Moving The Music From Off The Road To Online With World-Renowned Saxophonist, Michael Lington

We’ve all been greatly impacted by this global pandemic. As business owners, restauranteurs and artists, we’ve been forced to either close our doors or to reimagine a different possibility. What if during these times you could be feeling more content, inspired, and in charge of your business? This is a special episode because I’m sitting down next to the love of my life, Mr. Michael Lington, who was a world-renowned saxophonist who came here from Denmark. His story of coming to America is amazing on its own, but what I love and it only took us a couple of years to get here is what’s happening in his business right now. I was inspired and I wanted to share it with you. Welcome.

Thank you.

As we’re sitting here, we have Landon sleeping. We’re trying to move around all your production equipment in your studio. It’s life.

It’s been life for us for a few months.

Who knew, honestly, that we would have a baby and go right into this global pandemic and shutdown?

It was a moment of free doubt at first going, “How are we going to make this transition?” Somehow we managed. We’re lucky to have the space where we can do it in, but also that we figured out what to do.

The fact that we are on different floors of the house.

I know we see each other in the passing.

There’s much I want to share. I have goosies because I’ve been wanting to share your story for so long. We were in the kitchen and you were talking about how you feel right now. You said something like, “I’ve never felt more at peace.” Can you share a little bit about that?

It’s such an odd thing because you would think I would be in a state of panic. Somehow I found my way around this and I knew what needed to get done. It was a matter of putting the pieces together. I was lucky to have this space here where I could make music, but I had no clue about video, IT, internet, and all that stuff.

Upload speed and download speed, the conversations we have had people I cannot even begin to tell you. 

I promise never to use the word upload speed again. I had some things to figure out. Why am I appeased and why do I feel so good right now? It’s because, for the first time, I have a strong connection to my audience and my fans that I felt I didn’t have before I would come in for a live show and then be out. Now, I feel that there’s a community. Every Sunday, we all get together and I get to make music right in front of them. They all have a front-row seat for every show and it feels good. One of the other big things is that I would rehearse a show for a year and then take my band on the road and would be the same show. Every Sunday, it’s a different show, so I can do the music from one album. I can make it special. It could be a Christmas show. It could be singers and songwriters and whatever I want to do.

It’s much more creative for you. 

I never worked as hard as I have and practiced as much but it’s much fun to design a show different every week.

I teach people how to be on camera and you say things to me, Michael, and I’m like, “Yes.” The level of intimacy that you have through a lens is different than you have on a stage. To remind you, you’re a touring artist. You make your living by going out on the road. You’ve completed eleven albums and you have so much to be proud of, but you went from being at the mercy of an agent, a manager, and a tour schedule to this beautiful room and camera equipment. You were talking about a puzzle. It is a puzzle you did not know that there were pieces that went to before it.

Become comfortable because it's not about being perfect. Share on X

I always felt that I needed to be on stage with a band, with a crowd in order to feel connected and the vibe. Anytime I was asked to do a track show, which is just me playing to attract and it’s a karaoke kind of feel, I always hated it because it feels sterile, naked and I don’t like it. I’ve come to love being able to create my own vibe. I’m sure I love going back on the road again, but I don’t need that now. I’ve gotten comfortable with just sitting in this room with a bunch of cameras. Where before I felt when there’s nobody around, what do I say? What do I do? Now, I can sit, talk, and feel connected. You have to keep doing stuff and practice this and do it every week.

It wasn’t as natural in the beginning. You evolved a ton in the last few months. Why I want to share this with you is because you might be in the same place where you make a living through speaking on stages, or you are one-to-one and you are resisting the virtual space because you’re saying to yourself, “No. It won’t have the same impact.” Michael has people signed up for shows Sundays in advance. You created this space for people that they love. I have seen you go from where you started to where you are now. You are much more authentic and natural in your delivery because you’ve been doing it.

What it is, is that before I would do like morning show or some type of television, I felt I had to be perfect on camera. What do I say? I have to be the perfect sentence. Sometimes you also need to get in that environment with cameras and whenever there’s a crew or not, and all of a sudden you go blank. All this stuff you had prepared from sentence one to the last one all went out the window. I started becoming comfortable because it’s not about being perfect. As a matter of fact, perfect to who? There is no such thing as perfect.

We get caught up in it. 

You only discover this by doing. I thought like, “This is going to be crazy sitting in this room by myself. How am I going to be able to feel connected? There’s no vibe in here. There are no people to cheer me on.” After a while, you go with the flow and now, as crazy as it may seem or sound, one of the things that people say they love about my Sunday shows here is because they feel it’s authentic and it’s just me talking to them. I have learned more about this in the last few months than I have in my entire career. I have amazing footage I can share with the world. It’s still a learning process.

Michael, let’s also talk about you also went against the grain. You were out in March performing live and you knew something was going down and you knew that you had to pivot. We hear that word so much. Not only did you come home and I saw you take some massive action. You also chose a platform that people weren’t using or were that aware of? Tell us why you made that decision and how that has helped you in this space?

I chose a platform called StageIt and the reason is that it is a concert-like experience. People buy tickets and you have a time that you set, whether it’s 30 minutes or 40 minutes and that’s it. It doesn’t get archived. I like the urgency of that.

There’s no replace? 

Yeah. I like the fact that if you want to see the show, you got to be at the show. I don’t want to knock any other social media, because they all have a place. They all have an importance, but for a concert, I would prefer people don’t do their emails at the same time, take the trash out, go from concert to concert or from post to post. We have that special connection at that particular moment. That’s exactly what happens. It was a heck of a process trying to get people. How to get over there? It’s a free account, but you still have to sign up for an account.

Why aren’t you doing it over here or somewhere else? 

For example, Facebook Live is a wonderful platform because everybody is there and when you go live, there’s a notification says, “You go live.” All you got to do is click. It’s a lot easier, but I like a little more intimate connection.

A little bit more exclusive. 

I liked the fact that it’s just in the moment. Unless you’re right there, you won’t see it on the replay.

You have created this incredible following where we took a Sunday off and we had some upset people. I think that they appreciate that you have a little family time too, but they look forward. You’ve created this experience. Much of what I talk about when it comes to video is about creating experiences for the people who are watching and helping them feel something and you’ve done that well.

I would think that you need all these things in order for people to have a great experience and feel something and that’s not true. What you need is to be your authentic self and try to talk to one person, not a whole audience. I always thought I had to have a band behind me in order to feel beyond. Now, I don’t even think about the fact that I don’t have a band. I played a track and music but I don’t have a band. I don’t need energy. I don’t have to go to the guitar player to play off. I can just sit there and concentrate on trying to make that one person right in front of me feel good. One of the things I love is when they do to the top supporters, you can tip during the show.

We had to encourage they do.

I do a Zoom call or a FaceTime call. The one thing that I love that I’m being told after is they feel that a family member or a friend walked into the living room, took their instrument out, and are playing a tune for them in their own living room and having a little chat. I didn’t set out to go like, “My shows need to be authentic.” I didn’t know how to do that at first. It was only in the process of doing and learning that I became more comfortable, therefore people are more comfortable.

It is an evolution. I say, “You get more confident in doing, not thinking.” You have to continually do the thing in order to create that. I don’t want to go too much into technology because there’s so much else I want to share. I do want people to understand that you started this with a ring light and your iPhone. Granted, that’s not the setup now, and you’ve mastered it, but you didn’t start with that. You started off with what you knew.

I had a little bit of a recording studio here at the house. I had the audio part down, but it’s all the video, IT, and lighting. Honestly, I did not know the difference between upload and download speed when I first started, but I didn’t need to because it sounds great and then I opened my laptop. There’s a camera on and I’m like, “This looks great.” Maybe not so much. I did my first show like that and it works.

We have to get over this need of having it all figured out and just start it and be organic.

If I had to wait to go, “I need three cameras and motorized sliders. I need this and that,” I still would have done my first show. Each show that I do, I try to add another new little element. Also, I don’t feel freaked out about the technology part. For the previous show, I had managed what I was dealing with, “I got this.” You can add a little thing once at a time. It’s about adding little things and whatever that is in your message or in technology. You have to feel comfortable. If you feel uncomfortable, people will feel uncomfortable.

It’s like The Wizard of Oz. He has much going on in the background. You’ve got to check out one of his shows. There are many things I want to talk about, Michael, your story about coming here. You’re from Denmark. Less than 1% of people make a living out of the entertainment industry, whether it’s movies, media, music and you have established an incredible career. Can you tell us a little bit about your story of how you got here? You have this career that most people would dream of. What was it for you?

The same thing that happened a few months ago about coming home from a show going, “I’m not going to be touring for maybe a year or two. I need to do something and I need to take action.” I was down here on the floor, changing cables, pulling things out, pulling old equipment ahead, and down below for hours a day. It’s the same tenacity I had when I was 21 or 20. I met somebody that you also know a different martial man. We met in Copenhagen and I looked at him and we got along. First of all, we hit it off. It was a chance meeting and he was on tour with Richard Marx. We became friends and I was twenty at the time. I said, “Mark, I want to come to America.” He lived in Los Angeles. It’s the same thing. It’s like, “I just got to do it.”

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to legally stay. How am I going to meet people? I just know one person and I went. I sold my car, got rid of my apartment. I came over and I stayed on his couch. It was one of those things where it’s like sometimes not knowing what you’re getting yourself into is a good thing. If you do, you have all the reasons to talk yourself out of it and maybe telling yourself, “It’s going to be okay. It’s not going to be that difficult.” Maybe you know deep back it might be difficult, but just do it. I always have had that, “Just do it. What’s the worst that can happen?”

If you don’t make it, you’ll go back to Denmark?

“You come over here and you have a great time for a little bit.” “I couldn’t make it work.” You go back and you had the experience. I always say, “Just go for it. What is the worst that can happen?”

Talk about, just go for it. You were 50 and you had your first baby.

I did. It’s something that I have wanted for a long time and it’s apparent to me now. We had that conversation because you already had a child and that was it. You asked me if that was something I wanted and I think you got the sense that I did. I wasn’t sure or was this going to be the right timing. There’s never no right timing. You just go for it and then we’ll figure out the timing later on. It was something and I figured I was 50. If it’s going to happen, it needs to happen now. Most importantly, you need the right partner to have a child with, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner than you. You’ve proven yourself many times over and over again. I was lucky to find you and the fact that you were okay having a child, and now we have this. I can’t even imagine him not existing.

It’s making me teary-eyed right now, because you think about that place in your life and whether it’s parenthood or business or whatever and you’re like, “Is it time? Is it not the right time?” I remember we both said, “If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, it’s okay. It wasn’t the plan.” It was within a month we were pregnant and it has been smooth. We have him in this pandemic and we have a five-year-old at home. I have to say, Michael, and I mean it that Landon is blessed to have you as his dad. I feel through this pandemic, we’ve become closer as a family because we get to be there more.

What’s interesting also is us moving in together. We both have our own business running it out of the house, except that I was traveling a lot. My concern about moving in together at first was how we are going to be able to co-exist since I have my studio here and be in the same place day and night. Somehow we have managed that. Also, the fact that I said, “I’m going to be on the road half the time. We’ll have that space.” Now, I haven’t been on the road for a few months. Even then, we’re still able to co-exist. That proves that when you meet the right person, the right partner and it’s the right fit, it just works.

There's never the right timing. You just go for it and then figure out the timing later on. Share on X

Thank you for sharing. We need to wrap this up. I love the story and where you’re at right now. Anything that you want to share with someone who’s like you, Michael, that knows they have something that they want to offer and maybe they’re fighting this new normal or believing in themselves?

I have come to understand how important content is for furthering your career. I know you’re in the video world and you’re in the content. For the people considering getting behind the camera or in front of the camera to share their message, the sooner you do it, the better off you are. One of the things I get asked on my Sunday StageIt shows, “Please don’t stop doing it when you go back on the road, because this has become one of our favorite things.” I realize I should have done this way earlier. Why did I not do this early? I didn’t know and maybe were uncomfortable.

We can thank COVID for something.

Now, it’s the weirdest thing. We talked a little bit about it. I used to sit and wait for the green light from an agency or a manager like, “You can go and play this gig. You can do this and that.” Now, I wake up every day and I can create my own content and my show. I can work now or not work now but I can shape my future. I still have partners. It’s important to have great partners in your business. It’s nice to not always have to sit and wait for the green light and just can be able to go and do it.

That is the beautiful thing about this time we have now is that we have no barrier to entry. Everyone has access to being online, having these amazing experiences, and creating a great impact on people’s lives. You have to give yourself permission to show up, and then you need to be consistent and provide great value. It’s not a secret. It’s you deciding that what you do, matters and that there are people out there waiting for you. Thank you for blessing us with your music and for me being such a great partner and support in my life. Thank you for reading. I hope you are inspired. I hope you see a great possibility for you and your business right now. We would love to hear from you. Please post your comments and if you’re inspired, please take a moment and share this with someone because when you’re inspired, you inspire others. We need a lot more of that right now. Until next time, keep dreaming it, living it. Thank you.

Important Links:

• Michael Lington
• StageIt
• www.InspiredLiving.tv/podcast

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