Trying to Get Your Start in the Music Industry? Here’s How to “Make It”

“How can I make it in the music industry?”

This particular question is one asked by many aspiring musicians hoping to see the success of musical greats. This question is also asked by musicians who’ve been in the industry for quite some time but have yet to see real success. So to answer the question of how to make it in the music industry is really dependent on the person asking the question.

There isn’t a “secret formula” as to how to make it in the music industry because if you look at all the musical geniuses we all know and love, past and present, you’d see that none of their musical journeys are the same. The way one musician achieved success isn’t how another musician achieved success.

The real answer to how to make it in the music industry is dependent on what “making it” means to you. Does “making it” mean getting a record deal and having your music played on the radio? Or does “making it” mean you’ve reached celebrity status and fill up concert arenas?

Determining what “making it” means to you is a very important question to answer because it will be the narrative behind your musical journey to success and it will also determine how easy or difficult your journey will be.

If financial gain is your definition of making it, then there are a number of opportunities out there to achieve the financial success you desire. If you’re looking to achieve celebrity status, your journey may be a little more difficult and require a bit more out of you, but nonetheless, your journey to musical success is all dependent on what your personal definition of “making it” is.

As mentioned earlier, there is no “secret formula” as to how to “make it” in the music industry but there are a few dependable hacks that have survived the tests of time in helping aspiring musicians achieve the level of success they desire.

Once you’ve determined what “making it” means to you, consider implementing these tips to help you on your journey to musical success.

Helpful Tips to Follow on Your Journey to Musical Success

Never Stop Perfecting Your Craft

One of the best pieces of advice to take as an aspiring successful musician is to never stop perfecting your craft. Some people feel like their downfall is that they didn’t get to take music lessons as a kid but the thing about music is that it doesn’t discriminate against age. There are music lessons for kids and for adults, you just have to find the right school for you.

You can also perfect your craft by performing at local bars, and even at karaoke bars… any way you can take advantage of performing, you want to do it. According to Forbes, mastering your craft is one of the top ways to “make it” in the music industry.

When you finally get that opportunity you’ve been waiting for your whole life, you don’t want to blow it on a minor mistake that could’ve been avoided with a little more practice.

Start Your Own Music Site

One of the best ways to get your music distributed is to give people a place to access your music, and your music page is a great way to do that. On your site, you can create a blog that gives your visitors access to your very own tips on better practice habits, before performance rituals, and, of course, access to all your videos of your performances and practices.

Now, the thing to understand about starting your own music site is that you will have to rely heavily on links. Why? Because links are extremely important for SEO and gaining more exposure to your music.

Let’s say you’re an aspiring country music artist and you’re looking to draw more traffic to your music site. In order to gain more traffic, you’re going to need links to your site that line up with certain keywords that are relevant to popular queries. The links you have to your site is what search engines use to crawl your site to provide pages that are relevant or answer search queries.

Investing in SEO services will dramatically improve your online visibility and grow your fan base, whether you’re wanting financial gain or celebrity status.

Build Strong Relationships

You’ve heard people say “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Well, that statement couldn’t be more true in the music industry. On your journey to success, you’re going to meet some important people, even if it’s on a local level. When you meet these important music execs, you want to make sure you do your best to portray yourself in a positive light and keep in touch with them to build up a strong relationship with them… make them remember you.

Maybe they can’t pay you for any gigs right then but work with them to see what kind of opportunities they have at all, even if it’s a few unpaid gigs. By working those, they’ll see your hunger for success, and when they see that, it will let them know that you have the potential for success… you just never know what music execs are looking for.

Stay Flexible and Open to Different Musical Opportunities

The music industry is a heavily saturated market, which means that you will probably get a lot of “no’s” to certain gigs you want, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on your dreams. At the current moment, you may not be getting any live performance gigs but you should still keep your options open to other areas of the music industry.

Maybe you didn’t get the gig at the newest nightclub, but you see open opportunities for voice over gigs, creating jingles, and creating music and sounds for video games. Music is such a broad industry full of opportunity that you may not get what you want right then but there are plenty of “bread and butter” opportunities to suffice you until you can get where your heart desires.

Visit our blog to read more about the lifestyle of popular music artists like Lil Nas X, Bruno Mars, Zendaya, and many more.