Do you want to be a professional musician? Are you sick and tired of auditioning and applying to jobs with no luck? You should promote your music to find other jobs and careers in music.
While teaching and performing in orchestras are great options, they aren’t the only ways to make money from music. Instead of waiting for a job opening, you can build your career now.
Keep reading to learn why you should promote your music and how it can help your career.
Competition
For the longest time, musicians could go to a conservatory or music school, graduate, and get a job in music. Some could pursue orchestral playing careers while others got full-time professorships.
But that is not the case anymore. Music schools have more students and graduates than ever, and all of them are competing for the same jobs. If you play a popular instrument, like the flute, you’ll have an even tougher time finding a “traditional” music job.
But if you promote your music on and off the internet, you can build a career outside of orchestras and universities. Promoting your music can help you show your work potential students or clients.
If you rely on people coming to you or only using job boards to look for paying music opportunities, you’ll miss out on a lot.
Control
You should promote your music to take control of your career. It can be scary to take control of your work, but you have to if you can’t get music jobs otherwise.
Being able to control your career with music promotion is an amazing thing. You won’t have to go through a bunch of auditions or interviews, waiting to hear back about the results.
Sharing your music online can help you reach other musicians, who may be able to get you a gig. You can also reach journalists or magazines who want to feature someone.
And you won’t get those opportunities if you don’t promote your music and yourself.
Community
Some musicians find career opportunities through knowing other musicians. If a friend who plays the same instrument has to cancel a gig, they can call you to take over.
You can do the same if you ever have to skip a performance or need someone to teach your students. While music can be and is a competitive profession, community is also important.
You’ll have a hard time building a career if you don’t know or work with anyone in the industry. You don’t have to know all musicians, but knowing some can help you promote your music and career.
Then, you can get access to more gigs and opportunities than you otherwise would have.
Access
Before the internet, you would need a huge budget and maybe even professionals to help promote your music. Now, anyone can start a Facebook page or YouTube channel for music promotion.
You can start by posting for free and sharing your latest recording. If you teach lessons, you can share information about your instrument or teaching philosophy to show you know your stuff.
It’s easier than ever for people in all fields to promote their work. You don’t need an agent or a massive marketing budget. As long as you have access to the internet, you can start to promote your music now.
Growth
Some musicians may have a bit of success from auditioning for orchestras or applying for teaching positions. But you may hit a plateau when using that method.
At that point, you can promote your music to find other opportunities and continue to grow your career. You can use marketing to look for more gigs that maybe don’t have traditional applications.
If someone sees you play in person or via a recording, they can contact you. Promoting yourself can seem like a shot in the dark, but you never know what can happen if you don’t try.
Options
You have multiple options you can use to promote your music. There’s social media, where you can share recordings and other posts each day or week.
Email marketing is another great way to promote your music. You can release a recording that people need to give their email address to access. Then, you can communicate with them after the fact.
Another way to promote your music is with music journalism or content writing. As a writer and musician, I can write about music and musicians to help grow their careers and business.
So if you want to promote yourself but don’t know how, I can help you! Don’t be afraid to contact me with questions or to get started with some digital press.
So…
Knowing how to promote your music can mean the difference between a successful music career and a not-so-successful one. Keep these reasons in mind when deciding if you should develop a marketing plan.