music career

Stop censoring your ideas

Having too much to choose from can be crippling. It becomes worse when you’re trying to find the best out of the lot. This could be ideas, products, services, things to buy, places you want to visit, it’s limitless. One thing we do is filter everything, trying to pick the best. Doing this often delays making decisions and for good reason.

Not rushing the decision helps you to compare and take a deeper look to see if you’re getting value for money. It could be investing your time to exploring an idea further considering the return on your time. Checking to see if a particular product meets the criteria you’re looking for.

This process helps you cut the not so good from the best. Once you’re comfortable that’s the point you commit. 

In some cases that process can save you lots of money. Help you dodge a shady contractor. And give you peace of mind with the results you want. It will be worth when things go well. 

When it goes wrong and it usually does at times, it brings regret, guilt and shame because of the choice. That’s ok because we can learn from these choices. You might lose money, time and progress, but how would you know if it was a bad choice?

You wouldn’t know it was a bad choice unless you made the decision to try it. Or somebody else did it and told you about it. 

The whole point is for some ideas you’ll need to do research. For others, acting on the idea is the best research. Besides, the results will be unknown unless you take action on the idea.

Don’t censor your ideas, do the research and try them all.

The Frustrating thing about building a personal brand

The world is changing and how we go about looking for a job is not the same. A large part of the process is either finding persons willing to hire you to work, or pray and hope someone finds you. The latter is not the best strategy so it’s wise to put yourself in a position to work on your own terms.

Reaching a level of comfort, having enough leads and paying clients per month takes a very long time to master. It’s not like you can buy some ads and sit back and watch the leads come in. You have to work hard to build trust and your reputation. Paying for advertising don’t always work unless you have the right system in place.

I have tried multiple ways to build my personal brand, in order to branch out and work on my own terms. Not much worked. Maybe it was the industry I was in, the methods I was using or I might have missed a few steps along the way.

All in all, it’s a long process and one must be willing to do it for the long haul until something sticks.

Because of my personality, I stayed away from anything that has to do with video. I wasn’t as comfortable looking into a camera when I started.

I started our writing blog post on my website. The aim was to attract Christians to check out my site and hope that they would listen to the music I released. I wrote inspirational articles and stuff I was reading at the time, that I thought persons would like. I did it on a schedule as was recommended and over time I started getting lots of traffic.

My music was selling, though not by much, the needle was moving but I could not identify if what I was doing was contributing to that. I was, however, looking for feedback on my efforts and nothing.

As I researched more about content marketing I found out that I should be writing to attract my buyers talking about the problems they have and how to solve it. And eventually found out what I was doing wrong that led to a lot of frustration.

Not having a marketing funnel

In order to benefit from your marketing efforts, you must have a well thought out system. WHich means you get attention from potential clients, you capture their data and continue talking to them until they want to buy.

To do this effectively you need to have a well thought out marketing funnel. This will help you create messaging that will help potential clients make a decision about trusting you. Taking the time out to map out the funnel will help make your decision making easier.

They are people who say marketing funnel doesn’t make sense but all in all you have to have a system that will make your brand building and marketing activities easy.

I never used landing pages and didn’t create lead magnets

I must admit it took me a very long time to figure out what lead magnets were. This was ignorance of marketing jargons. But essentially using a landing page which is basically an advertisement in the form of a webpage with no navigation links to convince persons to join your mailing list in exchange for something useful.

This will give you free access to continue marketing to potential clients called leads. This makes marketing cost cheaper overtime once the list grows bigger. I ignored this piece of wisdom because I couldn’t find a way to apply it to my situation.

Having patience and being consistent

The last thing is showing up regardless and being patient. I lost patience not seeing the results I expected after putting in a few months at a time. My overall fear was being rejected for not being authentic. And just being afraid no one might like my point of view. So after a few attempts, I thought I was a sign of rejection.

But that’s far from the truth. I have written stuff and friends read it and never leave a comment on the piece, but say it to my face. Even from persons I never expected to read my stuff read it and give valuable feedback.

Conclusion

I’m in it for the long run because building a brand is a marathon and not a sprint. From the mistakes I have made I have learnt how to put my best foot forward. As well as spending the time to put the necessary things in place.

The best way to protect your career diversify your Income

Too many persons like the creatives – artiste, music producers depend on only what they are doing ( working with the artist, recording them, shows, selling music) to earn money. One of the traps you might end up in is if the music is not selling and you are not getting shows how are you going to eat or make money. what do you do then?

The alternative is to diversify your income. Create by-products of the service your offer.

For example, creating a clothing line.

Artiste such a Konshens, Vybz Kartel Jay z and others all have a clothing line or another company selling something besides music.

Examples:

  • Konshens – Kons 876
  • Vibes Kartel- street Vybz rum
  • PDiddy- Sean Combs
  • Jay Z – Rockerwearater

This alternative is another source of income, independent of the main income. There are unique ways to add to what you are doing to earn a living. Though primarily the focus may be making money, the bottom line is that you are creating a safety net in order to earn.

Consider this, if you are not booked for a show for some time, no music is selling. Ask yourself the question ” what else is there to do to earn an income?” After a while, you’d like to start a business. you have the option to do something else. It may not be a merch line, where you sell branded products. Other options may include speaking engagement, and related events supporting a cause.

For example:

The staging of a conference addressing how you overcame an issue. You collaborate with other persons, give the event a title, then charge for the event. This is now an income stream.

The basic thought is to determine what else can you do to be used to diversify your income.

In essence, you do not want to depend on one venture as your source of income as a creative person. Keep in mind there will be down times meaning no shows, no music sales. If you are a producer, you may not get as many clients for a period. You have to find other things to do to fill the void in order to manage.

There’s no need for stress or worry when these times come. You are protecting yourself.

Living in a country like Jamaica, for example, there’s is the idea that there are limited options apart from merchandise. Instead, you think globally. With the internet, you are able to create small businesses and sell products or services to persons without the worry of storage or establishing a physical location to sell your goods. you have direct access to the consumer.

There are services that allow you free access to set up your store. This is just one of several options.

You have skills that you can promote and charge for service as a freelancer. Persons will pay for the service.

You may be good at marketing and social media persons can pay you to manage their social media page or run campaigns. If you are an accountant you can charge persons to manage their personal or small business accounts or another artist.

Branch out, at the end of the day the income that comes in overtime adds up. For instance, you do five shows consecutively and earn fifty thousand ($50000), and at the same time you are managing a social media account for a small business for a period of 6 months. you receive $50,000. Adding the 2 two incomes you have a total income of $100,000 per month. If you have a clothing line that brings in $100,000 that’s an additional $100,000.

Evaluating your monthly income all together with what your expenses are, there should be an adequate amount to cover the expenses. You are able to save and expand doing whatever it is. In the event, you decide on doing other things you have a protective base for your income and investment options.

3 Benefits of Using Outreach Projects as a Marketing Tool

1. Expose your music to a cause and to people who share the same vision.

Seeing improved cancer care or better options for care facilities is an initiative you want to be a part of. Partnering with groups that share the common interest is during cancer awareness month, is one way for you to get involved in building awareness to a mutual cause and creating an awareness of who you are.

As you align yourself with different cancer affiliated groups, eg the cancer society you volunteer your time to help them push the awareness campaign.

Posting the series of activities leading up to the event is one of the ways to of getting the word out. This is a way to invite persons to the event through your social media channels and various efforts.

Media appearances is another way of supporting the cause, the outreach initiative benefit by an increased awareness created, surrounding the cause. As the artiste associated with the cause, how you benefit, comes from performing at their live event being apart of the support team. You get an opportunity for an audience.

Outreach projects sometimes involve travelling from place to place, having a reach of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people. Your involvement with these projects provides an opportunity to present your work-music to these people.

Other opportunities to share at other projects of similar nature are created too.

You might be drafted among the support team of causes such as sickle cell awareness, a blood drive, autism awareness, as well as volunteer your time to a community drive, hospital visits and so on. These are various outreach projects that allow you an opportunity to give talks to the youths for instance.

You get to share your ideas through song as well. This opportunity of influence to reach and challenge individuals positively. These are ways to continuously expose yourself to various audiences who will like and appreciate your music.

2. Touring opportunities in other countries

Aligning yourself with various outreach projects is not limited to your community or country. In fact, you get to travel to other countries worldwide as well.

Eg. Christafari some time ago did a Scandinavian tour and other countries with the same region. they partnered with churches and other non-profit organisations and travelled to schools to share the gospel with persons through music. In addition, they go out and give talks to persons at the places that they go to. They not only interact with these persons.

3. Media Exposure for your brand through cross promotion

In order to expose your music to a wide cross-section of people and cultures, you must think creatively. How do I utilise the various mediums available to building my personal brand?

By aligning yourself to different organisations, travelling and being apart of the initiative You get media exposure for your brand

The promotion of an event is about pushing to get people out to the event as they become aware of the cause and what is being done. The media is definitely a means to facilitate the promoting of the event.

The organizers of the outreach project will share the cause and venture by way of interviews- be it print, tv, or online channels. Because you are affiliated with the supported cause, you get to share in the promotional efforts. So, for example, you might share snippets through the social media channels of interviews, what that will do is create a situation of a cross promotion. The media audience becomes aware of you and the vice versa.

As a marketing tool use various media to promote outreach. organisations non-profits projects these will help to build your brand getting exposure for your music to more people, being at these various events.

You can share your song by WhatsApp by youtube link and persons listen on repeat. Chances are when you have a concert or new release persons will want to see and hear you because they like your music. As a result of the interactions and will appreciate your brand.

let me know if this was helpful. God bless.

How to overcome the fear of sharing your work

One of my greatest fear is letting people know what I have to offer. I don’t know, it’s very crippling trying to muscle up the courage to say to someone I’m skilful enough to do what you want. Even if I do tell them, after completing the job there’s this thought about whether I did the job right and waiting to get a call asking for a refund.

Call it rejection, call it stupid but it’s an actual thing. Paralysis to tell people you are good enough. Why this happens I can’t explain it but it happens very often. Is like you don’t want your friends to know what you are up to. Its kinda private and personal, but I expect people to find me and give me money.

This is a fantasy of mine, I set up a basic social media profile. Share a post every now and again and magically my business grow leaps and bounds and I can run off into the sunset rich. I know this sounds stupid but I actually wish this happened in real life.

In the book the magic of thinking big, the author shares that you overcome fear by taking action. But this one is true somewhat but it’s still uncomfortable. I hate calling people but a large part of my job is calling people for interviews. Strange isn’t it. You have to call someone but you spend the entire day trying to convince yourself to make the call. Intentional procrastination because of fear.

This is real and I know I’m not the only person that this happens to. Fear is an actual thing and persons hoping to build a business and let other people know what they have to offer, overcoming fear is part of the journey.

One of the skills you have to master is learning how to show people over and over that you have the skills. This can be in multiple ways. Sharing video, blog post, audio and so forth. Stepping outside the box and putting yourself in a very vulnerable position.

Knowing what to do is half the job. The next half is doing so in a very creative way that grabs people attention. But creativity cannot be taught you have to steal ideas and fuse them with other ideas to make them your own.

Creative borrowing as they call it. Fusing your influences in such a way that it works to convince enough people to trust you. Do it long enough to create a habit. And once you have the habit of fusing what you like, it will always turn out to be unique.

So how does this help in terms of marketing yourself and what you do?

Everyone has to learn how to sell other people on them. So before you even think about everything else you have to know your product. Meaning what do you bring to the table and who will want it. The next thing is knowing how to explain it in such a way that people get it.

Once you have this down, you create an offer which will be used to tell the world about what you do. Sometimes a one-shot message repeated over and over is what you need. Sometimes teaching your skill works. Other times just sharing your creative pieces and your work works as well.

The key is do something consistently and people will start to take notice. Knowing this is just the basics you’ll need in order to move forward with building a successful career at anything. The next thing is you’ll need marketing material to share that message with people.

That’s one of the things that is often not explored and I must add I never spent enough time doing this in the early parts. I knew I had something to offer but never spent the time to nail down the specifics and focused on how to explain it to people.

If you have read this far, then hopefully you start to get the picture that taking the time out to share a little piece of you will make a big difference to building your business, music career or whatever it is you are doing.

How much money you need to make music your full time career

One of the biggest misconceptions about the music industry people make is that you can’t make a living doing music. What if I told you there’s a way to make a living doing music. But before you go off and jump in you need to know how much money you need to make in order to make.

Don’t worry it’s a rather simple process you just need a pen and a piece of paper. If you are an excel savvy then you can use that as well.
What are your basic expenses

To get started there’s some basic information you’ll need. The first set is how much do you spend on average on the things to keep a roof over your head. The bare minimum necessities. These are your utilities: water and light bill. Your rent or mortgage payment and internet bill.

Why start here? This is because these are your must-have expenses outside of food. These are the things you pay before anything else.

To find these out just look at your last 3 months bill, add them up and divide it by three. This will give you the average amount you spend on each per month. This will give you a baseline figure to work with.

For example:

  • Light: JA$3,000
  • Water: JA$2,500
  • Rent: JA$25,000
  • Internet: JA$5,000

How much food do you eat per month

The next thing you need to calculate is how much money you spend on food each month. This might be hard for some if you don’t track it. What you need to know is how much money you spend on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Anything in between like snacks and so on.

What you are doing now is besides having a roof over your head you are working out how much money you need to feed yourself and your family if you have a family.

If you’re on a special diet this should be easy because all you are doing is working out how much each item cost and having a final figure. Don’t worry if price change from time to time because this is just a basic figure to work out the final figure.

  • Grocery: JA$35,000

How much money do you spend on travelling

The next thing is how much money do you spend travelling. This should include going to the studio, shows. If you drive this should be gas to put inside your car and basic maintenance monthly. If you take the bus this should include bus fare and taxi fare.

If you are making car payment leave it out of this section we’ll get to that later.

Your paper should look something like this now.

  • Gas: JA$20,000

What other expenses do you have on a monthly basis

The final thing you need to write down is other expenses you have per month. This includes debt repayment, entertainment expenses, and spending. Studio time and other cost relating to investing in your music.

You can also make plans to save for the future and invest your money in other non-music related activities. If you have children this can include school-related expenses. Medical expenses. What you don’t want is to leave stuff out and you have surprises later down the road.

  • Car payment: JA$ 25,000
  • Studio time: JA$ 6,000
  • Saving: JA$ 4,000
  • School: JA$ 7,000
  • Medical: JA$6,000

Calculate how much money you need to live on a daily basis

Now is the time to tally all your figures to see how much money you should be aiming for each month from music. Your page should like the table below

Expense Amount JA

Light: 3,000

Internet 5,000

Rent: 25,000

Water: 2,500

Grocery: 35,000

Gas: 20000

Car payment: 25,000

Studio time: 6000

Saving: 4,000

School: 7,000

Medical: 6000

Final: 138,500

So from the example, you’ll need JA$138,500 to live on monthly. Whatever your figure is on your sheet. This is your goal to aim for monthly to make you dream of doing music full time a reality.

How you reach that goal is up to you because there are multiple ways to reach that target. Hope this is helpful and here’s a google docs template to get you started.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the music industry people make is that you can’t make a living doing music. What if I told you there’s a way to make a living doing music. But before you go off and jump in you need to know how much money you need to make in order to make

How much money you need to make music your full time career
One of the biggest misconceptions about the music industry people make is that you can’t make a living doing music. What if I told you there’s a way to make a living doing music. But before you go off and jump in you need to know how much money you need to make in order to make.
Don’t worry it’s a rather simple process you just need a pen and a piece of paper. If you are an excel savvy then you can use that as well.

What are your basic expenses

To get started there’s some basic information you’ll need. The first set is how much do you spend on average on the things to keep a roof over your head. The bare minimum necessities. These are your utilities: water and light bill.  Your rent or mortgage payment and internet bill.
Why start here? This is because these are your must-have expenses outside of food. These are the things you pay before anything else.
To find these out just look at your last 3 months bill, add them up and divide it by three. This will give you the average amount you spend on each per month. This will give you a baseline figure to work with.
For example:
  • Light: JA$3,000
  • Water: JA$2,500
  • Rent: JA$25,000
  • Internet: JA$5,000

How much food do you eat per month

The next thing you need to calculate is how much money you spend on food each month. This might be hard for some if you don’t track it. What you need to know is how much money you spend on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Anything in between like snacks and so on.
What you are doing now is besides having a roof over your head you are working out how much money you need to feed yourself and your family if you have a family.
If you’re on a special diet this should be easy because all you are doing is working out how much each item cost and having a final figure. Don’t worry if price change from time to time because this is just a basic figure to work out the final figure.
  • Grocery: JA$35,000

How much money do you spend on traveling

The next thing is how much money do you spend traveling. This should include going to the studio, shows. If you drive this should be gas to put inside your car and basic maintenance monthly. If you take the bus this should include bus fare and taxi fare.
If you are making car payment leave it out of this section we’ll get to that later.
Your paper should look something like this now.
  • Gas: JA$20,000

What other expenses do you have on a monthly basis

The final thing you need to write down is other expenses you have per month. This includes debt repayment, entertainment expenses, and spending. Studio time and other cost relating to investing in your music.
You can also make plans to save for the future and invest your money in other non-music related activities. If you have children this can include school-related expenses. Medical expenses. What you don’t want is to leave stuff out and you have surprises later down the road.
Car payment: JA$ 25,000
Studio time: JA$ 6,000
Saving:JA$ 4,000
School: JA$ 7,000
Medical: JA$6,000

Calculate how much money you need to live on a daily basis

Now is the time to tally all your figures to see how much money you should be aiming for each month from music. Your page should like the table below

Expense
Amount JA
Light:
3,000
Internet
5,000
Rent:
25,000
Water
2,500
Grocery:
35,000
Gas:
20000
Car payment
25,000
Studio time
6000
Saving
4,000
School
7,000
Medical
6000
Final
138,500
So from the example, you’ll need JA$138,500  to live on monthly. Whatever your figure is on your sheet. This is your goal to aim for monthly to make you dream of doing music full time a reality.
How you reach that goal is up to you because there are multiple ways to reach that target.
Hope this is helpful and here’s a google docs template to get you started.

3 myths about becoming a recording artist

Have you ever wanted to become a recording artist? Have you been writing original songs but not sure what to do with them? Do you have the desire to sing your songs in front of a live audience?

Then becoming a recording artist is the next step. But with that comes some misconception that might prevent you from making that next step.

Below I share 3 myths about becoming a recording artist.

Myth #1: You won’t make any money

One of the biggest concerns you might have is how will I make money from my music. But in the modern day music industry, there are multiple ways to earn a living from being a recording artist.

Live shows

Performing live is one way to make a living as a recording artist. The more songs you have the more you would want to perform those songs for people. These present various opportunities for you to book live shows. This can be people hiring you to sing at their concert or you hosting your own shows.

How you make money from live shows, the promoter book you to perform. You get paid either from a fee upfront or a percentage from ticket sales or drink sales. This can be a lucrative way to build a career once done right.

Selling Music

The most basic way to make money from music is selling the recordings to fans. With downloads on the decline, streaming is the new way to sell music. Once your music is on available on all streaming services fans can listen whenever they want.

This is ideal because instead of one transaction your fans will listen to your songs over and over. The more they listen, the more money you make from your songs.

Teaching music

During your downtime, you can teach somebody how to play an instrument. If you’re a good vocalist you can offer vocal lessons. This will help you refine your skills as well as mentor other people to do what you do.

Music licensing

Licensing your music for movies and adverts are another way to make money from music. This will open up new doors for your songs by exposing it to new audiences. The process involves either working with an agent or through a service. WHat they will do is get the right people to pay you to use your music.

Selling merchandise

Selling T-Shirts, caps, mugs etc gives you more income as a recording artist. Your core fans will want other items you have as a collectable. This can be an upsell to your shows and other events that you perform.

Myth #2: The field is oversaturated and I won’t get noticed

To be successful as a recording artist you need a fanbase. The more fans you have the sky’s the limit. It might sound cliche but if you build your fan base and have a direct way to contact them then you have the power.

Traditional methods of promoting music might not be working like normal. However social media and the internet are making tools available to get the same results.

Some of the things you can do now include growing your youtube subscribers. Build an email list of fans. Build relationships with key bloggers and media personalities. Set up your website to promote your music.

Myth # 3: It’s very expensive to produce music

The cost to produce music has gotten cheaper. This due to the fall in the price of quality recording equipment. With that said you can build a recording studio at your home for cheap.

Having your own studio will save you time to spend time on getting your sound right. Studio time becomes cheaper. Working with a producer becomes easier because you can collaborate over the internet.

You can also find producers to work with over the internet. Even if cost is an issue you can find one to fit your budget. So instead of doing an album you can produce singles and work from there.

Conclusion

There are multiple paths to take to make it as a recording artist. Hope looking over these myths can give you hope that you can take that plunge to become a recording artist.

6 things you need to know before producing your first album

Producing an album can be a scary process if you don’t know what you are doing. It can also get expensive without looking at the bigger picture.

In this post, are 6 things to consider when producing your first album.

  1. How many songs are going to put on the album

The first thing you need to determine is how many songs you want on the album. This will affect the production process as well as the final song selection. This can be decided by a number of factors.
How many songs do you plan to write before picking the final set? Will it be 15, to pick 8. 10 to pick the best 6. Or 30 – 40 songs to pick 12.

Another factor is, how long you want the album to last. 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes to an hour. You can use this to break down how many songs you will need to reach this goal.  This can contribute to the overall experience for your listeners.

The final factor is how long do you plan to spend on producing the album. If your timeline is short don’t do a lot of songs. If you’re working on a longer timeline then you can do whatever you want.

  1. What style of music are you going for?

This will determine how you promote your music, and the fans you want to target. A question to ask yourself is,  what is the genre are you working with? Could it be reggae, hip-hop, pop, EDM, country music, soca, and others. This will help narrow your focus and make your writing process easier. It should also blend with your musical brand and sound.

Identifying the genre you are doing helps to narrow the focus for where you will perform live, and the types of events you will do to maximize on the promotional aspect.
You don’t want to perform at a reggae festival singing country music. Unless you blend country with reggae.

  1. Which producer(s )do  you plan to work with

Now that you know what sound you’re going for, who is the best person to help you achieve that. This is the time you where you start to look for producers to work with. Not all producers are the same. Some work with specific types of music.

The other option is working with a band. If you have a band that can play the music you want you can direct them to achieve that.

The last option is buying beats. This involves purchase premade instrumentals from producers and writing and recording your songs over them.

  1. Where do you plan to do the recording

Do you plan to record all the songs at home? That’s if you have a home studio. This will work if you get tracks premade or buy beats and have a home studio to do all the recording.

The next option is to rent studio time and do everything there. This can get expensive really quickly if not managed properly. But you’ll get access to a variety of equipment that the studio has. That’s if its a commercial facility.

The final option is to record everything at the producer’s studio. This is great because the cost for recording will be built into the cost to produce the song. In the long run, would work out cheaper.

  1. Who is going to mix and master the album

Do you plan to work with an external engineer to mix and master the album? Well, you will have to consider costs, depending on the engineer you want to work with. the end should result in high-quality mixes. The downside is that if the engineer is well booked, chances are it may delay your project. The producer should advise you on that.

Some producers mix and master as well. So when choosing your producer, ask if they mix as well as master.

The next part of the process is choosing a mastering engineer. They will put the final touches on your album before you release the entire project for sale. Choose carefully because this will make or break your album.

  1. How much money you plan to spend on producing the album

How much money do you plan to spend on the entire album? At this point, costs should be worked out.  All the details like studio time to do recording, mixing and mastering and also how much the musicians charge to play the backing tracks. Look at the producer’s cost as well.

Once you know all these costs, you can decide how you will approach the album production process. It will also help to make a budget, and you should stick to it, and see where you can save money.

Conclusion

Taking the time to plan out your album can make the process easier. It will also help you save time and money, hence creating a set that best represents you.