With my experience in the industry, let’s say about 8yrs wink what I’m about to write here is the truth, nothing but the truth.
As an up & coming artiste, if you are making these mistakes and you are not ready to make a U-turn, you will forever remain an upcoming artiste.
For the sake of those who are passionate about their craft, here is a list of things you should take note of if you wish to become a known and celebrated act.
NOTE:- Life is sweet at the Top 😋 Ask Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, 2face, 9ice and the likes. They once went through hell but now everything has turn into a thing of the past. You can do the same.
1. Most Upcoming Artiste Do Not Make Proper Use Of Their Social Media Handle
As an upcoming artiste, your social media account is one of the easiest ways of communicating with your fans. You need to put content on it everyday.
If you are going to the toilet, take a picture. If you are going to the bar, do a little video. If you are buoyant enough, give away something tangible to your Fans, maybe Recharge cards someday.
Put enough Freestyle on your page, you never can tell who is gonna stumbled upon your page and will fall in love with your Freestyle. Your Social media page is your Album, get it loaded with enough interesting contents.
2. Most Upcoming Artiste Do Not Attend Shows
If you are an upcoming artiste and you are not attending shows, you will forever remain upcoming (Not a curse though but harsh reality).
I mean, get off that your lazy bed, attach yourself to a Blogger, beg them to help you activate some promotional packages that can change your life forever.
Another thing you could do is also to buy tickets to shows (regular). Find your way back stage, before they start the show proper, beg them to allow you do your thing. Record label owners, promoters are listening and if they can see the confidence in you and how the crowd accept your music, my brother, congratulations. Who knows, you might get signed and hit the jackpot.
3. Not Creating A Niche For Yourself In The Industry
As an upcoming artiste, you need to stop copying other people’s style of music. Stop copying other people’s beat, stop copying other people’s sound.
Create your own style, create your own pattern. Stand out! Stop jumping at every trending beats, stay on your own lane and do your thing.
4. Bad Mastering, Bad Mixing Of Your Song
This is also a contributing factor. Who will play your music when the whole production is whack?
There are so many upcoming artiste out there with good lyrical content but their production is poor and this in return makes the artiste sound local. No DJ would jam your song on radio if the production is poor.
Work with different music producers. The same producer that created the beat and recorded your voice should not be the same producer that will do the final mastering of your songs.
There are dedicated sound engineers and professionals that their job is just to mix and master (look for them).
5. Poor Lyrical Content, Bad Concept, Bad Voicing
Imagine a reggae singer trying to sing blues? The concept from the onset is not proper. What you have to do is to look for your vocal strength and work on it. Simple!!!
If you can sing blues very well, my brother, you are not needed in the rap game. Do your thing, express yourself lyrically. Sing about things your face, talk about your emotions. Sing about everything around you.
Your song can motivate some rich dudes when they are down and before you know it, they might start chasing your around with some bag full of $$$ 😋
6. Not Wanting To Freestyle
Free styling is your selling point. At times people, fans want to hear you sing without musical instruments. Freestyle your songs, record a Crystal clear video of your freestyle. Upload on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook etc
You never can tell who will come across your freestyle. Wale Turner enjoyed this grace and one good thing about Nigerians is that they will surely be tempted to share your Freestyle Video on their page if it’s dope enough.
Instagram made Wale Turner, Destiny Boy, Ola dips and many Up & coming act currently getting the needed buzz to becoming a Superstar.
7. Be Your Own Sponsor (Get A Job & Fund Yourself)
This is the most bitter truth 99.9% of Upcoming artiste don’t want to hear but it’s actually the best..
I had the intention of making it No. 1 on this list but I had a feeling that you won’t want to read this because you try don’t want to hear the truth.
My brother, Nobody can see the big picture more than you. Promotion is the Key to winning in the Music industry and this requires a lot of Money if you want your content (Music or Video) to get the massive attentions to making it become a massive jam.
The average shelf life of Nigerian Track is 3 months, whether you are an upcoming or an already blown act, if you drop a Song in January and by April you are not working on something, you might lose relevancy and fade off.
In order to grown some Loyal fans, you must be willing to drop contents from time to time.. Now, you are able to get a good song, how do you Promote it?
Do you have to keep begging Family or Friends for Funds to Promote your Song every 3 Months? If you are lucky to get it this time, No assurance you will ever get from them again.
Why not get something doing so you can make money to push your song yourself without waiting for a Sponsor who doesn’t even have a knowledge about Music business.
The End!
We hope you gained one or two things from this Article?
Now, infuse what you just learn into your Music hustle and you will be amaze at the result you will get soon
