Why Indie Artists Need to Start Thinking Like Entrepreneurs

As an indie artist, you always think that the best course of action is to focus on making good music. You are not wrong, but to detach yourself from being tagged “upcoming, budding, or struggling musician, there’s a need for a change of mindset. Truly, you always hear the big names talking about how they’ve been paying attention to making music, or they never allowed anything to get in the way of their creativity. The reality is that they are not telling you the whole truth, there’s a lot behind the scene than just making good music. You don’t have the luxury of focusing on just making music as an indie artist. Forget it, you don’t share a similar career path with most of the big names. Look closely, most of them have all the help; marketing, branding, and all the resources needed to break into the limelight. That’s why you need to start thinking more like an entrepreneur than being an artist. You have to brace up yourself to do the hard work, and getting things done by yourself. Look at the electrician, or the residential plumber, they are independents. They are responsible for pushing their brand to their target audience. The entrepreneur gets things done, it’s a mindset, one that you’ll need as an indie artist. Yes, it’s tough but it’s a life that you’ve chosen and you need to make it work. To make your transition into an entrepreneur indie artist a smooth one, here’s what you need to start doing;

• Beef Up Your Music Industry Knowledge

Not like anyone is asking you to cram all of the Grammy winners or streaming revenue according to the platform, all that is required is the knowledge of your target audience. Knowing who your music is meant for and how best to reach them is enough knowledge to get results. You’ve got to be able to know who to target and who to avoid as an indie artist. Even though you are trying to get as many people as possible to listen to your music, not everyone will love your music. Mass targeting will get your music thrown in the bin than loved.

• Be Interested in Making Money 

One common attribute of most indie artists is being altruistic. While altruism may appear like you are doing something commendable for the human race, it’s not going to get you anywhere far as an indie artist. Stop nursing the thoughts of being morally superior, else you’ll have to find something else as a career path. You’ve got to start taking the gigs that pay the best or charging your worth. Nothing is wrong with making money as an indie artist, you are getting paid for adding value to others. You’ll need to be an entrepreneur by cutting out from the ranks of indie artists that sells themselves cheap. Breaking into the limelight will be easier.

• Tailor Your Music to Meet The Need of a Market

It’s wrong for you to be creating a market for a product. Rather, you have to focus on catering to an already built market segment for your music. It’ll be tantamount to a waste of time and resources if you are chasing a particular market. Even though your music is suited for certain people and personalities, you’ll be selling yourself short by adopting this approach. Rather, try to create fans from nothing, look at what is trending and create a piece of music to cater to it. Go in search of what people already love and make music around it.

• Play The Long-Term Game 

You don’t need to be looking forward to 5-minute stardom. Rather, look forward to building a brand around your music. As an entrepreneur, you have to have your eyes on the long game. Stop craving for a piece of short-term cake, it’s not what you need. Imagine how hard you’ve been working to settle for just 5 minutes of fame, it’s not worth it. Choose long-term success over a quick buck. Focus on the small earnings that could come over and over again. You’ll eventually grow the small income into a big pay-check someday.

• Create a Direct Line of Interaction and Subscription With Your Fans

As forward-thinking indie artists, one of the best things you can do is to open up a direct line of communication with your fans. To do this, you need to continually update your fans that you are up to something, you are always on the move. Let’s say you’ve got new sounds and you believe your core audience would love it, you can release it to your subscribers. If you’ve got specific content, you can put it behind a paywall and expect your core fans to subscribe. Release what is right for each audience, you’ll find it profitable.

Final Thoughts

Indie music can be a tough sell, you just have to have a clear purpose and target. You have to be able to build a platform for yourself and show you are not just another artist. It's important that your audience are able to distinguish your music from other indie artists. You should go all out to maintain a connection with a new audience. Finally, it’s beyond aiming to be unique, but showcasing you are worth your mettle.