How to Become a Better Indie Artist?

How to Become a Better Indie Artist?

There are millions of songs playing and selling at all times, all across the world. In order to have your song noticed, you need to make it really good, or it will not take the listener a second to switch to another channel or artist. After making a good song that has won the hearts of fans, you need to continue making better, or you will be lost like thousands of others.

In my profession, I meet a lot of Indie artists and get a chance to discuss their work in detail. Most of them, I notice, consistently make some mistakes in their career. I write this to send a message to all of you who can relate to it.

1. Get a Producer

You say you don’t want to pay a producer and would rather save that money to buy a new instrument to be set-up in your home studio. You want to do your own production. Did you ever wonder why (most) superstars are not doing their own production? Why are they still paying the producers? Producers charge exorbitantly, true, get them still. They will make sure you are connected to someone who knows more than you about making records. It is always good to know the experts. You get to learn by absorbing all the knowledge and become better at art. You would rather make great records than collect musical instruments.

When you contact a label, it gets you connected with a lot of pros in writing lyrics, recording, business development, marketing, branding and distribution. All of them work together to make your music a success. If you think you know a bit about all of these, know also that it just makes you the jack of all trades. If you think you have made good music and the radio will be able to get you listeners, you are living in a different era, upgrade yourself.

2. Keep Getting Better at Your Work

Having said that, no label is going to develop talent in you. You have to prove yourself. All they care about is how much they can earn from the connections you have made and the fans that follow you. They are already successful. They are going to add your success to theirs to remain successful. Your talent is going to get you fans and your fans will get you investors and labels. So do not undermine the power of connections. Get on to the internet, start connecting. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter kind of platforms do not require any expertise and are the best place to advertise yourself. YouTube is the new radio. Upload all that you can, whenever you can, and make sure it is good. Listeners are searching for new videos all the time.

3. Choose the Best

An average input can never get you an awesome output. Instead of making 10 average songs, with the help of an average label that charges you an average amount, get your 3 best songs recorder by the best label you can find, and see the market respond. It is as important to market your music as it is to make it. If marketing did not have a role to play, you would not hear crappy music on the radio so often. So be smart, set aside a budget to get your label produced and marketed by the best label available, then just sit back and relax.

4. Keep Moving On

When we see the stars on TV, we only see the successful icons and forget about the story behind. Success does not come to those who are busy pondering over their mistakes. When you work, you make mistakes. Don’t let those mistakes put you down. Learn from your mistakes but don’t think too much about the loss; it only hampers your performance in the future. If you want to reach somewhere, you’ve got to keep moving on. And when you move on, remember that if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will keep getting what you’ve always got. Keep upgrading yourself. The world is moving on at the speed of light. The only thing that is permanent in life is change. Don’t let anything stop you!