Planning Your Music Career

How to you begin planning for a serious career in the music business? What are the steps you need to take to 'make it?'

Getting Signed

Before answering the question, let me share with you some of my own thoughts on the business. First, a lot of musicians are looking to be signed by a major record label (duh!). You, the reader of this article, may yourself have aspirations of ‘making it big.’ However, if there is one thing that I’ve learned over the years, it’s that these days record labels aren’t looking for fly-by-night musicians they can turn into stars.

What 'Labels' Are Looking For

What they are looking for are musicians that are already doing the work. They are looking for artists that have proven they can create a huge fan base, sell thousands of CDs and sell out shows all on their own. They are searching for musicians who are already ‘stars’ in their own region. What I’m saying, in a round-about way, is this; if you want to ‘make it big’ and get signed to a major label, the best way to do that is to forget about being signed to a major label and do the work yourself. Get out there, play your music, build your fan base, and sell CDs. Your goal should not be to ‘get signed’, but to bring yourself to a point to where you don’t really need the backing of a record label anymore. Once you’ve reached this point, and you have a marketable name and product, then you might find some A&R people knocking on your door. Maybe.

My intent with these comments isn’t to discourage you, but to empower you. You really don’t need a major label deal to have a successful music career. If you are seeking only fame, then yes, you need the backing of big money. But, if you’re just wanting to do music full time and be the quintessential artist (as I now do), that’s something you can do all on your own. But it takes a lot of hard work.

Planning Your Music Career

In regards to planning your career, you need to treat it (your career) just like a business. That means, you need to think about where you are now, and plot out where you want to be a year from now, two years from now, and then five years from now. You might even break this down, plotting your 'life' out in six month increments, giving yourself small goals to aim for. That way as you progress you can see how well you are doing on achieving your goals.

Article by James Lazzeroni

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