How to deal with rejection in the music industry
The entertainment industry is generally rather judgmental and filled with people who are constantly results focused and financially driven. Although that may be a good thing in some scenarios, it also opens the door for a lot of rejection towards aspiring talent. Therefore, in this article, we’re going to discuss how you can deal with rejection.
At some point or another, all artists have been in a similar situation. You’ve spent months creating the perfect demo for your favorite record label. After spending hours carefully curating a perfect demo email for them, you click send. Hours, days, weeks go by without a response. Then, one morning you wake up to see a reply. Your heart starts racing as your mind fills with excitement. They listened to your song. But upon opening the email, your heart sinks, as the A&R replies saying that they weren’t particularly feeling your track. All of a sudden, you lose the motivation to continue. All of a sudden, you begin to question whether music production is worth it. You want to give up.
So many producers give up following that initial email. That initial rejection from one person. One. They seem to struggle with the idea of having their music accepted by people because it’s simply not good enough. When in fact, all they need to do is make some simple changes. Essentially, they’re dwelling and making life-changing decisions based on one person’s opinion. Wake up call: there are 7.6 billion people who haven’t heard it. If you are constantly facing rejection, work on your craft. It’s as simple as that. After all, by proving to everyone that you can be successful, you’ll rise like a phoenix from the ashes and achieve your dream of having a demo accepted. You have to make your actions match your ambitions. If you want to become one of the most successful producers of all-time, you should constantly be accepting criticism so that you can consistently improve your music. It doesn’t matter what you think. It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks. It just matters what you do. Rejection is tough, but are you prepared to put in the work so that you will become successful?
In order to deal with rejection, you have to overcome the fact that the A&R sitting behind their laptop is not in control, the internet is. What’s stopping you from developing relationships with other A&Rs? What’s stopping you from self-releasing and keeping 100% of the profit? The answer is nothing. The only thing stopping you is your fear of failure. But in reality, it’s failure that shapes and changes us. If you’re still feeling disheartened from the initial rejection, here are some steps that you can take.
Gain courage
Look yourself in the mirror. Envisage DJ Khaled telling you that you’re the best. Dowhateverr it takes to feel happy and motivated. After all, once you’re in a great place mentally, you can become unstoppable. Think about the positives that this experience has taught you, and how you will approach similar situations in the future.
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Gather feedback
If the opportunity presents itself, ask for feedback on why your music was not accepted. If the A&R isn’t too busy, there’s a reasonable chance that they’ll respond with a couple of pointers to help you improve your music from their perspective. If that fails, do a “blind listening test” with friends & family to get their thoughts on the song (without saying that you made it).
Get attention
This doesn’t mean to spam people’s messages or inbox with constant updates on your career. But once in a while, updating people on your progress can be a good motivational boost for yourself when you receive messages of congratulations on how hard you’re working.
Rejection is just a natural part of the music industry: we all deal with it. But by taking the appropriate actions, you can overcome it easily.