The Good (And Bad) Ways To Become Successful In Your Music Career

Want to grow a massively successful music career? This requires understanding the two main types of people in this business:

Gamblers and investors.

Which type describes you best?

Do you think of yourself as someone who is gambling with your music career or as someone who is investing in it?

Answer below…

Here’s how gamblers work in the music industry:

Gamblers run their music careers much like poker players play cards at a table in Vegas.

The gambler wants to win big, but if he doesn’t feel good about his hand, he’ll fold because he knows there is nothing big to be gained.

Imagine yourself in the following scenario:

A band puts out their album, but it doesn’t sell much and everyone feels deflated about it… It looks like they won’t be able to get signed to a record deal after all.

So what action do they take?

Rather than learning how to get a lot more album sales…

They immediately return to the studio and start recording a new album (“gambling” their money in the process), and hoping that somehow things turn out better for the next release.

This keeps happening until the band no longer has money to spend and/or runs out of motivation to keep going.

Is this how you envision your band?

These musicians are gambling because their goal is to get someone to gamble on them by investing money into their careers after just listening to their music.

The main point is:

You don’t want people to take a gamble on your career.

Don’t ever accept this as your goal.

You want an investor to invest into your music career…

What it means to be an “investor” in the music business:

What people are usually the biggest investors in the music business?

Music companies.

These companies invest their time, funds, knowledge, resources and public perception into musicians in order to help them in their careers.

These music industry types look at the big picture and have long-term goals.

Meaning:

They understand that musicians need time to grow and succeed, so they don’t give up on them too soon.

Successful music industry executives work to protect their investment whenever they face momentary downturns, rather than abandoning it as a gambler would do.

But wait… there is a catch!

Truth be told, there are two catches.

1. Music companies are investors — this doesn’t mean they simply give money away.

Meaning:

They want to make tons of money over a long period of time from their investments (musicians).

This is the only reason why music companies are around.

2. Music companies don’t work with just anyone.

They carefully research anyone they work with in order to minimize risk and maximize the potential ROI.

What traits do music companies look for in potential partners?

Have a look at this video to find out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edFqvpYqq9M

What Are The Music Career Growth Lessons Here?

Music Career Lesson #1: Become The Person You Want To Attract.

Want to get investors spending money to help you in your music career? Become one for yourself.

This is how to do it:

*Learn as much as you can about the music business. Doing this makes it much easier it is to become massively successful and achieve your musical dreams. Everything in business involves marketing, making sales, book-keeping, management, operations, working well with people and keeping up with technology.

Take the time to learn the basics in each of these areas. This puts you way ahead of everyone else (because most people only focus on their music).

*Invest time into developing as many meaningful music business relationships as you can. Contacts don’t matter that much in this business… relationships (on the other hand) matter a ton. A relationship takes a long time to grow and develop. Each relationship build the foundation for your reputation.

Study the points in this music career development article to learn how (and why) to develop solid relationships in the music industry.

*Become someone with a solid work ethic. Do more than what people expect from you… and do what people would never even anticipate. When you do this, you stick out like a diamond in the rough.

Music Career Lesson #2: Making It In The Music Industry Is Less Difficult Than You Think.

Most musicians are gamblers. They do very little in terms of long-term investment for their music careers.

So what does this information mean for you?

You know longer have any competitors in the music business.

Focus on becoming the very best version of yourself to know that every action you take leads you down the right path in your career.

Doing this gives you access to the opportunities in the music industry that most musicians never even knew existed.

Music Career Lesson #3: Think Like Music Companies Think.

So you know how music companies research many things about you before deciding if they want you to be a partner (i.e. sign you to a deal)?

What would happen if you created a list of all the ways you can add massive value to music companies while minimizing your risk?

Here’s an example:

- You could research how the music business works (so music companies don’t have to spend money teaching you about the business aspects of this industry).

Reading articles like this is a good place to begin. Getting music career mentoring from a proven professional musician is the next step.

- Do what you want music companies to do for you, starting small before going big.

For instance: go on tour in all the different venues available in your local area.

Maybe you won’t make money like this, but you do gain tons of experience in:

*Performing live in front of an audience

*Touring logistics

*Making a budget

*Merch sales

*Getting people to buy concert tickets

*Developing solid relationships with promoters and venue owners.

Question: “Tom Hess, will I definitely get signed by a music company if I do these things?”

Answer: It’s not for sure. There are no guarantees in music industry about anything.

With this in mind:

If you aren’t currently willing to invest time, resources and money into putting together a music career, why would anyone else want to help you with it?

Reading this article has helped you learn more about growing a music career than what most musicians know. Now it’s time to learn how to make much more money selling your music than you ever thought was possible. Download this free music career guide to find out how to get your fans to purchase music from you instead of just downloading it for free.

About The Author:

Tom Hess is an electric guitar teacher online and a music career mentor. He trains musicians on how to succeed in the music business. Learn more about him by reading the Tom Hess Guitarist Wikipedia Page.