So you’ve decided that you want to launch a professional career as a music artist. Your dulcet tones mesmerize anyone that listens to you sing. But, how can you make it big in the industry? As you probably know, launching a successful career in music can be a challenge even for the most talented of artists.
The good news is that you don’t have to rely on luck to help you on your musical journey. Nor do you have to pray for divine intervention! That’s because this handy cheat sheet will give you some inspiration on how to build the perfect strategy to launch your music career. Here is what you need to know:
Hire a recording studio for the day
Singing your songs live is one thing. But, if you want people to listen to them outside of live event venues, you need to have them recorded. Doing so in a professional recording studio ensures you capture your voice and any backing instruments and singers perfectly! As you can imagine, it also gives you the opportunity to fine-tune any musical arrangements.
Believe it or not, hiring a recording studio for the day won’t cost you a fortune. Sure, you could just save money and record your songs at home using an iPad and GarageBand or something. But, if you want to make it big in the music industry, you need to invest in yourself.
The main advantage of recording studios is that you can have professionals edit and mix your tracks according to your requirements. Once the tracks get finalized, you’ll understand why such an investment made sense.
Have your music put onto CDs
When you’ve got the finished tracks, the next step is to have them professionally duplicated onto CDs. There are a few steps to this process; thankfully, they are easy ones! First of all, you need to locate a company that can produce a batch of discs for you with labels printed onto them.
For the jewel cases, you must have some artwork and album information available to put in them. This step requires you to hire a graphic designer to come up with some beautiful album cover artwork. They can also produce the track listing and any information you’d like in the inserts. Once that’s done, you can have a printing center convert your artwork into printed jewel case inserts.
Sometimes, companies offering CD duplication also provide graphic design and printing services as add-ons. It’s worth getting a few quotes to find out which route is the most cost-effective for you.
Create a SoundCloud account
In case you didn’t know, SoundCloud offers a convenient way for artists to upload their music to the Internet. You can then direct people to your profile page and even embed your music into a web page (more on that in a moment). At the time of writing, you can upload up to three hours of music on a free SoundCloud account.
Assuming the recording studio you used gave you digital copies of your tracks, you can upload them directly to your SoundCloud account.
Create a website
Now that you’ve uploaded some or all of your music online, it’s time to start sharing it with the masses! Any artist hoping to make it big in the industry must have a website that fans and record labels can visit to learn more about you and your music.
You don’t need to be a web designer to create a website, nor do you even have to pay a professional to do it for you. Of course, if you’ve got the cash spare, the latter does help, but it isn’t mandatory.
The Web is full of easy to use online website creators. Examples include Wix, Moonfruit, and Weebly. You should also buy a domain name to link to your new site; many site builders offer this service as a value-added option.
When you build your website, be sure to include a page where people can listen to your music from it. As mentioned earlier, you can embed your tracks from SoundCloud onto a web page – and it’s easy to do.
Sign up to some social networks
Now you’re ready to start actively promoting your music! So far, you’ve got a website and a SoundCloud account where you can share your tracks with others. But, how can you tell the world about your amazing voice and songs? This is where social media can help!
Facebook and Twitter are two of the biggest social networks most people use. You can sign up to them for free and create public profiles for your music. There is full integration with those two platforms and SoundCloud, so it’s easy to share your songs on those social networks.
Facebook Together Exchange Of Information Twitter
Hire a PR company
Now that you’ve started building an online presence, it’s time to expand on that and also attract the interest of record labels and other interested parties like event venues. It makes sense to allocate some of your marketing budget to spend on using a PR company.
You might think that such providers only work with existing and well-known artists. But, if you need a music PR firm for an independent musician, there is a plethora of them around. What’s more, their fees won’t cost you the Earth so you can relax from a financial point of view!
Sell your music
Sadly, music artists can’t survive on love alone. To keep a roof over your head, you need to start selling your albums! While it’s great to have some free content online for download, you need to charge for most of your music for obvious reasons.
There are many ways that you can sell your albums. For instance, you could sell them through online e-commerce sites like Amazon and even on your own website. Another option is to enter a deal with streaming music services like Spotify and Apple iTunes.
And when you play gigs at each venue, be sure to have some of those CDs you had made available for fans to buy after each performance.
By now, you should be well on your way to gathering fans and followers of music. And, with a bit of luck, interest from one or more record labels!
Good luck!
