If you do not invest in your music, nobody else will.
I’ve noticed through my work that there seems to be a fairytale flying around the minds of musicians that has them thinking a record label will hear you rap or sing and then sign you and make you into a superstar. Newsflash, that’s not going to happen. There are too many great rappers and beautiful singers out there in the world for this to be reality. That is an outdated image of the music industry that only really could have been true before the age of the internet. In today’s world, an artist needs to invest in themselves at the beginning stages and must build their own momentum to get noticed.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS A BUSINESS
Some people seem to forget that the music industry is a business, or maybe they just don’t understand business in general. It’s about revenue. It’s about money. That’s what all businesses in all industries are about. A record label is not a charity, they are businesses and they act as such. Trust me, I wish we were living in some sort of socialist utopian society where everyone gets what they want, but we’re not, we’re living with the realities of capitalism. Although it may be disguised in some fancy words, the first thing a record label will want to know is how much money you’re making. Are you getting bookings? How much are you getting paid per show? Have you gotten any paid placements? Are there any royalties from these placements? They want to know this because they want to know how much money they can make. I’m sure your thinking that this description makes record labels sound evil. That simply is not the case, they’re just regular businesses looking after the bottom line. And guess what? They have something you need – Connections, brand power, huge marketing budgets, and amazing experienced teams. If you can build that momentum yourself and prove that your art is scalable, they have the tools to take it to the moon so that both the artist and label are getting nasty fat pay checks.
BUILD A HOMEGROWN MOVEMENT
Don’t spread yourself too thin, just conquer the town that you are in. Once that’s done, conquer the next town over. If you can pull 100 people from your town to a show CONSISTENTLY then you are well on your way to conquering that mini-market. Labels want to see this type of local success to know that it can be replicated in other towns and areas across the world. Throw nasty ass parties. Pack bars and clubs when you play. Have an epic house show that the whole town wants to attend. Once I realized I needed to create my own grassroots movement I got on my grind and got it done. Sure, my house became the shit show party house but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. And as a funny little bonus it turned out that I sold a shit ton of keg beer and made some cash which is...totally legal lol 😊 At the end of the day you need to do what it takes to build a grass roots movement. Below is a picture of me playing one of my house shows, I remember specifically that during this show the floor was shaking, luckily my piece of shit rented house did not collapse lol. The good times I had in this period of my life won’t soon be forgotten, but more importantly some of the relationships I made led me to where I am today.
LEGITIMIZE YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
I won’t spend much time here but it’s an important one. Go get a good website. Go get on the important social media sites and begin to build. And most importantly you need to make yourself highly searchable and easy to find. So often I will come across a musicians Instagram when I am talent scouting and it will peak my interest, but if I can’t find your music within one minute I’m on to the next. I wish we could all focus on only music but that’s just not the case in today’s world. Have all your socials and your email and website in any bio you have.
STAYING INDEPENDENT AS YOU GROW GIVES YOU THE POWER
If you can find success in building your own movement then you have the power as a musician. I encourage musicians to stay independent for as long as possible and grow independently as much as you can. The more money you make for yourself through music, the more labels will want you on their roster. To get up and running on this you need to invest in yourself. Go buy some good studio time instead of having your cousin record you in his bedroom closet. Go get e legitimate website. Go do some marketing on your social profiles. Slowly but surely your momentum and stats will rise and you will have more and more power in your conversations with labels. If you build the right amount of momentum yourself the labels will be asking YOU how much money it will take to work with you. If you get signed by a label and you had little or no momentum, you probably got fucked on your deal… Sorry bro.
Good luck folks, get out there and start building your musical momentum!