You should pay attention to this when planning your career

Are you a musician with heart and soul and want to gain a foothold in this business, earn money and be successful? It’s the time of the DIY musician. What does that mean? You belong to a generation of artists who probably only need a laptop, a microphone and an audio interface for their music production. Your studio is probably your own living room! From this living room, you distribute your music with the help of a digital distributor such as recordJet. And to a world that can listen to your music just like that.

To help you keep as much of an overview as possible between making music, preparing releases and creating social media content, we’ve put together a guide for you today on how to advance your career in DIY style. Starting with the organization, to taking care of your mental health, to networking opportunities. Sounds exhausting? It is! But it’s also good. Because it’s up to you how your music sounds and at what pace it should be released. Ready?

The fat years are over

30 to 40 years ago, in the glorious, “fat” years of pop music, there was no such thing as DIY. Back then, there was often only one path for musicians on their way to the top: the major label deal. Once that was done, they had to find a management and booking agency. The (often expensive) recording studio you then rented produced your demos. After mixing and mastering by the producer, the artist then received their finished music product in the form of a cassette, CD, mini-disc or vinyl. The musician was not necessarily involved in any of these processes. And social media didn’t exist yet either. As an artist, you could therefore concentrate on making music and the subsequent live business. You only had to produce interviews, photos and videos for the promo. The money for the campaign and release didn’t come from crowdfunding, equity or acquiring funding, but instead there was an advance, a kind of loan from the label.

Sounds almost too good to be true, this absolute comfort zone as a musician? Sure, big and larger artists still have this privilege today due to their monetary success. These deals often don’t apply to smaller artists. But that also has advantages: Because what only the top artists were allowed to do back then, namely make music, is now theoretically and practically possible for anyone. Technology and social media make it possible.

DIY in music – do it yourself

This is the motto of many aspiring musicians. Because your actual artistic activity, your core competence as a musician – making music, singing, composing, etc. – has expanded into many other areas. This includes questions such as:

– What does a physical distributor do and what does a digital distributor do?

– What is the difference between promotion and marketing?

– What does a publisher do for me?

– How can I have my works represented and protected by copyright?

– What do collecting societies like GEMA do for me?

– How can I communicate with live technicians so that I have a good sound experience on stage?

– How do I find the right producer and how do I want to finance the services I use?

– How can I conclude contracts sensibly?

– And how can I negotiate decent fees?

Phew! Quite a lot for “just making music”. Being a self-organized musician is multi-faceted. Because as a musician, you are the interface between instances. Between the live business and distribution, production, videography, artwork, promotion and much more. You are the connection and at the same time the translator of your own ideas and wishes. In short: everything is you. The big challenge with DIY is therefore for you: Connecting it all together without going crazy and, most importantly, not losing focus. The best way to do this is to break it down into 3 steps.

The major tasks of a DIY artist

To compose a song and write lyrics, you need inspiration in the form of experiences, encounters, travels, something that triggers emotions in you to give you creative access. The path to the finished song is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter: you have made sketches, recorded demos, collected ideas, rehearsed and written arrangements. You may also have already created artwork, shot a music video and completed your recording and production in the studio. And then you’re ready to go: Your track is ready!

Now it’s time to release your song. Once the songs have been published on the relevant portals by your distributor, the fun really begins. You need an EPK. So: Bio, photos and a press release. Tech riders have to be written and funding has to be applied for from the city and various institutions. The social media platforms need to be provided with news and informed that you have new music. And, of course, everything related to analog and digital promotion has to be up and running. Then there’s the live business. The presentation, i.e. your live performance, must not only be well thought out and properly rehearsed, it must first be realized.

Before you can perform on stage, you have to research your potential live venues and apply countless times. You will most likely have a lot of email correspondence and hopefully end up signing contracts that leave you with something.

One artist, many jobs

You are many if you are this kind of musician. The list of to-dos seems to be never-ending and knows no limits. You do several jobs at the same time – but which ones?

– Your first job besides making music is content creation. It forms the heart of this constellation. You not only come up with the song, but also all the other ideas surrounding the song. Artwork, video ideas, competitions, etc. You need time to get in touch with your melodies and creativity. Some have an idea book, another for artwork sketches, recording gear, whatever.

– Your second job? Performer:in. This represents the whole range of your stage personality. If you’ve already performed live, you probably know what that means. You’re not just a musician, but also a storyteller and presenter in one. Because you are the person who seeks a dialog with the audience. It’s also very important to read the mood of your audience and shape what’s going on. This also requires the courage to improvise.

– The third job: networking. This starts with after-show conversations with potential partners, fans at the merch stand, etc.. But networking also includes all the correspondence. Booking, label, publisher, maintaining relationships with all partners. Keeping the project alive. For you, it’s always about making, maintaining and using contacts. Of course, you shouldn’t neglect social media either. This means posting, creating content, replying to messages and comments.

– The fourth and final job is Manager:in. This is mainly about one thing: structure! What else is involved? Writing emails with partners, whether in day-to-day business or active booking. Making phone calls, negotiating fees or clarifying the fare. Larding up the calendar with rehearsal dates, live performances, interviews and meetings so that you and everyone involved know what needs to be done when and where. The bookkeeping and online store also need to be brought up to date. Writing funding applications can also fall into the management area.

Which platforms support your independent work?

Two names: Patreon and Getnext. Because they can be used to find important budgets for you. Getnext is the German equivalent of Patreon. Getnext is based in Germany and is also managed from here. As with Patreon, payments are made once a month.

You can use both portals for your exclusive releases. Or rather, that’s what they’re made for. There is a pre-release function. This means that you can share your new song with your community earlier than on other platforms such as Spotify and the like. This gives your supporters, who can send you various sums of money, a particularly good feeling.

After the release is before the release

On average, a musician releases new music every six to eight weeks. To give the creative processes a framework, it would be helpful to create an annual plan for this workload. Then you can enter in advance when you want to release which of your songs.

Planning this far in advance will help you to meet deadlines and distinguish the EP from the singles in promo terms and approach them accordingly. It’s about much more than just releasing singles. For example, publicity has to be done in advance. The song has to be recorded, mixed and mastered. The artwork has to be finalized, the videos and the tour have to be planned. Everything has to be structured. An annual plan will help you with this.

You are not alone

All of this is a lot of work. Make sure you don’t burn out and don’t sell yourself short. Make sure you take breaks, detox from your cell phone and get paid for your art! If you can’t keep your head above water, you won’t be able to manage this mammoth program on the side in the long term. Keep asking yourself: What is realistic? What can you do on your own? What do you need to hand over? A regular assessment of the situation can contribute to success.