by Cari Cole
People always ask me if I can introduce them to my contacts in the music business. When I don’t know the person, my answer is always, “I only refer people I know quite well and usually ones I personally work and co-write with”. I mean honestly, how can I refer someone I don’t know? What if they’re nuts or could possibly offend my contact? (Isn’t it obvious?) If I know them I say, who and what did you have in mind in the music business? And then I get the furrowed eyebrow look that tells me they don’t know. And then I know that they haven’t done their research and that’s a turn off. Why? Primarily because they haven’t done their homework – it doesn’t give a good impression.
There is a mindset I find among artists (I know because I used to have it too!!) that ANYONE in the music business can help, but that’s far from true. For instance: a person in the video department of a label (sorry folks who work there) is not who you want to meet with. It’s the A & R department you should be talking to; they are the musicians of the label (usually – it’s best if they are or were anyway). A & R are the people that guide the artist’s music, develop their sound and introduce you to the label heads when you are ready. That’s just the beginning because each company in the music industry has its go-to people for emerging artists. You’ll just have to know who they are. For those aspiring artists out there – don’t even think about it – your job now is to develop your artistry, write the best darn songs you possibly can, and put your live performance together. Business comes later for you – truly.
I have this darling eleven-year-old student who always talks about how her family has connections – like that is all you need to be famous. Truth is, that’s not the hard part and knowing people in the music business absolutely ensures nothing except that you will get heard.
When you’ve been out there doing this music thing for a while, you’ve probably been working hard trying everything you can — but still feel that carrot is dangling out of reach. When it comes to a career in music, it’s easy to be confused on best direction to take to maximize your energies and funds. One of my students – after struggling for years with missed opportunities – got on course by creating the right strategy to fit her music. I showed her how to set up her songs for licensing online, to develop systems for attracting fans and music business, and use marketing ideas for her to get her music out there more successfully.
Here’s 5 ways I’ve watched people become successful in music. These stepping-stones help artists build their audience and draw success closer. There are more ways than this for sure, but these include some recent trends (see Checklist to be sure you are ready to rock and roll below).
Five Stepping Stones to Fame:
1. Acting Career – Being an actor or actress who gets on TV or in film gives you an automatic built-in fan base – the industry eats this up. The Miley Cyrus’s and Demi Lovato’s of the world have proven that model sells gazillions of records.
Note: Being successful in music depends on the size of your fan-base or audience. If you have 100,000 true fans you can have a career (true fans means they will buy anything you put out). If you have 1,000,000 fans you are a superstar. And if you have 20,000 fans like I do, you can afford to put out records every 5 years (mine is long overdue).
2. Video Gone Viral – YouTube is a brilliant platform, especially if you know how to use social media to drive traffic to your YouTube Channel. Fan based video contests (have your fans make videos to your songs and the best one wins) is a marketing approach to gain views. Getting friends to suggest your music page on FB is another (post your video there from YouTube). Justin Bieber is the latest major success that launched his career from his series of YouTube covers including songs from Usher that attracted the big star to work with him. This strategy worked extremely well because of a combination of factors: his age, his looks and his voice. What are your strengths that you can play up? You want to pursue strategies that work for you and your music. I do recommend if you do video, don’t do just one but several – do one a week. Do a video campaign, one song a week or month for a year!
Note: My dentist’s cousin, Scooter Braun, discovered Justin on YouTube. He is now his manager and tours with him worldwide. He said one of the main reasons he wanted to work with him was not just his talent, but that he was such a nice kid. Attitude goes a long way in this business.
3. Music business Connections – It really is all about who you know. Opportunities come from people inside the music business. And if you don’t know anyone – make it your business to. It’s not that hard to do. Attend annual music conferences like the ASCAP Expo (tons of music business are there), Taxi Road Rally, and Durango’s Songwriting Expo. And if you haven’t yet, be sure to join your local performing arts organization – I am a member of ASCAP and recommend them over the others for many reasons.
4. Publishing Deal – Getting a publishing deal is an avenue to a record deal. Most of my artists who have become famous started with a publishing deal – labels look at artists who have publishing deals as having more clout and savvy. Look for a publisher that can get your songs placed and is into your catalog. (A catalog is songs that you own publishing rights on that are mixed and mastered and ready for radio or film/TV.) You can meet publishers at music business conferences and through performing rights organizations, managers etc.
5. Your Music in Film & TV – Music in film and TV is the new buzz in the last few years for artists to break their music. Ray LaMontagne broke his career from a song in a commercial for dog food and Yael Naem had a song in a commercial for Apple. I am pursuing this model and have 2 songs in indie films this year – a first for me. The film Once launched the career of Glen Hansaard & Marketa Inglova from the Oscar they won for Best Song several years ago. The best conference for Music & Film is in November in LA – called The Hollywood Reporter Music & Film Conference. Online music service companies like Taxi and Sonicbids are great ways to submit your songs for licensing for film, TV – and music games (also a very lucrative part of the music business.) You’ll need professionally mixed and mastered top shelf recordings in order to submit your music. And clearing your music for quick turn-a-round for companies licensing your music is recommended. Check out PumpAudio.com and Rumblefish.com online to pre-clear your music.
Bonus Step to Fame:
6. Songwriting – Songwriting is a great stepping stone to meeting key people in the music business. Writing with other reputable songwriters and writing for other artists is a great way to make connections and climb the ladder. Most artists spend all of their time being artists (and I get it – it takes a boatload of time and energy for sure!), but when you put your eggs in one basket and only play the artist card, you miss out on the other skills and opportunities to capitalize on. For instance songwriter Jesse Harris launched his own singer-songwriter career after writing Norah Jones’ groundbreaking record Come Away With Me. He went on to sign his own deal and created his solo career as an artist. Had he not written for Norah and tried to keep all of those songs for his own career, he most likely would not have a record deal today.
There are the stepping stones – now start stepping today!