Do you treat your music career like a business? Keep reading as to why this is an important aspect of being a Country Music Artist.
There are so many parallels with being an artist and running a business. There is a need to make money, you have a ‘customer’ as you need people to support your music to be successful, you sell all the time whether it be a service eg a gig or a product eg merch, music etc. it is a competitive market and you need to stand out to be seen, you need to use marketing and PR activities to be visible, raise your profile and grow your audience. By not considering your music career as a business you are doing yourself a disservice and making life even more difficult.
Whether your goal is to make an income through your music or earn enough to record your next EP or fund a tour, being strategic with your marketing and visibility efforts, tracking your finances and making decisions based on the bigger picture is what will get you there, it gives you a a plan and a set of parameters to work within to reduce the overwhelm and guide you through your music career.
I see so many Country Artists winging it. Not having a plan when it comes to social media, putting on gigs without thinking about the bigger picture, getting merch without a sales strategy and ultimately acting one day at a time with no vision apart from success. The most successful Country Music Artists run their music career as a business, make decisions based on data, take risks but with a well thought plan and know where they want to get to and how to get there.
‘Hope is not a strategy. Hope fits with vision, but we must have a strategy and a process to make our vision become a reality’ John C. Maxwell
So how do you get started in treating your music career as a business?
Building the right business foundations will help give your career direction and longevity. These foundations will give you a framework to work from, guidance when making decisions and a safety net to fall back on when things get tough.
So what are these foundations?
Messaging - Who are you targeting? What do you want to tell them? What do you need them to do?
Strategy - Where do you want to get to? Why do you want to get there? How are you going to get there?
Systems - What can you use to automate, outsource or refine your processes?
Mindset - How will you look after yourself? How will you talk to yourself? How will you ride the highs and lows with creativity and confidence?
Once you have defined how these foundations look for your business, you can use them to guide your decision making and set your priorities.
To help you build your business foundations, no matter where you are in your Country music journey, I will be releasing a series of blog posts in collaboration with Scarlett River PR.
I will be covering the following topics in this blog series;
Build your Artist Brand
Know your Audience!
The Importance of Engaging with your Audience
Using Social Media as a Country Music Artist
Be strategic with your Country Music Career
Manage your Finances as a Country Music Artist
Why you Need a Website as a Country Music Artist
How to Automate Elements of Your Country Music Career
How to Look After Your Mindset as a Country Music Artist
About the Author
Hannah Roper, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, podcast host, country music singer, founded The Female Creative, to coach and mentor business owners, CEOs, founders and directors, enabling them to ride to the highs and lows of business, build sustainable foundations and find a work/life balance to suit their needs. Providing 121, a monthly membership, networking events and The Female Creative Talks Podcast, Hannah strives to inspire, support and lift up those in business providing a community for them to thrive. She does this whilst juggling multiple businesses, including a Country Music Festival, passion projects and the corporate world, to lead founders, especially women in business, to self-defined success. Hannah has experience as a Country Music Artist, a festival organiser and a business coach and mentor and she combines this knowledge and expertise to guide artists to be more strategic with their music career so they can achieve their goals. Find out more about Hannah at www.thefemalecreative.co.uk
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