One of my mottos is “If there’s something you want badly enough, you’re going find a way to get it.” With that in mind, here are a few tips for artists who want to increase their productivity, develop and find future success in the music industry.
1. Be the best at what you do
Spend time crafting your niche/specialist topic. Work at your craft on a daily basis because passion will take you much further. When you hit a creative block, watch YouTube tutorials, start a course, learn a new instrument or read some books. Always be prepared to learn and get better at what you do. “If you stay ready, You don’t have to get ready when your opportunity comes.” (Eric Thomas). Which brings this to the next point..
2. Get Prepared
Everyone in a marathon has prepared tirelessly, because they know the race is not going to be easy. They’re also aware that they’re competing with thousands of other people. Whatever their reason for finishing, it’s a story that’s individual and unique to them. Similarly, you need to prepare for your journey in the music industry and strategically map out your career path, learn from successful peoples’ success and mistakes, create your own niche and prepare yourself for the race. Like the marathon, you’re inevitably competing against everyone else in your chosen field, irrespective of their current or past success. You have a choice to either try and imitate other people’s lives or focus on your own journey and being better than yourself.
Work on your craft so that you can talk about your skills, creativity & experience with confidence. I assure you that if you exude humble confidence, people will take notice or at least be intrigued by what you bring to the table.
3. The clock is ticking and the world is turning
Each new day, every person has 24 hours. How successful you become, is determined by what you do in those 24 hours. If a person sleeps for 7 hours a night, works for 8 hours in the day and spends an hour travelling to and from work. That’s 17 hours down. Only 7 hours remain. Other duties include morning routine, eating, socialising and watching TV. To put things into perspective,your time can be either utilised to get you further towards your goal or wasted. Learn to utilise your spare minutes to do more productive things for example, listen to a podcast or read on your commute to work, set time aside to work on your craft and get better at what youdo.
You may not have the same resources as artists such as Beyonce or Timbaland, and connections or time to be creative, but on the flipside you do have a similar degree of choice. Your talent will only take you so far.
4. Character and Investment
Choosing to go to industry events, developing your skills, connecting with the right people, helping others and adding discipline and routine into your life are some of the things that can help you progress. Attending the right industry events are important for your career for lots of reasons, they not only expand your network both locally and internationally but helps put you in a position of importance.
“Who’s that?” “How comes he knows that ‘Big Shot’?”
If you consistently turn up, you’ll be viewed as a person of value, who is taking their career seriously above others that didn’t come. Other benefits include meeting like-minded people in the same situation as you, who are also hungry to collaborate and connect.
5. Time for Time Out
Friends, family or a solid team/support group around you are the fundamental ways to your success in any industry. However, ultimately it’s your self-belief, passion and discipline that will keep you going when you feel like giving up. Spend time doing the things you enjoy so that when you are creative, you are fresher and have a new perspective and experience to draw from. Have downtime to do things other than music or business, work smart but play hard too.
To summarise, our time is our most valuable yet depreciating asset in our lives at our disposal. It renews each day but once it’s gone it won’t return, leaving us with memories. The richest and most successful person is the one who values their time as their number one priority.
Source: Music Gateway for midem blog