by Francesca | Jan 18, 2024 | Music Industry, Music Marketing
2023 is finally a thing of the past! It’s been a long year, but it’s time to start looking towards the future. As a musician, it’s important to set goals for your career and create a plan to make them happen. From learning new skills and getting more followers to earning more money and booking more gigs, setting clear goals is the key to seeing your dreams come to life. Here’s how to set better goals for the new year…
How To Set Better Goals As A Musician in 2024
Let’s talk S.M.A.R.T.
When it comes to goal setting, many pros around the world use the S.M.A.R.T method. Created back in 1981, S.M.A.R.T is an acronym that helps you create specific criteria for your goals to help improve the chances of their success.
What does it stand for?
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Timed
How to use the S.M.A.R.T Method:
When it comes to your music career, your goals need to be realistic and specific. You should be able to quantifiably measure their success. For them to be achievable for you as an artist, you also need to be able give it a set time period for it to be accomplished by.
🧠 Pro Tip: Always write down your goals. Once they’re written down, you can look back at them whenever you start to feel lost and get right back on track.
Here’s an example:
Let’s apply the S.M.A.R.T method to, “I want more people to listen to my music”.
What’s wrong with that? — This goal needs to be more specific. First, think about where you want more people to listen to your music. Which platform do you want these listeners on? Next, make it measurable. Come up with a variable that is quantifiable. Now, it’s time to make sure it’s achievable and realistic for where you are in your career. How many new listeners are you actually capable of reaching with your resources?
Those big time goals are good to keep in the back of your mind, but starting off with unrealistic goals will make you frustrated and disappointed when you’re just starting out. You’ll eventually reach those crazy goals, but you need to start small and work your way up. That being said, this leads us to the last step. Timed.
Your goals need to have a time limit. It’s easier to stay on track when you have a set time frame to get things done. (With checkpoints along the way!)
When you apply the S.M.A.R.T method to, “I want more people to listen to my music”, it turns into something like: “I want 1000 more monthly listeners on Spotify by May 31th.” instead. You can keep it focused on your profile’s full monthly listeners or you could break it down even further by focusing on a single release.
Now, that’s doable!
Let’s try one more.
Let’s try a more complex example for applying the S.M.A.R.T method. How about, “I want to go on tour.”
Great goal!
Let’s make it specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed. Specifically where and when do you want to go on tour? Is it the right time in your career to start touring? Do you have enough fans in various cities who would buy tickets to your shows? When do you want to achieve this by? What variables do you have to meet in order to meet this goal? For example, reaching X total amount of monthly listeners by this date or cultivating X amount of fans in X cities by this date.
How does this change our original statement? Something like, “I want to go on tour” changes to something like “I will meet XYZ requirements for touring by December 1st in order to start touring by January 1st .”
Make sense? Keep in mind, you can make these goals as specific as you need to. The more specific, the better.
In Conclusion…
2023 was rough for a lot of us. However, one thing it did give us was a chance to assess ourselves. What do we want for our music careers? What’s been working? What efforts have been more time consuming than fruitful? Now that you’ve had all this time to brainstorm about the future, it’s time to make sure your goals for the new year reflect that. 2024 is a great opportunity to jump back in and hit the ground running!
Just be S.M.A.R.T. 😉
by Francesca | Jan 11, 2024 | Music Marketing, Social Media
One of the most underutilized tools for networking in this industry are Facebook groups. Every day, tons of music industry-related groups are actively sharing knowledge within communities of like-minded individuals just like you. In these groups, you can ask for support, get advice, inquire about job opportunities and so much more. Here are some of our favorites…
Music Business Facebook Groups You Should Join
DIY Tour Postings
If you’re a musician planning a tour, DIY Tour Postings should be a staple in your bag of tricks. This one is a killer resource for those in need of gigs to play, opening acts, or even if you’re a talent buyer or scout looking for potential acts for your next show.
Last minute realizing you aren’t selling as many tickets to your upcoming show as you’d hoped? In here, you can promote yourself without censorship and they will help you to fill your concerts with people. This group is also full of seasoned tour vets who know the ins and outs of tour life and offer valuable advice for those who are new to the game.
Artist Managers Connect
Artist Managers Connect is a digital community of artist managers from around the world who are dedicated to sharing knowledge, advice, and opportunities in order to better serve our artists and the industry as a whole. Industry pros and newbies alike have a lot to gain from this group.
Everyone Knows Everyone In The Music Industry
Everyone Knows Everyone In The Music Industry is a group that has tons of cool music people who are all there to share information about jobs, gigs and opportunities in the industry. They have a rule about not sharing ads, so it’s the perfect place to see strictly great opportunities from like minded people. It’s a private group, but you can request to join right here.
Music Biz Besties
Calling out all the ladies in the crowd, this one’s just for us. Music Biz Besties is a private group for female musicians & industry leaders hosted and founded by Katherine Forbes. Katherine started the group with a love for networking and a yearning for a strong community of women all working together to turn dreams into reality.
In this group, you’ll have access to job opportunities, a community of music lovers just like you, and insights for how to make it in an industry that’s all about hustle and badass networking.
Nashville Music Industry
This Nashville Music Industry Facebook group is open to everyone who is in any way involved in the Nashville Music Industry. All you have to do is introduce yourself and let them know how they can help you! If you’re in Nashville, this is group is a must.
Symphonic Fam
Here at Symphonic, we’ve got our own FB group that fosters a supportive space for the indie music community to talk about the industry. Members can collaborate together to share knowledge on best practices, make valuable connections, and share related content. In Symphonic Fam, everyone is free to ask questions and share helpful tips and tricks with a supportive community of music industry peeps. This group is all about helping each other out by empowering independent musicians everywhere to do what they love.
Women Empowered Mentorship Program
In addition to out Symphonic Fam Facebook group, there’s also a group for our Women Empowerment Mentorship Program. The group is a community dedicated to empowering women and supporting each other on our professional journeys’. This group is a safe and inclusive space for women to network, connect, and uplift each other.
Here, you’ll find a platform for job postings, networking opportunities, and resources for personal and professional development. Our community members have access to exclusive content, including webinars, workshops, and guest speakers. Whether you’re looking for a mentor, seeking advice, or simply want to connect with like-minded women, this is the place for you.
by Francesca | Jan 4, 2024 | Music Marketing
Your fans are everything. Without them, you likely wouldn’t be where you are today! (Or where you are hoping to be.) Fans are a community, and in order to strengthen it, you need to treat it as such. Below are a few ways to make your community of fans stronger than ever.
Here are five simple, but unique, ways to strengthen your fan base.
Create a name
Try to think of a large artist off the top of your head. Then, think of their fans. They likely have their own name right? For example, Ariana Grande has “Arianators.” Selena Gomez has “Selenators.” Lady Gaga has “Little Monsters.” The list goes on. The point is: recognize that your fans are an entity of their own, and they’re bound to grow.
Start a Facebook group
Once you create a name for your fans, it’s time to take it to the next level. Create a private Facebook group for you and your fans to interact on a personal level. Offer exclusive giveaways, information about upcoming releases, Q+As and more. Start by inviting friends and family and then reach out to your general fans. As long as you stay active, it should grow.
Stream on Twitch
Streaming on Twitch is a fun way to interact with your fans and make them feel more involved. You could stream live DJ sets, studio sessions, behind-the-scenes or even go into a realm like gaming. Make sure to promote your streams and shout out fans, so they know they are recognized.
Do meet-and-greets
Meet and greets are one of the best ways to interact with your fans. These in-person hangouts can be done before (or after) shows. You can have these backstage, at a pizza spot near the venue, or just in the crowd. Talking to your fans in person is one of the best ways to get to know them!
Offer giveaways
Giveaways are the best way to give back to your fans. Thank them for their appreciation and support by offering merch giveaways, free downloads and more. The possibilities are endless!
There are a ton of ways to strengthen your fan base, but we hope one of these works for you! Make sure to show as much love to your fans as they show to you!
by Francesca | Nov 30, 2023 | Music Marketing
As intimidating as it seems, consistently releasing new music (every month or even every week, if you believe that works for you) has many undeniable benefits. Aside from making your fans happy to hear more from you, this practice does a lot of good for artists at any level. In this post, we’ll give you 6 reasons to release new music consistently. Here’s the rundown…
How Releasing Music Consistently Can Improve Your Career
Increased Engagement
Consistency is good for engagement on any platform, no matter what you’re into. Want to get better at production? Practice every day. Want to improve your vocals? Sing every day. The same theory applies to putting out music. The more you do it, the most traction it’s going to get. And let’s face it… your fans want as much from you as they can get. When you release new music, on any platform, the amount of people who will interact with it will grow right along with you. Not to mention, from the fan point of view, there’s something exciting about being able to expect something new from your favorite artist every week.
Go Viral on TikTok
TikTok also thrives on consistency. The more you post, the better your chances of it being caught up in the wave of a random trend. Every time you release music, use it to make little TikTok babies. Whether you use it to follow existing trends or to try and create new ones, the more you post the better.
Not sure how to figure out what’s trending right now? No problem. We did a whole post right here that gives you 6 of the best ways to find the hottest trends right now. And if you’re new to TikTok, here are some helpful resources to help you thrive…
Grow Your Catalog
Releasing music more frequently helps you grow your catalog significantly faster than if you waited every 6 months. This can be advantageous for streaming platforms, as the more songs you have increases your chances of being discovered through playlists and algorithms.
If you already have an extensive back catalog, did you know there are things you can do with it to keep the momentum going behind the scenes while you work on new things? Check out, “How To Maximize your Back Catalog While Working on New Releases” to learn how.
Build Momentum
Releasing songs consistently is a great way to build momentum for something bigger down the line. If you plan on going on tour or releasing a full album later in the year, you can hype up the day to come on socials with every release more often. Get everyone on board and offer incentives for streaming your tracks. If they like what they hear, they’ll share your work with their friends and grow your audience one release at a time. When whatever big day finally arrives, you’ll have a whole team of people ready to experience the fun and share it on socials.
Better Chances for Sync
If you want to get featured in movies, TV, commercials and more, it doesn’t hurt to give sync reps a lot to choose from. Although having a lot to choose from does technically help your chances, what kind of music you have out also plays a part.
Jon Mizrachi, the Senior Director of Sync Licensing for our in-house sync licensing division, Bodega Sync, explains:
“If you really want your music to stand out, it’s important to understand that songs are used in sync to support a narrative, not to tell one. If there’s a sad montage where someone dies, you’re not going to hear a song with lyrics about someone literally dying… Even in advertising, which is typically far more literal, music will be used to add depth to whatever you see in the footage or hear in the voiceover. You know what’s not a great song for Toyota? A song about Toyotas.”
So, if you really want to focus on optimizing your music for sync, try to create universal songs that aren’t too specific. If the goal is to connect with the listener, you have to craft your songs to be as relatable as possible. In addition, once one of your songs gets featured, the chances of your other songs getting chosen for other sync opportunities goes up, too. The more music you have, the higher chance of something being perfect for that new TV show hitting the market.
Practice Makes Perfect
Putting out music more often gives you the chance to really experiment with your personal sound. You can try new things and see how your audience reacts and if it doesn’t quite hit, no big deal! Try something new the next time, and keep it moving.
At the end of the day, I realize putting out music consistently is no easy task. Depending on your music, it may even be impossible. If you specialize in full blown musical arrangements for every track or don’t have frequent access to a studio, finishing a full song on a monthly or even weekly schedule is insane to even fathom. At the end of the day, it is up to you and this is an idea to try out where it makes sense. Challenge yourself to at least try, and see how it works for you.
Good luck!
by Francesca | Nov 30, 2023 | Spotlights and Clients
What do you get a musician who has everything? A Spotify Premium subscription won’t cut it, they already have that… Headphones? They definitely have that… Not to worry, we’ve come up with some options that are sure to impress this holiday season. Here’s the rundown…
15 Unique Gifts for Musicians
Orba Handheld Multi-Instrument
The Orba Handheld Multi-Instrument is a handheld synth, looper, and MIDI controller that lets you loop Drum, Bass, Chord, and Lead parts to create songs on the go, no matter where you are. Whether you want to use the built-in speaker or hook it up to your favorite headphones, anyone can create on the go with this badass, mini music maker. // Available on Amazon right here. 🎁
Pocket DJ Mixer
Got a DJ in your life who wishes they could bring the party wherever they go? No problem. With this Pocket DJ Mixer, they can turn their phone into a powerful, portable, party-making machine anytime, anywhere. // Available on uncommongoods.com 🎁
Vertical Vinyl Record Player (with Bluetooth)
For those who collect records with cool artwork, I know you wish you could showcase those amazing designs a little more often. With this vertical record player, your favorite records are on full display. Not to mention this is way cooler than your traditional record player. And how does it sound? “Amazing, because a precision Audio Technica needle delivers the warm bass and rich ranges that made you love vinyl in the first place.” states the product description. When you want to stream music instead of spin it, you can also utilize its modern Bluetooth feature with ease. // Buy it right here. 🎁
Lightbulbs That Change With Music
Sure, they probably already have their home decorated to the nines with cool music decor… but do they have lightbulbs that change color with the beat of the music? This one is pretty common, but if they don’t already have these you’ll blow their minds with these lights. // Available on Amazon here. 🎁
Otamatone
An Otamatone is a synthesizer that’s shaped like an eighth note (it also somewhat resembles a tadpole, or a ladle (otamajakushi being Japanese for tadpole and ladle), with sound emerging from the “mouth”. All you have to do is squeeze the head and control the pitch by the stem piece. (Higher up on the stem equals lower sound, and vice versa.) It may not help the musician in your life create any amazing songs to top charts with, but it sure is fun to play with. // Buy it on Amazon right here. 🎁
Customized Spinning Record Shot Tray
This is an up cycled shot glass holder that spins… Need I say more? You can even personalize the label with your own record title, subtitle, and five songs of your choice. For any musicians in your life turning 21 (or just your fun rocker uncle who likes to drink), this is a fun gift that never gets old. // Available on uncommongoods.com 🎁
Turntable Cheese Board
Pay homage to vinyl with this turntable-inspired cheese board featuring a slate platter and hidden slicer. This gift bound to make every jaw drop at the holiday party. If you don’t buy it, I definitely will… // Available on uncommon goods.com 🎁
Masterclass Subscription
Masterclass is an amazing subscription for any creative in your life. From artists to musicians and everyone in-between, Masterclass offers classes from the best teachers in the world. A-list celebrities, some of the greatest musicians of all time, and artists from all over the world come together to teach personalized classes on a wide variety of topics.
On it, you can learn about producing and beat making from Timbaland. Deadmau5 teaches electronic music production. Ringo Starr teaches drumming and creative collaboration. You can even dive into the soul of guitar with Carlos Santana. And that’s just a few of the people they have to offer… // Check it out on Masterclass.com. (Thank me later.) 🎁
Eargasm High Fidelity Earplugs
If you’re stubborn like me, you’ve been in denial about the damage loud music has been doing to your ears for years. Now, there’s really no excuse with earplugs like these. They filter out the damaging sound waves and leave you still able to hear, not only the music, but even conversations with your neighbor, just fine. // Get them on Amazon here. 🎁
Shower Speaker
Most of us already have a bluetooth speaker that we love and cherish. Musicians baby our speakers like a newborn, so we’re probably not taking it into the shower with us. (No matter how bad we want to…) No problem! This speaker is made for those shower singalongs. Not only is it waterproof, but it has a suction cup on the back for easy suction to the wall of your shower. // Available on Amazon right here. 🎁
Guitar Pick Hole Punch
Give a guitar player a pick, and they’ll play for a day. Give them a guitar pick hole punch, and well… you get it. Give the gift of infinite guitar picks made from whatever their heart desires with this Guitar Pick Hole Punch. // Available on Amazon here. 🎁
“This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession”
This one’s a no brainer… Give the gift of knowledge with this masterful work of art written by Daniel J. Levitin. “This Is Your Brain On Music” is a groundbreaking union of art and science. Rocker-turned-neuroscientist, Daniel J. Levitin, explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. // Available on Amazon.com… 🎁
Vinyl Record Coasters
Protect your table from rings and your drinks from slipping with these trendy vinyl coasters. These are the perfect gift for any music lover in need not some simple yet practical home decor. // Available on Amazon.com…. 🎁
DIY Synth Kit
Perfect for the DIY DJ in your life, this kit lets you construct three different mini-synths, adding awesome dimension to electronic music! // Available on uncommongoods.com 🎁
Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator (PO-33 K.O!)
This baby is #1 on my wish list this year. It’s a powerful micro sampler, synthesizer & sequencer, all packed into a small and ultra-portable design. With studio quality sound, play chromatic melodies and drum sounds, sequence it all and add effects on top to create something truly original. // Buy it on their website here. 🎁
