Every hour of every day there is a talented musician somewhere on the planet, who makes the mental decision to put their artistic side on the back burner in favor of a more stable career.
Although they vow to themselves that they will still pursue music in their spare time, just this simple mindset shift will mean that writing songs and doing gigs will always take a back seat in the face of almost everything else in life.
In a way it hurts too much to do music when you make this decision, because it reminds you of all the dreams you had, and a feeling of being a failure.
Well I have good news… it’s not your fault!
Because nobody teaches you a real practical way of making music a viable career.
So Where Did It All Go Wrong?
Even the most committed musicians are ground down to nothing after a few years of playing empty shows, and sending out 100’s of demos with no reply.
In this article I want to show you some of the common pitfalls that attack the enthusiasm of DIY musicians, leaving you feeling like there is no chance for your career.
It’s my hope that once you start to recognize the common mistakes that people make, you will be able to avoid them and get on with the real work of consistently creating content that your fans will appreciate.
1. Don’t Be A One Hit Wonder
I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this happen…
You go to a show and see a new band rocking out some amazing tunes, but each time you see them again they just continue to play the same old set over and over again.
The bottom line is that one set of good songs does not make a career.
I think some musicians feel a fear that they will not be able to match their previous work and this becomes kind of like a block.
Solution: Make sure that you write something new everyday and the gems come by default.
2. Playing Every Crap Gig You Get Offered
When you first start out you might as well play any show that comes along because this is valuable experience, and can even save you some money on the practice room.
This becomes a “career killer” when musicians continue to play every bad show in the hope that they might just convert 1 new fan.
Playing to empty rooms with no pay not only sucks ass, but it’s also like a cancer to your career because it will destroy your enthusiasm.
Solution: Next time you get offered a bad show turn it down, and spend the evening connecting with promoters of popular club nights and venues.
One really good gig is worth a hundred empty venues.
3. Forgetting To Be a Human
This one is simple…
If you ever have to write “to whom it may concern” in your messages to promote your career, then you are not on good enough terms to ask for any help. You need to get out there and do a little bit more networking.
Also try and mix “professional” with “human” because people in the music industry don’t want to deal with self promotional robots.
Solution: Remember that there is a real person behind every email address, and stop thinking of your music marketing as a numbers game.
Which brings me onto…
4. Spamming
People often start out in music marketing messaging everyone they can on YouTube, Twitter, Forums, Blogs, Facebook and Myspace in the hope that one day so many people will hear about them that they will get famous.
…or they find a bunch of contact info for industry people and send a mass email along the lines of:
“Hey, we are a cool band and are looking to get sign, please email back if you can help.”
But just think about that for a second.
If you got an email like that would you think good things about the band?
NO WAY!
You have just blown your chances with a massive section of the industry who will now see your name as mud.
Solution: A well thought out targeted promotion will take more time upfront, but In the long term it will have a much wider reaching benefit.
5. Music In A Vacuum
As well as making daily progress with your career you also need to be tracking every little thing that is going on in your music scene as well.
This is very important because when you follow all the latest news you start to notice little opportunities that will pop up from time to time.
If you just sit in your bedroom and never get involved with your music scene, then it will be much harder to get your work in front of the right people.
Solution: Use my Google Music Alerts method to track your music niche.
6. The Curse of the Solo Musician
Sometimes being a solo act can be great, like when it comes to getting paid at the end of the night!
But the problem with being a one man (or woman) show is that you never get to brainstorm new ideas with anyone, and you always have to go with your gut.
For instance…
You might have a marketing plan that you have been working on for the last year, then suddenly you speak to a music PR person at a gig and find out that if you just made a few tweaks you might acheive success much faster.
Solution: Find a group of other solo musicians and get together once every couple of weeks for a mastermind session. Talk about new ideas and projects you have going.
When you put your brains together with a clever group of people you become a SUPER-BRAIN!
7. Getting Fed Up
Music can be a bitch and some days you will feel depressed and like nothing is going your way.
This is a very dangerous time, because a nice steady job with benefits will suddenly seem a little bit more appealing.
At this point you need to take a couple of days off and get away completely.
After a little while you will start to realize that things are not so bad, and with that clarity you can plan your attack in a new and better way.
Solution: A little bit of progress every day will guarantee some sort of success in the future, but 20 hours a day for 6 months will only guarantee that you give up!
8. Creating The “Perfect” Music Marketing Plan
I know that a lot of people like to think of themselves as perfectionists and I use to be the same way, but rather than helping your career this will ultimately kill your spirit.
Perfection sucks!
Writing the perfect music marketing plan and never actually putting anything into action will get you nowhere FAST.
For example, if you are making a YouTube video and mess up a chord just laugh and post it anyway…
Solution: Set a short deadline for planning and then get to work and test your music marketing theories.
9. Lazy Is CRAZY!
Laziness is not a bad thing if you know how to work a couple of hours a day and achieve massive results. But people often have a little bit of success then sit back and do nothing for a few months.
Music marketing is not fun all the time, and not nearly as cool as making a new recording. But unless you use each of your little successes as a building block you will never build enough momentum to get ahead.
Solution: Aim for the tipping point below…
The Tipping Point
There comes a time in the life of every successful musician, when you have added so much value to the world that suddenly your Twitter and Facebook numbers are going up everyday, and your website traffic is increasing by itself.
This is the point at which fans start to become your automatic promotion source, and if you give up before this ever happens you will never know what it feels like.
Having reached The Tipping Point you can scale back your music promotion, and focus much more on the creative process.
Diligently working on your career six days a week (even for an hour) will bring you massive rewards.
As Bon Jovi once said…
“Oh you got to KEEP THE FAITH!!!”
- Chris
P.S If you’re still looking for that simple daily road-map to build your career on autopilot then I recommend this course 100% if you don’t mind trading a little bit of cash for quick results.
Watch The Video Podcast Below
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