Preparing Your Music For Opportunities As A Independent Artist
Have you ever heard the term opportunity meets preparation? Well it’s absolutely true! Surely you don’t want to run into an opportunity and you are not prepared to take advantage of it right? Many of us are never prepared for that one instance where we may get that chance to break through. Then we sit back and wonder why we never can get a break. Next we start to blame everything and anything around us for our misfortune, when the fact remains we were not prepared.
Being unprepared can be easily corrected with planning. As a musician a simple action, such as keeping your latest music on your cell phone is good planning. Why you may ask? Because we are in a mobile and digital age. What if you attended a casual party and you ran into a music professional and after you introduced yourself they were interested in hearing your music. With something as simple as watts app you can message them your catalog directly. Waiting to get their email and then sending your music the next day is giving yourself greater chances to lose that opportunity. They may not remember you the next day.
Many independent artist neglect this next subject that is vital in the preparation of their music. Its been mentioned several times. Get your music mastered! Some artist, feel it is okay to put out music that is not mastered. The truth is, it’s not okay. Whether you like it or not, if you are serious about your music as a career at some point it will become a business. You are going up against talented artist who are seeking fans, just as much as you are. You need to put your best forward. Many independent artist, are investing into their brand and catalog of music and you must do the same to become successful. Take the time to get a mix and master done to the songs you know are going to grab people’s attention before you release your music. You don’t want to miss the opportunity of grabbing the attention of a new fan.
Another mistake is artist do not take steps to put in place agreements, if they are collaborating with other artist. What’s going to happen if you work with another songwriter or producer and no points of percentages have been agreed upon? Then the song go’s international, you open yourself up to lawsuits. Now all the royalties you have earned are tied up, because of one simple preparation that was neglected. Artist must put in place agreements with collaborators and other contributors to a project. Usually when there is only 1 song writer and 1 producer its usually 50/50 on a split, but when other people are involved there’s more people to feed. Get your songwriting and publishing splits figured out before any release of a record. You never know what can happen with the song.
There are many things you can do to better prepare yourself as an independent artist. It would be impossible to cover everything in one passage though. Thankfully these are some of the pointers you can start with, to open your mind up to creating ideas to make yourself prepared as a independent artist. Look out for more valuable information like this and follow us on instagram and youtube.
Regards
Jae