Tips To Building A Career In Music

Being a music artiste is a career just like every other career out there. It’s the same as being banker, lawyer, an engineer, civil servant, etc.  It requires a lot of hard work, time, calculation, sacrifices and expenses.

Here are a couple of tips for those who intend building a career as artistes in the music industry.

*Some artistes coming into the industry think getting signed to a record label is the ultimate to becoming popular and making money. This is a very wrong way of thinking because some record labels will in fact derail you and make a mess out of your career. Take Olamide and Skales for example, Olamide became a success as an independent artiste while Skales was stuck when he was with his former label.

Every artiste should have a solid manager, strive to build a strong fan base, have a good working relationship with OAPs and Djs. Make good music, earn money and be able to bring their own terms to negotiations when any record labels comes calling.

*Music is fun, lots of fun but when an artiste decides to have fun all the way and forget that it’s meant to be a business and a source of income, he’ll end up becoming a broke has been in the industry. Every artiste who has chosen music as a career should not be lazy about it. You need to keep relationships professional, network to set schedules, keep paperwork of what has been happening, push yourself even when you don’t want to and strategically invest in time and money with the aim of making more in the long run.

Your level of success will not determine on how talented you are but on the work you put into your career.

*Try as much as you can to make money off live shows. We know upcoming acts often perform at shows for free at the start of their careers but look for a way to make the most of the situation. Sell CDs after the performance and also don’t forget to sell yourself to promoters and those in the business of music at the venue. Network and introduce yourself.

The Ultimate Prize

*Build an image for yourself. Do something that makes you stand out from other artistes. Most people severely underestimate the importance of their image.

Music is music but music business success is a total package that includes music, image and visual stage show among other things.

*Building presence on social media is a great tool to a successful and long lasting career as a musician. Your own personal website is also an important key to online promotion; they are one big piece of online music marketing puzzle. Industry heads and show promoters are more interested in the popularity of your brand and music online than the number of friends you have on facebook, twitter etc

So build yourself a website, pull traffic to it and also build a fan base on social media sites where you interact with your fans.

*Surround yourself with like minded people who are also interested in the career you are trying to build. Don’t have negative, lazy and ambitionless people around you. They have no input on how to grow your career and can kill your vibe.

If you intend becoming a professional musician and building a career in the music, make sure you are surrounded with people with similar interest and aspirations.

*Groom and develop your live performing and stage presence skills. People love live performances and won’t patronize artistes with merely mediocre stage performance skills. Your music might be awesome but live performances require outstanding performance skills, if people want just music, they’ll simply play the CD at home.

Also learn to play with a live band...helps in spicing up the performance.

*It takes a lot of money to build a music career. Make sure you have a good source of income whether you are sponsoring yourself or have someone sponsoring you. You will need money for lots of things before the money from your music will begin rolling in. You need cash for studio recordings, music promotions, running around, setting up your image etc, and not forgetting you need to have a roof over your head and food in your belly.

So try having an alternative source of income while still chasing your dream and hustle.

*Build your industry contacts. Most times it’s not always about what you can do or what you know, but who you know. In music, it’s often asked, “who knows you?” The most important thing to note here is how deep the current relationships you have now and will develop in future are. It’s not about knowing people, it’s about how deep your relationship with them is and if you will be at the top of their mind when opportunities present themselves. 

Ask yourself how you can deepen your existing relationships and build better ones.

*Perfect your skills and learn new ones.  Constantly perfect your skill, do regular voice trainings and learn how to play instruments. It will go a long way in helping you understand sounds and keys in music. Learn how to play the piano or guitar.

Having a good voice is no reason to sit back and relax. Train your voice more and take on more challenging songs.

*They say variety is the spice of life but please don’t experiment with your livelihood. Stick to a particular genre of music. Pick a genre of music and maybe try out different variations of it and spread it on a song or two. Establish your sound and have an identifiable style, so your fans will know what to expect when they pick up your CD.

Stay focused and establish your sound.

*Don’t go thinking your music is or should be 100% perfect. I’ve heard songs that myself and a couple of A&R people are dissatisfied with the sound, lyrical composition and arrangement but they have gone ahead to become bangers, topped charts and a couple won awards. There have BEEN conflicting opinions on what a good or perfect music is, so I advice you use your common sense and decide for yourself.

Make sure your song has a good beat, good lyrical content and perfect arrangement. Get an A&R expert in the studio with you while recording; get people with good ear for music to listen to your song when you are through with recording. I bet you, your song will meet little or no criticism.

*Study people who have been in the industry for a while (both the successful ones and un-successful ones). Try to know what their secret to success is and what made the others fail. Study those who are in the same genre with you and know what works for them.

You don’t jump into a career because it works for others without knowing what’s involved in it.

*Get yourself a good management team. Understand you can’t do everything by yourself. There are lots of things involved in building and maintaining a healthy career in music. Believe me when I tell you that behind all the glitz and glamour you see on the TV, there is a lot of stress involved in running a music career.

Get yourself a management team to help grow your career.

Thanks for taking your time to read, now go make good music and lots of money.

Kany Dahl is an Artiste Manager and A&R consultant who has a huge passion for good music.
Follow @kany_dahl