Your love for music gives you that burning desire to go to the studio and record great music, upload it for your fans to listen to, and maybe one day go on tour and perform in front of a hundred to a million crowd.
This is probably every rookie’s dream one day. It can be an overwhelming process, especially when you lack direction and are stuck in your mom’s basement. Here, we are giving you a simple blueprint to follow as you pursue your purpose.
Make the decision and go for it
Just like any other life goal, it always goes to making that decision and starts. You may not have resources like most upcoming artists, but your will to go for it will provide a way. It starts by going to a recording studio. You may have a connection with a certain producer or your friend knows a friend who has a friend who may help you record your first song.
As a broke rookie, you can start by Interning at a record label for free and you get to learn and take advantage of the platform and also to use other free tools for musicians.
Network & find a mentor for record labels
Building relationships with other artists, both established and upcoming artists, will be a great fuel to keep you going. A mentor can be your music icon and even a music manager. Finding a mentor and a record label can be a challenge because record labels have vast interests that are beyond an individual artist.
As you begin, be very critical with whom you want to work with because they can have a great effect on your career. Getting the right network places you ten steps from where you could have been.
Establish an online presence
An online presence gives you a better platform to connect with your fans, promote your content at low to no cost, and build on your leverage for future deals. Your online presence includes social media platforms, a website that puts your name out there.
You get to take advantage of SEO tools that put your name to more internet users. Online tools like email marketing and blogs will enable your work to reach more people and at a close and personal level. Your brand needs to be out there in front of people’s smartphones and computers.
Put in the work and perfect your craft
Going through the work process is the most essential part of your music career. If you don’t have a good work ethic and make music consistently, it will be a long rough road for you. You may take years to finally blow up but that only comes at a price.
Most musicians like to say they came from the trenches of music genres and finally get their craft off the mud. The love for your craft should be a better reason to walk through the process. As time goes, you move from a broke rookie to a pro that the world loves to reckon with.
Understand your music intellectual property rights
You must benefit from the work and nobody else should enjoy your reward more than you should. Many joyriders in the music industry will take advantage of your hunger and fragility. Ignorance also plays a role as you get into those deals and many artists end up being slaves to record labels and managers.
We have numerous stories of the artist later falling out with their labels, managers and there is nothing they can do about it. It rewards engaging, credible copyright attorneys to help you protect your music rights.
Think of music as a business
It is one thing to be in the music industry and another thing to be in the music business. In the long run, you want to be an owner of your craft, manage your craft, and even be a CEO apart from being just an artist.
Making great music is not the most important thing in this career otherwise, we could have countless musicians out there on the charts. You need to establish a brand that gives you a corporate status.
You should be a household name, and when your name gets mentioned anywhere, it only means business. In this regard, you should think like an entrepreneur from the beginning.
Attend music shows, take advantage of the exposure
This goes without a say that as a beginner, you need platforms to put your craft out there. Attending these shows allows you to experience the reality on the ground. The free gigs are an important platform for a young artist to start from. Most of the time, exposure is like working as an intern for free.
You may not subscribe to working for free but in the long run, you are gaining experience and networks that will be of great use in the future. When backpacking and traveling to music shows, you also get to have fun and interact with your potential fans at the same time.
Inform yourself and keep learning
Just like great leaders, music artists offer directions and set examples for society. As an artist, you are building an image and that image should be able to inspire and educate society. Inform yourself continuously on the current events and even on what directions your music genre will take in the future.
Learn from your music idols; get to know their successes as well as failures. By constantly educating yourself, you end up improving your skills as an artist and, most importantly, investing in yourself.
Conclusion
In the end, an up-and-coming artist’s goal is to succeed and make a living from his or her talent. It may take a few months for some and years for some, but the result is almost the same and that is a success. Follow these simple steps, get your tools of trade order, and walk into a recording studio. With this information, you may be at a better competitive edge than the rookie next door.
Words from Emily Harrinson. Emily Harrinson is the lead writer and editor and works as a freelancer for some of the well-known cheap dissertation writing services and best essay writing services in London. She started her career in 2006 and since then, she has always impressed everyone with her writing skills. Other than her work, she loves listening to music and watching sports.