All about marketing part 2: Branding

Branding

I know nothing about "making it big", but I know a bit about how musicians should build they career in music....

Back in 60’s, 70’s and beginning of 80’s the western culture was driven mostly by music. At that time, everybody knew a song after hearing the first couple of notes. Everybody at a party knew the songs. It was one of the easiest, deep, and meaningful ways of communication between people. Sometimes in 70’s the corporate took over the music business, and for a while, despite some major changes – like MTV taking over the radio, the massive invasion of indie labels, the hip hop – they were doing just fine. Enter Napster; the majors choose to battle an already lost war, a road to nowhere... the dices were thrown, the pop culture suffered a massive change... it still does. The majors are not really needed as they used to be; the artists can do it on their own.

However, that is not easy, there’s a new sheriff in town, with different rules, and the first rule may be: “there are no rules...” and the second is:” the first rule apply except for the distribution” which is still an old rule. In plain English, the question is how do you get your music out for people to listen to it.

Read again, and understand I didn’t say for people to buy it, but to listen to it.

Does that change something my friends? Of course, it does... it changes everything!

The Internet of things was a big, huge promise, that now everybody has the same chance to be heard. But, just because listening to music is so easy, and the time is limited, many are so frustrated that, when they clicked on a song, they didn’t hear great music... they are losing their trust and willingness to go and check new music, so, even though everybody can post anything, some selection rules and criteria got to be in place, and one says that the differentiation is most of the time made with resources and knowhow. You know that not everybody has the resources and knowhow.



So, I get to the point where you may ask: what does that has to do with my music career, with my future? It’s a big part of the facts you must have in mind when you decide what you want: to have a career in music or to “make it big” in this music business. I know nothing about “making it big”, so, if you continue to read, you may find interesting things about building a music career...

I have a lot of friends, and I had many clients, and they are making a very good living having a career in music. You didn’t hear of most of them, but they are doing just fine. For them music is a career, either if they play, teach, produce, manage acts. They are what I call professionals, they prepare themselves all their life, they know what they’re doing, they do not dream the glitter, they are very serious and dedicate their whole professional time to music. They are like doctors, engineers, technicians, lawyers, pharmacists… they went to music schools, they study many hours every day, they play with other musicians, they created their network, they worked every minute of their professional life to build a career, and they did not think for a minute in terms of “making it big!” And they enjoy almost every minute of it.

They are looking very careful when they associate with somebody; if they are in a band, they are looking not only for musicians that they can play with, but they analyze their human qualities. They are studying the market and decide which way is better to sell their music or to get gigs, they understand what it means to go into a real partnership, they know success doesn’t come overnight, it comes slowly, the same way you build a house, brick by brick, and the next brick is always the most important one. And, before I forget: they do not complain about everything around them as the cause of their failures!

They also know that money is important, and money keeps things going around, and making music is work and work must be paid! Money is not evil, poverty is evil. They also know well that luck and opportunities are not coming by accident, you need to work to get there!

Interesting enough, you don’t hear about these people in the media; media needs to sell, and the existence of a middle-class guy that makes a comfortable living through music has nothing spectacular. Media feeds on stories about the big stars, to satisfy the crowd desire of sensational stories… Even more, there is no interest from the musicians to let others know all the intricacies of what they do… and why would they do otherwise? Just to get more competition?

These people are all around you: playing in clubs, at events, teaching music, playing in different orchestras in theatres, session musicians… Very few people know that the people on the so called “list A” of session musicians are making the most money after the few big stars. You know some of them: Dominic Miller, Nathan East, Andy Fearwheather, Joe Satriani (the only studio musician that went to stardom actually) …

Of course, on the way to the top, for those who are extremely talented and determined, experience will build up steady, so, once the top is reached, you already are a professional musician. Van Halen played for years before they became known all over, and so many others; nothing came out of thin air…

The most essential thing (provided your music is good) is to understand that this is a journey that requires patience, commitment, work, and good attitude; it’s not something that happens overnight. You have years to go, and you have to go the healthy way, to grow up during this journey. We saw too many young talents that were crashed because they could not handle the pressure exerted by the music industry; they were not prepared for the pressure.

What is different is the mindset: while working for a company provides you with a steady income from the same source, working in music industry forces you to make money from different sources, which is more secure than having a 9 to 5 job. Just think about it: teaching an instrument - either private or in a public school, playing pubs/clubs, selling your music, working as a studio session musician, working as a producer or arranger, create music by request. It takes a while to grasp all these, so you can manage efficiently your time and activity.

This increases your chances to get signed or making it big, because you really start to move within music industry, understand how it works, and be more objective when it comes to the master plan you have to pursue it.

Many musicians are basically having a regular day job, thinking that, when the moment arises, they will just do music. Well, this is not going to happen in 999.000 cases out of 1.000.000! If you spend 8 hours in a regular job, you’ll be left realistically with 2-3 hours/day to take care of the music career, which is far from enough to get you where you want to be. And the chances of miracles happening are zero.

That leads to a clear conclusion: you have to develop a plan that builds around your music career, while providing for living. Just consider this: you can get some music students, and therefore have some flexibility in your schedule, so when an opportunity comes up and you are offered a 2 weeks tour, you can do it. That will not bring the money in, but you must start touring, and maybe at the 8th tour you will get the money, and things start to go well! In order to make money from shows, you need to start somewhere, and, with a regular job, you’ll never be able to do it. It is paramount that you spend the time required to build your music career.

One of my good friends has a very good strategy: while he is a computer wizard, he plays piano very well, and he gigs regularly with two bands. So, he quitted his day job. He still does programming work, but on a contract base, and in his terms, which allows him to dedicate the time to music whenever necessary.

No matter what your dreams are, your plan must provide the most efficient ways to build an independent music career. I consider this to be the essence of the strategy a serious musician. The more you succeed following your strategy, the more in control and demand you will be. We will discuss in details the aspects of developing an independent music career.

Written by Florin Buciu, recording engineer and producer at Fandango Recording in Calonge, Spain. Since 1997, Florin has helped artists bring emotional storytelling to life through recording, mixing, mastering, and production.

Tags: Professional mixing studio, Professional mastering studio Catalonia, Mix and mastering