How to make the most of an opportunity in the music industry
Music producers are often faced with dozens of opportunities every day. Whether it’s networking with people at their favourite record label, meeting their favourite producer, or simply getting a new song finished, they are constantly bombarded with ways to progress their career. Despite all of this, many carry a pessimistic view that leads them to believe that there aren’t many opportunities within the EDM scene. Therefore, during this article, we shall discuss how you can make the most out of every opportunity within the music industry. It’s a process that can often be uncomfortable but is definitely worthwhile in the grand scheme of things. After all, what’s not to love about getting to the next stage of your music career?
Firstly, you should be extremely clear about your objectives within the music industry. If your aim is to get signed to Universal Music (as an example), then it’s a good idea to network with A&Rs, Label Execs, and producers already working at the organization. If you have a clear vision of where you want to take your career, it definitely benefits and speeds up your path to success. This is due to simply having a direction of where you want to take your life. A good analogy that people like to use when talking about objectives is a road trip. If you know the exact destination that you want to go to, it becomes much easier to create a reliable path from A to B and to plan for any eventualities regarding roadblocks on your path to success.
Next, you need to commit to your objectives – but to be aware of what you’re capable of within your music career. If you set your goals too low, you will simply not be achieving your full potential within the music industry. Therefore, setting your goals very high is a much better way to visualize success. Thomas Jefferson, a former American President, said that “nothing on earth can stop a man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal”. There is no point in thinking big and not working towards it. By committing to a goal and putting in the necessary work, you can get on track to complete your goals and achieve literally anything you set your mind to.
Another important thing to remember in order to make the most of an opportunity in the music industry is putting optimism aside. There is no point in believing absolutely everything will make you a millionaire or make you the most famous producer in the world. Therefore, assessing risk within an opportunity is absolutely crucial to success. For example, a lot of producers pay thousands of dollars for Spotify promotion with the belief that their song will gain millions of streams and propel them towards the top of the music industry. But when things don’t work out, or they don’t go as planned, many producers take a pessimistic view that it was the promoters fault. Yet it’s often a simple case of playlist curators not loving the track. Like with anything, producers should have the ingenuity to mitigate risk. After all, it’s probably not a good idea to spend thousands of dollars on Spotify promotion if that’s all you have in your bank account.
Furthermore, many opportunities end up taking a lot more time than initially expected. It’s a pretty common occurrence for a producer to set aside a certain amount of hours/days to produce a new song, and then to get creative block midway through – thus making the project take a lot longer than originally anticipated. Likewise, they may spend hours preparing a new set for a music festival – only to find out that it’s been cancelled due to a hurricane or severe weather. The point is simple: create realistic requirements of how long a certain task may take you, and account for any mishaps or roadblocks during that period. By ensuring that you aren’t over-dedicating time towards one task, you will always be able to be effective with time management of your music career.
Despite all of that, it’s definitely worth having a filter and realizing that not every opportunity may be worth your time. Sure, you could create a new song with a newbie producer that constantly asks to collaborate. Or alternatively, you could use that 100 hours to network and spend time progressing your career within the entertainment industry. Assess each opportunity by realizing how much time it will take, and comparing that to the ROI of what you could otherwise achieve during that time.
Finally, being grateful for every opportunity you get is absolutely crucial to making the most of everything that happens within your career. When was the last time you said thank you to that guy for a Soundcloud repost? When was the last time you said thank you to your friend for motivating you to produce a new track? Gratitude is one of the most important traits that a producer can have – as it teaches them to be thankful for absolutely everything and not take it for granted. Within the music industry, we are often faced with a multitude of opportunities that present themselves. By knowing how to select which ones to take, which ones to decline, and how to make the most of it, you can accelerate your music career on a massive level. Take advantage of every opportunity. Make the most of it and seize the moment. Anything is possible.