- Indie Artist Launch
- Welcome Back!
So in part one of the Indie Artist Launch Plan we addressed what seemed to be the two major problems as well as the importance of BUILDING a solid foundation.
The importance of creating the structure - built of the right habits, the right people, and the right attitude are the fundamental building blocks to the success of an Indie Artist Career today.
Again, i go so far as to say that it’s less about the talent and more about the drive. The passion and “learnable” characteristics and skills that successful people embrace and adopt account for more wins than anything else.
So in part one you learned that the Right Knowledge, Right Strategy, + Consistency = Get to Your Next Level.
And since Artist Development is OUR job, what ARE the things – that if you did and were consistent in doing would set you up for the best chance for success over a period of say two years time?
Alright let’s get to it!
Artist Development Today = Clarity, Direction, and Commitment.
This is what I would have done. It’s simple, yet profound. When you reduce the clutter and amount of wheel spinning and just increase the size and intensity of your focus onto these few things, incredible stuff starts to happen.
Let’s call it the two year path of persistence for building a foundation for your music career as a performing artist/band, given you have enough songs written and ready to go, plus a half dozen or so covers you can rock out.
The Performing Artist/Band Launch Plan
2 shows a week – Just keep honing your chops.
1-3 articles a week – Just keep writing engaging content, the best you know how to, and submit to guest blogs like Music Think Tank.
15-20 minutes of social media every day – Keep making connections, keep building your following, replying to and sharing interesting things.
100 names onto your email list every week – Focus on doing this, any way you can. Ask everyone you meet if you can add them to your email list. If you work at it, and there are tons of ways, you should be able to get fifty every week offline, and fifty every week online. If you can’t get that much, keep doing all you can, and then once you’ve flatlined, do a little more research on how you can increase it.
Key Areas of Focus
Email list every week – Keep in touch with them, share your new content, the latest experiences, and keep your listeners engaged.
Write and produce at least one song every month – Get into the habit of doing this, and then promote it to your email list.
Work with a coach and consultant – This is CRITICAL to keep you on track, and have someone help you get over your inner obstacles, and everyone has them. Well, not me… But everyone else. :)
Find YOUR signature sound and style – Develop that thing that you do that is unique to you and YOUR style and personality, and master that. Ask your friends and your fans to be real and give you some honest insight. Focus in on those things, and the things that make people scream, and dance, or smile, or wave their hands, or listen intently. Don’t be afraid to do weird things to try and find what those things are for you.
Observe the feeling of your lifestyle now - Take inventory and see if you had what it takes to make a lifelong career out of this. Is THIS what fills you up? Do you love doing this, more than anything else?
Get known in your town – Go out and meet as many people as you can, network, get their phone numbers and email addresses. Follow up.
Systemize all the pieces that you don’t need/want/can do – Hire someone to submit your music to libraries and pitch opportunities online for example. Create documented processes that break things down into simple, easy to execute, steps.
In that time, once you have been building connections you will probably not have to work very hard to find someone who you can record and produce your tracks. If you cannot pay, barter or work something out.
Make sure you get both the instrumental and vocal versions of each song, go and submit those to as many music libraries and placement opportunities online that you can find. Get a taxi membership if you can afford the $300 and learn about the industry, get involved on the forum, and have your music reviewed on the peer to peer section.
Read everything Bob Baker ever wrote about music marketing, as well as both books by Ariel Hyatt - Music Successs in 9 Weeks, and Musicians Roadmap to Facebook and Twitter.
The thing is that, although all of this stuff sounds basic, and it is… IT is ALL that is required. The hard part, is doing it. It’s not that people cannot do this… You can do this while still going to college, or working a part time job, or even while working a full time job.
You may say to yourself… That’s easy, no problem! But I challenge you to do it, do it for just 3 months, consistently. I dare you. I’ll bet you’ll find that it’s simple, but that it’s definitely NOT easy. And I mean stick to those things… You cannot deviate from doing JUST those things.
Please drop me a line to let me know your results.
I think that if anyone, who had the ability to do these things, followed this formula, would end up sitting very pretty, and have enough momentum, insight, success, confidence built up, to propel them to any level of career success they were willing to go after.
You just have to maintain three things…
Attitude – Be humble, be a learner, don’t get mad at criticism, use it as feedback and adjust accordingly.
Passion – Always do and play what you are passionate about. Once you start to lose that passion, you will strain yourself and burn out over time… Be careful, and only make music that moves you, and that touches other people in some way.
Consistency – This is a master key to success it seems in almost any area. Consistency is the name of the game here. Be persistent and stay consistent.
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Jamie Leger is a Business Coach and Consultant who helps Experts and MusicPreneurs create profitable online brands by building their audience and marketing their products and services. He writes and produces music as an Independent Singer Songwriter by night.
In addition to helping authors, speakers, coaches, and consultants package and launch information products and services into profitable ongoing sources of passive income, he also works with artists, musicians, producers, and composers to move to the next level in their music career.
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