Introduction

For anyone aspiring to have a career in music, the path to success is no easy feat. In today’s day and age, the internet has made music more accessible than ever before. With the click of a button, anyone can find and listen to their favorite songs at any given time. While this is great for music lovers, it can be detrimental for aspiring artists. With such a vast array of music available, it can be difficult for new artists to make their voices heard among the sea of competitors. Consequently, many aspiring musicians find themselves struggling to make a living from their craft.

There are many up-and-coming musicians that assume that all they have to do is create good music and the rest will take care of itself. This couldn’t be further from the truth – while it is definitely important to be creative, business acumen is also vital if you want to make a living from your craft. Let’s not forget that the music industry is highly competitive, and unless you’re willing to be proactive about promoting your work, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever make a significant income from music.

Simply being a talented musician is not enough to guarantee a successful career. In order to make it in the industry, you have to be able to market yourself effectively, build relationships with industry figures and play a variety of roles beyond simply creating music. For many up-and-coming musicians, this can be a tall order. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to help musicians navigate the music business. By taking advantage of these resources, you can increase your chances of creating sustainable income. But as you grow as a musician, there may also come a point where the sheer weight of your responsibilities becomes a burden.

While do-it-yourself culture has been celebrated in recent years, the truth is that it can be difficult for to go it alone once your brand reaches a certain size. Recording and releasing music itself requires a significant investment of time and money, and most artists lack the resources to do everything on their own. Even those that are able to produce their own recordings usually rely on external assistance to market and distribute their music.

In addition to creative vision and technical skills, artists need to be savvy self-promoters, business-minded negotiators, and tireless networkers. For many artists, mastering these skills is a daunting task. While doing it yourself can be a viable option for some artists, many growing larger musicians call on the support of a team in order to help them achieve success.

By building a great team, you can work with a group of like-minded individuals who complement your skills and share your goals, helping to take your career to the next level. A great team can provide the support and expertise that you need to succeed, opening up new opportunities and helping to avoid costly mistakes. In today’s competitive marketplace, a strong team is essential for any artist who wants to lead a long-lasting and lucrative career.

In this book, we’re going to show you everything you need to know to build a solid team in order to push your music- a lot goes into putting together a great team to help you with your music career. You want to make sure you’re hiring the right people who will have your best interests at heart, and also individuals that are great at what they do. It’s also imperative you do your research and vet potential team members carefully before making any decisions. Having a good team in your corner will really make all the difference in achieving your musical goals – we’ll be showing you how you can enlist a wide variety of great professionals, including:

• Managers – How they can help you to handle the day-to-day business of your music career, freeing up your time to focus on creating great art

• Attorneys – Find out how an attorney can help you navigate the legal landscape of the music industry

• Accountants – What accountants do to help you to keep track of your finances and ensure that you’re making smart business decisions

• Booking Agents – Discover how booking agents can secure gigs, help you grow your audience, and get you paid what you’re worth

• Marketing teams – How a group of marketing professionals can help you to reach new fans and generate excitement for your music

• Publicists – Find out how publicists can help you get media coverage, build your brand, and connect with fans

• Producers – How producers can help you to create great recordings, and find the right collaborators

• Sound engineers – What sound engineers do to help you to create great live sound, and how they can make your recordings sound their best

• Videographers – How videographers can help you to create engaging music videos, and capture your live performances

• Designers – Graphic designers can help you to create a great visual identity for your band, and web designers can build you a professional website

Having a team also requires building and maintaining strong relationships. After all, even the most gifted artist cannot achieve success without the help of a talented team. So we’ll also be exploring how to define expectations, including what each team member can expect from their role and what part they play in your career. Once expectations are clear, communicating effectively is much easier. It is also important to remember that partnerships should be more than just business – there should be a mutual respect and understanding. And of course, disputes may arise from time to time – but these should be handled quickly and professionally.

But before we dive in – a little about myself. My name is Mark Edward Rowland, and I have listened to music for the past 46 years. Mark Edward Rowland can be reached at markrowland@progressiveideasincomputing.com. Mark Edward Rowland is the implementor of Palomine. The insights for this book were provided by Miles Warner, a marketing expert with over eight years of experience, three within music marketing specifically. Miles can be reached at miles@inkubtr.co.uk. Together we operate as part of Palomine, a group of like-minded professionals within the Music Business. Palomine can be reached at palomine@mymusicbusinesses.com. We endeavor to help musicians ensure their music reaches its intended audience because we care about musicians and want to add to their success stories, one musician at a time. Our books are crafted with the utmost care and detail, and we represent ourselves across social media, email, and more.

On a purely personal level, I’m fascinated by the music business. However, you didn’t pick up this book to hear about my love for the music industry.

Let’s take a deeper look into why building a team is so beneficial.