Starting a Career in Music

About two decades ago, the whole concept of earning a living through music required very sophisticated maneuvers and various professionals to even scratch the surface. That was when only Big labels with huge budgets could succeed in the game. You could call that period the "analog Era". That was so because the process of getting the music to the people usually involved huge expenses, energy and resources . Talk about radio, TV and the vinyl. 

One would really need to personally walk into a radio station and beg them to spin your music. Sometimes give tips to OAPs and DJ; plus you would also need to duplicate several thousand copies of your CD for distribution to DJs so that they could jam your music at their gigs... and you may also need to give tips as well. Those days DJs used turntables that were compatible with only CDs. But times have changed now and the process is relatively easier and more effective. But i hope you can appreciate the degree of effort and expenses required to make it all happen in those days. You can imagine the expenses involved. 

Let us delve a little into the actual process of producing the music itself. The ease brought about by the likes of your popular Cubase, FL studio, Logic Pro etc, was not available then; everything was analog. Meaning you'd actually need musicians to play the tones you need. So for instance, if your genre of music requires guitar lines, Drum sets, Saxophones, Bass lines, Violins etc; you would need to practically contract individuals who play each instrument professionally to achieve the sequences required. These makes the budget for even a single track very expensive. And you also need to make provisions for the days of rehearsals... fees are involved. You don't even want to think of producing a music video then without a budget that can pull down the roof.

Thank God that era is now history. Today, all you need to produce a track might just be one individual who knows how to play the Keyboard and also understands how to sequence drums and other instrument for any particular genre. This is so because with the keyboard and tone generators, any instrument can be simulated using the MIDI functionality with the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

The New Era:

Producing music now is very easy and effective. So that anyone who has the 'calling' can practically begin to make a living within the shortest period possible... and with minimal effort. The is possible because technology has made everything flawlessly simple. We call this period the "Digital Era". Yep! This is the Era where everything has been digitized. Production equipment has been greatly shrunk and manpower reduced efficiently as mentioned above. All you need nowadays is just one individual to sequence all the needed instrument. The probability of earning a decent living from music has been greatly improved due to the advent of advanced technology.

Communication is now at the finger tip and every body and any body can be reached via the social networking environment. Businesses have harnessed the possibilities brought about by this era... and thank God, music business has not been left behind. Yes! It is now easier and faster to make it in the current music industry globally than ever before. You are no longer constrained by distance or finance. All you need now to succeed is the "right" information and network. 

And that is why you should continue reading this article.

The good news, however is that you do not need a huge budget to start a career in music any longer. As we progress in this course, we shall discuss the easiest ways to produce quality music. But assuming we just want to concentrate on HOW TO EARN A LIVING WITH YOUR MUSIC, i shall just start by highlighting the basic foundation requirements for success in this  venture. 

You need to set up the right infrastructure. 

Read on to unravel this ever important structure for success in the music business. 

The first thing you need in order to achieve success in the trade is an impressive presence on social media. You need to grow your social capital (Followers). These followers are going to form the first layer of supporters and prospective consumers of your music; in other words... your customers. They will help you make money. In subsequent articles, i shall show you how they can actually help you do that. The good thing about the whole prospect is that they get to do this without necessarily spending a dine of their own money. They do not need to spend their physical currency. Beautiful, isn't it?

READ ON...

It makes great sense for you to build your followers. To build followers, you need to register an account with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. There are others, but these three are the most popular ones in recent times. These social networks have helped many A' List artistes, as you know them, become famous and rich. There is a way these networks enable wealth growth and every serious artiste need to work his or her way to it. We shall also discuss that  in future considerations. Right now, it is just cool to say "Please get a social network presence". The interesting thing is that... it is ABSOLUTELY FREE.

What Next...

Once you have registered on these networks, the next step is to begin to interact with people by making friends. You make more friends when you are active on those platforms. Being active simply means updating your timeline frequently with useful and interesting materials; while also interacting with other peoples updates. You should make effort to learn how each of these platforms operate. One of the key thing to remember here is that...

YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY MONEY, IF YOU CAN NOT BE FOUND ON THE SOCIAL NETWORKING COMMUNITY.

The first thing you must strive to achieve on these different platforms with your profile is to define who you are. That is what the profile photo and status space is meant for. You must make it clear that you are an artiste. People need to have an idea of what to expect from you as a friend on social media. That way, it is no longer strange when you ask them give their opinion about your next single. And it also helps you decide what kind of interactions you can expect. Now how do you achieve that with your profile photo and status message!

Well! It is very simple: Have a graphic artiste design a beautiful art cover for you. Put it up as your profile pix and you are good to go. For a status message, simply write a brief introduction of yourself. 

For Example: 

"Hi, I am Oritse Femi; singer/song writer & Performing artiste"

"When you think quality music, you think Toritseju aka Flekta Man"

"Davido is an AfroPop artiste from Nigeria"

The above examples shows how easy an artiste status message can be. It is usually an introduction of the person in question. There are no fast rules about it at all.  Any body can do this, don't you think?

The next thing is mandatory to ensure that your songs is on digital stores around the world. In case you do not know what digital stores are... READ THIS! 

You will have positioned yourself to start making money once your song/songs are placed on those digital store. Below are a list of the popular digital distribution platforms:

iTunes

Spotify

Apple Music

Spinlet

MTN music Plus etc

It is also noteworthy that you can not just submit your music to these platforms on your own; you would need those that are referred to as "Distributors". Some of the popular ones are TUNECORE, CD BABY, DISTROKID, SYMPHONIC etc

But remember, just having your material on this platforms does not automatically guaranty instant money. You still need to market the links provided for you by the distributors.

The secret is VOLUME. Yes! start amassing your revenue from the One Cents to the thousands of $Dollars. The more friends to whom you market your links, the more revenue that will pour in. So when you start marketing to your friends, also indulge them to share to their own friends. And in a matter of hours, your link will be on millions of timelines across the globe...and that means huge income.

Having understood how to start earning income with your music, it pertinent that you also know which distribution company is ideal to work with and why you need them. Stay glued to this blog for all the info on MusicBiz