There are 11 distinct careers in the music industry that rise above the rest in popularity. From A&R Coordinators to the musicians themselves, there is no lack of competition to be faced on your road to career success.
Learning how to make it in the music industry is your first step to actually making it.
Be Social In-Person and Online
Your network is your most valuable asset as a professional in the music industry. This network should expand across two mediums – in-person and online communications.
Pick one or two platforms where you’ll establish a dominant presence. There’s no sense in trying to manage every social media platform in existence. You’ll become burnt out quickly.
Try to invest a set number of hours into building your presence in online communities each week. This consistency will create stronger relationships than if you pop on every six to eight months.
Your in-person presence is just as important as your online one. It can be approached from two angles: attending networking events and getting into direct contact with industry professionals.
When building your platform and your brand, never be discouraged by rejection. You never know when your next ask will be answered with a resounding affirmative.
Make a Plan for How to Make It in the Music Industry
We hear overnight success stories but are rarely given privy to the months or years of preparation behind the big break. Breakdown the steps to building a strategy into bite-sized chunks. For example:
- Do research on your chosen career path
- Develop short-term goals to achieve in six months
- Decide on long-term goals to achieve in one to five years
- Determine the steps you’ll need to take to achieve each goal
It’s daunting, but this is the part where you get to dream a little and decide where you want to end up in the future.
It’s good practice to also set a measure of success. If you don’t you may end up never feeling fulfilled as you raise the bar just a bit higher after each success.
Develop a Strong Promotional Strategy
When you develop yourself you are also developing a brand, not just building out your home studio. Creating content which is noticeably produced by you will help you develop a stronger fanbase more quickly.
You can make yourself even more recognizable by developing album art and merch that uses your branding. This doesn’t even require a high-end graphic designer to produce given your access to Adobe Express album cover creator.
Try these other marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition:
- Produce content other than music
- Pitch yourself to media outlets
- Run social media ads
- Create a website
- Connect with influencers
When developing your strategy it is best to mix proven methods with creative ideas that will garner organic attention. Always have a strategy and a budget in mind to keep yourself on track. Then, at the end of each quarter, measure your successes and failures to determine what works best.
Take on the Music Industry With Renewed Focus
With a plan laid out before you, you can confidently steer your music career toward success. Battling the questions surrounding how to make it in the music industry can be daunting, but a bit of hard work and a lot of networking will result in big successes.
If you’re interested in learning more about building a successful career check out our other articles on life and self-improvement.
Author: James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.