As an aspiring musician, you’ve picked an excellent time to be alive because the opportunities are endless. Gone are the days where you had to record a demo, send it to a record company and hope for correspondence. Now, you can take your destiny into your own hands and become a professional musician on your terms.
When you’re taking the independent route, you have to finance the journey yourself. Thankfully, there are quite a few tips you can use to start a professional music career without going broke.
1. Pace Yourself
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Therefore, your music career won’t develop overnight, either. However, when you take the appropriate steps to pace yourself, you won’t stress yourself out. Don’t quit your day job. It’s best to use your day job to finance your music career until it can fund itself. This process can easily take several years. However, if you set the right foundation and remain consistent, those years will fly by. Take things one day at a time.
2. Build Your Audience
One of the most powerful platforms you can use is social media. Figure out which platforms are your favorite. You might love Instagram more than Facebook and Twitter. You might prefer TikTok over Snapchat. Whichever option you choose, start with one and dominate it. Additionally, you’ll want to upload covers and videos to YouTube regularly. YouTube is an excellent hub for musicians to get their names out there. As you remain consistent in building an audience, it’ll be a lot easier to promote and sell music to a crowd who knows who you are. If you need to get a marketing consultation to learn the ropes of social media, it’s an excellent investment to make. Building an audience is an essential component in the grand scheme of things.
3. Develop New Skills
There are so many steps that are involved in the recording process. Between recording the music in the studio, mixing and mastering, you can’t skip any of these steps. If you have a fantastic record that’s not learned, it’ll destroy the quality of the album. This is one of the reasons why it’s great to develop various skills within the recording process. Take time out to learn from some of the best music production tutorials online. As you commit to learning and improving, it’ll only reflect positively when people listen to your music.
4. Refine and Perfect Old Skills
If you’re a singer, never let a day go by without practicing your runs, riffs, and scales. If you’re a bass guitar player, always invest time into shedding every day. Learn new techniques to challenge yourself. It’s also wise to learn how you can protect your instrument. If your instrument is your voice, you’ll want to avoid certain foods, drinks, and habits. Vocal rest is essential. If your instrument is a guitar, be mindful of the temperature of the room you store it in. As you work on perfecting your craft, you’ll develop a different level of respect for all you have to offer. Confidence is critical when you’re a musician. As you invest in your craft and know what you bring to the table, this will only improve your level of confidence.
5. Aggressively Save
If you already know that it’s going to cost thousands of dollars to purchase new equipment, don’t take out a loan. When you know these costs in advance, just focus on saving for the expenses. You don’t want to set up a career that becomes a liability for you. This is why it’s best to look at your budget to see where you can save money. If you need to pick up some extra work to put aside a few hundred dollars each month, it’s worth the effort. When you have the cash in your hand, you’ll develop a bit more leverage.
As you incorporate these tips, don’t forget to network and take note of other artists who’ve taken the independent leap. As you get stuck, ask for advice. Develop partnerships and mentorships through this journey. As you remain committed and diligent with your action items, you’ll be able to create a thriving career as a musician.
Courtesy of Amy Sloane