Top tips for music career success

Getting a job is how you avoid living the rest of your life surviving on Pot Noodles and rainwater. It’s also a life-affirming, fun time, when you enter the right job for you. The Insiders is your passport to what some of the most popular careers are really like.

From doctors to actresses, musicians, and more, we give you the scoop on the highs and lows of the job, with need-to-know insights from those actually on the inside.

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First of all remember this adage – ‘no one knows anything’. All those A&R men, all those so-called hitmakers, they’re all bluffing. They only have a slightly betterthan- average chance of spotting a sure-fire winner, so go into a music career comfortable in the knowledge that it’s not some sort of exact science. All you need is confidence, an appreciation of a good tune, and luck.

Where do you fit?

Put it this way, in a market where Aqua and Scooter can sell records, even your Peruvian nose harp concept album might find a taker. The trick is, in marketing lingo, to ‘position’ yourself as the only person with a particular sound or talent.

Get connected.

Be an unashamed bum-licker, never shying away from blatantly networking with anyone who can help your career. Whether it’s getting work experience at a music company or convincing a local promoter that your band will bring the punters flocking to his flea-bitten pub.

Prepare for poverty.

Incredible though it seems, you may not be partying with P Diddy this time next year. The chances are that you will be saying ‘do you want fries with that’ over and over again. So get a job. Or several. And seek out music-related work, such as playing wedding gigs, offering music instruction or offering to write radio jingles for local businesses.

Be professional.

Take a look at your Myspace page. If it looks like an explosion in a paint shop then rethink the design, making it accessible and effective. Remember that a record deal is no longer necessarily the first goal these days – you can build a following online and then music biz types will be chasing you.

Investigate all sales options.

You can sell CDs through your local gift shop, a bookstore or a myriad of other non-traditional outlets. Who knows, a local business may even be up for sponsoring a small tour or event you organize.

Training.

Music management degree. Useful for both musicians and potential managers, one of the best courses runs at the University of Hertfordshire at its School of Film, Music and Media.

A&R careers.

The industry is dominated by the ‘big four’: Sony BMG. Warner, Universal and EMI. Choose a record label you like owned by one of these and then call and email their A&R director asking for work experience. Ensure that you enthuse about their music and show a deep knowledge of their artists. Do NOT appear like the cocky little bugger you probably are though.