The Road to Success - 5 strategies to Succeed as independent artists in the music business
Jan 16, 2020Alot of independent artists are "struggling". They spend their time, energy, and creativity making music but not profiting from their work. Artists work hard writing and recording music, making videos, posting on social media, and more. However, that does not always translate into being a paid career, a big fan base or capturing the attention of music industry professionals.
Road to Success
Every artists reaches the point where when they need to couple their creativity with an understanding of the music business in order to reap the rewards of their talent, dedication and to be heard by the world.
A successful music career depends on many factors. The strategies below are not the only ones but these core strategies will provide a roadmap and have a huge impact on your success. I invite you to consider these factors and to continue learning thru the other posts on this blog and if you find it helpful by subscribing to my website in order to receive "For The Record" a free E-book in your inbox that will help you build your music career.
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Strategy #1: Successful Artists Define their Brand
Before we can even begin talking about how an artist can build a successful career, the artist has to be able to define who they are, what they believe in and what they want to relay to their fans. Branding is a reflection of the artists' vision of who they are, it expresses their personality and values, and tells the story of who they are; thru an image, name, logo and more which is incorporated into their overall image in the public. Branding is vital for recording artists, so that they can stand out in a very competitive music industry and help connect you with your fan base emotionally and build fan loyalty.
Strategy #2: Successful Artists & Music Production
A successful music begins and ends with creating GREAT music. This takes time and hard work. Successful artists are not afraid to work and are dedicated to creating great music. This requires an artist to be consistently in the studio producing and creating music. In order to make a "hit" record you may have to create a large body of music. This will help you to find your sound and determine who and what your fan base likes.
Strategy #3 - Getting Paid - Protecting and Profiting from your Music Rights
The authors of the music (the songwriters) are afforded a copyright for the intellectual property they have created which is the Performing Arts (PA) copyright. The performance and production of a particular recording of the sounds is a Sound Recording (SR) copyright. The owners of these particular copyrights are entitled to different income streams from the use of the music.
In order to put your music into the stream of commerce and the digital stores it is best to use an aggregator/distributor.
There are a variety of income streams afforded to the owners of these rights when their music is played on the radio, sold on digital platforms, webcast or streamed on interactive services, performed in public, sampled or synced.
The royalty system splits royalties between two roles; the songwriter and publisher. If you're independent and you have not contracted out your publishing rights you must have registered twice as both a songwriter and publisher to receive all the money the song generates.
You must register each song with the Performing Rights Organization (PRO) and also with Soundexchange in order to receive the performance royalties.
Strategy #4: Launching your Release
Plan, get organized and have everything ready and available. You will need time to promote the music before and after it's release.
Planning is the key to success. You have spent time energy and money getting your music right. Don’t be in a rush. Plan ahead. Do it right. You won’t be able to launch this song again. You will probably need a minimum of 4 weeks or more to get ready for the release, especially if you want to pitch the song for playlisting to Spotify.
Here are just some of the things you should consider promote your release:
- Who will you use to distribute your music globally?
- How are you going to attract listeners, encourage streams, and drive downloads and sharing?
- Will you release a single, EP or album?
- Social media/ blog promotion
- How do you position your music to get on playlists?
- Song premiere
- Lyric video and/or music Video
- Video premieres
- Press
- Cover artwork
- Promo tour
- Playlist and radio promotion
Repeat the message in different ways
No one likes to come to a boring party. Do not repeat the same message over and over. Be creative in letting your fans know music is out on digital platforms and don't forget to ask them to download, stream and share it for you.
Strategy #5: The Artist's Team
Who are the key members an Independent Artist Needs on their team?
Working as an Artist creating music and recording along with defining your brand, posting on social media and performing can be a full-time job. However, you may have people around you who support your artistry and have skill sets conducive to the music business. Remember, it takes a village to have sustained success and one of the benefits of building a team is the ability to scale up quickly and make money.
What are the key components you may need to create this team? It all begins with the Artist at the center of the team. Then you should consider your Core team as the people who are interested and invested in your success who are honest with you about the business and your artistry.
The Core team is involved 24/7 working with the Artist and involved in revenue sharing from the Artist. The creatives, help bring the music to life, the marketing team is necessary to get the music to the masses and the independent consultants can be hired as necessary for a particular project.
The aggregator/distributor or Independent label may also be considered part of your core team depending on the relationship you have with them.
There is also the Creative team which can include but is not limited to:
- Producers
- Engineers
- Songwriters
- Mixers
- Masters
- Studio to record in
- Other artists that you collaborate with
The Marketing and Promotion team members may encompass:
- Photographer
- Videographer
- Show promoters
- Streaming promoter
- Digital Marketers
- Graphic Artist
- IT
- DJ/DJ pools
- Stylist
And finally some independent consultants you may use are:
- Publishers
- Licensing/sync placement companies
- Lawyers
- Accountants
- Publicists
- Radio promoters
Call to Action
Remember the long game this is about investing in yourself and more important investing wisely. "You can always replace money, but you can never replace time". 
If you want to pursue your music career and make money, I am personally inviting you subscribe to my website and get my free instruction manual which provides the building blocks and more detailed instructions to help you produce, promote, and market your artistry.
There is no obligation and you can unsubscribe at any time. So please join me today and begin the journey of building a successful business around your passion!
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