7 Key Things You Need Before You Can Move Forward With Your Music

This post helps you get started, but that’s only the beginning. My Artist Sanctuary Monthly Membership will take you step-by-step through the artist development process to build your artistry and career–the same process I’ve used to help my clients win Grammy Awards, get featured in Rolling Stone, secure major licensing deals, get signed to management and labels, and live the dream. What would it feel like to be regularly performing to thousands of people singing the words to your songs and supporting your career by the end of this year? Come join our Artist Sanctuary and find out how.

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1. Nourish your craft + stimulate your creativity

The first step to increasing creativity is to devote yourself to developing your creative abilities. Do not put off your efforts. Set goals, enlist the help of others, and put aside time each day to develop your skills.? You have to do the work – there is no way around that.

Creativity isn’t inherent. You have to hone it. Surround yourself with inspiration. Surroundings play a role in the creative process. Stimulating environments can facilitate creativity, so surrounding yourself with things that you find inspiring and motivating can help.

Here are my top tips to work on your craft in the most efficient way:

• Vocal technique 20 min a day
• Instrument 20 min a day
• Song concepts 10 min a day
• Write 1 song a week
• Record 1 song a week – build your catalog you’re going to need it.
• Evenings and weekends – longer sessions to work on songwriting, rehearsing, recording and performing.I say 1 recording session per week

2. Find your sound + direction

Listen to a lot of music but narrow it down: It’s good to have a wide listening palette. It’s a sign of a strong musical ear. When you are ready to refine your sound and direction for your next project you’ll want to narrow the field a bit and identify your unique traits and what you sound best at.

• Make some lists.
• What did you listen to growing up?
• What are you listening to now?
• What artists or songs are your biggest influences?
• What is the sound you envision for your next project?
• What are songs or sounds you love that are off the beaten path? These can become accents or wild cards —small layers of sound or elements that bring innovation.

The goal is to be rooted in the past but relevant today. Borrow from yesterday but use modern musical elements or sounds from today. Take for instance Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. Legendary producer Mark Ronson pulled from the past but set the record in the current day with modern sounds.

Don’t chase trends—set them: There is a pendulum in music that swings from trends as we move through time. When you chase the pendulum trying to be popular, you are chasing the trends. By the time you finish chasing the current trend it’s already gone. The trick is to get ahead of them. One of the ways of doing that is to find and refine your sound, trust your instincts and stick to it. That way when the pendulum swings your way again you are ready.

Be up to date with current trends. Listen to Spotify playlists and find the lesser known artists coming up in the ranks – you’ll find some killer stuff. While at the same time build your vintage playlists. What are the time periods or decades in music that represent your roots?

Create a Playlist of songs you want your sound to reflect. Operative word here is “sound” not song, or the lyrics. Finding your sound and direction requires deeply listening to the “sound” of the music. Most of the time (unless you are a producer), you are listening more to the voice or the song. Try listening to the “music” – the “sound” of the production.

What layers of instruments are making that sound? What instruments are you hearing?

What sounds are being used? Make playlists of music that is close to what you want on your record. Note the time stamps of sounds you like. What do you want your music to sound like? Build your sound.

3. Write a song a week

The only way to close the gap between talent and skill is a large volume of work.? The only way to really get good—is to write a LOT. Here is my formula:

• Write 2-3x what you need to “pick the
• 2 Singles – write 6 songs, pick 2.
• 7 song EP – write 14-21 songs, pick 7
• 10 song LP – write 20-30 songs, pick 10

Put yourself on a schedule. Write 1 song a week. Write. Tweak. Songs are not written they are rew. Demo each one. Go on to the next. You’ll discover so much.

4. Get Professional A&R Direction for your next project

Have you ever had A&R? Do you know what A&R Is? Artists and repertoire or A&R is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label or publishing company. Every activity involving artists to the point of album release is generally considered under the purview and responsibility of A&R.

A&R, which stands for Artists and Repertoire, is one of those areas in the music industry that’s difficult to pin down. The role can cover everything from talent scouting at gigs to data-crunching online, managing the recording process and assisting with marketing and promotion. A&Rs can be problem solvers, motivators, creative consultants, a springboard for ideas, all in one. They are, in essence, an artist’s champion within a record label.

A&R Profile – as an A&R Director I created an A&R process for artists to use to carve out their sound and direction. We start with an A&R Profile Form that takes a deep dive on your listening history and influences. We dive into the psychology of you as well to extract the themes to set the writing for the project.

You can get this process two ways:

1. The Signature Songwriting Circle: I created a program that walks artists through the creative side of A&R. You go through a step-by-step A&R process to set the sound + direction for your next project. Click here to learn more about The Signature Songwriting Circle and get on the waitlist to be notified when it runs again (runs once a year).
2. Private A&R Direction. You can also hire me privately rather than going through the program (but it’s more costly).

5. Finding the right producer

This is no easy task. I recently interviewed one of my friends and Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winning producer Robert L. Smith from Defy Recordings for our Artist Sanctuary members. Inspirational and enlightening Robert shared his vast expertise producing and mixing records and with a 3 decade career in music working with many music legends.

One of the takeaways for musicians was that “you are the boss”. Stop worrying about hurting producers’ feelings or being “wrongly loyal”. At the end of the day it’s your name on your record. Real names in the business won’t dangle opportunities as reasons to work with them (like the promise of introducing you to someone in the business, or hooking you up with licensing). They will be sincere in helping you tell your story.

Getting your sound right is critical. You need to find the right producer for you and your music. I help artists find the right producer and create an A&R PRoduction Creative Brief to help direct the producer with the right examples. Teh biggest problem is when you use explanations vs. examples. Rather than tell the producer what you want, show them. Create a production playlist of sounds you want on your record and collect time stamps of specific builds or instrument sounds.?

6. Branding that aligns with your sound and persona

Your brand is a big piece of your music.

1. Mission: I always start with the mission statement. What is your mission as an artist?
2. Visual: your image and visuals are your music at first glance. It is often what people see before their hear your music. Create visuals that look like the music sounds and create curiosity for people to listen to your music. Visuals stop the scroll and get people to check you out. Create a Pinterest board of images you like for your next project.
3. Copy: While visuals get people to click, great copy gets people to convert. Conversion for you means to follow you on socials or more importantly to join your email list!

Start with my Step Up to the Spotlight 6 week Kickstart Artist Development Program. Module 3 is the 22 Essentials of a Magnetic Music Brand where I walk you through all of these elements and more. Modules are dripped once a week and it moves through all of these aspects of artist development including an entire module on branding.

7. Marketing Strategy + Career Plan

Then it’s all about building marketing strategy and career plan so you can make the LEAP from where you are to making an income in music.?

You’re going to need an experienced mentor who believes in your and your music. It’s just impossible to do on your own.?

It starts with building a list of 1000 true fans. This is the business side of the artists career.?

Building the audience, growing your fan base online and in person – locally first, then regionally. Knowing your goals, how to set them, and then how to reach them requires real music industry knowledge.?

Start here -> Get my Artist Success 1000 True Fans Blueprint inside my Artist Sanctuary Montly Membership. Join for one month and get access to the prior replays, masterminds, sounding board, guest expert panels and more. Cancel anytime.?

You’ll find the Artist Success 1000 True Fans Blueprint inside the June and July 2023 Masterminds. Comes with full slides, video replay and worksheets! All for only $59!?

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Looking for inspiration and a community of artists to build your sound and strategies to succeed in music? Join our Artist Sanctuary Membership for Musician and get the support you need.

What have you got to lose? It’s only $59/mo. Try it for a month! You can cancel at anytime.