If you dream about becoming an independent and successful artist, then you need to understand the essential steps needed to make your place in the music industry. The truth is that being a successful independent artist in 2023 has never been more possible.
The things that an independent artist needs to be successful in the music industry have never been more attainable than ever before. Artists can now live their ultimate dreams of being successful artists without having to be owned by a record label, which has become a thing of the past.
Read on to learn more about how to become a successful independent artist in 2023.
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Understand the Music Industry
The music industry – like any other industry – is a business venture. With that said, when people start a business, their primary goal is to make money. For most independent artists, the goal is pretty much the same.
Most independent artists want to make a living off their hard work, which is where the roles of record labels come into play. Record labels essentially find the artist’s music production, design a marketable image for the artist, and finally get the artist in front of their target audience.
Before the internet merged with the music industry, artists had essentially no other way of making it into the industry without the support of record labels. Studio time was scarce – not to mention the studio equipment, which was too expensive for the average person to obtain.
Today – in 2023 – things have changed for the better. You don’t have to rely on record labels as an aspiring independent artist. Instead, you can opt for collaborating with a professional audio mastering team of engineers and recording your songs in premium quality.
You are the master of your destiny, as record labels no longer determine who gets into the industry and when it is time for someone to get out. Now, with the improvement of technology, studio equipment has become more accessible to the average artist.
Now, if you look at it, you see that online music streaming platforms, such as Spotify, and the latest technology have created a whole new path for aspiring artists that wasn’t possible before. Any aspiring artist can now afford to record their music by collaborating with professional audio mastering engineers or recording their songs in their own home studios.
Today, aspiring artists have more control than before – they can market their music on social media and build their fan base from the ground up – without needing a record label for support and branding.
What does it take to become an Independent Artist?
If you want to become an independent artist, you will want to have the following four things:
- You will need to be talented, determined, and consistently working on your music.
- You will need money – the more money, the better it will be for your career.
- You will want to create a sellable and believable image. The way you present yourself to the world matters, as this will help you draw in fans.
- You will need to incorporate a successful marketing plan to reach your target audience and get your music heard.
Obviously, you need to be talented to become a successful independent artist. However, if you aren’t talented enough, you might still be able to get into the music industry with the required amount of dedication, willpower, and hard work.
However, if you lack talent, you will want to keep in mind that you will be essentially lacking behind those naturally talented artists, in which case, you will be required to work twice as hard as those talented artists.
Now, if you lack the talent but want to land big in the music industry, you can get yourself taught by taking music lessons. If you are determined enough to make a name for yourself in the music industry, you will want to learn how to sing or make beats.
Also, if you are talented, you will still want to put in the hard work so you can stand out from the crowd – including the artists that are signed and have support from record labels. Simply put – you will want to consistently improve your music and attempt to make every new song better than your previous song.
This might become a challenge for independent artists as they try to improve their music while recording their songs at professional studios. As an independent artist, you should invest your money wisely in affordable equipment to work on your records at home.
The Takeaway
If you are an independent artist and you want to be successful without losing most of your royalties to a record label – you will want to take the route of an indie artist. In its essence, this route will be much harder to take and much longer too.
But – if you do things correctly, you will definitely be able to reap all the benefits of being an independent artist and owning your royalties.