Are you one of those dreaming of becoming a great musician and producing music for people to enjoy and be moved with? If yes, you’re in the right place, especially if you’re looking out on how you can start working on that goal.
Just like every other objective, sometimes it can get overwhelming or nerve-wracking when you’re just starting. So, here are some little and practical steps you can do now to start your journey to becoming a musician.
- Make sure you have a way to make a living
In simple words, make sure you have a day job or another source of income. Well, this may not apply to you if you’re financially well off, but for the rest out there, this should be a topmost priority. You should be able to pay your bills first to make yourself afloat while you make music on the side. It’s highly not practical and smart to just drop everything and try to make a living off music right to the bat.
To help in building your career in the future, you can even have a job by interning or working in a position related to music such as venues, labels, etc. Even teaching music as a side gig can supplement your income and help you practice your skills.
Another opportunity you can grab from having a day job is learning the cash flow in the industry. You can apply your learnings in main events like live performances, selling merch, and music licensing. Understanding and maximizing these options improve your chances of transitioning from your day job to doing music full-time
- Set goals and plan
Do you already have a good idea or image of where you want to go with your career? If not yet, it’s already time for you to set realistic goals. Reflect and understand well what it is you want so that slowly, you can create practical plans in getting there.
Everyone has different aspirations, especially in the music industry. You may just want to make music and get sync licensing deals for commercials or movies, you may want to be a performing artist and tour around the world as an independent, or maybe you just want to produce tracks for other artists. Whatever your goal is, it’s better to set a specific one so that you’ll know exactly where you can start.
- Have a lot of patience
As natural as life gets, everything doesn’t always go your way. There may be times when you’re doing well and having more gigs than usual, and then there are other times when you just feel like you’re not moving closer to your goal. In the music industry, where you rely on people’s interest in your music as your success, it’s not an easy job. This is why one excellent quality an aspiring musician like you must have is a long patience.
You will need a lot of patience in terms of mastering your craft and getting people to appreciate your music. Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight! It takes a lot of time and effort to be a truly great and successful musician.
- Keep on making music
Practicing your craft as often as you can is one great way to make yourself be the musician you want to be. Take every opportunity you can and keep on improving your music. To help you with that, here’s a smart tip, record yourself frequently, and listen carefully. Through this, you’ll learn more about your capabilities in the field of music and maybe find ways on how you can improve it.
With the industry you’re about to go in, you’ll also be expected to produce more quality music, mostly when you’ve made yourself known already. So, starting now, keep on refining your talents and skills. Whether it’s singing, producing, or even rapping, keep practicing and learning. Doing so would help you make things a little bit easier once you’re already in the music industry. Never stop developing yourself as an artist!
- Gain exposure and perform often
If you feel confident now venturing out there and sharing your works with others, it’s time for you to find a way that they will hear your music. The more people hear your work, the more you are likely to find a job. Some ways you can get exposure may take in forms of auditions, recitals, or open mics.
But you know what’s another excellent source of exposure at our time now? The Internet, where people spend most of their time. There are websites like Wix.com, Spotify, or Soundcloud, and they are for aspiring musicians like you, where you can create an online forum for recording and marketing your work. There’s also YouTube, where it’s very easy to create your channel and post videos of your masterpieces.
Conclusion
They all must sound challenging to you right now, but hopefully, this has helped you get a better idea and a bigger perspective on your goals as a musician. Also, I hope these help you through your musical journey!