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Jolin Gomez
It starts with a dream. You listen to your favorite songs and artist, then you try to play guitar and write songs. Form a band, then you attempt local gigs. You try to cover as many songs as possible. You then try to go to studios, do some rough recording. and while the band is on the way home, you then talk to each other thinking that someday, the band will be famous. You then begin planning to give demos to every key person in the music industry. The band then dreams of having a million dollar beach house, filled with parties and chicks and finally dream of having an enormous bank account consisting of band royalties and you begin to think you will most likely succeed.
The truth is, no you are not. Frankly speaking, the music business is so “HARD”. The reason why it is hard because in the first place:
1. You do not study about music business: This means you do not know the protocol in the industry. No matter how good you are, you end up being nothing. A great general will never win a battle without knowing carefully the battle territory.
2. You do not write songs seriously: Hit song statistics in a song catalog consist only of a small percentage. Let’s say realistically 20% are hits (following the famous 80-20 rule, 20% of your songs will give 80% of the songwriter income). So, this means the band needs to write at least 10 songs SERIOUSLY to have 2 hit songs. Do not fall into disillusions of writing 100% hit songs, it is simply impossible.
3. No originality or creativity: If I were an A&R, I would try to sign an artist that sounds original. This means all songs, lyrics and image should be unique and at the same time can be classified into a genre. The problem with indie artists is that they know cover songs more than their original songs. It is a sign of weakness. It is because, original songs are the bread and butter for every recording artists and it should be mastered with heart.
4. Do not have enough live experience: Frankly speaking, do not fall into thinking that you will land a deal without doing live concerts; do some, but do not overdo it. Remember you are a recording artist. Artists that are marketed through the recording process, means you will to spend time working in a recording studio, but without doing live concerts in your career, is again a sign of failure.
5. Too many live concerts and no studio work: Let the music industry know you are serious in your recording by spending some time to record songs with a producer or yourself. Spending too much time focusing on live concerts will not make the music industry very interested. After all when you get famous, they will not earn so much from your live concerts.However, if you spend some time doing recordings, they will be interested as long the quality is good and marketable. You are a recording artist.
6. No business sense: This is worse, because if everything you do, doesn’t have a
target plan (consumers that will buy your CD for example, or a specific marketable genre of high demand like pop, rock and country) you are just wasting your time and this is a big sign of future artist failure. Make sure every song you make has an impact and has targeted consumers. Make sure the image is marketable. Remember: make it consistent with the trend.
7. Lack of extraordinary musical talent: I believe the music industry needs extraordinary talent, not so much on skills. Those signed artists that are considered legendary singers,songwriters, entertainers and instrumentalists, were discovered doing very well at a young age. So make sure your talent is extra ordinary. If talent is not enough, it is highly suggested to select another career in which you are good. Otherwise, you will end with disappointments later.
8. Lack of professionalism: Music industry is a business of professionals. Do not get mislead into thinking that your meaning of professionalism are people well dressed and socialites. No, it is not. Professionalism means great attitude towards work. A professional is not only a person that is well dressed, well connected and yet has a poor attitude. Also, the way you market yourself reflects professionalism. Overall, the way you treat the music business as a serious business, or how you approach and deal with relationships makes you a professional.
9. Lack of marketing strategies: Music business like any other business needs a solid marketing strategy. Most indie recording artists fail because they think it is someone else job. No, it is not. You have to start marketing yourself. Build some presence, connections and showing of talents. This is the time when you get noticed and music marketing professionals will want to join your team . Thus, making you even more popular.
10. Failed to treat music as a career: Deciding to become an indie recording artist is a career choice. Yes it is. Sadly, I think 99% of the artists think of it as a hobby or just fun. This results to less commitment, professionalism and time devoted to master the art of singing, songwriting and stage performance. The very few who sacrifice other lucrative career opportunities for the sake of music are signs of success. It is because they are determined enough to take all odds to make their music business career a challenging and a very satisfying career. Based on actual experiences, a fear of rejection or failure as an indie artist is already a sign of failure. The root cause is to fail to treat music as a career, again by failing to plan.
But not Frank Colin of Gulture Enterprises.
