Letter to a Young Artist: Tips to Improve Your Music Career + the Road Ahead
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To all artists out there, younger or older who are wondering if they should continue pursuing their music.
To my younger artist self sitting in her room listening to albums and playing Joni Mitchell songs on her guitar trying to find her voice. The one that was trying to heal, the heart that was full of ambition and dreams but didn’t have the slightest clue as to whether she would one day accomplish them.
Dear Friend,
Music is a way of life.
You don’t choose music, it chooses you.
How do you know?
You’re reading this.
You do music because you need to.
Even more—because you have to.
Music is like oxygen for you.
That said, you’ll feel tortured about it, often.
You’ll battle with whether you are good enough to really pursue it.
You’ll wrestle with doubt, sometimes daily.
You’ll watch other artists become successful with ideas similar to yours.
You’ll feel frustrated that you aren’t where you want to be – often.
Your ambition will be bigger than your talent for quite a while.
You will sacrifice a lot of your life for your music.
While everyone else is at the beach, you’ll be in the basement tearing your hair out trying to write songs, improve your craft and record your demos.
It will seem to everyone else that you are obsessed with a dream you might not reach.
They will worry about you and wonder when you are going to snap out of it and get a real job.
You will be overwhelmed and feel scattered.
You will doubt yourself a million times.
You will feel behind most of the time.
Sometimes you will think you are going crazy.
You will be misunderstood.
Your family will mostly not understand you.
Those closest to you will not be behind you.
People will not believe in you.
You will be frustrated.
You will fight with your internal demons (fear, insecurity, ego, and a fierce inner critic).
They will all be jabbering loudly in your mind most of the time.
You will wonder if you should continue.
You will wonder if you are crazy for continuing.
Be disciplined, you’ll need it.
Tune out distractions.
There will be bumps in the road.
Life will interfere often.
Expect it.
Those are the times you will feel furthest from your music.
When detours happen, ask yourself ‘what am I learning that will help me later’?
There will be times when inspiration comes and times when it doesn’t flow at all.
When the fountain is flowing, stop everything and catch the muse.
When the fountain is not flowing, work on editing and tweaking things.
Train. Train. Train.
There are 4 seasons. Gathering. Writing. Recording. Promoting.
Knowing what season you are in helps to ease anxiety and focus on the season at hand.
Plateaus will happen.
You haven’t lost your artistry —you are gathering new information for the next chapter coming.
Set goals.
Put yourself on a deadline.
Commit to deliver one song a week.
Schedule it in your calendar.
When you treat your music like a job, it becomes one.
There will always be too many tasks on your plate.
Become an expert at prioritizing.
The trick is doing the most important ones and leave the rest.
Learn to say no to everything that is not in line with your bigger goal.
Ambition fuels your desire.
But discipline delivers it.
Never forget the secret of success is your songs.
You can only fly as high as they can take you.
As a writer, your vulnerability is your superpower.
Dig deep. Tell the truth.
Don’t hide what you really think.
Become a connoisseur of sound.
Find yours.
You are the architect of your vision and your sound.
Spend countless hours in pursuit of it.
It will take you some time to find who you are.
First you’ll copy other artists to learn and develop skills.
Then you leave them behind to develop your own sound.
Your singing voice is way more important than you think.
Take lessons with someone who really knows what they are doing.
You should see results from the first month.
Otherwise it’s a crock.
Don’t show raw stuff to people outside the industry.
No one has any imagination. Nor should they. It’s not their job.
Your only job is to show your best —always.
Learn how to record killer demos at home.
Learn how to edit your vocal and be a pro at recording your voice.
Surround yourself with artists who are working harder than you.
Learn from artists who are better than you —help those who are not as far along.
Reciprocity rocks and returns tenfold.
Music will break your heart.
It’s unavoidable.
You will work really hard and fail.
You’ll put stuff out that no one seems to care about.
Try again.
No one will believe in you —until you arrive.
Don’t be bitter about it—shock everyone and embrace it.
You will be fooled.
People will take advantage of you. It’s par for the course.
The only way to learn is through experience.
No amount of mental preparation can prepare you for the actual doing.
You will go up and down in your enthusiasm.
It’s normal.
It’s not an easy path.
It is only for the brave of heart.
The only thing to ensure success is to never give up.
Because the amazing truth is— music will never leave you alone.
You can try to hide it away in the closet.
You can box it up and put it up on the highest shelf, and pretend it doesn’t matter.
But it will continue to haunt you until you do something about it.
Until you make your masterpiece.
Do yourself a favor.
Don’t delay.
It will only delay the inevitable and your progress.
Assume it will all work out.
Don’t be in a hurry, but be disciplined.
Become your own best critic.
Find a coach and mentor.
Someone who believes in you is pure magic.
Someone who knows the industry can save you decades of time.
When no one is a mirror for you pushing you to grow it’s easy to stagnate.
No one does this alone.
Build a team of people who believe in you.
Who will hold you accountable.
And hold you up in the lean times.
Just remember, every single artist who is successful was once where you are right now.
Nothing great was born out of mediocrity or in a rush.
Make time and time will pay you back.
One day it will all come full circle.
You will be surprised, exhausted but exhilarated.
Your entire musical life will flash in front of you.
Every voice lesson, every songwriting critique, every song you ever wrote.
And every second will be worth it.
Music rescues people from dark places.
Don’t make music for the industry, make music for the people.
Nothing in life will lift you higher than your music connecting.
Enjoy the journey.
Be in awe of it.
You can do this.
~~~~~~~~~~
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