How To Build Your Music Career & Grow Faster In The Music Industry
EARN A LOT MORE MONEY
PLAYING LIVE
EMAIL TO GET ACCESS
By submitting your info, you agree to send it to Tom Hess Music Corporation who will process and use it according to their privacy policy.
What’s the single best (and fastest) way to jumpstart your music career and achieve music career success?
Answer:
Get into a band.
But not the way you probably think you should do it.
What do I mean?
Contrary to popular belief...
...starting ‘your own’ band is (usually) NOT the fastest way to jumpstart your music career.
EARN A LOT MORE MONEY
PLAYING LIVE
EMAIL TO GET ACCESS
By submitting your info, you agree to send it to Tom Hess Music Corporation who will process and use it according to their privacy policy.
Instead:
Joining an existing band is (often) the far simpler way to make a career out of music.
That is...
... if you do it the way I teach in this article on how to build your music career.
Each option comes with its own list of pros and cons that could help you achieve music career success.
Let’s look at each one in detail:
Here are a few powerful music career tips that help you grow faster in the music industry after you join an existing band:
Music Career Success Tip #1: Leverage The Band’s Existing Fan Base
Most musicians struggle to make a career out of music, precisely because they can’t grow a fan base. With no fans – it’s hard to build your music career, sell product, book your own gigs or make any money.
(This is why most musicians have to work a day job as they try to make a career out of music.)
However, when you join an existing band – a fan base is practically handed to you.
And here is how this helps you grow faster in the music industry:
The band’s fans become your fans. Over time, they get to know, like and trust you.
And if/when you part ways with the band where those fans first heard of you…
… some of those people may keep following your career as you get involved in other projects.
Plus: if you have a catalog of music (or other products) – you will likely be able to sell it to the existing fans of the band you joined. (Note: you will very likely need to split the sales with the band leader for the privilege of selling to the fans of his band.)
Question: “But Tom Hess, I want to build my own fanbase – where I control everything and don’t have to give up royalties, split profits or pay anything to anyone!”
Answer: You always pay the price to do the things you want in the music industry. (Especially when you are still trying to grow faster in the music industry and jumpstart your music career.)
And if your definition of music career success is having full control and keeping all the profits…
… the price you pay is the time and effort needed to grow your own band entirely from scratch. There is no one to help you jumpstart your music career – you have to build your music career success yourself.
To be sure you really want this, take a look at all the steps that go into merely finding the right musicians for a band when you are trying to make a career out of music:
… and finding the right musician is merely one of the first steps to take on your way to music career success!
That said, when you join an existing band – the price you pay in money (by giving up some of the royalties and profits to the band leader) is – in my opinion - a lot smaller. That’s because you save time by having access to a ready-to-go fan base. The band essentially helps you to jumpstart your music career.
Music Career Success Tip #2: Use The Band’s Gig/Touring Schedule To Your Advantage
Being in an existing bands (and playing gigs with them) helps you grow faster in the music industry in a few ways:
First, your band’s gigs become – in essence - your gigs. Meaning: you can post the band’s gigs on your website to make yourself look pro and give yourself more credibility.
Second, depending on the band’s size (and the size of the band’s gigs), you may get professional photos of you for your website and social media pages.
Few things scream “pro” and help you grow faster in the music industry like professional photographs of you on stage.
Compare that with trying to jumpstart your career on your own (with few, if any gigs and no pro photos… or photos that look like your friend took them).
That’s another reason why you grow faster in the music industry by joining an existing band (vs trying to make a career out of music by starting your own band).
Music Career Success Tip #3: Become A “Weight Puller”
Every band (of every size) has the same huge problem as it tries to make a career out of music.
They want (and need) to solve it, but it’s typically hard for them to do so.
They think about this problem all the time. And they know that if they could solve it, they could:
- grow faster in the music industry
- sell more albums
- do bigger tours
Are You Ready For A Music Career?Use these free resources to prepare for a highly successful music career.
Backup Plan For Your Music CareerLearn how to protect yourself from certain failure in your music career
How To Get More Fans To Your Gigs Learn how to grow your fanbase & make your gigs truly unforgettable.
What is this problem all bands face as they try to make a career out of music?
It is this:
There is one person who does all (or most) of the nonmusical work.
That one person is typically the band leader.
This opens up a golden opportunity for you as you work to jumpstart your music career and grow faster in the music industry.
If you’re a talented musician who is willing to help the band leader to pull some of the weight and help the band make a career out of music…
… you have a massive advantage over every musician who doesn't as you build your music career.
Here is what I mean:
When you’re in a band – any band - and you’re a guy PULLING a lot of weight, you’re going to be THE most (or at least one of the most) important members in the band.
And that means …
You begin to attract a lot more (positive) attention to yourself from other people in the music business who can help you make a career out of music.
If you need some help with becoming a “weight puller” and acquiring the needed skills for helping band leaders to grow faster in the music industry – get music career mentoring.
Music Career Success Tip #4: Leverage Your New Credential (Of Playing In A Band) To Grow Other Parts Of Your Career Faster
As you jumpstart your music career by playing in a band, it becomes easier to achieve music career success in other parts of your career.
One very obvious thing you can do is begin (or grow) a music teaching business.
Why is teaching music such a great vehicle for helping you grow faster in the music industry?
Simple:
Teaching music lets you earn a lot of money per hour, while staying in control of your schedule.
Which means: you have an abundance of the 2 most scarce resources you need to build your music career: time and money.
That said: simply ‘being famous’ won’t bring you a lot of music students over the long term.
If you’re serious about making a lot of money teaching music (part-time), the best way to do it is through training for music teachers.
Music Career Success Tip #5: Leverage Your New Skillset And Experience To Start Your Own Band In The Future
If you love the idea of calling the shots and being the leader of your own band, you can do it, even if you jumpstart your career by joining an existing band first.
Here is why:
When you join an existing band, you get to see how things are done, how much responsibility is needed and you get experience seeing it all come together.
You’ll learn a lot and you’ll learn it faster that going it alone.
That said, as time passes…
… you can start your own band and leverage your prior band experience to make a career out of music where you call all the shots.
Now that you know how to jumpstart your music career, the next step is to learn how to get more gigs and make more money playing live.
Whether you join an existing band or start your own band from scratch, your ability to get gigs determines how quickly you are able to make a career out of music.
I can help you with this in my free eGuide “How To Get More Gigs And Make More Money Playing Live”. Download it today and discover the music career success secrets most musicians never know.
Build your music career faster with proven music business mentoring.
