Getting started in professional music in 2014

Someone asked me recently to write a post about how a young music student could cross over to the professional world of performance, recording, etc. I have written about that in the past but really need to revisit that subject every year because things change very quickly. So here is my current take on it.

1) Understand there is no “right” way to get into music.

Twenty years ago, there was a clear and defined way for musicians to have successful career. In a nutshell, musicians found some way to get the attention of a label who would take over the marketing and production costs and assume the risks. The musician just focused on music.

I can certainly understand why musicians might find that way attractive but there are some problems with it. First, that way is almost extinct. Second, getting a deal with one of the few remaining real record labels is almost impossible. And third, it turns out labels are struggling just like anyone else in trying to sell music.

So really, my advice is just to forget the old way. You don’t need a label, not even for the supposed credibility it brings you. In fact, it is interesting to see many musicians that have labels are starting to migrate away from them.

2) Assume you will wear many hats.

Musicians do not really like the idea of getting their hands dirty with the business side of things and in the previous world of record labels, they did not have to. That has changed of course. Without a label, musicians have the opportunity to own their music and careers but on the flip side, they have to know a lot more and do a lot more.

Here is a quick, incomplete list of things I know and use in my music business: accounting, web design, graphic design, video production, audio production, search engine marketing/SEO, customer service, order fulfillment, social marketing.

You will need all those things as well so if you don’t know them yourself, you will have to find and pay someone to do them for you.

3) Assume that your revenue will come from multiple streams.

I did an informal survey of some concert pianists recently to see where their revenue was coming from. The results were interesting and did not match up to mine exactly but were close. Here is a typical breakdown in 2014:

Licensing and royalties:  50%
Digital distribution:  25%
Website sales (physical CDs and downloads):  10%
Concerts:  10%
Published music sales: 5%

This is an ultra important chart for those of you who want to make money in music and these numbers looked very different just five years ago. Again, I am not just giving you my numbers; this is a summary of about a dozen different musicians. The important thing to take away from this chart is that the majority of your revenue will come from sources that you might not expect and frankly, sources that most musicians completely ignore.

I am going to come back to this chart in a future post and I will tell you how to quit leaving money on the table in licensing, royalties and digital distribution. I will readily admit that I was late to the party in terms of licensing and royalties but I can help you avoid certain mistakes I made.

4) Be as creative with your marketing as you are with your music.

Social marketing is not a fad; it is the real deal. Writing for this blog is one of the most important things I do. My YouTube channel and Facebook page are enormously important to what I do. Don’t ignore these kinds of things. And just importantly, if you are going to do them, do them well.

I will not lie; it is amazingly hard to cut through the noise in today’s noisy world of marketing. Giving away things for free is not even good enough any more in many cases. It will take all of your creativity to see results. I would schedule time for brainstorming marketing just like you schedule time to write music.

5) Don’t be stupid with money.

The number one thing that will kill your music business is unnecessarily investing money you don’t have. Don’t do it. Live within your means.

Only once did I do a music project that I did not have a plan to recoup my investment on: Reflections on a Journey back in 2007 cost about $35,000. But even though I did not have a good business plan in place, I had the money in the bank and did not need it to feed the family.

There is nothing wrong with taking the slow and safer approach even if it means you need to transition to music over time rather than right away. Your family will thank you.

The new trend of course is to try to move fast AND avoid risk by using Kickstarter. I have written about that before. I was skeptical then and I am still skeptical. I think there are several problems with it, but in light of what we are discussing today, here is the biggest problem: it doesn’t work very well. Raising money that way is probably harder than just earning the money. Unless you are established and have a big following, you are almost certain to fail with a Kickstarter campaign.

I am going to plan on coming back to this topic over the coming weeks because I want to discuss the licensing, royalties, and digital distribution issue in more detail and I also want to talk more about social marketing.