Major Essentials needed in building a solid Brand

Aiming at making a living in music is not like playing music for a hobby. It’s a profession like any other profession, and when you don’t treat as such, you’ll eventually lose it. 

Yes, you love music and in the grand scheme of things, you know that getting to work with it day in day out it’s a gift. Rock and roll fantasy may dictate that you never have to do anything you don’t want to do, but the reality is that not meeting your music responsibilities  is one way to ticket back to day job land. 

Beeniewords.com has undergone a massive research to find out why there are many talented underground artists who posses all the necessary qualities to blow up. This article discusses why it’s so difficult for upcoming acts to reach the limelight and offers possible solutions to eradicate such stunts. In my recent article about event organizers exploit upcoming artists all in the name of promotion and other benefits that comes with, i stated categorically and i remember elaborated on how some of these event organizers or event agents take so much advantages of the fact that most underground artists don’t have the voice to pour out what they encounter. I also promised I was going to state why it’s very difficult for to upcoming acts to hit the jackpot. 

Fast-forward, these are some of the reasons it’s hard for them to crack the nut; one of the biggest problems is figuring out whether or not you have what it takes from marketing, creative, and technical standpoints, with the second and third point being arguable. People might say I am not a musician hence not qualified to comment here but I have worked with plenty to know what some of the biggest problem are. You cannot go on making music and just hope to get noticed out of nowhere, it doesn’t happen that way. At the same time, getting noticed doesn’t guarantee that you have a stable group of followers or audience that you can bank upon.

What keeps an independent musician relevant and motivated to go on doing what they do best, is building an audience.

Here are some of the basic but herclean  problems underground acts face:

Marketing – your music needs to touch at least someone else other than you if you want to pay the bills, as many others have mentioned.

Creative – your music needs to stand out, to a degree. While many songs follow a fairly well proven template, there are aspects that make that song its own thing. It’s difficult to express yourself in such a way that it is different enough to make you unique while retaining enough ‘normalcy’ as to not alienate everyone but yourself. Some people say ‘screw that’ and create the weirdest thing they possibly can because that is what they really want. But it’s often easy to determine if the artist is doing something weird because the really want it or if they are just doing something weird because they think that, alone, is unique. 

Technical – you need to be able to perform, or at least understand what you are doing, to a degree. You know what makes a great song suck? Lack of groove. Lack of ability to play what you intended to play. It’s fine if you can only play four chords on guitar, because, historically, many songs have been written with only three. But know what you can do and play to those strengths. Don’t try to go off on a blinding, light-speed solo when you can only play four chords – it will suck.

My point is, most of these upcoming artists propagate the mentality music business is just about talent. I beg to differ, in every field of endeavor; talent is married with other qualities to achieve greater success.Talent alone is not enough to make one successful no matter how good you are. I want to put it on record that, if you want to achieve extraordinary results, you obviously need to do extraordinary things. The difference between extraordinary and ordinary is EXTRA. Before i continue, i would like to acknowledge certain facts about talent;

1. Belief lifts your talent,

2. Passion energizes your talent.

3. Initiative activates your talent.

4. Focus directs your talent.

5. Preparation positions your talent.

6. Practice sharpens your talent.

7. Perseverance sustains your talent.

8. Courage tests your talent.

9. Good character protects your talent.

10. Networking and positive relationships influences your talent.

11. Responsibility strengthens your talent.

The above stated points are some of the key qualities when married with talent can uplift and expose one to the large and outside market. Most underground acts think the road to success is rosy. They see the glories of the established acts without knowing the stories. As underground artists, if you lack any of the key points stated above, it means you’re a serious joke. The music business, in general is not as formal as some other businesses.

(Written by: John Claude Tamakloe)