Let me get this out of the way right off the bat. There’s no way for an artist to completely separate their experiences, opinions, and creative tendencies from the work they make. But in music, it’s important that we try. At the very least, we learn to recognize how our identities shape the work we create.
So you got your first interview—congratulations! We spend a lot of time talking about how to secure your first few press placements. But what happens when you actually do? Well first, I hope you celebrate—this is a big deal!
Then, it’s time to talk strategy. How are you going to make the most of this interview? How will you present yourself? What stories can you tell? How do you remain professional yet relaxed enough to let your personality shine through?
You might not realize it, but there’s a cultural framework that shapes the way that all bands behave. Culture dictates everything from how you and your bandmates interact with one another to the process you engage in to make difficult choices. You can think about culture as an unwritten social agreement that tells musicians in bands what behaviors are okay and which ones aren’t. It’s not easy, but if you don’t like the current culture that exists in your band, there are things you can do to change it from within.
There are many great ideas for social media content, but some are more effective in driving engagement to your page. We live at a time where social media is no longer about getting the most likes or views, but it is about creating an ongoing conversation with your fans. So here are five content ideas to help you to reach out to more fans:
As songwriters, we all have unique assets that we bring to the process of creating music. While the quality of your voice or your knack for writing hooks might come to mind first, the way you funnel emotional intuition and passion into your music shouldn’t be ignored. Feelings are some of the best music-creation tools a songwriter has. Learn to embrace and apply them to your music. In doing so, you’ll have a powerful way to connect with audiences by making your work relatable and human. But by ignoring your feelings or trying to artificially change them to make your music more palatable, you’ll make your life as a songwriter much harder than it has to be.
For songwriters who want to explore their creativity in meaningful ways, changing up old habits and taking risks over and over again isn’t an option. However, it’s not easy, especially if you’ve been making music for a long time. One of the most frustrating things about songwriting is that the routines you build can be both helpful and destructive for your process, depending on how you spend your time writing. Constantly renewing your creative curiosity with exercises like these will help you to write consistently, but in ways that are new and challenging.
Technology is a double-edged sword when it comes to music creation. On one hand, technology gives us the tools to write, record, and produce in ways we couldn’t have done otherwise. Yet, leaning too heavily into the convenience technology offers can be bad for our music. This especially goes for writing and performing with MIDI instruments.
Music is a creative pursuit where creators and performers can be talented, lucky, and ambitious and still somehow end up quitting a few years in. If you’ve been at it for a while, you know how grueling a music career can be. But have you ever nailed down exactly why?
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