Introduction
Nowadays, most aspiring music producers often neglect some of the most important skills required to be musicians. Even though these skills are not related to music only, they are still crucial to building your brand name in the music industry and growing professionally.
Since there are so many great musicians out there, one needs to more than just be able to sing. Most music industry professionals and agents look for a whole package in an artist before they start working with them. Let’s dive into the details of that full package necessary for every music professional to get themselves going.
Most music labels and agencies look for artists that have:
- A sound fan base across the cities.
- Should be performing at shows frequently.
- A clean look and sound that goes with the body language.
- Social media presence.
- Been putting out frequent content (new tracks, music videos) and has a playlist of songs.
In today’s music industry, it not just about releasing songs anymore. You have to be an all-rounder when it comes to doing business as well. And you should be able to make your music profitable and generate some revenue to attract music labels and production houses.
But when you are just a budding independent artist who is starting out, you may not have all these required skills. But you shouldn’t get disheartened; you must plan strategically to get yourself out there and learn all the necessary and top skills needed to be a musician and grow in this music industry.
Listed below are the top 5 skills you need to become a musician:
1. Content Management
Creating new music and tracks is very crucial but at the same time, churning out good quality content is also very important if you are a music artist. Being a content creator, one the primary skills of being a musician or a singer. The content created will drive your social media handles and blogs and enhance your website engagements and reach. Hence, the content you make must be entertaining as well as informative and educational at the same time.
You will have to be a bit topical with your content and make music associated with that content. If you make music for regional audiences, it will make sense if you make music related to any social issues in the region that will connect with more and more people. You can derive your music angle around a global topic as well.
2. Website Development
Website designing is very important for every musician. You must have a website of your own that you can leverage to sell you talent and be attractive and impressive enough to allure musical contracts. You can learn website designing from various tutorials available online for free. WordPress is also a great platform for designing your website and is very easy to use.
3. Branding
This term came into use very recently, but the conceptualization of branding a music artist has been there since day one. Initially, branding of musicians was done by music labels, but today it is expected from the artists. It has become more personal lately. An artist is always an epitome of certain beliefs, and mostly this belief is only when the artist is in the public spotlight. And in other cases, the artist also lives the stage persona in real life as well.
The best part about branding is that it is exactly how your personality is. The way you look, how you sound, the way you behave, and the list goes on. Personal branding is a vital part of building your social media presence, and in fact, social media is the fastest and most easiest way to become distinguishable and recognizable amongst a herd of artists out there.
4. Marketing
Once you get a hold of yourself and you determine what kind of artist you are, it is time to get yourself out there. Great marketing is also as significant as making great music and most of the music artists forget this aspect or don’t know how to approach a good marketing strategy for themselves. As branding and marketing go hand in hand, writing about what defines your new project using very few words is a good place to start with.
By representing yourself as you are, you can get yourself in front of the right kind of people working with you in your upcoming projects. You can then invest your efforts, money, and time into an audience that will be interested in listening to your music.
5. Self-discipline
Self-discipline is an extraordinary skill that is crucial in all professions, it does not matter if you are a musician or not. Everyone admires punctuality, be it your client, employer, or your fans. Everyone should know how to plan their schedule and manage their time in order to be prompt in completing their work. Musicians must always be on time for their music rehearsals and should also be able to finish their goals to make time for their practice sessions.
Wrap Up
Being a musician, one should think about how the above-mentioned skills can be applied to the projects and if these skills will cater to your musical aspirations and goals. Then, it would help if you planned a strategy on how to inculcate these skills to become a pro and serve a full package when signing a contract with music labels and agencies.
