When it comes to the new era of the music landscape, I believe that most artists desire to go the independent route. There are a number of reasons for this. Most artists want to be able to control their entire career and overall vision of where they want to go. Artists want to put people in place to assist them in which they have formed real and trustworthy relationships in which everyone believes in the same vision.  With the opportunity for complete control over your career, this comes with major responsibility. As I’ve mentioned many times in previous posts, indie artists are now the BRAND. When I say the brand I mean you are the face of your business. As someone who embraces entrepreneurship, it can get overwhelming at times. It isn’t easy coming up with new and innovative ideas on how to attract customers or fans to your business. As an indie artist, the goal is always to put yourself in a prime position to continuously monetize your art. I don’t believe every artist has the ability or knows what to do right away in building their business. Building a business in general is extremely time-consuming and you have to deal with so many things that most people who aren’t entrepreneurs ever have to embrace. I want to delve a little into some of the most anticipated common struggles that indie artists face and some possible solutions to overcome them.

1.    Small Budget– When most artists are first starting out they often lack a budget to help with the varying costs that come along with starting their business. As artists you must remember that there are two sides to the business, which is the production side, and then the business side (allow you to monetize your art). One of the first things that you need is a stand-alone website. This will serve as a one-stop shop hub for all that you provide to the consumer regarding your art. A tool that I recommend to build a quality site is Bandzoogle. Bandzoogle is easy to use website development platform for indie artists. They have multiple optimized themes to facilitate whatever style you want to execute aesthetically.  It’s always great to reach out to people locally in your community that you may be able to barter with on various services that you may need along your journey in building your business.

2.    Lack Of Marketing Knowledge– As an independent artist you HAVE to market your product daily and more importantly EFFECTIVELY to get the results you want in order to grow your business. Check out this great article on Cypher Avenue on marketing tips for indie artists called Step Your Game Up. The article provides an in-depth look into marketing for indie artists, event coordinators, and content creators.

3.     Time Management– As an indie artist today, life can become really hectic.  Balancing a day job, kids, and all that encompasses being a CEO of your business and brand can definitely bring overwhelm. Even though all of these things can make life crazy, they have to be done in order to move along your journey as an artist. Organization has to be a MUST!!!!!! Here is a great article from Life Hack on the top 18 time management apps and tools to really make your life a lot easier.

4.     Social Media Savvy- Social media interaction is a must and something that isn’t negotiable. In today’s music industry you must have engagement with your audience. Engagement is the primary function of every social media platform. In order to maximize and get the most out of your social media accounts consistency is paramount. You also need to know what your followers and audience gravitates to the most on social media and use that to really grab their attention. I know this can become very time-consuming which makes it a less than desirable task to want to get done but if done correctly can really help set you up your foundation as an artist. If you aren’t the best at social media strategies or may just not have the time throughout your day, it may be smart to hire an intern or someone with solid knowledge within this area. Whomever you hire you may want to start them out in a trial basis to gauge the results that you receive and then decide if you want to keep them on permanently.

By taking some time to really tackle some of these obstacles as an indie artist and implementing some of the solutions in which I’ve presented can really help you along the way in your journey in embracing your career as an independent artist as well as entrepreneurship.

“Making A Difference In The Indie Creative Community”

Till Next Time

~Durell