Female Entrepreneur Musician

Sarah Darling, an established country singer/songwriter from Nashville, talks about her life as a musician.

Growing up in a little farm town in Iowa to Nashville at age 21, Sarah has been singing since she could talk and started playing shows at age 14. She got her first label deal in 2008 and in 2012 her breakout single, Home to Me, first aired on Sirius XM’s The Highway. It became the top selling single by a female artist in 2008 and sold over 8,000 copies in the first week. This led to appearances on Conan O’Brien and opening for artists such as Carrie Underwood and Kacey Musgraves.

For almost 3 years, we have created over 145 episodes full of useful information including tips and tricks to grow as a musician and grow your music business. For more great interviews, check out our previous episodes of FEM Podcast.

Branding before the label deal

• Branding is important
• Figure out what you’re trying to say
• Really trust your instincts because you’re never going to go wrong when it’s you
• Felt like she had a mission statement when Dream Country was released

Booking Gigs

• Does all her own booking in the US
• Has a booking agent in the UK
• Believes booking your own shows is great experience
• Booking your own shows expands your comfort zone

Streams of Income

• Touring
• Merch
• Find merch that is unique to you
• Spotify
• BMI Royalty checks
• Multiple streams of income keep her afloat

The Importance of Community for Independent Artists

• Surround yourself with people that are not only your friends, but that can give you great advice
• Has learned a lot from other independent musicians
• Being in a community that makes you want to be better is important
• Living in Nashville makes her a better musician and forces her out of her comfort zone

Connect with Sarah

sarahdarling.com

@officialsarahdarling

To hear more great interviews and episodes to learn from, visit FEM Podcast.

Resources

ABOUT HOST BREE NOBLE

Bree Noble is an entrepreneur, musician and speaker. She founded Women of Substance Radio, an online radio station that promotes quality female artists in all genres, in 2007.  She launched the Women of Substance Music Podcast in November 2014, a 5 day per week show which promotes Independent female artists. Her podcast has hit #1 in New & Noteworthy for the Music, Arts and Society & Culture categories and #4 Audio Podcast on all of iTunes. She draws on her extensive experience running her own music business, both as a solo musician and as an Industry professional, to train and mentor other female musicians. Learn more about the station, the show and the artists atwww.wosradio.com. Connect with Bree on Twitter @BreeNoble or on Facebook or on Instagram @breenoblemusic