If you are trying to make it in music today, it is likely that you're writing at least some of your own songs. This can be a daunting task considering the seemingly inexhaustible volumes of music in the world today. And yet, the hits just keep coming. (Granted not all the music you hear on the radio is created equally, but I digress.) So what can you do to make your songs the best they can possibly be? Let's chat.

As much time as you spend in your rehearsal space perfecting your sound, it won't mean anything if it's botched coming out of the PA. All the money you spent on new pedals, amps, guitars and strings doesn't matter if the mix is off in the club.The sound guy (or gal) is the most important component of your show that most bands don't really think about. He (going with he for this piece out of ease - and most are men) can break your set (few sound guys can actually MAKE your set if you suck).

Like everything else in the music, booking needs to be approached like a business. The first step is gaining some understanding of who you're trying to contact. If you were a venue owner and your email inbox lit up with 20 booking emails every day, would you respond to everyone? Probably not. You'd only respond to the ones that stand out.

Do Some Research

Spamming every venue in town with the same pitch isn't going to do you much good. That's where a majority of amateur musicians make their mistake. They don't realize that talent buyers have seen it all and can pick out serious inquiries from punks with a computer.

The key to a serious inquiry is research. Before even considering where you would like to play, make a list of every venue at your disposal and learn as much as you can about them. What's the booking agent's name? What's the capacity? What does their upcoming calendar look like? If it appears that you’re not a good fit, don't waste your time reaching out. You only get one chance at a first impression, after all.

Whether you play for tens of thousands of people every night as part of a world tour, or 20 people at a backyard barbeque, most of the mental anxieties musicians experience while playing live are the same. In almost every case the negative little voice in your head is centered around fear (fear of rejection, self doubt, etc.). We all have experienced some level of fear or nervousness when playing live at some time or another. You may have felt a fear of failure, fear of making mistakes, fear of what the audience will think of you, your music or your band. Have you ever asked yourself questions like:

• "What if I make mistakes?"
• "Am I even good enough to be playing on a stage?"
• "What if the crowd doesn't like the band, the music, or me?"
• "Is this show going to be a disaster?"

Making it big as a musician can be difficult, regardless of how talented you are. There’s a sea of competition, but by playing your cards right, you can reach the stars like others before you. Whether you’re looking for your first big break or looking to continue a hot streak, we’ve got just the advice for you.

How to Reach More People as an Up-and-Coming Musician

Leveraging your skill sets when you can't play live music
by Joy Ike for Bandzoogle

As musicians, touring, performing, and creating often begin with staring at a screen doing all the administrative tasks which keep the creative side alive. Here are some outside-the-box ideas as you consider what your ‘work’ is for the foreseeable future.

Create and maintain websites

Do you maintain your own website? No matter what platform you use your skillset is necessary right now! People (especially small businesses) are realizing now more than ever that they need a website in what now feels like a virtual-only world. And believe it or not, most people don’t know how to make one. Offer this talent. Someone needs your expertise.  

image courtesy: bandzoogle

Provide Social Media Help

And guess what? People who need websites also need help with their social media presence: Facebook Business pages, Instagram accounts, Twitter, subscriber mailing lists, and the like. Remember that while online communication takes a front seat to in-person communication, small business owners need help doing this better.  

As you've probably noticed, tons of artists have flocked to live streaming in the last few months, and for good reason. It’s one of the most effective and reliable ways to maintain a sense of community with your fans and give them the opportunity to support you. 

What should musicians stream?

Live performances are the most obvious and are usually a safe bet for a stream, but this is a great time to get creative and experiment with different formats or topics. There are so many interesting and fun ways to engage with your fans and make them excited to tune in.

image courtesy: bandzoogle

Songwriting sessions, home studio tours, masterclasses, Q&As — if you’re comfortable sharing it, give it a shot! You never know what might resonate with someone watching. You can even mix and match — maybe play a couple songs, and then pause to have a casual chat with the audience for a few minutes as you read through the comments section to shout people out and answer questions. 

Tom Hess

"Hey Tom, I wanted/needed to e-mail you because I have some frustrating questions in terms of music and the mainstream music business and I just wanted to get some insight from you. Here it goes! Well for years now, besides practicing until my fingers bleed, all I could think about is how do I establish myself as a respectable guitarist and a musician. The thing that bothers me is that someday I would love to release my own neoclassical album, but these days I realize that in the United States high tech guitarists are not as admired as much here unless the music genre magically changes or if it was the 1980's again. But it bothers me that it all comes down to a question of what sells instead of what you like personally and what you're capable of doing in terms of composition and technicality. That ticks me off! I want to make sure that I keep my own musical integrity and show my full musical abilities that have taken me years to perfect, instead of holding back playing re-arranged power chords just to please the audience. For most people, if the music is not played on the radio, they don't want to hear it. I have my very own expectations in what I could do to make a killer song, but because if it's not like Blink 182 material or something like Disturbed it won't be respected. But I just wanted your point of view what you think about what to do in these case scenarios. I mean I am stuck between personal passion and simply what sells and this really sucks."

Your points are excellent and many musicians that want to make music at a very high level (or want to make music in style that is not popular) ask these sorts of questions.

Read more here!

Every musician currently living on the Planet Earth would love nothing more than to wake up tomorrow in the midst of their glorious peak of superstardom. But, as Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is the career of any one musician. A musical career is a long, sometimes arduous journey of tiny advances and minor setbacks filling the fragile shell of big breaks and huge disappointments. It's up, it's down, it's all around and hopefully, as time passes, you can see the course of your career building up slowly through weeks and months and years of steady progress.

But how can you tell if your career is actually going somewhere? How do you know if you're really getting closer to your musical dreams? How can you determine whether or not you're on the right path? How do you know what to focus on in the immediacy and what paths can be left for another time when you are better equipped to tackle them creatively and concretely? While there is no one set way achieve rock superstardom, the clearest way to realize musical success is to simply set goals.

As mundane as it may seem, setting goals, both long and short-term, for your musical project lends the same kind of structure and discipline to your career that an athlete would use to train for the Olympics. Realistic goals enable you to build your band's list of accomplishments the way a runner builds his muscles, pumping up your musical achievements as you lift off the weight of each entertainment roadblock. And the good news is that you can start today. At any time you may put into effect a list of goals, large or small, aimed at boosting your career in any given area.

The following are a few tips that will help you to set some goals so that you may get on your way to achieving all that you want from your music and the entertainment industry in general:

1). Set Goals You Can Achieve--- Nothing is more depressing for an artist than setting lofty goals for yourself and your music only to bottom out with hopelessness when none of the goals are achieved by the deadline. So, much of what keeps artists plugging away in the industry, against all odds, is the positive re-enforcement of feelings of accomplishment. Keep that upbeat mojo going by setting goals for your band that you can absolutely actualize with lots of elbow grease and some good creative flow. Take a minute to assess each potential achievement and put a realistic time allotment on it so that you're setting yourself up to succeed and move onto the next musical goal.

2). Keep Your Eyes On The Prize--- It's all well and good to set goals just to see if you can do them, but if you're ultimate goal is to be a big ole humongous rockstar, then try and set goals that will help you on your way to a Rolls Royce, a Bentley and a 2,000 square foot infinity swimming pool. Set a goal to get one article of press each month, to book a decent gig every two weeks, or to update your website daily. Give yourself six months to finish your full-length album, three months to raise the money for your band's t-shirts or a year to find a good manager to pitch you to labels. Each one of these goals is a great achievement on its own but also an important piece in getting your band where you eventually want it to be. So it's a win/win for your career, any way you slice it, and the feelings of accomplishment will certainly empower you to keep pushing on in the ever-frustrating music business.

3). One Goal At A Time--- It's okay to have twenty goals on the table but they should be lined up in order of immediacy and priority so that each one is given their own individual time. Trying to work too many angles at one time may jumble your ability and focus, and leave you at your deadline with six or seven goals only partially achieved. In an industry so dependant on "what have you done lately," it's always a good thing to get a goal completed in a timely manner and move onto the next so that the outside world sees a band that is always accomplishing things, always achieving, and always succeeding.

4). If At First You Don't Succeed--- No matter how hard you try, there will always be goals that elude you past your self-imposed deadline. While it's good to discipline yourself into a regiment of goal-setting/achieving, don't beat yourself up if circumstances beyond your control lead you to fall short on a deadline or two. The most important thing is that you realize your goal. Secondary to this, is for you to accomplish your goal in a timely fashion. So, put your emphasis on the success and the positive achievement and don't give up on your music and your goal if the deadline rolls around prematurely.

Once you set a line of goals in front of you, it's easy to focus on achieving rather than worrying about failing. As you begin to achieve goals, you can rely on the confidence of all you've done and dismiss the angst of worrying about things that haven't happened yet. You'll never be able to accomplish everything all at once, so why not relish the successes that you can manifest immediately whilst dreaming of the goals you still have yet to achieve. Don't waste time. Sit down after you read this and scratch out a list of goals, each with its own timeline. Find something you can accomplish today for your music, something you can get done by tomorrow and something terrific you can nail down by the end of the week. Your band will look better to industry and fans alike and, most importantly, you'll look and feel great to yourself and your music. RockSuperstardom awaits! Start knocking back those goals and kick the music biz in the butt, one positive achievement at a time!

Sheena Metal is a radio host, producer, promoter, music supervisor, consultant, columnist, journalist and musician.