🔎 3 Areas of Focus (if you want to make money in music)
May 14, 2019
The 3 areas you should constantly focus on if you want to make a living with you music, without changing a thing about yourself! Join our free workshop coming up at the beginning of June, all about learning to write music for Sync Licensing! https://www.catchthemoonmusic.com/5-Day-Workshop-Landing-Page
Posted by Catch The Moon Music on Tuesday, May 14, 2019
In my opinion, the reason most artists fail at making a living with their music is because they're ignoring one or more of these three areas.
Let me spend a couple minutes breaking it down for you so you don’t fall into this same trap. You can’t neglect any of these three areas or your career in music will significantly suffer.
Education
Like it or not, knowledge is power. We can never stop learning. And as musicians and artists we HAVE to be well versed in our area of focus. This can drive how we write our music, the lyrics we use, the sounds we chase after, the messages we sing about, etc.
In the sync world this means understand what TV shows and ad agencies are looking for. We often teach our students how to research certain shows, licensing agents, and music supervisors so that they know who to pitch their music to. It’s a constant moving target that takes laser-like focus and attention.
Creation
Continually writing and creating music your audience is looking for makes or breaks a lot of artists. Your audience is hungry for great music. There’s no end to their ravenous appetite, and you want to be the one serving them entree after entree.
Learning to create music that connects to who you are and what your audience wants is so vital. And it needs to be continual. There’s no excuse anymore for not releasing music on the regular. EP’s and Singles are the new “album,” which means every month or two you should be launching something new.
Creating new content in the form of photos, merchandise, tours, blogs, videos, etc. is also essential. So it’s important to have a plan to make that happen. You need to have a calendar and schedule on how you want to stay in the flow of creating new and fresh material to the world!
Plus, it will feed your soul! This is why you got into it in the first place, right?
Connection
This is the area most artists neglect.
I had an epiphany years ago, and it stopped me in my tracks.
I realized that no matter how incredible my next song was... I probably wouldn’t get noticed much. And this because I had no connections. No partnerships, no active audience, A&R reps, producers, etc. I hadn’t built any of that.
I thought working in a vacuum would lead to the same results as long as my content was good.
But it won’t.
You need to be connecting. You need to be reaching out to the world actively and regularly. Make a purposeful decision to check in with your tribe, your circle of trust.
Reach out to all the producers and artists you know in your world that you admire and respect. Ask what they’re working on. Compare notes, give suggestions, give each other feedback. Laugh. Have a beer. Build community around this beautiful art we all love!
And when you’re ready… when you have that next amazing song… you’ll have a thousand ears to celebrate your success with you.
xxx - Zion
Catch the Moon Music
"Hey, I am doing a 5 Day Workshop, later this summer, to show you the secrets I’ve learned to how to make a living doing music full time… oh and did I mention it’s FREE?!"
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We’ll talk about how to pitch your songs, what kinds of songs music supervisors are looking for and what steps to take this year to get your songs licensed.
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After you complete the 5 Day Workshop you will have an in depth understanding of how the licensing process works, which category your music fits into (ads, TV, film, trailers, promo, etc), and new strategies to help you rework your songwriting process and write amazing songs that are licensable.
