A career in the music industry…
Posted by: Michael R. Willow in .mrw, 2009, Blog, Music industry overview
There were a lot of discussions in this blog regarding the relationship between artists and record companies and generally how the show business works today.
In summary we have supported that the record companies restrict the artists a lot and the way the music is promoted today is different than 30 or 40 years before, more competitive but there are alternative ways for the artists.
Here I would like to give some tips of what the new artists can do in order to have their own career in music.
First of all it would be necessary to start music lessons and practice. For those who want to pursue a career as singers it would be more advisable to learn another instrument such like guitar or piano because this could help them with songwriting. Apart from that not only the show business is the way for a music career. It could also be music education or something related to education and music which requires music knowledge (teaching, music therapy).
The best thing that a young artist can do is to do everything independently because:
1) The major record companies do not care about unknown artists, furthermore they are not looking for skilled artists but mainly for people who can recycle easy, fast-food music. They promote only people from their own circle, people recommended to them and they don’t invest in new artists if the artists don?t already have an audience, if they?re not famous. Most of the small record labels have collapsed because of music piracy and those that still exist, cannot afford to support new bands as they know that nobody (or very few) will buy their albums. In addition to that, many of the small labels have been bought by the major labels.
2) It is 99% certain that the label will claim all the royalties from the record sales and put the artist/band in a strict program of lives from which the artist can get satisfactory income only if he/she becomes very famous.
3) The talent shows work good only if you have very strong connections and it is not the ideal society as the drug-sex culture is very often present.
Accounts like Myspace, and Youtube (others like Soundclick, Reverbnation) are necessary as there are a lot of people who visit to view videos. As I mentioned above, independence is the best way, but that requires self-advertisement which is expensive. However, sometimes the best advertisement is the word of mouth. That can be done with concerts, gigs etc? Itunes should also be used for music distribution providing the songs are properly produced. There are a lot of companies that distribute music to online stores such like iTunes, Amazon, Emusic etc. They get paid per month with a very small fee and never claim royalties. (A good suggestion is the Songcast Music Distribution)
A good way for the evolution of the artist is via education. That doesn?t mean that the artist has to remain a music teacher but via a music school there are a lot of opportunities. For example a music school can organize gigs or sponsor festivals where some teacher could perform. After a long time of teaching experience you can be a lecturer and, don?t forget, some bands are teachers (Rush, Dream Theater). Studying music in a prestigious school of music is certainly an asset as more career paths can open among high-level musicians.
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May 15th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
well breaking in is the big question for everybody, but without good songs they are not gonna go anywhere, or if they do (due to good connections) they are shortlived
May 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Great info. So many people are trying to make it and just don’t know how to break in. Love the blog!
May 10th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Wow this is good to know, I have some friend who trying to get into the business here in Japan. There are just so much Indies bands out here in Japan its hard for anyone to make it big.
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
This post is really interesting. I’m not in the entertainment, or music, field but I think your advice holds true for many pursuits. Often people have tunnel vision and only see one path to their goal. Your advice encourages the reader to investigate all the many paths that lead to the same place.
Thank you for sharing this!
Small Footprints
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 am
really helpful post, thanks for sharing.