Steps To Build A Career In Music

music carrer

Building a career in the music industry is a challenging job. The task even gets harder if you’d have to do things all by yourself from producing, marketing, to selling. However, making your way to the music industry limelight with no manager or agent to bug you is one of the perks of independent music. If you’ll make it successfully in the market you and your team will own all the income without having to deal with the drama of having a middleman.

Starting is one thing and growing it is another. By taking little but sure steps at a time, you’re on your way to your dream career.Most musicians are lost in the concept of producing and marketing their masterpiece. They sometimes think that all they need is good music to make it. Although this is true for some, if you’re determined enough to get your name out there and let your music be heard, then it’s about time to change your thinking.

Here are the few good things to get you start with:

  • First and foremost, you need to master your craft – it’s not enough that you get along with the music but you must own it entirely. Continually strive to improve your skill. Live your music. By doing this, your music will speak to its audience and be an experience in itself.
  • Create a label for your music. Way back before the digital era, musicians used to ride with the big record labels just to get their music into the circus that is the music industry. This means though that you have to get noticed – which is actually the most difficult part during that time. Today, thanks to the digital generation you could now give your music a good exposure. Put out your music under your label.
  • Let your music be heard. Maximize the power of social networking sites (for musicians and diverse community) by creating accounts and uploading your mp3 tracks. This is a good way to build up the image of your work and enforcing brand awareness for your label. It’s your choice if you want to upload the full song or just a part of it. Just beware of some people who try and steal someone’s work and credit it as their own. Learn about audio watermarking to identify your copyright of ownership.
  • Widen the scope of your skills and knowledge. Do not confine yourself to the production of music alone. If you want to create a career you also need to learn the business side of the industry. Read books about marketing, particularly marketing in the entertainment industry. Also, learn about the royalty fees and copyright laws to protect your interests.
  • Be specific as to who your target market is because this will identify your genre. Or if you’ve decided first about your genre, take time to study about your potential market. There are music genres that appeal to people of different ages or generations. Maybe there’s something that you could do to your style of music to make it more appealing to a wider market.
  • Be active with your promotion. Building a career in music needs a lot of effort and investment from the creation of music to its delivery in the market. Maintain your site or your account and make sure that you update it regularly. Once you build a good fanbase (who are music enthusiasts as you are) maintain their interests and keep giving them music they want to hear. Build connection not only with musicians but with other professionals as well like event organizers, filmmakers, concert producers, and the like. In one way or another, these kinds of people can give your music a chance to showcase its potential.

4 Rampant Trends on The Music Industry

music trends

With the first half phase of 2017 coming to an end, it is a perfect time for reflection and setting our sites on what is coming up next. We expect more great hits on the second half of 2017. We also expect great concerts and live events as we are approaching lots of holidays and activities. Besides, we hope that more brands will be released to develop a music strategy. And with many streaming services being released, music will definitely have greater influence for brands to consider when making partnerships. With that said, here are four rampant trends on the music industry right now.

1.     Streaming will Make Artists Rethink the Revenue Sources

Music streaming has risen to a greater percentage in the last couple of years. Live shows are becoming a primary source of revenue for many artists. Whereas the consumers spending on digital downloads CDs is down almost 50 percent over the past four years, live music consumer spending has risen up to 66 percent. However, artists are reacting to this shift in different ways. For instance, Adele and Taylor Swift have removed some of their albums from a few streaming sites to make more album sales. On the hand, some artists such as Puff Daddy and Foo Fighters have embraced this change. They have even gone to an extent of releasing EPs online for free.

More brands are asking whether or not streaming is the best option to avail music to people. It is an intriguing step taken between quality and access and monetizing that. It will also make the big artists get out and the smaller one becoming more involved. Moreover, the trend of smaller and emerging artists making use of audio platforms to release EPs and singles as opposed to albums is effective and smart. The reason behind this is that it allows artists to market often to their customer base and remain fresh.

2.     Rise of Emerging Artists

Artist collaborations can increase value for a product. It provides a large-scale name to the brand and allows for instant consumer recognition and media coverage. However, most brands which are not in the so called ‘large-scale’ category often cannot afford these collaborations. Besides, some brands who prefer working with the big artists sometimes do not get a genuine feel because of the artists involvement with other brands thus diluting the impact.

That said, one of the big trends which will occur in 2017 henceforth will be for most brands both large and small to rely heavily on emerging artists; utilize the rising talents to boost their brands and target the engaged consumers. This new collaboration will rely more on data. Understanding the brand data and referencing it with the artist fan data will see a higher success rate or artist and brand collaborations.

3.     Music and Technology

This year, the music industry will have major changes. For instance, the songwriters and artists will now distance themselves further from traditional music business models, thanks to sites such as Kobalt. Kobalt offers managers, artists, and labels, more user-friendly analyzing tools that make it simple to understand and review their varied income streams.

Artists are collaborating with tech firms. For instance, Hardware companies including Bose, Technics, and Beats By Dre, have launched their music streaming services, whereas Muzik is launching headphones with an amazing one-touch social media sharing spec. Moreover, firms that can distribute contents are partnering with music artists.

Certainly, regardless of the artist, label, or brand, everyone is now integrating their efforts with popular social media tools since it is one of the most effective metric for success. Tech companies are now proving to be a one-stop shop for music and in turn they get your attention on the products there are selling.

4.     Music Industry is now Integrating with Fashion Brands

Music artists are now playing a bigger role in promoting fashion brands to more consumers. A good number of fashion brands have already begun using the music industry to market their brands. For example, the Macy’s Fashion Front Row event held in 2016 displaying over 60 designers while collaborating with a strong music performance on stage to draw a wider market. Music artists are now expected to be making more events like this one which will increase the amount of brand and artists partnerships in the fashion industry.

4 Skills That Will Help You Make It in the Music Industry

mucisian

If you want a career in music, it is now a great time to join the music industry. However, it is very competitive and there is a lot of pressure in this industry. You have to know what it takes to turn the desire and passion for music to a successful career. Apart from awesome business or technical skills, here are few skills that will help you stand out from the crowd.

1.     Know the aspects of the music industry.

Working in ‘Marketing’ or ‘A&R’ does not mean that you do not need to know all other parts of the Industry. Take time to understand the music industry as whole and what areas are in conjunction with your skills. Knowing all this makes you more resourceful.  Furthermore, reach out to more people within the music industry, which will help you develop new relationships and build your industry network.

2.     Loyalty

In music industry, it is very hard to make it on your own. Record companies, managers, band members, and promoters you collaborate with become your partners in every project you undertake in your music career. Since these companies and people use their resources in working with you, they expect loyalty in return.

Lots of disloyal musicians are usually blacklisted from future contracts and opportunities. Although there are lots of ways of being loyal, the best explanation is not jumping from one opportunity to another while creating conflicts with those who made you succeed. Develop a code of loyalt to become successful and relevant for a long term.

3.     Make sure you have the talent

In music industry, the first thing you need is a talent and ability. Without this, your music career will be short lived. Talent comes before everything else. Until you have a talent, you should not do anything to promote your music. What most people are concerned about is the first impression. This is key to having a successful music career, as it is not an easy task relaunching yourself to people who have heard you before and were not impressed. The odds are that they will not even try and listen to your music the second time around, even after convincing them that you have improved.

4.     Marketing knowledge

Another skill that is important to emerging musicians and artists is having a good marketing knowledge. Having talent will not help you much if you do not have the drive to promote yourself. Furthermore, spending a lot of time practising the wrong strategy for marketing, you will find it very hard to make progress in terms of gaining recognition and building a fanbase.

Marketing is an important aspect in raising awareness of your music. Most of the popular artists you know would not have made without marketing. However, it not all types of marketing are worth it. Some are just a waste of time as it will stop you from doing things that would benefit your career as a musician. Ensure that everything you do promote our music career in the right way, if this is not the case you will not go very far.

Secrets to Spotting and Nurturing your Children’s Talents

children

When you consciously keep an eye on your children, you will start noticing how they spontaneously fell, think and act. You will also see them show a variety of reactions and behaviors. If you observe a certain behavior for a good number of times, it might be a budding talent. Just like adults, children have unique reactions depending on their talents.

Your kid’s favorite interests and activities can also give you hints on their talents. What do they love to do? What captures their attention? They might be interested in cars, books, painting, a keyboard, baby dolls, bugs, etc. When children are verbal, observe and ask them what they like most in an attempt to know what they love most. Here are some secrets to for spotting and nurturing your children’s talents.

Look for clues

When children exhibit the same clues repeatedly, they are most likely using an area of their talent. Some of the clues to look for include; yearnings which are environments or activities your kids are most drown to. Another one is rapid learning which includes new activities or skills your children pick up easily and quickly. Additionally, you should also consider satisfaction – the activities your kids are excited about and times when they’re most fulfilled and enthusiastic.

 Provide opportunities

Talents require openings to nurture. In case they lack opportunities, the talents may remain suppressed during the early ages after which it might be difficult to develop it its full potential. It is vital, as a parent, you provide your kid with a range of opportunities so that any hidden talents can blossom. This can be done by introducing your kids to different games, topics, activities, and skills and help them pursue them.

Show Interest in your Child’s World

Children love talking about the things they interest them most. Make sure you listen to them keenly as they share their acquired knowledge. Know their concerns and take note of things that they do not like. If you happen to know that your children are not interested in art, sports, or music, you’re step closer to discovering his passions and interests.

Nurture talents with lessons

After knowing what your kids like, ensure you recognize it by encourage them and telling them how good they are. Moreover, consider enrolling them in classes where they can learn more about their skills. Having lessons make them learn more about their skills and talents.

Offer background enrichment

When nurturing your child’s talent, make use of every opportunity to enrich and broaden her understanding of the talent. This will inspire her and guide her drive. Ensure you show her the achievements and the techniques used by experts and allow them see them in action. For instance, if she is a budding jazz saxophonist, take her to jazz concerts. If she loves swimming, take her to theatre. If she loves swimming, arrange for local contests and watch the international ones on TV.  Open the doors for her to nurture her talent.

Were these the most talented musicians of all time?

mucisians

Coming up with a list of the most talented musicians of ‘ALL TIME’ is a little challenging considering we do not have any documented music from pre-medieval period there is a huge gap in our knowledge on music and the must which was performed. It was not until the monks began creating a system of writing the chants in the 10th century that we had an idea of how the music sounded during those days. Here is the roundup of the most talented musicians of all time.

1.     Freddie Mercury

Freddie was born in Zanzibar and became a British songwriter, singer, and record producer, referred to as the lead vocalist. He was also the songwriter of rock band Queen. Freddie also became popular for his 4-octave vocal range and flamboyant stage persona. Before he started singing, he had been in three other bands; The Hectics, Sour Milk Sea, and Ibex.

2.     William Hung

William Hung is one of the greatest musicians of all time. He has the ability to epitomize our highs, lows and our struggle to make ourselves heard. Furthermore, the is the history’s best musician as he can speak for anyone who gets the change to sought the stage because he express the life’s complexities better than everyone else.

3.     Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was a popular American singer, songwriter, and dancer. He donated a remarkable of 300 million dollars to charity. He is also known as The King of Pop. This title was given to him by Elizabeth Taylor. He is also behind the best selling album of all time – Thriller in 1982. This album was awarded a total of 30 times platinum in 2016. He was also the owner of other albums – History, Dangerous, and Bad – which are all among the greatest charting albums of all time.

MJ was also the first black musician whose music video was aired on MTV, and this broke down the racial barrier in the music industry. Michael Jackson revolutionized the pop music. He is also known for his signature dance moves (military jackets, white sequined cloves, black hat) and his unique voice and songs like Thriller, Billie Jean, Heal the World, Man in the Mirror and They Don’t Care About Us.

4.     Ludwig Van Beethoven

Ludwig is considered by many as the best composer of all time. He challenged the authority by refusing to accept and recognize the cultural norms of the day. Ludwig’s soulful symphonies and sonatas broke all the boundaries of the Classical Era which was defined by the technical mastery and ushered a new period – a Romantic Era. Besides, being deaf did not discourage him from composing great masterpieces which still endure to date in moves like the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Long Term Care Insurance quotes rate increase

Long Term Care

Questions from our client about his long term care insurance quotes:

Noticing a lot of stories on the web about problems in the Long Term Care Insurance quotes industry … companies getting out of the business – and consumers being stuck with unexpected increases in their premiums (or being denied coverage based on the fine print of the agreements.) Do any of these firms offer more protection than others against price hikes later – or have a better track record at handling coverage requests?

LTC Tree answers:

In the past ten years Prudential and and Metlife are the two big long term care insurance quotes companies that got out but Transamerica along with a few others got back in.  There are still a ten or so blue-chip companies offering long-term care insurance quotes so I’d said consolidation might have happened.

The older companies that pioneered the LTC industry simply took higher risk people when they should not have done so in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.  Their actuaries were starting from zero and just had to see how it played out when pricing this stuff before they had much if any claims data to go on.  Hence the rate increase adjustment to old customers long-term care insurance quotes.

Fast forward to today and the long-term care insurance quote companies have gotten so much tighter with underwriting such as not taking diabetics, stricter height/weight rations, charging women more because they file 70% of claims, etc.  They also had no idea that the Fed would be manipulating interest rates for so long.  They thought they would be able to take premiums and buy 5% 10 year T-Bills but now they are paying just 1.7%.  They have corrected for a lot and the policies they are selling now will be much more stable than the past policies, plus they are charging way more than they use to.

Our opinion is Mass Mutual has an advantage in that they are a mutual company and they tend to be more stable and conservative, they have the highest ratings and lastly, they started selling in the year 2000 after a lot of the actuarial assumptions were beginning to be learned.  Simply put, they don’t have near the amount of toxic policies on their books because they were not selling it back when things first stated in 1974.   They also have never had a rate increase too.   This stability could lead to their long term care insurance quotes being much more stable over time.  This company found here is another broker type company that you might want to look at if you find yourself wanting to shop for a policy.