Is music what you feel excited and passionate about in life? Do you picture yourself becoming a huge success within the music industry and can’t see any other future for yourself? It’s great to have goals and dreams, but the reality of the situation is that the music industry isn’t your typical kind of career path. For that reason, it’s not going to be the same as landing a job in other fields. It’s only natural to wonder how easy it is to break into the music industry.
The fact is that breaking into the music industry is going to take a lot of work on your part. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it just means you need to be aware of the path before you and be willing to put in the effort. These tips and advice from music industry experts can help you to make the right moves for your future career.
You Need Experience – and Plenty of It
As you question how easy it is to break into the music industry, the first thing that should come to mind is experience. If you have your eyes set on a dream job, chances are you need some sort of training, education and experience. You can look at a music career similarly in that experience will serve you well. The more you work on your music, and the more you create, practice and jump at every chance to perform, the better you are going to get. This will position you in a much better light.
Expect to Get Plenty of Rejections
Having drive and talent may seem like enough but, as an artist who has struck it big will tell you, there are plenty of rejections along the way. There’s no way of putting it gently, you will get told, ‘no’. Rather than focusing on the rejection angle, look at it as an opportunity. Why did that person/label turn you down? Is there something you could have done differently? Is there something you could improve on? What can you learn and grow from so that maybe next time it won’t be a no?
While rejection is never an easy thing to swallow, you must learn to let it slide off you and not take it personally. Rejection is par for the course, but you need to get right back up and keep on trying.
Understand You are Building an Image and a Brand
Music is an incredibly creative art form but, when you’re trying to make a career out of it, you also need to think about image and branding. You are the music, and you embody it, which means you are the brand. This can be hard for some people to wrap their heads around, as they want the music to speak for itself, but your image is part of it.
This is a great time to ask yourself if your image matches the brand you are trying to create. Is it cohesive? Does it make sense? If not, then it’s time to make some tweaks.
Should You Start Your Own Record Label?
Getting a record label to sign you as an artist can be a very difficult task. You can spend years trying to make that goal a reality and still not succeed. For that reason, you may be wondering if you should take the bull by the horns and do it yourself. Wondering how to start a record label with no money? Well, it’s a bit like being an entrepreneur in other industries since there is going to be risk involved, but it can pay off.
PIRATE, known for renting out professional studio space to artists, tackles the topic of how to start a record label in an informative blog piece, pointing out the pros and cons of starting your own label, key considerations, essential steps and what sort of results you may expect. As PIRATE notes, it’s important to ask yourself why you want to take this route and if you understand just how involved it will require you to be. It’s not about scaring someone off creating their own record label; instead, it is important to have all the facts before you so that you can make an informed decision.
Embrace All that Social Media Has to Offer
Here’s a tip that wasn’t even a thing just a decade earlier, but social media can have a huge impact on whether or not you break into the music industry. Think about the many artists out there today that can trace their beginnings back to social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and so forth.
When you post content, you never know who it’s going to reach, when it might blow up and start trending, and what it can lead to. So, what’s the best advice? It’s to embrace all that social media has to offer. Get on all the top platforms and post consistently, making an effort to build your followers. It’s also important to engage with them. Show them you are a real person, show them how passionate you are about your music, and give them the inside look.
Social media is also a great place to leak new tunes, publish where you may be playing live (gigs), state where to purchase your music and so forth. From that standpoint, it is an excellent marketing avenue.
Knowing What You Know About the Music Industry – What’s Your Next Move?
Now that it has become a bit clearer as to what’s involved with breaking into the music industry, it’s time to ask yourself what your next move is. Is this something you want to continue to pursue and make a real go at it? If so, it may be time to level up in terms of your commitment and efforts to better your odds of making it big.
One of the most important lessons you can take away from the expert tips is that you need to have confidence in your talent and not be easily swayed from your ultimate goal.
