For as long as you can remember, you have wanted to devote your life to making music. However, building a career as a musician requires a whole lot more than singing or strumming your guitar.

Musicians benefit from building relationships across the music industry, from connecting with their fellow creatives to rubbing elbows with record label execs. A robust network could increase your fan base, give you access to live events, help you secure financing, and generate other exceptional advantages for your career. However, effective networking requires more than saving the contact info of every person you meet. Here are a few tips to help you build a network that works for you.

Plan Your Career

“Career planning” might seem like an activity for a corporate-bound MBA grad, but you would likely be surprised at how much you can benefit from researching and reflecting before launching yourself into a music career. There are dozens of ways to make a career from your musical talent, and you can use the process of career planning to better understand the path to your unique goals.

It might be wise for you to create more than one career plan. The music industry is intensely competitive, and you should have a path to pivot onto should your first-choice career fail to materialize. Fortunately, there are ways to work toward multiple careers simultaneously, increasing the chances of success in all of them. For example, if your dream is to be a recording artist, you might consider also gaining qualifications related to accompaniment, music production, or composition, all of which could be valuable in your primary career but could also become lucrative careers in their own right.

Your career plan should also help you identify which professional connections could help you achieve your dreams. For instance, if you love the idea of creating music for film and TV, you will place more value on relationships with Hollywood bigwigs than if you are striving toward a career in classical music performance, in which you might need to get to know conductors or orchestra managers. Knowing in advance which connections will be most beneficial will help you wisely invest time and energy in building your network.

Leverage Social Media

Social media is a powerful networking tool, especially for musicians. With the right kind of content, you can grow your social media audience and your fan base while making valuable connections with industry insiders. Just like the applause level you receive when you are on stage, social media can give you real-time insights into the right content for your music brand.

When leveraging social media to enhance your network, you should consider whom you are trying to build relationships with and how. For example, you are more likely to reach younger fans using TikTok and more likely to connect with music journalists on X (formerly known as Twitter). Regardless, you will probably benefit by uploading your music to online platforms like SoundCloud and Bandcamp, which make it easier to share your music across the web.

Attend Industry Events

Even as you harness the power of the internet, you can’t ignore the opportunity to build your network with interactions in the real world. You should take every chance you get to attend major music events like music festivals and conferences as well as smaller events like seminars and workshops. In big cities, these events will attract attention from music industry VIPs, so you have a good chance of getting to know someone who could positively influence your career.

Sometimes, the most valuable connections are those you make in your neighborhood. You should pay attention to music events in your area, where you might showcase your talent and form relationships with local folk in the industry. You might also consider hosting your events if you live in a music desert. By providing more networking opportunities, you can build a music community where help is given to those who ask.

Speaking of community help, you would be wise to adopt the practice of asking for help yourself. No musician is an island; even if you are a solo performer, you will need to learn to rely on fellow musicians, stage crew, producers, agents, and all manner of business types to help your career soar. Asking for help from members of your network tends to create strong bonds, as it starts a pattern of giving and receiving favors that can increase in size and scope. As long as you are gracious in your receipt of aid and generous in supporting others in your network, you will see improvement in your career with humble requests for help.

It is important that you attend music industry events with the right intention: to meet the right people to benefit your career. As tempting as it might be to relax and enjoy yourself, you should be prepared to sell yourself to anyone and everyone you meet. You might research the event beforehand to get a sense of who might attend, and you should practice presenting yourself in a way that suits your personal and professional brand. Most importantly, you need to maintain relationships with those you meet at industry events, which means reaching out regularly with phone calls, holiday cards, and other appropriate forms of correspondence.

No musician in the modern world achieved success with talent alone. From Dr. Dre, who leveraged his skill as a music producer to make connections with record labels before launching his solo career, to Justin Bieber, who gained visibility with industry execs thanks to social media, the careers of the biggest names in music demonstrate the power of networking. The sooner you focus on forging stronger relationships along your career path, the sooner you can reach your dream of being a career musician.

The biggest modern musicians knew how to build a brand that appeals to wide audiences. Industry titans like Taylor Swift and Jay-Z have spent years refining their brand presence and have created an aura around their public personas.

Fortunately, you don’t need to sell out arenas and book global tours to build a compelling brand. Even simple steps, like creating a branded social media page, can bolster your credibility, attract more listeners to your content, and maximize your merchandise sales.

Building a brand as a musician can even refine your creative approach. For example, if you’re struggling to create new music for an upcoming album, you may want to explore ideas and sounds that align with your new-found brand vision.

Personal Branding

Building your brand as a musician takes plenty of consistency. As such, it’s a good idea to plan your brand vision and create a personal brand that aligns with your real values and identity.

Creating an authentic public persona can help you stand out from others in the music market and will innately bolster your listener base. You can build a personal brand that stands out today by:

• Conducting an audit of the content you’ve produced to better understand how you’re already positioned in the market.
• Consistently producing content and publishing regularly on channels like Instagram or Facebook.
• Listen to your audience and tweak your brand image as your understanding of your brand grows.
• Set a few goals to give your brand shape and a clear direction.
• Create brand guidelines for yourself including fonts, color schemes, and imagery that invokes your broader brand image.

Setting aside some time to plan key details is essential when trying to create branded content. You have to remain consistent if you want to create a recognizable brand and should have a predetermined set of ideas that guide your broader identity. This is particularly important if you want to create content for your own music rather than relying on a marketing team to do the heavy lifting for you.

Creating Branded Content

Start promoting your music using digital content creation tools that enhance your brand image and help you create graphics and short videos. For example, if you recently created an Instagram platform for your music, consider using tools like Canva or Adobe Express. These tools are relatively intuitive and give you the chance to create consistent content based on your wider brand persona.

You may find that you need to brush up on your editing skills before posting highlights of your work to YouTube or Facebook. Consider enrolling in video editing courses that teach you the basics of programs like After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci. This will ensure that your video production reflects the quality of your musical talents and will help you create music videos that draw the attention of audiences and record labels alike.

Creating a strong following on social media can help you build a buzz around an upcoming album release and will meaningfully bolster your exposure in the music industry. A great social presence can act as a portfolio, too, which may be crucial if you want to land branded partnerships and start supporting similar acts in the music industry.

Brand Partnerships

The music industry can be competitive, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook the powerful potential of brand partnerships. Rather than seeing other musicians as competition, try to break down barriers and secure a few partnerships with other bands who appeal to a similar audience as yourself.

If you’re new to the idea of brand partnerships, start with simple collaborations like offering to play as an opening act for a local band in the area. This will expose your musical brand to your target audience and will help you build your professional network in the area. Working with other artists can improve your musical skills and help you hone your personal brand.

Eventually, you may start to receive brand partnership requests from businesses that want to use your music in commercials or elsewhere. While this can be financially lucrative, you’ll need to do your research before promoting a company’s products. This is key, as you can’t afford to damage your brand image by partnering with an unethical business. You’ll also need to ensure that your partnership reflects your personal brand in a positive light. For example, if you’re a classical musician, licensing your music to a jeweler may work well, while partnerships with a children’s cereal producer will probably undermine your image.

Conclusion

Creating a brand for your music can help you land record deals, build your audience base, and lead to paid spots. However, you’ll need to take the time to plan your brand properly before publishing social content and ordering merchandise. Get the ball rolling by identifying a few similar brands in the music industry and aim to replicate their image. This means you’ll want to create key brand guidelines related to font, colors, and voice to create a persona that reflects your music properly.

Being a professional musician or producer is a multifaceted career path. You’re not just performing, but also carefully strategizing ways to create and maintain a business. Indeed, just like other entrepreneurs, you’ll need to find ways to mitigate risks. Alongside protecting your hearing, physical health, and reputation, you’ll need to minimize the potential for your work to be stolen or misused.

Your intellectual property is probably your most valuable asset. It’s key to making both active and passive income, while also being the most direct communication of your unique talent and perspectives. To avoid theft and misuse affecting your career, you must take careful and decisive action.

Staying On Top of Copyrighting

The most common and legally enforceable way to protect your intellectual property is through copyrighting. Technically speaking, you own the copyright to your work as soon as you create it in a tangible medium. This may be in an audio recording or via written lyrics and musical notation. These materials can also be either physical or digital.

However, while you hold the copyright from the moment of creation, you certainly benefit from officially registering it. This creates a tangible record of your copyright, which can make it easier to prove should you need to enforce your rights. Works created in the U.S. need to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office before an infringement lawsuit is brought. The earlier you do this, the stronger your case is likely to be.

Another element that helps you stay on top of your copyright is accurate record-keeping. This isn’t just about the paperwork related to registering the work. You should also hold dated documentation for every stage of the creation process. This can help address disputes related to plagiarism.

Adopting a reliable record management system can keep everything organized and legally compliant. Digital management platforms, like cloud storage and even personal servers, can be particularly useful. Firstly, you can easily search for records should you need to refer to them. Many platforms will also have robust security against theft or tampering. Importantly, from a copyright perspective, most systems automatically date and time stamp your records, enabling you to have definitive proof of creation.

Licensing Your Work

Licensing your music is an increasingly accessible way to gain a passive income and turn your music into a business opportunity. Importantly, it can also be an effective method for protecting your intellectual property rights.

This is because by making licensing agreements, you’re granting permission for certain types of commercial use to a third party. Indeed, if you sign with a publisher, they will often actively seek out external licensors on your behalf. This is good because these licensing organizations have a stake in protecting your assets as they also make money from them. As a result, they will often play a role in tracking where uses and misuse of your work occur. Some of the licensing routes you can take include:

Publishers: Publishers will represent the songwriting aspects of your music. They collect mechanical royalties related to physical sales, performance royalties for covers, and sync royalties from licensing to TV shows and movies. As a result, they keep records of use across a variety of media.

Performing rights organizations: Performing rights organizations (PROs) — SESAC, ASCAP, and BMI — help ensure your intellectual property is protected from unauthorized and unpaid use by businesses that play music on their premises. Companies pay a fee to these organizations each year and record which songs they’ve played. The PROs then distribute a portion of the fees to relevant songwriters.

While licensing is a powerful tool, you’ll still need to keep on top of your admin concerning it. For instance, bad bookkeeping practices could have a variety of financial and legal consequences. Unless you keep financial records up-to-date, you might overlook revenue owed to you by licensing organizations or even make tax errors that could be costly.

It can also affect decision-making to pursue lawsuits if you can’t see whether or not you’ve received income from an organization. Therefore, it can be wise to utilize either an external accountant or bookkeeping software to keep track of where your licensing funds are coming from.

Actively Asserting Rights

We’ve touched on the fact that copyright law grants you rights at the moment of creation. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be a passive owner of your intellectual property. While copyright, unlike trademarks, isn’t weakened if you don’t address infringements, not acting on breaches can send an unhelpful message. Not to mention that if you let one breach slide and seek to litigate another, you may find it more difficult to pursue your case.

This requires a certain amount of vigilance. It’s somewhat less likely that your work will be used without your permission on big movies or TV shows; they often have the budget to license. Rather, threats can be more common in digital domains. Make sure that you are identified as the copyright owner of recordings on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify. If people attempt to use your tracks on their content or channels, you’ll generally receive notifications. Importantly, act on these.

In cases of plagiarism, you’ll need to issue cease and desist notices. Standard forms of these are available online. However, if this doesn’t have positive results, it’s wise to take the matter further. Usually, cases that are likely to involve less than $30,000 in damages can take the more streamlined and cost-effective route of electronically filing with the Copyright Claims Board. Serious breaches, though, are best handled by an experienced intellectual property lawyer to be pursued through the federal courts.

Conclusion

Protecting your intellectual property rights safeguards your valuable assets and sources of income. It should involve various actions, from registering copyrights to actively addressing breaches. Taking these steps may sound involved and exhausting. Nevertheless, putting these protective systems in place before breaches occur can help lighten the load.

As a musician, your hearing is one of your most valuable assets. Exposure to loud music and noise can lead to permanent hearing damage, significantly impacting your ability to create and enjoy music. Here are eight ways musicians can protect their hearing and maintain their auditory health.

1. Limit Exposure to Loud Music and Noise

One of the most effective ways to protect your hearing is to limit your exposure to loud sounds. Whether you’re attending a concert, rehearsing with your band, or even listening to music through headphones, be mindful of the volume levels.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) occurs when the sensitive structures in the inner ear are damaged by loud sounds. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss.

As noise levels increase by 3 decibels, the safe listening duration is halved. For instance, you can listen to sounds at 85 decibels for up to 8 hours. If the volume rises to 88 decibels, the safe listening time drops to 4 hours. At 91 decibels, the safe exposure time reduces further to just 2 hours. To prevent NIHL, take breaks and lower the volume when possible.

2. Use Ear Protection in Loud Environments

When you’re in loud environments, such as concerts, clubs, or even when using power tools or motorized lawn equipment, it’s essential to use ear protection. Earplugs and earmuffs can significantly reduce the volume of loud noises and protect your ears from potential damage.

Custom-fitted earplugs are a great option for musicians as they provide a comfortable fit and effective noise reduction. According to ASHA, wearing earplugs or earmuffs can lower noise exposure levels by 15 to 40 decibels. The reduction can make a substantial difference in preventing hearing damage over time. Additionally, high-fidelity earplugs are available, which reduce noise levels evenly across frequencies, preserving the quality of music while protecting your hearing.

3. Wear In-Ear Monitors (IEMs) When Performing Live

In-ear monitors (IEMs) are a crucial tool for musicians who perform live, offering one of the best ways musicians can protect their hearing during performances.

IEMs allow you to hear a mix of music at a lower volume than traditional stage monitors. This not only helps you perform better but also protects your ears from the high decibel levels on stage. Investing in quality IEMs can make a significant difference in preserving your hearing.

4. Listen to Your Devices at Lower Volumes

It’s not just live performances that can damage your hearing. Listening to your TV, stereo, smartphone, or other devices at high volumes can also contribute to hearing loss over time. Make a conscious effort to keep the volume at a safe level and take breaks to give your ears a rest. Do yourself a favor and turn it down.

Note: iPhones and Androids have settings to allow volume limits on headphones and connected devices. On iPhone, navigate to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Headphone Safety. Turn on “Reduce Loud Audio” and set your maximum volume to a desired limit.

5. Let Your Ears Rest After a Concert or Rehearsal

After exposure to loud music, whether it’s a concert or a rehearsal, give your ears some time to recover. Extended periods of loud noise can fatigue your ears, and taking a break can help prevent long-term damage. Aim to spend some quiet time in a peaceful environment to allow your ears to recuperate.

6. Avoid Using Cotton Swabs to Clean Your Ears

It may seem like a good idea to use cotton swabs to clean wax out of your ear canal, but this practice can be harmful. Cotton swabs can push the wax further into the ear, increasing the risk of damaging your eardrum or causing an infection.

Additionally, your ears have a natural cleaning mechanism that helps move wax out of the ear canal, and interfering with this process can cause more harm than good. For safer ear cleaning, consider using ear drops designed to soften earwax or consult with a healthcare professional.

7. Manage Stress to Alleviate Tinnitus

Tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears, can be exacerbated by stress. Finding ways to manage stress, such as physical exercise, meditation, or hobbies, can help alleviate the effects of tinnitus. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can improve your overall well-being and help protect your hearing.

8. Have Your Hearing Evaluated Regularly

Periodic hearing evaluations are recommended for musicians. Early detection of hearing loss can help you take steps to prevent further damage. Schedule regular check-ups with an audiologist to monitor your hearing health and address any issues as soon as they arise.

By incorporating these habits into your routine, you can protect your hearing and continue to enjoy making music without compromise. Your ears are vital to your craft, so take the necessary steps to help them stay healthy throughout the years.

If you’re an independent musician, you probably don’t want to spend thousands of dollars renting a studio for a few weeks to cut a few songs, or even longer to record a whole album. But, how can you get your work out there for people to hear unless it sounds professional and high-quality?

The best solution might be to create your studio at home. It’s easier than you think to transform your property into a personal music haven with a custom-built studio.

A home studio can fit your needs and budget and allow you to record whenever inspiration strikes. But, there are a few things to keep in mind as you go on this renovation journey, from knowing the basics of construction to adhering to building codes and regulations.

Planning Ahead

Before you start constructing a home studio, there are a few crucial decisions to make. First, you have to decide which area of your home you want to transform. You could consider transforming your garage, attic, or den, especially if they aren’t getting much use otherwise. Try to choose a room that has four walls, rather than a large open space. If the room already has furniture and carpet, that’s a plus, as it will help with sound absorption. But, those are also things you can add later.

Once you know where you want to build your studio, you have to consider the essentials. Doing so will help you create a budget. Some of the basic necessities for a home recording studio include:

• A computer
• Digital audio workstation (DAW)
• Pre-amps
• An audio interface
• MIDI controller
• Headphones
• Monitors
• Microphones and cables

You’ll also need to consider any “extras” you might want to purchase to make the room more acoustic-friendly. We’ll touch more on what you can do to soundproof your studio later, depending on your budget. A home recording studio can cost a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars. But, it’s often worth it to make bigger investments when it comes to quality equipment and construction. Not only will your recordings be better, but you can consider renting out your studio to other musicians to make some of your money back.

Planning ahead also means knowing what you’re getting into from a construction standpoint. While it’s your home, there still might be specific building codes you have to adhere to to keep things safe and legal. This is especially true if you plan on putting an addition on your home for the studio or transforming your shed. Some home additions and renovations require special permits. It’s a good rule of thumb to review local regulations and talk with your area government about what’s needed before you start swinging a hammer.

Staying Safe Throughout Construction

There’s no question that building a studio from scratch requires quite a bit of electrical work. While there are a lot of things that allow you to just plug and play, if you invest in the right equipment, you’ll want to make sure your home’s electrical system can handle it.

If you choose to rewire your garage or whatever room you choose for your studio, it’s important to be aware of common electrical hazards, including the potential for a fire, or experiencing a high-voltage shock.

When it comes to rewiring, including installing additional outlets, it’s best to work with a professional. At the very least, make sure you go through an electrical inspection if you do the work yourself. Before you plug anything in, make sure an expert has looked it over. An electrical fire could destroy all of your hard work and quickly spread to other areas of your home.

Soundproofing Your Studio

One of the most important things you can do to make your studio sound clean and professional is to soundproof it. Some of the biggest benefits of soundproofing include:

• Better sound quality
• Enhanced productivity
• Increased flexibility
• Increased home value

Soundproofing can be as simple or as complicated as you want. The easiest and quickest way to absorb sound in your studio is to add carpet or rugs and attach foam padding to the walls. If you don’t want the entire studio to be soundproof, consider building a recording booth within the studio and using your soundproofing techniques there. It will save you a bit of time and money.

But, your goal should be to create a studio that is soundproof from the moment you walk in. It’s not just about getting a clean recording, it’s about being able to hear your mixes clearly, so you can listen for any mistakes before you put your work into the world.

Minimizing Unnecessary Expenses

You don’t want to skimp on the soundproofing and recording supplies, but you might want to consider lowering your energy bill, in general. Throughout construction and after the space is built, you’ll be spending a lot on electricity. Cut down on your other expenses by turning down the temperature on your water heater, changing air filters, installing a programmable thermostat, and updating your home’s insulation. This way, you can put your energy money where it matters and spare no expense on your studio.

Conclusion

Home studio construction takes time, and if you don’t have any renovation or electrical experience, you should consider budgeting for professional help. There are plenty of ways to DIY small aspects of studio creation, but if you’re going to do it right, make sure you’re working with people who will create a quality space for you.