Be the CEO of Your Music Career
Tools you should master to make a profit
We’re Rachel Hurley and Frank Keith IV, co-owners of the music publicity firm Sweetheart PR. Once a week, we’ll publish a new edition of My Manager, where we’ll share actionable advice on all facets of the music industry.
We’ve decided to turn our monthly “Free Friday” into a “Feel Like It Friday” — if we feel like it, we’ll send it out! You never know when inspiration might strike. This week we’ve got an essay from Rachel on how you should be framing your music career.
Success in the music industry is easy to measure: how much money did you make last year?
Sure, musicians can list off the individual things they’ve accomplished, such as opening for a bigger act, getting featured at top tier press outlets, having a critically acclaimed album, performing on television, etc etc,. But at the end of the year, it all comes down to how well you were able to turn those opportunities into sales. Unless music is just a hobby for you. In that case, no need to read any further.
When musicians ask me what they should be focusing on to build their sales and grow their fanbase, I mostly recommend a “holistic approach.”
If you ask someone how they lost 50 pounds, it’s rare that they can say “Well, I did this one thing and that was it.” Instead, they usually list half a dozen things they paid attention to. They started eating healthier and watched their portions, they exercised, they cut out alcohol and sugar, they got more rest, and most likely, they made their health a priority over everything else.
In order to be successful in the business of music, there’s not just one thing you need to focus on. Instead, you need to be well-versed in marketing, social media, online stores, email lists, creating merchandise, publishing, sync licensing, and the list goes on.
I don’t know about you, but I get better at things over time. As someone who is not a musician, I assume that this is what it’s like when you learn your instrument. At first, it’s hard, maybe it seems impossible, maybe it’s even painful. The only reason why you put the time and effort in is you can visualize yourself playing that song you’re learning all the way through, perfectly. So you make time to practice, and eventually, you push through the doubts, and it gets a little bit easier each day. Maybe it even becomes — dare I say — fun?
Managing your music career works exactly the same way.
As an independent musician, you are the CEO of your company. Your company is in charge of selling YOU. Just like any other company, there are a lot of separate divisions that work together to help you reach the goal of being profitable. You need to be well-versed in what each arm of your company is responsible for and how they work.
If you really think about it, your MUSIC is just a vehicle to sell YOU. You are actually the end product and everything else is just something that represents who you are and what you have to say.
So, the first thing you need to figure out is: Who are you and what do you have to say?
If someone can’t react to your name being brought up with a clear idea of what you represent and how it is different than other musicians - then you’ve got some work to do. People spend money on and align themselves with musicians who represent who they are or who they want to be.
You don’t have to have a message that has never been heard before, you just have to present it in a way that is uniquely your own. You know as well as I do, there are tons of great musicians out there - so what are you offering that stands apart?
If I was starting a business to sell socks - I would not go into it thinking - “Well, I just want to make the socks, I’m not interested in all of the other aspects.” Creating a product is the DESIGN part. Selling the product is the BUSINESS part. And guess who makes the money?
If I owned the company, then I would want to know how all the moving parts worked. Sure, you could always hire someone to do the stuff you don’t understand - but do you have the money to hire someone? No? Well, that doesn’t mean that stuff doesn’t need to be done.
So, if you’re not already, it’s time to start devoting a period of time, if not every day, at least 5 days a week to the business part of your music career.
This means instead of scrolling through social media, building a social media calendar. This means learning social media advertising by taking the free Facebook Blueprint course or Twitter Flightdeck. It means becoming familiar with different marketing techniques with Google’s Fundamentals of Digital Marketing course, building a line of print-on-demand merchandise with Printful, and running your online store with Shopify.
Come up with an idea for a design that represents you, then hire someone to design it on Fiver, then use your new marketing skills to advertise and sell it. Music is not the main product anymore, music is the commercial.
When it comes to building your business, it’s not money that’s holding you back.
The information you seek is available to you. You just have to put in the same time you put into learning to make music. You’ve mastered how to create a song, now start focusing on how to make a profit.
Still not subscribed? Here’s what you missed this week:
Sell Your Music…Without Selling
A conversation with Annie Black, who has recently taken over as the Social Media Manager at Consequence of Sound after spending several years in the same position at Paste Magazine. During our talk, she breaks down what her day-to-day responsibilities look like, how you can apply this knowledge to your own social media planning, and the importance of understanding your audience to get the best return from your social engagement.
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