When it comes to growing your music skills and building your music business, everyone has their own pace. The key is choosing the path that suits your goals and lifestyle. So, where do you fit in?
Option 1: Fast-Paced (Full-Time Commitment)
- Time: 40 hours a week
- Goal: 6-8 songs per year
- Focus: Maximum effort with specific growth targets
Option 2: Medium Pace (Part-Time Commitment)
- Time: 20 hours a week
- Goal: 4 songs per year
- Focus: Steady progress with balanced growth
Option 3: Slow and Steady (Casual Commitment)
- Time: 4-8 hours a week
- Goal: Consistent but slower progress
- Focus: Long-term growth with minimal time investment
Product Development
The foundation of any successful music career is a strong product pipeline. Here’s how you can structure your creative process:
- Create a Pile of Songs: Focus on quantity to develop ideas.
- Finalize 2-3 Songs for Release: Narrow down your best work.
- Create Artwork: Design compelling visuals to accompany your releases.
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Release Assets: Prepare everything for your first song release, including:
- Main video
- VIP mixes or remixes
- Merchandise
- Behind-the-scenes content for social media
Artist Branding Development
A key question: What are you trying to say with your music and your image?
- What do you look like?
- How do you want to serve your audience?
You can either wait until your brand feels rock-solid or put out releases while you continue to develop. There’s no “right” way. Both methods take time, and you’ll grow as an artist either way.
Social Media Development
“Can’t I just create a viral video and avoid all this work?”
Yes and no. Viral videos can fast-track your exposure, but here’s the catch: what will people see when they discover you?
I’ve gone viral before, but I didn’t have systems in place to capitalize on it. My phone rang with gig offers, but I didn’t have a link to my album or website on the video. Another time, I got over 5,000 downloads on a free pack, but I didn’t capture any emails or upsell. The exposure stopped there.
Here’s the deal: Set yourself up for success while building your music, brand, and products, and things will fall into place when the time is right. After all, the music business is all about timing.
The Business of Music
There are many ways to go about building your music career—whether solo or by adding team members or collaborators. You can hire marketing, social media, and promotion teams, but that comes at a cost.
My advice? Learn to do as much as you can yourself in the beginning. These foundational skills will pay off in the long run. Later, when you’re ready to hire, you’ll know how the process works and can choose wisely.
At its core, all businesses follow a similar structure:
- Product Development
- Branding
- Marketing
- Promotion
- Sales
- Customer/Fan Acquisition
- Business Systems
- Repeat
In the music business, it's:
- Music & other products
- Branding
- Marketing
- Promotion
- Shows/Tours
- Fan Acquisition
- Business Systems
- Repeat
That’s it. The bottom line is: If you don’t sell your product, it’s not a business.
We do business every day in our lives—paying for housing, food, and transportation. A mentor once told me: "Either they buy from you, or they buy from someone else." If your goal is to make money from music, these strategies will help you achieve that.
But if music is just a hobby, you’ll need to find another way to pay the bills. Learn how to sell, and you’ll win. Learn how to sell your own products, and you’ll create a life of freedom.
Forget the middleman—take control of your career.
If you want to GROW in your business, and are considering a mentor to help drive your success, grab an intro consultation appointment with me here
https://KjSawka.as.me/student-consultation
Photo credit - Darren Ho Media