Tips For The Young Musician Vol.12

Jenn Cohen | January 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

by Stephan Hume

I am going to combine a word you probably like with a word that you may not: “music” and “business.” There you have it. Whether you like it or not, the music business industry is a reality. Trust me, if you are a budding musician I can understand if adding business to your music sounds like bringing grandma along on your first date. But it does not have to feel that lame.

Music has value, wouldn’t you agree? If you listen to it, you value it. If you play it, you value it. Guess what? If you take music lessons, study music, or teach music in any way, you value it more even still. I suppose we could go into a great deal of depth and detail on the topic of music business, but I just want to scratch the surface here. You can never learn this stuff too early.

Believe in your own value.

Like I said, music has value. If you are musician and you have any intention of sharing your music, you should always remember your music has value. There is this stereotype of being the starving musician out there. Sure, as with any career, people can find a way to starve while doing what they love. But you don’t have to. You can actually feed yourself as you enhance other people’s lives with the value of your musicianship. It all starts with you believing it. Add a good dose of humility and the desire to keep learning and you will be dangerous … in a good way.

Promote what you value.

If you like something, tell people about it! If they respect your opinion, they will likely try it as well. Start promoting the music you value. If you value the music of other musicians, tell people about it. Attend a live show and purchase that very same music. On top of that, you have established the value of your own music. Go promote that, too! There are really cool ways to promote your music. It starts the same way you promote the music of others with phrases like, “Have you heard this before? I think you will really like it!”

Ask questions.

Start right now. Think of a question in your mind about the music business and ask it out loud. Then, find someone you know in the music industry and ask them the same question. Then don’t believe them only. Go out and ask it a bunch of times in a bunch of different ways. The world is growing more and more limitless in its ability to provide you with answers. Find out what other people know about sharing music or forming a career in music. Then, trust your gut and process all you have learned. Then, ask more questions because they are bound to come up the more you learn.