7 Reasons Why Musicians Should Drive Rideshare

1. Make New Friends (And Fans, And Industry Contacts, Etc.)

I got to meet Elizabeth while driving for Lyft one afternoon heading towards the downtown Nashville area. My phone lit up bright pink with a ride request from a nearby hotel, so I pulled off the highway and picked up one local and her two visitors, all bound for Broadway honkey tonks and hot chicken. After asking my usual questions such as “Y’all from around here” (in my best hybrid Wisconsin-Tennessee accent), and “First time in Nashville?” I discovered that Elizabeth, having moved to the city a year prior, started attending the same downtown church as my wife, Marci, and I do, and immediately we all felt like a car-full of friends. Having read my short bio I keep posted on my passenger-side dashboard, my new friends quickly learned a little about me (songwriter, producer, lived in four states, former dog person now cat-obsessed), and also about my duo folk/pop project, Suitcase Souls. As we sped down Church street dodging scooter riders and swarms of bachelorette parties, we cranked a new single that Marci and I had recently released, and of course at a red light had the idea of taking a quick selfie, the one you see at the top of this post. Not only did I get a few follows on the band’s Instagram account, but I got to hear a bit Elizabeth’s story, how she moved here for grad school and quickly felt right at home. All the while, her mother in the back seat tried to contain her excitement not only that Liz had met a couple of new church friends but also that they’d encountered a real-life Nashville starving-artist type about whom they could perhaps someday proudly say “I knew them when...!” Upon opening the doors of my tiny Toyota Corolla and exposing us to the sound of ten cover bands playing different eighties rock and country songs at the same time, over the noise Liz’s mother made a point to tell me how glad she was that we all got to meet and that she would be watching Suitcase Souls closely. She handed me a generous tip and the three drifted into a sea of tipsy tourists and boot-brandishing brides-to-be.

I’ve got scores more stories of a similar nature, with a nearly spiritual level of of “we were meant to meet in this small sedan” sensation. I’ve gotten to meet the manager of one of my favorite bands, MUTEMATH, a CBS television producer, several actors, and dozens of fellow singer-songwriters and producers just trying to make it in Music City. And of course there are stories of how I’ve met the brewmaster of the local tap room who asked about our music, to whom I sent our EPK , which he then sent to the booker who had us play a show, where we met a family from Atlanta who does house shows, who booked us on the spot, etc. etc. The pint is, err, point, that in order to make 1,000 fans, you must at the very least meet 1,000 people, because let’s face it, they won’t all love what you do. No shade towards post-hardcore and metal fans, but they might not in all likelihood enjoy the soft-and-lovey vibes of a Suitcase Souls acoustic ballad. But when I meet the right people for my music, I’m ready with a teaser of my story posted on the dash, and a card complete with social handles and Spotify scan code, just in case they dig what I do. So at a rate of about 15 people per day at 6 days per week, I meet about 1,000 people every three months. So if one in four like the band, I’ll be on my way to that initial thousand fans by the time my first Nash-versary rolls around April of 2020. So go forth musicians and rack up your $9 downtown-to-the-airport-and-back trips, and make some friends, fans, and industry contacts while you’re at it.

2. Work When You Want (And When You Can)

Allow me to preface this section by saying that I have a wonderful spouse who works a full-time job that provides health benefits and a predictable paycheck every couple of weeks. Add to that our mutual interest in the success of our band and business plus the fact that we are both musicians, and you’re left with a supportive environment that allows for some risk and experimentation. So when I quit my steady Starbucks gig a couple of months after our move to Nash-Vegas, my wife was concerned primarily with my making enough money to pay the bills, not so much with where I got it. I always had a bit of curiosity about driving for a rideshare company, and I had done it very part-time when we were living back in Memphis, so I thought I would give it a try as my main gig. And the biggest thing I learned right away was that though there is a great bit of flexibility in being one’s own boss, there is also a limited number of profitable hours during the day, varying depending on what day of the week it is. For musicians wanting to set up writing sessions, rehearsals, and meetings over coffee, this information will be worth noting. By all means, set up the sessions and schedule the coffee dates, but first do a few solid weeks of driving to determine the most profitable times and areas to drive in your city, and do your networking during the less-busy hours. I’ve determined that most days there is a short gap from about noon to 2 PM that driving demand goes way down, so a lunch meeting is an ideal space for getting to know new music industry friends without missing out on prime drive time. Additionally, within your app you can see forecasts of demand based on prior week’s as well as any special events scheduled, so if you need to take that morning coffee meeting with the right A&R person, you very well could make up the hours later when a Beatles tribute concert lets out at the local amphitheater later that night.

Pro tip: hit the airport on Mondays and Fridays; there will likely be a high demand with a fast-moving cue for most of the day. Tuesday through Thursday try a couple of morning airport pick-ups between 9 and 11 AM and then leave it alone, as the amount of planes coming in usually drops by that point leading to long wait times before you get a ride. Instead, drive around the outskirts of the city looking for short rides in. From 3 PM on, be looking for end-of-workday commutes from downtown and after 6 PM rides back in towards the night life scene. On weekends, at your own risk, try the evening hours, if you don’t mind doing a little babysitting 🥴🍻 and be ready to open the car door just in case!! 🤢🤮

I personally don’t go later than 9 PM. But that’s the beauty of being your own boss—make your own hours according to what works for you!

3. Your Car Will Always Be Freakishly Clean (If You’re Into That)

The very first thing that I did after quitting at Starbucks was to swing by my local car wash (Washtopia on Lebanon Pike) and buy an unlimited monthly pass. For around $20 per month, I get unlimited washes and vacuuming, which is normally between $7 and $15 per wash. I go through a few times a week so the it’s definitely worth it for me. I have a newer car, so there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of empty water bottles and old McDonald’s fries, but the first pass took a little time. And now that it’s clean I could never go back! Getting it looking brand new has definitely been noticed not only by my passengers but also by my friends and industry contacts. I guess it’s just nicer to ride to a show downtown without having to shuffle your feet around a sea of fast food bags and soda cans. Plus, organization (or lack thereof) tends to flow through other areas of life as well, so getting a good habit started can only help the rest. Lord knows musicians have enough on the dashboard of our minds all the time—the least we can for ourselves is keep the one in the car shiny and dust-free.

4. Get to Know Every Square Inch of Your City

There are 14 counties represented in the greater Nashville area, all with their own official and not-so-official scenes, spots, and suburbs. I remember in our first week of moving here as I pushed my grocery cart through the local Kroger spying nervously from side to side at every fellow shopper wondering if they might be a professional record producer or nationally touring artist. It’s safe to say that I had a slightly romanticized view of the city. Driving full-time definitely helped to mellow out the intimidation factor as I begin to meet more and more locals as well as frequently-visiting out-of-town’ers who graciously guided me through the various neighborhoods and necks of the woods. From the formerly-sketchy now cool-and-chique East Nashville to the secret-and-magical mansion-filled woods of Forest Hill, I now know where pretty much every Shell service station is from Franklin to Gallatin (Lyft drivers get a discount on gas plus they have reliably sanitary bathroom facilities 👌)

Driving has made me privy to more than just the location of the nearest loo, though. I’ve learned what every musician wants to know in a brand new city- where people hang out. No, not the honkey tonks on Broadway. I’m talking about thriving scenes, spots, and venues that support original music. I’m talking about secret studios that masquerade as normal ranch-style homes but do vigilante work in the nighttime hours as a state-of-the-art recording space, where listening parties are held for some big label’s newest up-and-coming artists. And if you give a lift to the right passenger, you might just get your invitation. Okay, I haven’t gotten mine, but I’ve dropped off dozens of music business pros and signed artists at some such 3-bedroom place on Music Row and I’m thinking it’s a matter of time 🤞

Don’t be afraid to ask the locals either. Whenever I drive into a new area I always ask them where the cool hangouts are, and what the neighborhood is called, what the houses go for around here, etc. Before you know it you’ll be an expert on the many nooks and crannies of your city, all because you met 10 experts a day six days a week and picked up just a little bit of what each one had to say :-).

5. Become An Expert Long-Distance Driver (Helpful For Touring)

We all love the glamorous notion of showing up in a new city every night and playing our music for expectant fans, who will sing every word back to us and then buy a whole bunch of merchandise at the end of the show. What we don’t often consider is the relatively short time that we will spend actually performing the music. The rest of the time is spent unloading and setting up instruments, organizing the merch table, and getting through sound check, and before any of that even happens we have to send dozens of emails, play phone tag, and slide into club bookers’ DM’s just to set up the show in the first place. And last but not least of all time-sucks: driving.

There is an art and finesse to driving for eight hours straight on a boring empty highway across miles and miles of corn and soy fields.

OK not really. But there are certain tricks you can learn. For example, if you lift your left leg up and just suspend it until pain begins to overtake the entire left side of your body, it is less likely that you will doze off at the wheel (got that one from my uncle who was a limo driver in another life). But most of the skills that you learn from driving 8 to 10 hours per day aren’t simply about staying awake. That much concentrated drive time will allow you to see patterns, avoid hazards, and generally make you a better driver. Are used to be a little frightened at the idea of a roundabout. Now I feel like I could go through one with my eyes closed (Hyperbole y’all—please don’t report me to Lyft). Following directions on your phone should be a pretty easy task, and it is for most, but for me it has taken a steady grind of interpreting that pesky blue line versus what the voice lady is actually telling me to realize when the turn needs to be made. In short, you’ll be a better coast-to-coast touring musician once you’re used to driving all day. Because let’s face it, until you can afford the Prevost and the bus driver, that’s a good portion of the job.

6. Get Paid to Listen to Music

Well technically, of course, you’re getting paid to pull your car over in busy traffic with your hazards on, pick up a group of tourists and bring them back to their Airbnb. But all the while, it is par for the course to be playing some good music that most people can enjoy, along with having your air conditioning set just right and your car squeaky clean, complete with snacks and water bottles and chewing gum, if you want to go for all the extra credit items. But the music piece is an absolute blast because along with creating a great ambience for your passengers, you as a musician can be doing research on all of the up-and-coming bands that you have not gotten a chance to check out, or catch up on all of the old left-of-center Prince records that you’ve been meaning to listen to for years. If you play your cards right, you can listen to eight hours of Spotify per day. As a commercial artist or songwriter, letting the sound of current hits seep into your soul for that long will inevitably teach you a few things about what’s working today. No matter what your genre, driving rideshare is a great way to deep-dive into the pulse of your sonic space and learn what makes those stand-out songs tick.

Pro Tip: when you’re listening (and when you’ve pulled safely over to the side of the road), and stumble across some really remarkable work, take a moment to add it to a playlist and begin to categorize the musical treasures that you’ve found. Not only will it help you to come back later and revisit those songs for reference, but also you may actually begin to gain some traction as a curator of great music, especially if you organize it in such a way that others might enjoy. For great advice on curating playlists, check out “Work Hard, Playlist Hard” by Mike Warner. Not only does the book help tremendously with Spotify playlist curation specifically, but it acts as a great resource for artists who wish to get the most out of the many music platforms available today. The accompanying blog is constantly updated to include new relevant information and can be found here.

7. Multi-task on the Job (Without Getting in Trouble)

I have been a barista off and on since I was 17 years old, and finally got out of the industry right before turning 27. I would like to say that I was the perfect employee, that I never checked my phone or texted on the job, and that I certainly didn’t respond to emails or post on Instagram. But hey, nobody’s perfect.

When I left the service industry to drive my car full-time for Lyft after moving to a brand new city, I noticed something that was a little different between this job and all of the restaurants and cafés where I had worked previously—there is downtime. And at a café, downtime equals grab broom and start sweeping. In a car that’s already clean, parked in a rideshare lot half a mile from the airport with a bunch of strangers, downtime is not so easily accounted for. So you have to get creative with it. Luckily, as artists, especially independent ones who don’t yet have a fully-functioning team of specialists, there is a lot to keep us busy.

For example, the entirety of this article has been written while I have been “on the clock” waiting for rides in various places throughout the city of Nashville. I have booked numerous gigs, gotten blogs and playlists to feature my songs, and organized shows with artists across the country, all while waiting for a ride to pop up in bright pink on my ancient iPhone SE screen. My wife Marci and I are lucky enough to have two interns helping us with booking and other various tasks at the time of this writing, and they will be the first to tell you that I am a spreadsheet fiend. I have a spreadsheet for artist contacts, a spreadsheet for venue contacts and a special one for playlist submissions. The majority of my work in research is done in my downtime while driving. Of course none of this is imperative; most people just hang out in the shade of the few trees hanging on to life in this sketchy airport parking lot, and shoot the breeze about how “this job isn’t sustainable as a career” and “it takes so much time to get a ride.” Sometimes I just want to shake people and tell them it was never meant to be a long-term-strategy sort of job—driving for a ride share company means driving towards something bigger, and for me it’s a full-time career as a songwriter and performer. What that means, though, is that I can’t be streaming Netflix or kicking back with a fiction novel like most of the other drivers I see; I have to make the most of the free time offered by the job. If you have the discipline to keep making the calls, giving out your card, and forming fan and industry relationships in the ten-minute blocks of free time you get here and there, then you can really get a lot done in a workday that otherwise might be spent making similar money pouring coffee or working a register.

To Sum Up

Give it a try. If you enjoy driving, talking with people, hearing life stories and sharing your own, driving for a rideshare company could be a great way to make income on a flexible schedule if that works with your musician lifestyle. You may have to pick up another part-time gig to make it work, but it is a great way to fill in the gaps that also happens to yield a bunch of other benefits that can move your music career forward in some perhaps unexpected ways. At the very least, you’ll hear yourself saying the reason you got into music and your goals so many times per day that eventually, you’ll have even yourself convinced.

Whatever you do, remember to enjoy the ride. Of all of the different personalities types and backgrounds represented in the several hundred passengers I have gotten to meet, I have noticed a couple things that all of them have in common: One—People generally respond well to a smile and two—Happiness is attractive. Yours might be the first smile, or the only one, that they receive that day, and the joy and happiness that you find in your creativity and music can have a positive affect on that person for their entire day. So dare to be happy, make friends, and share your musical life. And make a little money while you’re at it.

-KP