Staying In The Business

Here’s something to think about.

It’s extremely easy today to have a music project recorded and released. Everybody pretty much has the ability to record, press and distribute a mp3 of some sort. Add to that the ease of finding a person with a digital camera and passable HTML skills and you have the making of an Artist website. Then you have the online outlets like CD Baby, Tune Core, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram as well as independent promotion, marketing and publicity people, plus untold other ways to get your music out to the world. And, if you are really tough, even the worst act in the city can find a place to perform, even if it’s free. Add to this the growing number of entrepreneurs who are paying their way into shows, television, concert halls, club venues and festivals and you may get the picture I am drawing. It’s become extraordinarily easy to put all of the machinery into place, but none of this guarantees that the public is going to take notice of your music. The truth is that with so many tools available to anyone with a computer and a song in their head that it is becoming more and more difficult to get your music noticed by the masses.

The music business can be compared to a marriage between new lovers. It is as easy for any two people to fall in love, get married either in Las Vegas or at the county court house, as it is to create a thousand cds. And, just like a marriage will drag on and on for the sake of the children, artists believe that their next song will be the “BIG HIT” and continue to record, promote, perform and rehearse. The reality is that there are only 150 or 175 major recordings being exposed and sold each month even though there are hundreds of thousands of recordings being created and offered. That places the abandoned rate for music at over 98%; the divorce rate for lovers is closer to 50%.

Now if you are like most NEW artists you feel that you create music for the love of the art and not for the money. Of course you won’t be in business long or you will become a RECORD PIMP and continue throwing money down that never ending promotional hole. However if you are serious in pursuing music as a career you will come upon the time when you will either decide to foot the continuing bill or find another career path. The decision is yours to make and unfortunately there is no “magic” or scientific right way to run your career. Just remember that starting over from scratch maybe the best thing for your musical career.