Hitting the keys as an entrepreneur

Valentina Lisitsa is a Ukrainian-born classical pianist who resides in USA. By mid 2012 she had nearly 50 million views on her YouTube videos. Ms. Lisitsa followed a unique path to success, independently launching the beginnings of her career via the social media, without initially signing to a tour promoter or record company. To further her career, she and her husband put their life savings in recording a CD of Rachmaninov concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2010. In the spring of 2012, before her Royal Albert Hall debut, Ms. Lisitsa was signed on to Decca Records, who later released her Rachmaninov CD. (Source: Wikipedia)

Ms. Lisitsa has seen that not many musicians understand the dynamics of the social media and had the courage to enter the market most probably without much competition. I met her during my research in YouTube and was surprised to see how professionally she had moved herself to the place she is in today. Next to her interesting web site she also has interviews and commentaries published on YouTube.

As an entrepreneur one has to understand one’s surroundings very well. Having usually not a big financial strength in the start-up phases one has to strive for the best solution with the given resources. Being good in what you are doing is not enough today. There are too many others doing good out there. And some of them might be doing it even better than you.

I am sure that there are many other classical pianists who could measure themselves against Ms. Lisitsa but I hit on her and not the others in YouTube.
If you would like to listen to Ms. Lisitsa playing a wonderful Prelude in G minor by Rachmaninov, please click here.

The oldie of the week: Bon Jovi – It’s My Life (2003)