Building my music career and what it’s teaching me about entrepreneurship
Music has been in my life for as long as I can remember. It’s either 1994 or 1995 when I first started taking piano lessons in this weird building with very old-school elevators.
When I told everyone that I’d be pursuing a full-time music career in 2021, the responses generally were good. I mean sure, there are probably some that question my, y’know, sanity and stuff, but at least on the surface level, everyone was like: “I mean, sure, as long as you have some form of reserves to help you get going”.
And given the perception around here about music, it is a better response than I’d imagined in my head…
Perceptions vs the reality of being a musician
So I was watching X-Factor on the television a few months back and you had this performer go on stage and backstage, her little sister was like: “When I grow older, I’m going to get a real job, like a doctor or something else…”
Society’s perception of what musicians need to do to survive is one of the reasons I care very little for what it thinks of us. Though, in a sense, society isn’t entirely wrong…it’s just a bit outdated in certain regards.
In the past, in order to become a well-known artist, you had to be good enough to get signed and once you were signed, you were basically set. Sure, there’s a lot of bands that probably got lost because they couldn’t get signed. That was the reality back then, in like the 70s and I dare say all the way up to the 2000s.
But then, there was a change in the industry…
The emergence of the independent artist
In time, releasing music on your own became easier and easier with the appearance of platforms such as YouTube, MySpace, Instagram, Facebook, and many others.
Sure, there was still the element of actually producing the music. And trust me when I say this, playing music is a completely different process than producing music is. However, artists, especially in the rock genre, were more than willing to learn the tricks of the trade on their own and produce their own songs, with Avenged Sevenfold being my go-to example of modern bands that write and produce their songs.
At first, things were pretty hard because the software was still developing and you pretty much had to record each and every instrument you wanted because there weren’t any other options that sounded good.
In time though, people have started developing something called VSTs, where VST is an acronym for Virtual Studio Technology. VSTs are basically programs that can be used to add certain effects to your songs. At first, these were mostly confined to actual effects such as delay, reverb, etc.
The next logical step to this was creating digital versions of real-life instruments. This subset of VST is called VSTi, with the i standing for instrument of course. While at first, the sound was a bit crude, in time, people have managed to record entire instruments such as pianos, drums, guitars, synths, etc., and offer them either for free or after payment, to anyone who wants to use them to create music.
As such, creating music on your own computer has become easier and easier in time.
So, I guess it’s about time we figure out where the entrepreneurship thing comes into play…
The bigger and more important side of things
So, while I advocate for anyone who’s writing music to take pride in their work because, much like programming, not everyone can do it amazingly, there’s a bit of a problem with this rise of independent artists.
If you can create music on your computer (or laptop or even phones I think) and then put it online, what’s to stop each and every single individual on Earth from creating music and putting it online? The answer is…nothing. Anyone can create music today.
So this is where the other side of being a musician comes in, the one people either can’t understand or conveniently forget about just to mock you.
The level of competition you encounter as a musician is…how should I put this…ginormous? Like, at the very worst, it’s you against like 7 billion people, and let’s not forget that some of these are already well-known, seasoned musicians so…good luck with that.
So, is everything lost now that we know this? No, not really. But this is where the bulk of your work actually lies. Because in today’s environment, as a musician, you need to create a community around yourself. A community united by a single goal. What is that goal? Well, that’s up to you, the musician to figure out, by answering an all-important question: “Why am I making music?”. And answers such as “Because I love music” are definitely not acceptable. You need something more, something people can grab onto.
Once you have that figured out, you need to start building your community. That should be easy, right? Just go on Instagram or Facebook and start putting content out there. Wait, there are hashtags? Ugh, these hashtags with millions of posts should be a good place to start. Wait, what do you mean there are hundreds of posts per hour for these hashtags and I should search for ones with fewer posts so I have a better chance of getting seen.
Ugh, I need to post at least every other day on my feed? And I have to add stories? But people said this job is easy and it’s not a real job and…
Yeah, creating music is fun and all. Do you want to know what’s more important than creating that music? Marketing it and making sure it gets heard. Because this isn’t a big-budget movie where some exec hears your music by accident and you have it made.
Where’s the entrepreneurship, Andrei?
Much like how CEOs need to have a niche audience when creating their company or produce (usually both), so do I, as a musician, need to figure out where I stand genre-wise, who my audience is based on what genre I write and my mission (why I write music).
In short, both I and the CEOs out there need to work on our brand: who we are, what we stand for, who we want to buy/stream our stuff, etc.
And having worked alongside a bunch of CEOs during my time, I never really got what they were doing and why they were doing it until I had to do it myself.
As a musician, you need to research opportunities and audiences for your music, you need to work on growing your fan-base and keeping it engaged, all the while remaining true to yourself, having time for family and friends and you know, not losing your damn mind in all of this…which brings me neatly to the next point.
Don’t Lose Yourself in the music, the moment…
Excess dopamine is a real danger to your mental health. And nowhere is it more prevalent than in people who always feel the need to do something and make every minute count.
You always hear about the “always-on” mentality, but no one really takes the time to consider what it does to you. At first, it’s cool, you’re doing a bunch of stuff and you’re evolving and you’re learning.
But if you keep at it, your brain will start craving more and more, to the point where you start neglecting other areas in your life that demand your attention (like, taking a break for example) and you’re going to become a mess, feeling guilty for even thinking about resting for a bit.
Want to know how I know this? I went through these stages. And I make sure to check for signs that I need a break. If I can’t concentrate or I find myself clicking away and looking at YouTube videos too much, then it’s definitely time to get up and get away from it for a bit.
All in all, it’s just a…
So yeah, I guess you can say I’m on a long road ahead. But I believe there’s an AC/DC song for that long way to the top.
I think one of the things I’ve become in recent years is less judgmental about other people’s jobs and what they actually do in them. I never really was dismissive about them to begin with, though I did question them moaning too much about their daily routine.
And you know what? I’m glad I did. Now if only others would stop thinking that musicians don’t need to work for a living…
