9 STEPS TO BUILDING A CAREER AS A MUSICIAN

Nowadays, being able to build a career as a musician, being able to live only on music, is the goal of many  musicians, both emerging and not. To achieve this we have prepared a sort of checklist to help you reflect on things to do both from a musical and a human point of view. Enjoy the reading!

Step 1: There are no shortcuts

Let’s repeat it together: there are no shortcuts.

Admit it there is a part of you that knows it, but underneath there is another part of you, the most impatient one, the one that can’t wait to find itself on a stage in front of a hundred thousand people, which thinks’ but for me it will be different, I will find a faster way. You will not.

Taking a shortcut forces you to take your eyes off your lens. And this you must not do, ever!

So, the first thing you need to do is forget the shortcuts, and focus all your energy on studying, knowing that it will be a slow but safe process.

Step 2: ask yourself why you want to play music

If the answer is because you want to impress people with your skill or because you want to become famous, then you need to ask yourself again, because with that answer you will never be a great musician.

They have something to say besides ‘look at me’. Many musicians think that to become great it is only necessary to acquire the technique.

Technique is the means by which something is said.

So take out a message and shout it to the world.

Step 3: Being great doesn’t mean being an instant hit

Becoming a great musician doesn’t mean you can sit back and wait to be called and called and called back. There will be no day when you don’t have to promote yourself. Learning new things like keyboard playing.

Step 4: Always enjoy your music

Many musicians think that to be a real musician you have to be serious, and this means eliminating all the joy from your passion. Music must always be able to lighten you and relieve any pain, even in those difficult days. If you no longer have this effect, then you will have to ask yourself: why not? Being a musician can be a struggle, but what keeps you going is the music playing. All rejections, disappointments and successes are just a means to the end of continuing to play as much as possible.

Step 5: Discover your uniqueness and highlight it

Find the things you do differently from others and point them out.

All greats have a unique way of doing things, which is why people are attracted to them.

Too often, musicians try to please everyone (except themselves) and end up boring. Great music divides listeners by its uncompromising vision. If one half of your audience hates you, but the other half loves you, you have something worthwhile.

If everyone says it’s cool or okay, you need to think about what you’re trying to communicate, because you can’t hit anyone on a deep level.

Step 6: Learn from people who are better than you

This is difficult, but once you stop pretending to be a genius then you can learn from all the great music around you.

Step 7: keep a sense of humor

Learning music is like a spiritual challenge.

But remember that within this path there are enormous ups and downs. Take all setbacks lightly, don’t let a success go straight to your head, and be happy for any good luck. It is normal that sometimes you will be frustrated, but don’t let this become a default in your life and especially in your music.

Step 8: don’t listen to everyone

There is a time to listen to criticism or advice, and there is a time to ignore it. In the phase of building something, it is the moment when we are most insecure and we tend to listen to the judgment of anyone. That’s the time when you don’t have to ask for anyone’s judgment, because whatever you’re building is in danger of being torn apart. When you have something fully formed in your hand, then you can ask for judgment. Because you know what you have done and why it is possible to evaluate the criticisms, and judge if they are relevant.

Step 9: Don’t just tell a story

It is natural to have your own gender, but remember that creativity comes from curiosity.

Always try not to be limited by your tastes. Do you play classical music? Dive into punk! Experiment!

Surely you already have an image of what kind of musician you are, but it’s not written in stone.

If you spread the wings of your music, you will start to have a lot more stories that work, the music will get a lot more creative and you will start flying.