Profitable and Sustainable Music Careers Take A Lot of Work!

In order to become financially free in your music career, you will need to take a very different approach than the one that is taken by most musicians. You will need to approach your music career as both a “musical artist” AND as a businessman (or woman). You must run your career as a business, where your primary goal is to add as much value as possible to your fans, other bands, music company officials, and other people in the business of music.

Besides not being prepared to achieve success in the business side of music, many musicians fail to make a decent income in their careers because they make the following mistakes:

Not Taking The Time To Identify Your Market

Once you have become familiar with the value you have to give to the music industry, you will you need to find and identify the people who you will give value to. 

One of the most common mistakes made by musicians is that they spend the time to create an album, increase their musical skills, or work in another area of the music industry, but when it comes time to receive the payoff for their hard work, they have great difficulty making any money. This happens because they have not taken the time to build a database of customers who are ready and willing to pay for the value that the musician is offering. 

Not Having Solid Goals And Ways To Reach Them

To earn a good living in the music industry, you MUST develop a specific plan for how you will reach your goals. If you merely fantasize about making a lot of money, this is not enough to make this goal a reality. Rather than fantasizing, start working toward what you want to achieve by asking yourself the following questions:

1. What is your desired yearly income from your music career?
2. What are the sources of musical income that will make the amount in question 1 possible?
3. What action must you take to set up these sources of income?
4. How many ways can you ADD VALUE to your interactions with people in the music business? (Think of every possibility!)
5. How many ways can you eliminate risk for other people in the music business?

Thinking That Popularity = Making A Lot Of Money In The Music Industry

The truth is that some musicians (who are very popular) still work side jobs just to get by. By understanding this, you will be able to push ‘fame’ aside in order to focus on the most effective ways to work toward your goal of making a good living in music

Not Taking The Time To Set Up Various Music Related Sources Of Income

In order to make a good living in your music career, you must stop thinking from the mindset of obtaining a single sum of money as your main goal. Instead, you must work to build many different sources of musical income that go into your bank account on an ongoing, residual basis. 

Not Consistently Providing Additional Value To Other People In The Music Industry

If you want to make a lot of money in your music career, you will need to make it 110% clear that you are the number one choice when someone in the music industry must choose between you and your competitors. In fact, this must be TOTALLY clear before anyone has even listened to one second of your music!

 

Useful music business assessments and more insights/examples can be found on the original post.

You might also like: Developing A Hardcore Fan Base

 

Artists and Social Media: Some Tips

1. Start with the social media outlets you are comfortable with.

2.Be personal and authentic

3.Let the negative comments stay

(yup! People will come to your defence.)

4. Keep your Facebook fan page and personal profile separate.

5. You've got to hustle!

(Get rid of the misconception that merely posting stuff online will get you attention.)

6. Don't send out too many posts via social media.

(''On Twitter you can throw things out there pretty often, see what sticks and what gets retweeted. Use that to know what to post on Facebook.”)

7.Don't forget that Youtube is also a social network.

('Fans can subscribe to you, fans can interact with you through your channel.')

8. Pay attention to your analytics.

 

These are tips shared by music and digital experts at the New Music Seminar. Here's more details to each tip.)

Got any tried and tested tips that have worked for you, do share in the comment section below :)

You might also like: Push vs Pull Marketing: C'mon,Be Cool.

 

 

The Music Fan Experience (and its evolution throughout history)

What can we learn from a new generation of music fans?

 Remember the good old days of timing music countdown charts on radio to tape and re-tape your favourite songs? The pencil-cassette-celltape relationship? We broke numerous copyright laws,but it was such a dedicated fan affair!

The internet has since become an even more disruptive model for the traditional copyright music business model, but there have been disruptive fan experience models throughout history.

Developing a HardCore Fan Base

"A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living." (The 1000 True Fans Theory)

 

(image via kk.org)

Banking Beats: Africa's Music Economy

'Aid to Africa' has been a dominant theme in the media and political arenas for many years. Yet, despite the billions of dollars in development-related aid, many argue that it has done little to reduce poverty or stimulate economic growth. In contrast, the music industry in Africa has grown exponentially over the last decade and has had a direct impact on Africa's economy. African musical acts of varying genres have worldwide recognition, concert attendance numbers are in the tens of thousands, and homegrown music festivals draw a global audience. Examine the growth of the music economy in Africa and the opportunities it presents locally and internationally.

This was the official blurb for a SXSW 2012 Interactive Panel that saw Africa's rising music economy discussed. Thanks to Matthew Dawes ,one of the panelists, I was able to find the session's podcast, available here.

 

Also interesting to note that Society HAE have proposed a panel session for 2013's conference: The Promised Land: Can Africa Save The Music Biz?

Among other things, the panel proposes to focus to look at what Africa's growing economy and youth population mean for the Music Industry, as well as the partnership opportunities that exist locally for foreign investors, artists and record labels.

 

Let's wait and see if their panel proposal is selected, but I think the conversation can start/continue.

 

What do you make of Africa's music economy, as a consumer and/or producer? Feel free to share in the comments section :)

What Could You Teach Your Fans?

It's great that you can share with your fans on upcoming gigs,releases and other updates directly via your facebook page or twitter timeline, but sooner or later, a musician can pass off as snobbish and irritating ,especially for where you dedicate time to comment on or reply to fan messages. 

 

There's many ways to reach your bottom line as regards fans, whether it's getting them to buy CDs, attend a gig or earn you a 'most popular on social media' title by way of likes and follows. 

Have you ever asked yourself what else you have to offer your fans, other than entertainment? Insight, perhaps? Social commentary alongside other netizens? (Put yourself in a fan's shoes, would you like to only receive 'pushy' messages?)

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Mixtapes vs (Street)Albums vs EPs: Definitions

Informed by my curiosity as to whether every artist should aim for an album as a 'career catalogue', I went about the interwebs and came across this interesting XXL Magazine breakdownof three interesting ways in which musicians can and have used to showcase their talent/art. (Check out the original article for the author's interesting personal opinions.) 

(image from the original XXL Magazine article)

 

 

MIXTAPES: 

Before and outside of hip-hop, mixtapes were a combination of various songs put together by listeners, often for friends to get different songs. When hip-hop caught on in the ’80s, DJs, who were then often bigger than the artists, showcased their skills and taste by cutting up music, blending songs, and featuring new music.

In the ’90s, mixtapes primarily shifted into two categories. Blend tapes, which would take a capellas and verses and put them against different instrumentals. Or standard mixtapes, which were the definitive way to introduce new music and artists, and most lacked any technical DJ skills. Stars were made like DJ Clue, who Def Jam signed and went platinum just playing new unreleased music.

The Internet killed the ’90s definition of mixtapes.(Personal note: I'd say, the internet redefined mixtapes, case-in-point: Mixcrate) Blogs became the new DJs by becoming the sources for premiering new music, and many mixtape DJs at the time were forced into early retirement. A few stood at the end of the day, and became stars in their own rights, releasing projects formed entirely of original music with one specific artist/crew (and often original production). Now, these were always called mixtapes, yet often didn’t have any mixing or outside artists, and sometimes were better than artist’s official album releases.

STREET ALBUMS:

Although they’re distributed virally and organically, they aren’t really a mix of anything other than that artist’s original music (i.e. an album).

Artists are also releasing street albums/EP’s at the same time, so they can provide physical distribution in stores (and when people search for that artist in the world’s biggest music store, iTunes), while still giving away the music to the true hip-hop heads, blogs, and growing their buzz organically.

EPs(Extended Plays):

With artists needing music released in the marketplace, but not wanting to “officially” drop an album, EPs have become the current “it” thing to do in hip-hop. Many artists release EPs as a way to officially get out and monetize original music while building their buzz, without having the pressures of putting out a true album.

 Further reading led me to find this analysis of EPs, especially with the rise of the indie musician.

1. EPs mean more focus:

When you plan to release only 6 songs(for instance), you can spend more of your recording time (and money) focusing on those 6 songs. If this involves studio time, it can mean money saved or more attention paid to getting top notch tracks. If recording yourself, it means more time and freedom to experiment in the studio. And when it comes to mixing this can mean more time devoted to bringing out the little nuances in each mix, as opposed to,say, 12 songs.

2. EPs mean more music:

 With a traditional artist releasing a traditional full length album, that album will generally last about 2 years. Bands typically release a few singles off their album, go on tour for a year or so, and then get back into the studio to write and release a new album. This typically happens in 2 to 3 year cycles for an active band.

This means that in order to stay relevant to your fan base you must find other ways to connect with them in between albums. Usually touring is enough. But imagine for a moment if your band decided to put out 6 song EPs from now on. You could write, record, mix, and release your EP quicker than a full length album.

3. EPs mean more growth:

EPs allow musicians to express our musical growth to the world more frequently.

 

At the end of the day, the bottom line is and should be producing good music. All the above are just means of showcasing it. :)

 

Writing A Musician Bio That Doesn't Suck!

A bio can be a tough nut to crack for independent artists. So how do you write a good bio?

First of all, proper spelling and punctuation are imperative. Don’t have errors in your bio!  Have other people proofread your bio, especially if this isn’t one of your strengths. (I’ve been guilty of spelling and grammatical errors plenty of times myself – just make sure you don’t let yourself off the hook too easily. Proofread. Care. It matters)

Image courtesy of Shafali Caricatures.

‘Popular Expression in the “Silicon Savanna”: Perspectives on the Digitization of Art and Life in Kenya’

 

Organized by Dr. Mbugua wa Mungai (Kenyatta University) and Dr. Andrew J. Eisenberg (University of Oxford), with support from the Goethe Institut-Nairobi and the European Research Council’s ‘Music, Digitization, Mediation’ Research Programme based at the University of Oxford, UK.
 
While it remains to be seen whether the digital revolution will bring Kenya’s ‘Vision 2030′ to fruition, digital technologies are clearly transforming the landscape of Kenyan popular culture.

Apply for the Music Project by the D&F Academy: Learning for the 21st Century

The Dekeyser&Friends  Academy offers innovative learning that creates impact. Its new kind of education allows experienced personalities to pass on their knowledge to a group of young, diverse individuals, who learn hands-on and who use their new skills and knowledge to turn their dreams into reality. 

The Academy offers unique one-year educational programs in the areas of global issues, arts & culture and sports.

Fifteen international Fellows will travel to Hamburg for ten weeks in September 2012 to learn how they can use the power of music to inspire people. The Fellows will then spend the next ten months working on their own projects at home, supported by the D&F Academy. 

During the project our Fellows will benefit from the DreamLab, which is a series of workshops and skill sessions covering values such as passion and courage and includes essential skills like planning, budgeting and presentation skills, taught by inspiring speakers from a variety of fields – from artists to entrepreneurs! 

The 10 weeks Challenge phase in Hamburg is followed by the 10 months Implementation phase in the respective Fellow`s home country. During this phase each Fellow will implement their DreamPlan, for example a social music event or children music initiative of his or her own, with the support of the D&F Academy. During this whole time, Fellows will take part in an online curriculum and we will coach, mentor and advise them to get their own project off the ground!

Application Deadline is June 25th, 2012. Don't miss out on this opportunity.

You can apply here.

 

Overnight Success: Should You Wish For It?

Whether it's a generation Y (aka the popcorn generation) thing or a recurring dream in many a human being, overnight success crosses our minds. All the more so with art, and music. From obscurity to celebrity/sensation. It may form the perfect theme for tonight's midnight dream, but in reality, is this what we should be hoping for in our musical efforts?

Push Marketing vs Pull Marketing: C'mon, Be Cool.

With the world going online, we musicians have great opportunities to interact with existing fans, garner new ones, possibly go viral, even when no one can quite figure out why.

Haters and Trolls: How To Deal

For every great creative work put forth by the artistic mind,there may well be as much 'hating' as there is praise, and many a time, the haters' voice lingers on a bit longer,especially online. It can get overwhelming,after all we are human. But no matter how much trending twitter topics or Facebook post reshares of unflattering comments may strike a nerve,wisdom dictates taking it all in stride,acknowledging criticism in its diverse ways,and yes,even responding to it.