career is built on much more than music. The path from dream to reality can be up and down with office work and budgets – It became a desperation. I thought I was a luxury trap case, says Silje Halstensen, known as Bendik.
/ 20/02/2019 / Kristian DugstadA successful artist career is built on much more than music. The path from dream to reality can be up and down with office work and budgets – It became a desperation. I thought I was a luxury trap case.
Text: Kristian Dugstad, TONO. Photo above: Jonathan Vivaas Kise.
Success in the modern music industry is not just about being a good songwriter. From the moment you decide to pursue an artistic career, the money starts flowing. Out, not in. Silje Halstensen, known as Bendik, is not intimidated by money and planning.
– I think it's fun with Excel and budgets, and it's totally okay to write accounts. At first I thought I had a complete overview, but I've gradually realized that I'm an impulse shopper. I need a manager who can say no when I want to pull out my card.
Since launching her career as an artist in 2012, she has built up a solid experience. She has been both her own project manager and has had a wide range of professional collaborators. During the industry festival Trondheim Calling, she gave a lecture about what it was like to build her company from scratch.
Recording music, mixing, mastering, hiring musicians, pressing records, organizing tours, creating merchandise and promoting. According to Halstensen, Bendik has always cost more than she has. This has sometimes presented challenges.
– I have always set OK budgets, but without any room for slouch. Then it becomes difficult when unforeseen expenses arise. On the last day and concert of a tour a while ago, we played Metallica at full blast in the car, while we were reversing. Then I crashed for the first time in my life. The 12,000 kroner I was supposed to take out as salary after the entire tour went to cover the deductible on the car.
Today, Silje Halstensen has a manager who makes sure she doesn't spend money she doesn't have and ensures that the business survives. However, she wishes she had had a little more control during the start-up phase.
– I regret not taking more courses before I started spending money. It always worked out, but it was a desperation. I felt like I had fucked up, and was a luxury trap case.
Silje Halstensen believes that building yourself as an artist is different today than when she started. Listen to her here:
Halstensen's top tip is to take your time. And to use that time effectively. She believes that artists have more opportunity to develop themselves in a safe and controlled way today than when she started.
– When I released my debut in 2012, you had to have an album to play at festivals. It's not like that now. You can try your hand at it and test songs, find out what you and the audience like. Today you can make full-fledged releases of single songs, and take the album over time.
By not starting album production from the start, you also buy yourself time to make long-term plans, apply for funding and take courses. Budgets, accounting, promotion and application writing, everything can be learned in courses. There is a course for everything, says Halstensen.
– You just have to be willing to go for it. You might be in a rock band and just want to hang out in the basement. But it's actually worth spending two hours an evening on an application course. You can't make a living from music without taking advantage of the opportunities that exist. That's how you avoid being 270,000 kroner in the red after album production every other year – because it's tiring.
Silje Halstensen also recommends that all artists and songwriters be members of an organization that can provide free legal advice.
“You should never sign a contract without getting legal advice,” she says.
Taking a course is one of the most important things you can do, says Silje Halstensen. Listen to her here:
In addition to making music, Halstensen has worked and studied for many years. Student loans and earned income have kept her finances in order. It was only in 2016 that she realized that Bendik had to become a full-time project.
– It got to a point where time was running out. It simply couldn't be combined. I had to choose between work and Bendik. And I chose Bendik.
Concerts have been a very important source of income for Halstensen, although it has taken time to increase the level of her fees. Therefore, her copyright has also played an important financial role.
– 2015 and 2016 were good concert years for me. That's when the TONO money started coming in. When I give talks, I often say that TONO is the reason I got my debt paid off. And I'm not just saying this because I'm talking to TONO.
Remember to register all your works in My TONO as soon as they are written. Here you also report all concerts you play.