HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN MUSIC?
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN MUSIC?
The real reason why this platform and show were created was because of you and the problem you are trying to solve… which lead us to the Billion Dollar question – “How to be Successful in Music?”
Yes! if there is a common ground, something that we all are trying to resolve that would be our main biggest challenge amongst musicians, recording artists, producers, bands, composers and even creative genius, is expressed in this question!
When looking for answers, one by observation can conclude several things:
That talent is not a guarantee for fame and fortune and a successful career. Want a good example? One of the greatest musicians that ever walked on earth, died young, broke, sick and was buried in a common ditch.
– His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
He is more famous after his death than when he was alive, since he was extremely criticized for his music and personality.
Unfortunately, he was not by far the only one. I am not here trying to make sense out of this scenario or judge what is right and wrong about it, of someone as talented and gifted as Mozart having such a dramatic life and undeserved end.
All I am trying to do is to make a point so we can get closer and closer to the key that solves the problem!
Now a lot off the “EXPERTS” will tell us, that the way to success is this and that, and the other, but when you actually ignore the movement of their lips and the disturbing sound coming out of their mouths, you come to realize they don’t know what the f**k they are talking about.
I have personally been searching for the answer to this question for quite some time now and I am not the only one!
After a lot of work and research, on the lives of real successful people in music, and the power players of the music industry, I have found that these are the common things that successful musicians, recording artists and people in the music industry have done in order to achieve their level of Music Success:
1. TALENT
You need to have talent. Lots of it! Talent is simple… either you have it or not! It’s that simple. If you don’t have talent for music stop wasting your time and other people’s time and move on. Be honest with yourself.
Its ok to love music and play in a band with friends. But if this is not something you really passionate about or just a fad of the moment… do yourself a favor, find what you really talented about and pursue that as a career. I promise you will be much happier and more successful.
Everybody has got a great talent (or more the one), and I mean everybody. I traveled all over the world and lived in several countries and NEVER have I met someone that on close inspection would not have a great talent at something. This will be something they are really good at or can become really successful at it! They may not know it, but they are full responsible to find out what it is and to become great at it. Find your great talent!
2. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS
In order to get somewhere you need to know where you are going or otherwise you will eventually get some place that you don’t really want to be.
Most people I observed are living other people’s goals! Either their parents goals, or what society expects of them, etc. It’s really sad, because even if they get there, they will be unhappy and miserable.
Find out what you really want. Then write it down. It’s a process, so don’t worry if the goals you wrote on last year are different from what you wrote on today. People evolve and so do goals.
3. GREAT SONGS
You have to have great songs. Create a repertoire of great songs. Either you write your own songs or play other people’s song, the rule is ALWAYS, have great songs in your repertoire.
A great song makes a great artist, a great artist does not make a bad song great.
4. PERFORMING
Play live as much as possible. Always over deliver by giving a great performance! Become a great memorable performer.
People will start talking about you by word of mouth. Did you notice that people never forget a great concert they went to!
Being a performer is an Art. Find out how to be a great performer. Learn from the great ones.
5. BE PROFESSIONAL
Be really good at what your do. Develop your skills and your art. Master your craft. Either its singing, playing an instrument or songwriting, become a professional at what you do. The 10,000 hours’ rule applies.
And by the way learning is a continuous process so don’t think once you made it stops there. The real great artists and musicians continue to learn, practice and develop their craft.
6. THE DREAM TEAM
Surround yourself with a great team. Either is the band you play with or the sound engineer or the music manger, booking agent, Lawyer etc. Surround yourself with and work always with great people.
Don’t work with wanna-bees, dilettantes, dishonest or unprofessional people. They will waste your time, money, and create problems for you.
Remove negative, back-stabbing, haters and trolls out of your life. The people that surround you will determine your future either good or bad. They either make you or break you.
Remember nobody in this life makes it alone, no matter what they say, much less “self-made men”.
So choose carefully, the people that surround you. Choose like your life will depend on it. Because your life does depend on it!
7. IMAGE & STYLE
Define your look & style. What is it about? Create an image. Is it cool, is it sexy? is it an interesting visual or is it intriguing? does it have mystery?
Look at professionals, artists and celebrities. Define their look and style. Do it as an exercise. What is it about that artist or celebrity that is interesting, appealing or mysterious? Are they funny?
Do it until you can spot it easily on others. Then create your own until you are happy with it. Practice it, live it, breath it, dress up for the job.
It’s a way of life it’s not just for the camera! It’s how you act, what you do and how you do it. The impression you cause when you come into a room. Do you own the space? Are people interested in you as a creative person?
Don’t get me wrong this is not about being arrogant, narcissistic or an idiot with other people. Treating people with respect will get you further than anything else.
8. YOUR SOUND
Define your sound. All the great ones have a recognizable sound. The minute you put their music on, the first few seconds you can guess who that belongs to.
Create a sound that you are instantly is recognized for, when your songs play.
This takes hard work. Don’t take the sounds you get from sound libraries, or effects units or just copy-cat the voice tone of your favorite super star. That’s what everybody does!
Create your own unique universe of recognizable sound.
9. YOUR BRAND
Define what do you stand for. What are your core values, the things you stand for and are part of your brand.
Create an amazing, professional Press Kit: with photos, music, bio and presentation materials.
Create professional graphics, for your music with a memorable logo that can be used in posters, flyers, press releases, letters, business cards, stationery, websites, and CD covers.
Merchandise is part of your brand and a great promotion tool that is also a great way to generate income.
There are bands and artists that generate millions of dollars with their merchandise. Of course they are constantly playing live and touring, so don’t think you are just going to put it online in your website and it will sell. You got to drive in public traffic to make sales.
10. PERSISTENCE
It is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Do you have whatever it takes to live your dreams? Are you ready for Music Success?
Mental strength is like a muscle, in order to be strong mentally you have to use it. You are going to get a lot of NOs and will fail many times, before you actually achieve SUCCESS! Do you have what it takes to achieve Music Success?
Some of the most successful musicians out there are people who simply never stopped making their own music, performing it regularly. Most artists termed “overnight successes” are in reality years in the making.
11. KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
The horror stories of countless musicians and bands that have been conned in the music industry are by the thousands. They lost everything!
Do you want to lose everything after you hard work sweat and tears?
Only an idiot gives power over their live to others. It’s called a slavery.
If you don’t take full responsibility for your life and career as a musician you don’t belong in Music to begin with.
Take responsibility. Learn the basics of the music business, so that even when you are talking to an entertainment lawyer you can tell if they know their business, the music business.
Know your business. Your music business, because YOU are the Business.
– Rui
12. NETWORK
Your Net worth is your Network. You have got to get in front of people and meet people, connect with them, and if you are not good at that then you should team up with somebody that is really good at it and can introduce you and promote you like hell.
Meeting people, connecting with them, collaborating with others can take you really far in your career. And I am not talking about socializing, I am talking about connecting and collaborating.
If you are afraid of meeting people you should make your goal to meet TONs of people until you are so good at it, that everyone wants to meet you.
13. RESPONSABILITY
You are fully responsible for your SUCCESS or lack of it! You are the Captain of your Soul the Master of your destiny.
Don’t bitch about how the Music Industry sucks, we already know that! You will look really bad and people will say that you are full of excuses and a whiner.
Yes, the Music Industry sucks, and it sucks badly. But the real question is what are you going to do about it? To make it better, to make it the way it should be.
Take responsibility for it. Together we can make it better, even better than it ever was! Take full responsibility for your career and your Music Success. People who take full responsibility don’t whine.
14. WORK ETHIC
Work ethic is more important than talent. Don’t get me wrong you need talent, real talent. The more talent the better.
But work ethic will beat every time the most talent person in the world that has not work ethic.
The ratio is 10% talent, 90% work ethic. If you have lots of both… You Are a Star!
15. MONEY
Money is energy. And you will need lots of it to breakthrough worldwide as a musician, artist or band if that’s your goal.
In the old days without a major record label you would not make it to stardom. That is not quite the case nowadays since there are artists who made it in small independent record labels and then signed a co-deal with major record labels to break it through.
The future is bright, but make no mistake. To go where you want to go you need money. You have crowdfunding, loan service, patron, private investor, publicity deals etc. Be creative on how you can raise money to fund your career.
16. MENTORS
All great musicians, Recording Artists, Bands etc. had mentors. In some cases they learned from them directly. In other cases they used their books, training programs or simply follow them along. But nevertheless they had one.
Ideally you should have access to your Mentor but it is not a must as long as you have access to their materials, teachings and music.
17. FAN BASE
Nowhere in history were fans so close to their artist and their music as now. Due to the internet and social media the world open-up. And you need to connect to your Fan Base, not only at live events but also on social media and online live events.
18. CREATE A BUZZ
Great music, great images, online presence is key, fan base when you play live, etc.
There are some musicians, bands, producers, songwriters and recording artists that are really good at this, others don’t know how to create a buzz.
If you are not good at it get somebody that is good, and willing to work with you to take you from anonymous to celebrity status.
Remember you don’t want to compete you want to DOMINATE your space.
Create a BIG BUZZ.
19. TIME MANAGEMENT
You need to make a choice on how you spend your time. If you prefer to see TV reality shows or the bad news that they create every day, instead of working on your Music, your brand or your career then you are definitely not going to be successful.
Successful people set priorities based on what’s important to them. They plan their time ahead, and make everything possible to not waste any time. Time is money. Actually time is more important than money, because you can always make more money but you can never recoup the time you lost, its gone! You can however delegate tasks to create more time in your life.
20. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Don’t stop educating yourself you need to keep expanding as an individual besides your training in the craft. In order to be motivated you need to be exposed to motivational material, that could be a book a video an audio program etc.
Know Thyself. Know Your strengths and Weaknesses. And NO, this is not from a Kung Fu movie. It’s personal development. You need to know your strengths and amplify them. And you need to know your weaknesses and eliminate them. All the great ones know what they are able to do, their abilities, skills, experience, etc. But they also know very well what they are not good at and they simply eliminate that.
Music Success was created to coach you, to inspire you, to motivate you, so that you have a place where you can come and be supported in your goals and dreams. Your Success is my Success so remember to…
