How To restored your faith in the possibility of becoming a full-time musician. It helped me start looking in the right direction for opportunities by giving me insight into the climate of today's music industry, and strategies that are currently working for success
Did you ever had doubts? Doubts whether your music isn't good enough? Doubts that you will ever make it as far as you wanted with music? This is totally normal; most musicians feel like this at some stage. But despite any setbacks or lapses in your resolve to succeed with music, if you want to go pro you need to genuinely believe that it’s possible. You need to believe that you can build a sizable fanbase around what you do. You need to believe that you can earn from your music and eventually go full-time with it (if you're not already). Without this belief things get difficult. “Why bother putting effort into something that's never going to happen?” This is when lack of motivation kicks in. When you slowly start making less and less music. When you start to become cynical and actively preach in social groups “you can't make money from music, I’ve been trying for years and it doesn’t work”. Flash forward a few more years and you’re still halfheartedly making music, never adapting or putting in the effort to learn anything new. And with no new approaches tried, no new results are achieved. But this proves your point: it's not possible to make it as an independent musician. After all, you’ve had 10+ years in the game and are still making a loss every time you put out music. Unfortunately, this is a path I’ve seen many talented musicians go down. That’s why I wanted to voice this now, to make you aware of this trap and self-fulfilling prophecy. And if you’ve already begun down that path of doubt, I’m here to bring you back. :) This cycle can often be avoided simply by believing that building a fanbase and earning well from your music is achievable. Real life independent musicians like yourself. Some of them are making a full-time income from their music, some of them aren't. A word of warning though, while believing you can make it in your music career is important, you also need to follow the right actions to make these beliefs come true. One of the main reasons I see musicians spinning their wheels and not getting anywhere fast, is because they simply approach their music career in the wrong way. I hope this reminder helps keep you on track with your belief in making it. Remember why you started doing music in the first place and all the good feedback you’ve received in your time. There are people who will like what you do, and you can earn from your music. Just make sure you keep that belief alive, keep improving and keep striving forward.
Jamie Lane
Airforce Records