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How To Make It in the New Music Business: Practical Tips on Building a Loyal Following and Making a Living as a Musician?
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Check out How to Make it in the Music Business by Ari Herstand.
It should give you a decent base of information about what it means to be a musician / artist today.
Note that this came out at the end of 2019 before COVID hit so what was relevant then might not be as relevant now. The industry changes really quickly.
Apart from that, I'd say make sure you keep your day job but still keep pursuing music if that's what you want. The advice I've received countless times was the "keep going and don't stop". It's the people who persist and keep learning and grow that eventually get some form of success (whatever specific circumstances qualify as success for you).
My other bit of advice is that you can't succeed on your own. Everybody needs help to get where they want to go. Make sure you're active in your local community of artists. Go to other people's gigs. Introduce yourself to them. Make it known that you also do music. Make friends. Opportunities come from unexpected places and the more contacts you have means there's more chances for opportunities to come your way.
For me I feel that musicians still fulfill the same role they always did, writing and playing music. The advancement in technology has changed how musicians practice their craft and there are now many more ways to approach music creation. While technology has made it easier to get your music heard (through streaming services and digital releases) the old gatekeepers (labels, TV and radio) have just been joined by new gatekeepers (streaming playlists and algorithms). On top of that the lower barrier to entry means that there are more things you need to compete with to get people's attention and interest (netflix, youtube, social media and), including other musicians.
I'm assuming you're referring to the business side of the industry when you talk about musician's needing to do more. I'm not entirely sure that's true, since almost all the same steps performed in writing and releasing music and putting on live shows still happen today. The only difference is that if you're an indie starting out you'll be doing more of the tasks yourself, whereas in the past if you were signed to a label they'd handle it. Although, this comparison I've made is really just the difference between someone who's going a DIY route as opposed to someone who's signed to a label and has someone managing them. This comparison would probably ring true, regardless of whether it was in the past or present.
On that note, there's a great book by Ari Herstand on what it takes to be an music artist today. Even though the latest edition came out just before COVID, a lot of it still rings true.
Invest 10 years at minimum before you think about quitting. Most important: don‘t think as a musician, think like a biz man if you wanna make a living. You need a vision, a strategy and a roadmap to develop, market and sell your product.
Use youtube to publish you results to create a tribe / community of super fans that like to support you with money.
Some inspiration in your bookstore:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401960235/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1645570455&sr=8-1
Why invest in something like this? What is your business model? How many fans do you have?
Maybe it would be a good idea to create a tribe/community of super fans that like to give you their money for what you do instead of this.
For marketing purposes yes it can help - but with the right budget, for earning money no.
Any music videos as content for YouTube to start the tribe thing?
Some inspiration in your bookstore:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-New-Music-Business/dp/1631494791/?\_encoding=UTF8&pf\_rd\_p=d27b498c-b40a-4a36-92cf-b0aafa3ba1ce&pd\_rd\_wg=Ic7s4&pf\_rd\_r=MMTCVDNE9FF6XB68H2R2&pd\_rd\_w=FOmbf&pd\_rd\_r=59640f8d-475f-4c81-8dae-...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401960235/ref=tmm\_hrd\_swatch\_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1645570455&sr=8-1
Don't chase the numbers. You may miss the biz part.
Any answers to this:
Who you are? Where you wanna go? Who is your target group? How can you deliver value to the target group that will define who will be your fans in the future buying yout products. What are your products besides songs? Songs are some kind of marketing stuff you find fans with, maybe on streaming platforms, but you will not earn a living of it. Streaming is marketing not earning money in the first place.
If you think about make a living of it start creating a tribe/community of maybe 1000 super fans. Youtube is a good platform for it. Any music videos for the current tracks in the pipe?
Some more inspirations:
Illegal copies are marketing in the digital world. Those people will never pay for it. But they help to make honest people aware of your music. So invest all your energy into the production, merch and the like and try to establish a digital tribe of hardcore fans that love to support you with their money.
Some inspiration in your bookstore:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401960235/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1645570455&sr=8-1
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