The DIY Artist

...follow your success

This is for a DIY musician who hasn’t quite made it yet, but is well on their way. One quick advice, try to follow this if you are hungry for success and be sure to have just that: Success.

 

Key elements of the DIY musician

 

There are so many things about the way one builds a career that fits with what the entire idea of doing music is all about:

• Embrace the ‘freemium’ model, but let your fans still go and buy the same songs from iTunes et al;
• Do your 10,000 hours, and more on the music sites;
• Collaborate with exceptional talents to learn more to advance your own talent;
• Embrace Social Media to build a fan base;
• Stop looking for a record deal until you are sure that you are ready and has worked out who you are as an artist, what you wants and how to get where you want to go!;
• Engage yourself in activities that put you on the industry map;
• Leverage a brand association to give you a push ( this should be a result of all the above hard work);
• Have a functional, informative and active website at the center of your online presence.

Bombard agents and managers with tapes of GREAT complete trucks that you have already worked on as demos. Meet them and play a few tracks in your rehearsal room. Most managers as well as agents have done a lot of work with pop producers and writers who think that there might be something they could do to help. Be enamored of involvements with other major artists – be their massive fan and use the platform of being around them during gigs to reach your fan base too. Get a good manager with pop contacts who is ready to toil with you all the way.

 

Keep going!

 

Don’t give no matter what happens.

Turn your challenges around and take calculated risks knowing in advance what’s the worst that could happen if you tripped even just a bit. Your talent needs to have that chance. Read The Story of Success.

 

And, following on from that, take the time to focus on your own music before floundering around desperately looking for a record deal.

On your site, write pieces of articles explaining to your fans why you aren’t signed to a record label, yet! How cool is that?! In fact, I can’t ever recall someone being so upfront about their plans, clearly stating that you have ambition but also making the fans feel that they are right there in it with you.

The reason is that there are certain things that you need to do first to give you the best chance of succeeding in the future and also allow yourself the time to experiment and create the music you really want to make. It’s also in having loads of fun while pursuing your talent and that is what it’s all about.

 

The most important thing is to keep getting your music out there to as many people as possible and hopefully finding new fans along the way. The best way to do this is to continue making your music available for your fans to listen to while not being afraid to develop your sound as you go along. Keep touring whenever you get the required resources, practicing, and perfecting your live performances. At the same time, start releasing your own records independently for a while. Now this could such a hell of a bad time with enough challenges to complete the package, but you have to grow through that.

 

And, let your site be a paragon of ‘best practice’ for all the other artists you hang around– lots and lots of free music, but there’s a shop too, lots of social media links, and an email sign-up. However, don’t fall into the habit of asking people to trade an email for the free music, which I in fact recommend, but instead come right out and ask your fans to tweet or post on their Facebook page and other social networks you might be a part of, but don’t overdo it. – And ask for their opinions on your music.

 

Most of all, it comes across as completely genuine.

 

Songwriting secret

 

Hoping that you have the good fortune (born of your hard work,) write lyrics with some of the very successful songwriters – and whilst doing so, do the right thing – listened and learned.

Get yourself the guide to “scientific” songwriting. It’s a very specific method. Songwriters in this discipline write lots of different bits, lots of melodies and after the lyrics are written, they pick the four or five of the very best. You could write 25 melodies for one song and only four or five of those shall be chosen, so you never know how a song is going to turn out. But it works. It’s a tip worth knowing!

 

I hope that after reading this, you’ll grow from this pivotal moment and become a smart artist. You know you have the talent and are trying to uncover your art before looking for mainstream success. Chances are, you’ll become a household name with a great deal of musical integrity.

 

What can every DIY musician take from this? Well, watch your steps, dedication to honing your talent and the way you use the modern online world to build a fan base before you look for success and a helping hand. Sure you may be lucky, but let that luck comes from your hard work.

 

(Adapted from 'Music Marketing' by Chris Rocket)