There are a lot of myths about the music industry. What you need to know is that it's a very hard career to pursue, but one that can pay off handsomely if you're willing to put in the effort and time. It's also not as glamorous as you might think. If you're going into the music industry, make sure you understand why you're doing it and what sacrifices this career choice will require from you before diving in headfirst. If music is your passion, then go for it! But if not, make sure to read this article instead.
1. Why to pursue a career in music
Music is all around us. It’s in movies, in commercials, in video games, on TV, in social media, in retail stores, and even in the grocery store. As a musician, there are a lot of opportunities to get involved with music and there are a lot of ways to make a living from it.Most professional musicians make a fair amount of money though and it’s not contingent upon your age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, skin tone, body size, or any other factor. As a musician, you have the opportunity to tour the world, play sold-out concerts across the world, record albums that go to number one, build your fan base and influence, and more. It’s also not an industry where you can rest on your laurels. You constantly have to prove yourself to potential record labels and the public because they will eventually decide whether or not they want to work with you in the future. The music industry is competitive. There are definitely labels and artists who are bigger than others and this can make securing a record deal hard. I’m not going to go into too much detail because everyone has their own story to tell. But there are certain strategies that you can use to help secure some additional benefits and opportunities in exchange for your hard work. If you have the desire to pursue the music industry, but don’t have any connections or connections that will bring you successful opportunities, then it’s not a bad idea to pursue a few internships and jobs to get yourself noticed. You can apply to college victim to victim because the music industry is full of people just like you. Enticing college students with the lure of music is certainly one of the easier ways to get yourself noticed. But there are many others. Internships are great because they give you meaningful experience that can apply to any industry. They can even help you land a job after graduation. Just make sure to research whether or not an internship program is accepted by your school.
2. What you need to do to make it big in the music industry
If you want to make it in music, you need to be strategic. Start by defining your goal. What are you hoping to gain from the music business? Sometimes, a musical hobbyist’s goal can be as simple as finding some easy new songs to dance to. However, if your goal is to be a professional musician, you might want to reflect on why you want to pursue this career path, what experiences you have had in the past, and the hurdles that you’d like to overcome. Then it’s time to think about how those experiences are relevant to your goal. To become a successful musician, you need to sacrifice your time and independence. How does that translate into memory banks for illegally downloaded songs? It’s not as simple as buying your favorite artist’s songs and playing them on repeat. You’re also going to have to pay a lot for those songs to be released into the world. While that may seem like a prerequisite, the music industry is much more forgiving than you might think. Break your professional promises and you might be looking at a serious prison sentence. You have to be willing to walk quite a ways in order to get your desired results with this career choice. In addition to establishing your goals, you need to make sure you’re prepared to put in the work. Music is a very technical field, and you need to stay organized and on top of your assignments. Set consistency goals for yourself. Do not dedicate time to a hobby if you can’t put the same hours into training for a trade. If this seems impossible, try taking online courses in your chosen field, or even apply for jobs in the industry before you even have the dream of becoming a professional musician.
3. How to sign your first record deal
To get a record deal, you need a great product and a great team. Your team should be a combination of a great manager, a great lawyer, and a great booking agent. The biggest mistake that most musicians make is taking too much advice from their friends and not enough from people who have experience in the industry.They generate close to a million opinions on a subject before they make a decision, but find a non-music related job before they do. What you lack in experience, make up for in smarts. Work with smart people who are good conceptual thinkers, problem solvers, and managers. There’s no point in hiring an anti-social extrovert to handle the booking process. I don’t care how smart or balanced your team is; but if one member of your team can’t process an email on time, don’t hire that person. Engineers actually have to deal with data and respond to requests at a breakneck pace, all while maintaining a stable office working environment. There’s no point in wasting your time trying to manage one member of your team, just ask yourself why. Don’t make your booking process harder for them by not resolving minor issues as quickly as they come. To get booked, they will know you’re busy and switch their requests over to another team for processing. It’s like any job, good communication is 10x more important than perfect timeliness. If you don’t have any experience with digital marketing, then email marketing is a real disadvantage that will slow down or destroy your chances of getting booked. Because music studios are musical in nature, they require a unique vibe to align with your music and your creative ideas. A great music producer is a great manager, but if both cannot bring their A-game, then they’re a waste of time. To obtain critical mass as a producer, you need people who are the loudest in the room. A critical mass is people who will tell others about your amazing work before anyone else. And it’s not as easy to find these people than you would imagine.
4. How much money you can expect to make as a musician
Musicians typically make money in three different ways: live shows, recorded music sales (CDs, downloads, streaming), and licensing their music for use in advertising, TV shows, and movies. The average salary of a musician is around $50,000 per year. Here’s a simple breakdown to help you better understand how money works in the music industry. Live music is a big part of the music industry. Some of the biggest names in music history have performed in front of massive crowds, getting thousands of people dancing and having them completely sell out. These kinds of shows cost a lot of money to put on. Unfortunately, there’s an estimated 88% probability that your ticket will be scalped. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely impossible to still get your hands on a ticket. You can usually buy the tickets at face value through ticket resellers. The best odds also depend on the concert’s box office capacity. These resellers will often ask for a very small percentage (less than 5%) from scalpers. If this is the case, it would be smart for you to buy your tickets from the artist’s official website. The rest of your ticket cost is usually covered by the artist and their promoter. This marketing cost is typically an in-kind for the promotion of the concert itself and is usually pre-sold via social media. The only thing is, you likely won’t be able to purchase this marketing in advance. Regularly, artists advertise their dates in advance on social media. This way, fans who want to see their shows know ahead of time where exactly to go. The live show business differs from concert to concert. Big-name artists will usually make their live shows available to stream online. Another tradition is to have CDs available to stream too. If you’re going to a live show, you should also consider buying a CD to listen to as well. However, live concerts are usually advertised through digital advertising instead. Live music occasionally doesn’t sell out.
Conclusion: There are many things that factor into making a career in music successful, and you have to be willing to put in the work and take advantage of opportunities when they arise.
It took me long time writing this !!
