Making music is not a day’s job, it requires a whole lot from the individual, which is why you have to love it to do it. As an up and coming musician, you cannot monetize your craft immediately, you have to go through a rigorous process, and also be consistent. If you follow the steps I am about to give you, you will become a great musician, a king in your own right.
The first thing to master before you start making music is to decide. Decision making in music is not talked about enough, in all aspects of life, you have to be able to make critical decisions and be smart, you have to know what you want, have a plan for it and execute it ruthlessly, you have to know your journey and own it, be intentional, be proactive, be the best you can be.
You have to be ready for anything, and like I said earlier, you cannot monetize your craft just immediately, there are very few people that were able to make money off their music from the beginning of their venture into music, and music cost money, that is the truth, beats, studio sessions, mixing and all of that cost money, so you must have something else to do to fund that, it is more like the cost of doing business, or investment. Staying put and hoping you can monetize your music almost immediately is a far-fetched dream, this is not to say it is not possible, but rather, it is not advisable as you can wear yourself out early enough, you will burn out because the music struggle is what a lot of people do not know about and it is understandable because only musicians that are popular are known and your popularity is directly proportional to the wealth you are going to get from your music, so the least popular artists who are still struggling never make it to the spotlight until they are popular enough and when they do, people never see the struggle. So, i believe it is only right to tell you that the appearance is way different from the reality, you will toil for a while and may not be able to monetize that music just yet. Find another source of income to fund your music career before you venture into it.
Networking: In the music business you need to connect with like minds, you need to know a lot of people and be able to build and maintain interpersonal relationships between each other, remember you need to become popular, to achieve this, first you must have your name in the lips of those in the game, what do I mean by this? At any point in time there are always people that are known for music in any given locale or society, you must find a way to connect with then, they do not necessarily have to be full blown musicians, they can be DJs, Producers, OAPs, actual musicians and basically anyone in the music business that can help you. You cannot succeed in the music business in isolation, you need hands to help you, and you need people that can say your name in places where opportunities may spring up. Now I understand that connecting with these people may be very difficult because sometimes they feel people make friends with them because of what they have to offer, if they prove difficult move on and reach out to others, trust me you will find that one person that will allow you stick around. It is very certain. Also, never imagine or believe that you can never be of help to them, these persons are not gods, they are humans and will need you to show up for them at some point, please show up for them, be of help and good cheer. Another mistake some up and coming musicians make is they try to meet up with these guys and end up lying about a lot of things. You do not need to lie to measure up, you need to grind your ass out, you need to make things happen, you need to carve out your destiny with your own hands, lying to these people will make you lose your integrity, your originality, and at this stage of your music career, you need integrity as much as you need consistency. Truthfulness will take you to places you never imagined. Always remember honesty is the best POLICY. Stick around for the part two of this series the art of making music.