Becoming a successful musician is not easy. It takes hard work, dedication, practice, trial and error, money, time, and a lot of luck. Or at least it used to. We live in the era of digital streaming services, and they have not only changed how listeners find and interact with their favorite music, but how artists and creators go about making a living for themselves.
A successful music career is by no means out of reach. In many ways, streaming has made fame and fortune possible for artists who would have possibly never got their careers off the ground the old-fashioned way.
Let’s take a deeper look at how you can build your music career, specifically using streaming services like Spotify to help you.
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Get your music uploaded
This may seem painfully obvious, but it’s not as straightforward as you might think. Unlike platforms like YouTube, Soundcloud and Bandcamp, artists cannot just click an upload button and have their music appear on Spotify for all to hear. Instead, publishing the tracks is normally taken care of by the record label. So if you’re an independent unsigned artist, you have to take a slightly different route. There are services out there such as TuneCore, CDBaby, and Distrokid, which will get your music onto your desired platforms. These services are not free, it’s worth noting, but unfortunately, they are the only option for unsigned musicians. Prices vary across each service, and you get different things for different amounts, so it’s worth checking out each service and pricing tier to see which package will work best for you, and what you can realistically afford.
From there, you upload high-quality lossless audio files (not mp3s!), album artwork, and some simple metadata. And boom, you’re now officially on Spotify! But bear in mind around 40,000 new tracks are uploaded every day! So the next step is to get yourself heard!
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Have a good online presence
Having music on Spotify is a good first step, but that’s about all it is, unfortunately. There’s still lots more work to do. There’s no such thing as being ‘too available,’ so get your music uploaded on to every other streaming service you can. Apple Music, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, etc. The more places people can go to hear you, the better. And don’t stop there. Create a Facebook page, an Instagram profile, a TikTok account, and be prepared to post as frequently as possible if you want to attempt to make any kind of dent in the modern-day digital music world. Consider licensing your music out for TV shows, films, advertisements, and video games, if you get lucky enough to be considered. And, pandemic-permitting, perform as much as you can in the real world too.
Online is great; streaming has changed the way we think about music as a business. But there’s still no real replacement for brick-and-mortar gigs and shows. The best approach is belt and braces. Do the online stuff and the real-world stuff, wherever possible. And make sure the two worlds overlap – mention your upcoming gigs on your social media, and tell your audiences at your shows to follow you on Spotify. If you are interested in building a better digital presence and obtaining more Spotify plays and followers, you can check out the marketing services at BuySocialToday.com.
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Get noticed by those with influence
This is easier said than done. Good publicity is hard to whip up, and it only really works to your benefit if someone with a big audience for similar stuff to the stuff you make takes a liking to you. The best thing you can do is find someone like that, or ideally a lot of people like that, and reach out to them. Music journalists and independent bloggers can significantly spike your follower count if you get a good write-up by a reputable name.
Straight-up asking someone to listen to your music and give it an honest (but positive) review can feel vapid and soul-destroying, and not what you want to be doing in your career as a musician. If you have the budget for it, consider hiring someone to take care of this kind of thing for you. If you don’t you might have to be creative and come up with a way to get noticed by yourself. Be warned though, there are plenty of other struggling artists trying to do exactly the same thing, so you’ll have to have something special to cut through the noise and really stand out.
So, as you can see, streaming services like Spotify have changed the way you have to go about making a name for yourself in the music business. This is not an exhaustive list of do’s and don’ts, but it’s certainly a good place to start, and you’d do well if you can tick off everything mentioned above! At some point, if you’re doing things right, it should click into place, and who knows, maybe you’ll wind up with a record deal and a manager to take care of all this stuff for you! Hopefully, that’s the case!
