The Music Industry as it is today.
Every aspiring musician is currently out there as a solo artist or in a band trying to get your music out to the world and make a living out of it. In the space of just a decade or so, the ways to make yourself heard through your music has evolved substantially.
Gone are the old days of the music industry where you would go to a gig and hope a record producer present in the crowd would recognize your undeniable talents and make an attempt to get you signed and then make you a star (i.e. everything would be done for you).
So then what are the new secrets to success in Music? Lets start of by unpacking the realities of the music industry as it is today. Just to be clear, this is entirely based on my opinions and the experiences I have had in my country (Nepal). In the current era, you cannot say that you are a vocalist or a guitarist or a producer, you have to be top notch at every aspect, i.e. you have to be a brand, not an individual. What i mean by that is that if you only view yourself as an artist, you are hoping for someone to do everything else for you, like in the old days. Nope, that ain't gonna fly now. You have to be a brand i.e. a free standing, self-sufficient individual who has a clear goal in mind and won't let anything stop him from reaching it. You have to be able to write your songs, compose it, produce it, mix it, make a video, edit it and then share it with the world, advertise and market your music, book your own gigs, sell your merchandise and so on.
It was a nice dream. As a kid growing up in the early 2000s, I always dreamt that I would get signed by a record label, be a musician and every thing would be just amazing and hunky dory. Alas, how wrong was I.
Gone are the old days of the music industry where you would go to a gig and hope a record producer present in the crowd would recognize your undeniable talents and make an attempt to get you signed and then make you a star (i.e. everything would be done for you).
So then what are the new secrets to success in Music? Lets start of by unpacking the realities of the music industry as it is today. Just to be clear, this is entirely based on my opinions and the experiences I have had in my country (Nepal). In the current era, you cannot say that you are a vocalist or a guitarist or a producer, you have to be top notch at every aspect, i.e. you have to be a brand, not an individual. What i mean by that is that if you only view yourself as an artist, you are hoping for someone to do everything else for you, like in the old days. Nope, that ain't gonna fly now. You have to be a brand i.e. a free standing, self-sufficient individual who has a clear goal in mind and won't let anything stop him from reaching it. You have to be able to write your songs, compose it, produce it, mix it, make a video, edit it and then share it with the world, advertise and market your music, book your own gigs, sell your merchandise and so on.
It was a nice dream. As a kid growing up in the early 2000s, I always dreamt that I would get signed by a record label, be a musician and every thing would be just amazing and hunky dory. Alas, how wrong was I.
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