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T.I. started his career as an indepent artist before signing to LaFace Records.
Now, he's back to doing his own thing. HEAD OF THE FAMILY!!
Photo courtesy of sandrarose.com. |
Being an independent artist is a lot of work according to T.I., who described his recent ventures in the independent market during this
video with midweststars.com.
If you aren't T.I., or another rapper worth $46 million or more, then you might find the rap game confusing and overwhelming.
I see too many artists struggling with motivation and branding, so I did a little research that I hope will encourage you as much as it is encouraging me as a publicist.
The key is taking steps one day at a time. Little things really do add up.
You should submit your music to someone new everyday, create a goal of how many shows to do in a month and continuously build relationships with fans and industry professionals.
Most importantly, change your views of the finish line: believe it and see that it exists for yourself:
Stop Worrying, Start Doing:
Stop thinking about what you can't do and find something you can. You can't make things happen by sitting around hoping. Get serious about your music goals and work towards them. Realize that everything may not work as you expect, but those are lessons for later trials. Furthermore, stop worrying about making money. I know, it sounds crazy, but as an independent artist starting in the game, you must focus on investing in it first to grow your fans. If your music is good, then the money will come.
Use Google:
There are hundreds of sites that list advice, tips and tricks to growing your fan base and tactics for booking shows. I found this article, "
10 Things Every Musician Should Know to Help Their Career" by simply googling "independent artists."
Sell Something!
Don't discredit your music by giving it out free, even if it's only the Itunes $.99 download. This opens doors for promotional giveaways and, finally, some income! Awesome and easy right?
Use Social Media
Socialize with your friends of course, but also establish some credit as a business person and artist. Don't bombard your followers with your music and videos. Instead, build relationships with them so that *they* will know who *you* are. Think about it. People listen to music from artists they know personally or through the grapevine. Building relationships increases the probability of new listeners who will share your music. You should always be conscious of your brand. Don't offend your target audience or discredit your music--or other's music for that matter, you don't want to look like a hater.
*Its also important to establish your followers. Your timeline shouldn't consist of only video vixens and the comedy of the week, but also credible people in the music industry: DJ's, producers, magazine editors and other rappers.*
Keep your music and image prepared
You never know when the opportunity will come to promote yourself. With this new age of technology, you should always have your songs and press kit available to send of upon request via your email or hard drive.
Perform!
This is a source of promotion and revenue. Don't know how to book shows? That's fine. There are a variety of show booking websites to choose from. Some are free, some cost money. It's all about using your resources guys! One of the websites for booking shows that is growing the fastest right now is
myafton.com. Another really good one is
reverbnation.com.
Need more advice? Great! I did the hard work for you. Here are some links to some more great articles that talk about being an independent artist:
10 great tips to help you fail as a hip hop artist
8 Tips for Booking Shows
Tips for increasing your fanbase
And you can always contact me, too. I may not know everything there is to know, but I'm sure we can figure it out together. ;)
Sincerely,
Danielle Hairston
NBCMG Management
Email: nbcmgcarolina@yahoo.com
