Orangutang Music

You’ve Got To Wear Many Hats In This Music Business

There is no magic formula for success in this industry.

Lets face it, being independent means that you’re going to have to be wearing more than one hat to survive. You are going to have to do a lot of things yourself and at the same time build a team around you and your music.

I’ve always believed that the music industry as a whole is much, much more than just getting a band together, playing gigs, recording a CD and then (hopefully) getting signed by a record label in which case you live happily ever after.

Getting on in this industry is all about diversification, multi-skilling and not putting all you eggs in one basket.

Whatever you want to call it, it means that you are going to have to get used to wearing different hats.

I hear a lot of musicians say that they want to just concentrate on the art and have someone else (loosely termed a ‘manager’) do all the other stuff.

Well, unless these musicians have the ability to convince a manager who has a well respected and proven track record to take a punt on someone who’s totally unknown and unproven then they are living in some sort of musical fantasyland.

I’m sorry but it just doesnt work that way.

Being independent is a choice, being independent is a way of life, a way of doing things. It’s embracing the fact that it’s all up to you to make things happen.

It’s about giving yourself back power and control over your own affairs.

Being independent shouldnt be a scary proposition. There are lots of resources around including this website/blog to help, guide and light up the path of whoever wants to explore it.

I myself, am in the same position as you. I realise that the global music industry is huge and that there is room for everybody to have some sort of a go, we just need to find the spaces.

I also realise that having belief in what you’re doing and being open to learning as much as possible about the industry then putting it all into action are the keys to moving forward.

For me, the answer to the question of what seperates the artists that ‘make it’ from the artists that don’t is “you’ve got to be business savvy”

You got to be prepared to wear many hats. For example:

The Agents Hat – Calling up venues for gigs
The Promoters Hat – Putting up posters and handing out flyers
The Publicists Hat – Putting articles or gig details into street press

Being an independent artist is all a matter of balance.

We straddle between two worlds, the ‘artistic’ and the ‘business’ worlds. How far we go in this industry seems to be determined by how well we marry the two worlds together to form a whole.

If you need any help with these matters you can always contact me.

Until next time,

Corey Stewart
Orangutang Music

Keywords: indie music, music business, music promotion, music industry, music management, independent music, music marketing, corey stewart

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Tags: corey stewart, independent music, Indie Music, music, Music Business, Music Industry, Music Marketing, Orangutang Music