We recently connected with Elizabeth Ward and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?

One of the biggest challenges to profitability in the music industry is that few people are willing to pay what a musician is really worth. The industry standard pay for a musician at your typical ‘cover gig’ establishment has been the same for decades. It seems that as long as we continue to settle for the typical pay – it will remain the same. Another issue that I tend to encounter is either musicians under charging themselves in fear of rejection of their price is too high, or clients not wanting to pay what a musician is actually worth when they do charge what they’re worth. Most professional musicians that I know can come to a venue fully equipped with a complete sound system and sometimes other musicians to accompany them. There’s also the amount of time spent rehearsing songs and new music that the client requests. There’s a lot of work, time, and money that goes in to a musicians work other than the few hours they show up to play. ‘

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m Elizabeth Ward. I am a singer/songwriter and musician located just north of Orlando in Sanford, FL. I have been singing since I was a toddler and on stage for nearly two decades. I sang in choirs for ten years, including college, where I ended up getting a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bluegrass, Old time, & Country Music Studies from East Tennessee State University. I’ve played in a handful of Bluegrass, Country, Rock, and Americana bands through the years. I started seriously songwriting when I was in college and 4 years ago released my first original EP “Fireflies”. I’m currently working on releasing my first full length album and many of those songs are already released on to Spotify. If you would’ve told me even 6 years ago that I’d be moving to Florida to play as many gigs as I do and record my own songs and that people would enjoy it…I’m not sure if I’d believe it. I have to daily remind myself that I am living my dream. I’ve been playing solo gigs in the central Florida area for about 5 years, now. I currently play a variety of venues including breweries, restaurants, hotels, weddings, private parties, and your standard music venues to whoever will have me. I think that what sets me apart in my shows is my flexibility to try nearly any song once. I love taking requests, and I put my own spin on any song I sing. I was taught to make each song my own, and I stay true to that. If you would’ve told me even 6 years ago that I’d be moving to Florida to play as many gigs as I do and record my own songs and that people would enjoy it…I’m not sure if I’d believe it. I have to daily remind myself that I am living my dream.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Being a regular gigging musician, I had to unlearn that I need to say yes to everything. Through the years, I’ve realized that gigs where I play other musicians music is fun and gives me an opportunity to be creative and light up other’s hearts with a song they recognize, and that’s great. Starting out in the industry, it definitely worked in my favor to gig as much as I could in order to have a solid reputation and make connections. However, for me now, it can get old singing the same songs at every gig. (Part of why I enjoy requests.) I realized in about my 4th year of gigging professionally as a solo performer that I didn’t need to fill every night of the week with a gig if I didn’t want to. I wasn’t going to ‘miss out’ if I said no to a gig (other than missing out on money). I also discovered that I really wanted to focus more so on my own music, and now with a house and a husband, I have those as added on priorities. Life changes and you have to make changes to fit with it and prioritize what you feel like you should prioritize. It was a lesson I had taught myself and a lesson I had to unlearn in order to prevent burn out. I didn’t need to be the woman who said ‘yes’ to everything. I needed to know my boundaries and set them for myself. I think, if anything, as a musician or in any career, it is important to know your boundaries and your priorities. I’m still doing what I love just with different focuses.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I needed to start funding my business it was all about saving money. I had to get a day job to save money in order to buy what I needed. That list included gas for my car, microphones, cables, a PA, a microphone stand, speaker stand, Ipad, preamp, guitar strings, guitar stands….the list goes on for the amount of full equipment that you need to produce just a one man show, not even to account for what you need for a full band. Some music venues will have a sound system for you to use but most other venues do not which is why it’s important to have your own gear on hand, just in case.

Through my music career I’ve had a day job as a server, theme park hostess, private music teacher, and paraprofessional. Many of these jobs were at the same time, and I maintained a professional music career on top of it all – gigging at night. All of this in order to maintain my living and to afford up to date equipment for my career as a musician.

Contact Info:

• Website: elizabethwardmusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/theukefreak
• Facebook: facebook.com/elizabethwardmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzS094lUQI2YqbPsA4nmE9Q
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7CGoO0sWQ6aBBBGTCPjFh7