Nowadays it’s easier than ever to create music on your own. Most people can easily afford good enough studio equipment to launch their music career or just pay for studio time elsewhere.
Yet, that also means the music market is more saturated than ever…
That’s why you NEED to stand out with your art to achieve even a minor commercial success.
The Most Important Dilemma For Every Musician
Starting a professional music career requires some planning in terms of time, effort, finances, and strategy. In my opinion, defining your music creation process is the first step you have to take.
Most artists don’t make it in the music industry because of their lack of clear direction and strategy…
…The truth is that some artists are more capable of doing more songs without too much polishing and others prefer to drop rarely, but with exceptional production quality.
Some artists can do both, but they develop this skill after years of practice. Having a head start is possible only when you have fewer things to focus on.
How to determine which type of artist are you?
Nobody creates something 100% unique. We all get inspired by other small or big musicians without even realizing it.
However, if you are conscious of these influences, building your style of work gets much easier.
Here is a trick for you:
Create a list of the top artists you’re listening to. You can also check your stats in your Spotify account if you don’t remember exactly who are you listeting to (Other music distributors show you this data too)
It’s okay to get inspired.
We are surrounded by music all the time after all…
Yet, take advantage of these inspirations with caution in mind since the borderline between “being inspired” and “copying someone” is so thin.
When you are aware of your artistic influences, you can also think about who are you and what are your values in life.
Oddly enough, the way you make music is closely related to the way you live.
For instance, people who are spontaneous, easygoing, and open-minded tend to do their art without much preparation — they simply go with the flow.
On the other hand, people who use the logical part of the brain more, like to create systems and frameworks with much more planning.
Of course, there are exceptions and you can get much deeper into the connection between personality and art, but I’ll leave this for another article or video.
Everything begins and ends with practice.
We can all think for days about what we want to record, which genre suits our voice and personality best, but at the end of the day, practice is what helps you build your style.
I don’t know if that’s true, but the rapper Young Thug (who I’m a fan of) has recorded over 10 000 songs before gaining confidence in his extraordinary style.
This doesn’t mean you have to record the same amount of songs before finding your style, but you have to put in some time for sure.
It’s actually more about being confident with your voice and delivery instead of building a specific formula.
Many people have angel-like voices and still have little to zero confidence in their sound.
That’s why you also have to feel like your voice is worth being heard. If you don’t feel that way, you’ll spend much more time in the studio before getting your first decent paychecks.
In conclusion
Determining whether you will focus more on quality or quantity is upon you and the points I mentioned above. Since the market is more saturated than ever, doing something “out of the box” is a good strategy to get noticed.
However, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If you decide to invest all your money into a single project, you’ll probably have to lick your wounds for a long time, which might slow down your growth significantly.
Look at what you have in your stash in terms of experience, connections, money, time, and character. If you carefully examine your resources, making this decision will be much easier.
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Stay tuned for more content!