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If you are passionate about music whether this is writing orchestral pieces, utilizing your dulcet tones for musical theater or being part of a rock band, the chances are you will want to commit to this full time. You might be fresh out of college ready to kick start a career. Your parents might want you entering the big wide world of work but you want to give this music lark a go. Or perhaps you’re sick and tired of your nine to five and you want to give your dream one last shot. Both of these goals require courage and a lot of determination in order to break into the music industry in a meaningful way. Take a look at what NOT to do, to make sure you have every chance of success.
Don’t Listen To People Who Know Nothing About Music
Plenty of people like careers advisors, friends and family will try and deter you from a career in music. While their hearts may be in the right place, they don’t have the expertise or knowledge to help guide you along this career path. They may be worried that you will be forever poor, sofa surfing, and be unable to get any sort of well paid job in the future.
Instead, seek out professional musicians in the realm you want to enter, and reach out to them via email. Get their advice and ask them questions about how they got to where they are. Some people will inevitably ignore you, but others will be more than pleased to help. If you want to be a professional drummer, start networking with the relevant people and try to get your foot in the door. Simply shadowing a professional is a great way to get an insight into a potential career.
Don’t Stick To Local Gigs
Back in the early noughties, the Internet wasn’t the all singing and all dancing entity that it is today. Nowadays, you can put out content online and it can go viral within hours. If you are web savvy and have more technical music know how than you can shake a stick at, then why not utilize the wealth of free trap beats online and get creative. Put your rap music online, share through social media, and watch your views stack up. If your friends and followers share, you can quickly achieve a global reach. Yes, local gigs are important to create a fanbase, but you also need the power of social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Soundcloud are your best friends. Upload new tracks, share your ideas and achieve a following. Before long, someone in the industry may check out your stuff and be in touch.
Don’t Opt For X-Factor Or The Voice, Et Al.
If you are in it for the fame, money and notoriety, by all means go on a TV talent show. But if you adore music, you’re passionate about your creativity and you want to own your music, lyrics and image, then slog it out the harder way. As a singer-songwriter, your creative autonomy is sapped on these shows. They will chew you up and spit you out leaving you with nothing. Don’t even be tempted.
The music industry is hard to break into but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a go. Just don’t make these mistakes!
This is pretty great advice! Especially using the power of technology to get across your music to a larger audience.
Apparently, going into the music industry is not a walk in the park. There are things to consider, and the competition is really tight.
This was a great read. My daughter’s boyfriend is a drummer and he is somewhat of a freelancer where he can drop in and out of different bands.
This is great advice for someone trying to breK into the music industry. I particularly agree with not sticking to local only gigs. There’s so much opportunity now to get your music out there via the Internet.
This was a great read. I have shared it with my cousin who is a very talented musician.
Yes, people do lose value after entering TV shows. Musicians should not lose creativity while trying to be popular.
I won’t may be close my experiences on those, they are nice stepping stones but maybe don’t focus on them but use them for the future i guess
These are all great tips for people pursuing music. I definitely agree with not listening to people who don’t know what it’s like to be musicians. Great post!
I feel like this information could be applied to a lot of things. When we share goals that seem out of reach its really easy to get bogged down by listening to everyone around us!
Making it big in music involves serious hard work and time. With proper planning you can make it big.