Doing music can be a hit or a miss depending on the musician’s approach. Now before I go any further, let me appreciate all musicians out there for the unique work they do. They keep us entertained, and their songs help us keep stress at bay, among other benefits. But if they want to be successful as musicians, there are mistakes they must avoid at all costs. Any association with them could consign any music artist to oblivion, however popular he or she is. The mistakes are many, but today I’m going to cover those I feel are the most dangerous to the music career.
Relationship Scandals
Now this is a big one. Relationship scandals and music stardom are like oil and water. Musicians should never attempt to mix them, especially for gospel musicians. A single love affair scandal outside a musician’s marriage will never be taken lightly by fans. With the internet and social media, people have the ability to amplify any such scandal and blow it out of proportion. I call this the public court, which is never fair and why musicians might even want to learn about how a public relations agency can help them. Thus, my counsel to anyone who is in the music industry out there is to steer clear of anything to do with love, besides a love affair with their own spouses or known partners.
Replicating Others
Doing your art like someone else is no bad idea, but what if it backfires? And yes, I have seen many musicians go down the cliff just because they tried to copy the styles of others. I advise every musician to develop a style of their own and work to perfect it. That is how their fans can identify them. Copying opponents usually tends to generate a lot of hostility, especially from the opponent’s fans.
Below Par Social Media Presence
Social media presence is more than essential nowadays. This is where a musician can interact with fans and build a loyal fanbase, without having to meet the fans physically. However, many musicians have social media accounts, which are not as active as they ought to be. Having witnessed many budding musicians decline even before their music career sees the light of the day, I can say without fear of contradiction that a musician’s social media activities ought to be top-notch. I like the fact that some musicians employ social media experts to run their accounts. That is a good idea, given that most musicians may not have a lot of time to engage with their fans on social media.
Lack of Creativity
This is something I personally hate, for lack of a better word, that is. We as fans want to see a new thing every time a musician releases a song. However, many musicians disappoint us by recycling their ideas. For those musicians who have a weakness when it comes to creativity, my advice to them is to hire songwriters. There has never been a shortage of such people. I know some of them will charge a premium for the service, but it is a worth risk.
Charging Low Fees for Performance
Music is business, at least nowadays. And who doesn’t know that music without money is dead on arrival! Musicians should see themselves as stars and should avoid settling for less because that can lower their status. On this note, I want to advise musicians to discover their self worth and charge fees that are due to their status. Performing just because they have been offered some little money is something that can slowly kill their music careers as this may become the norm.
Once musicians get their confidence back, they can start charging higher for gigs accordingly. To help manage their bookings, workload, and progress, they could consider using apps similar to Mike (https://www.mikeapp.co) that can help them stay on top of their game and career!
Arrogance
While there are celebrities whom we know have thrived on being arrogant, that doesn’t work for everyone. Arrogance portrays musicians in bad light among their fans, and that could spark a hostile response. In my view, musicians should tame their tongues; they should be like pastors. Any shred of arrogance in their speech can prompt the fans to pull the trigger against the musician. What a bad attribute to avoid!
I know how tough it is to succeed as a musician, but I also know what it means to avoid failure. That is why I put this article together. Any musician who pays attention to the things I have talked about in this writeup will have nothing to regret about. I wish you a successful music career.