Avoid This If You Want A Successful Career In Music!

Being Successful In Music

I assume you’re reading this article because you have the same dream as me. 

To make music your full-time profession. It’s always been your dream, and you’re ready to act.

It’s not easy or quick, but it is within your limits. That is if you’re willing to put in the work.

This article will explore why some musicians don’t make it into a full-time career.

We shall also discuss the importance of learning from mistakes and believing in yourself.

Let’s dive in!

Being Inconsistent

Consistency is vital in learning or pursuing anything. Being able to constantly practice and produce a result with skill is the most significant part of any career.

Who would you choose if you had to choose between two different mechanics where one fixes one car a week and the other fixes ten cars a week?

It’s the same for music, regardless of which area of music you want to go into.

If you’re the artist, people don’t want to wait long for just one more song. They want to be fed content and music regularly.

For a producer, you’re way more likely to be asked to collaborate if you’ve produced tracks every week for an artist versus one in the last few months. The same goes for mixing and engineering.

If you’re starting, there are ways to work with people before you have this back catalog of work.

Offer to work for them for free for the first track. Or reach out to others just starting. Networking, in general, is an excellent practice to get into, so ask others how they started.

On top of that, the more you complete finished projects, the better you will get at your craft.

So not only are you gaining momentum, but you’re also getting better!

Upload Music And Do Nothing Else

These days it’s simply not enough to release your music and let nature take its course. It would help if you did so much more to grab the attention of potential listeners. 

We live in a digital age, so you must make the most of it. You don’t have to be on every social platform, but having a good presence on a couple is ideal.

Whether you shine more at long-form videos on YouTube or for short-form videos on Tiktok, it’s down to you. Instagram is an excellent choice for you if you’re also an artist.

On top of this, create content around your music. Specifically, engaging content.

Refrain from being tempted by the number of views, the true sign of how well you’re doing is the number of engagements you get on your content. 

Engagements can be likes, comments, shares, or even someone direct messaging you regarding the content.

I would say that likes are the least important out of these four, as the others require someone to enjoy (or hate) your content enough to take it that step further. That means they are potential fans (or haters).

Buying Fake Engagement

So you’re now thinking, “How do I get more engagement?”. I’ll tell you one way not to get it is by buying it!

This is where you pay someone to get accounts to like, comment, and share your work. The only issue is they are usually bots.

Even if they aren’t bots, it’s still fake engagement.

These accounts are only engaging because you paid for them. You want organic growth. This way, your audience reflects the music you make, not random people or fake accounts that have no interest in you or your music.

Suppose you want to put money into getting engagement. In that case, using ads on social media is a great way to target the right people. There are tonnes of tutorials for this online.

For a bigger budget, you could hire a social media manager to do this for you and work with you. These can be found on most freelancing sites.

Also, you most likely already have some followers. Interact with them. Show them that you’re there and that they can be a part of this. Ask them for the content they’d like to see. Please give them the news of releases before others. Create a real community.

However, the essential part of getting engagement is engaging content. Don’t just post something for the sake of it. It needs to be as authentic as the audience you’re trying to reach.

Have fun with it, and see what you can create.

Repeating The Same Failing Process

Now, consistency is essential, as mentioned earlier. However, that doesn’t mean doing the same thing each time. This is a waste of time unless it’s working for you.

Consistency means being active and releasing continuously. But it would help if you experimented with how you go about this.

Say that your usual release strategy is to post four videos and four photo posts and have two ads during the two weeks before releasing your music. The videos get some comments, the photos get none, and the ads maybe earn you an extra hundred likes. 

Use this information to better the process.

The photos need to be more engaging.

What can you do to make them more attractive? What would make you want to engage with this content?

The videos are doing better, but within the different videos, one does better than the rest. Why not lean into that?

Your ads need to add more to your release campaign.

Try targeting different audiences or even looking at your analytics to find the type of people that do engage with your content.

Consider having a more extended release campaign, for example, four weeks before and four weeks after release. You could experiment with different content ideas to see what does work best for you and your audience.

By repeating the same process over and over, you have no chance to grow. 

It’s important not to dwell on a release that didn’t quite meet your expectations. Use it to learn what you did wrong and what you did right, and then move on to the next with a newfound perspective.

There is no one way to grow a fanbase and monetize your music, so you must experiment to find what’s best for you.

Only Thinking That There Is One Way To Have A Career In Music

When you think of having a career in music, most people think of being an artist or maybe a producer.

But there are so many ways to make money in music. You can write music for television or film. You can register for music magazines or blogs. 

Selling beats is another option. Of course, there is YouTube, where you can make content for people to learn how to make music or produce it. You can make money even by being a playlist curator on streaming services.

Of course, if your main goal is to make money from your music as an artist, that is still possible. But pairing that with other potential income streams allows you to work full-time in music sooner and possibly gets you connections.

Not Believing In Yourself

For life in general, you need to believe in yourself. Not in a delusional, unrealistic way. But as a core belief, you need to think that you can do whatever you want, eventually. That doesn’t mean you quit your job, and it’ll be fine. It means that you know that if you put the work in, you will be in a better place.

When I come across content online from musicians, I find it very easy to see which artists believe in themselves and which don’t. It’s a palpable energy that is given off. I am much more likely to believe in a stranger making music if they believe in themselves. 

Your outlook on life changes when you believe in yourself. The lens through which you see the world is more straightforward. You have your north star, knowing it can and will happen.

You need to believe in your ability to make it happen, as no one else can do that for you.

Final Words

The music industry is notoriously known for being difficult. Luckily in this day and age, there are many ways to get your music out there, promote it, and earn within the music realm.

Do your research into different ways to make a living in music. Look into as many different ways to promote your music and produce content. 

There is no better time than today to get started. Believe in yourself, and good luck!