7 Best Ways to Invest in Your Music Career

Investing in your music is extremely important. Your music career isn’t real if you don’t treat it like a business. The main goal should be to generate revenue from your art. The best thing you can do as an artist is invest in yourself. You should treat every song and project as if it is an irreplaceable product, because it is.

1. Invest in Recording Gear

As an artist, the first step in creating a song is starting with a great instrumental. The next step is making sure you have a clean recording. Investing in a professional microphone and treatment is something that will pay for itself over time.

2. Invest in Mixing and Mastering

After you have your instrumental and song recorded, the next step is to mix the song. A mix can make or break a record. Invest in a mix engineer you trust. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to a record that had auto-tune that was out of key or was over compressed.

3. Invest in Cover Art

Now that the product (your song or project) is complete, it is time to think about how you will market it. The first step in doing this is purchasing professional eye-catching cover art. Your song’s cover art should fit the overall theme of the track. It should also be vibrant and stand out from the crowd. Some artists think they can achieve this on their own, and while a few can, most don’t have the eye for it. It takes years of training it takes to become a great graphic designer. You didn’t just spend all that time and money creating a song just to have nobody click on it, did you?

4. Invest in Social Media Promotion

Once you have followed all of the previous steps and have a great project to present the world, now is the time to start marketing your product. STOP worrying about getting press, and start worrying about connecting with your potential fans. The terrific thing about using Instagram or Facebook ads that you will receive measurable results. You can use these advertisements to target fans of artists who make music in a similar genre as you do. It’s time to start building your fanbase and there is no better place to currently do that than on social media.

5. Invest in A Music Video

If you have followed the previous steps and are starting to see some success in your song, it is time to invest in a music video. The reason you want to wait until you invest in a music video is simply because they are more expensive. You don’t want to invest a lump sum of money in a track that doesn’t have any traction. However, a great visual can really take your track to another level. A great way to market your music video would be to reach out to music video review YouTube channels to see if they would be willing to review your video.

6. Invest in Touring

One of the best ways to invest in your music career is touring. Booking a tour is fairly complicated. Investing in a booking agent should make this process much easier. Also, you must think about how you will budget things such as transportation, food, lodging, lighting etc. However, nothing will build your network as much as getting out there and touring.

7. Invest in Merchandise

Now that you’ve booked your tour, how can you make money outside of the actual shows? One of the best way’s artists make a residual income is by selling merchandise. Your merchandise can be as simple as your artist logo on a t-shirt to a full-on clothing brand such as Chief Keef’s “Glo Gang Worldwide”. It’s important to get creative with your merchandise if you want optimal results. It’s a great strategy to partner with a few designers to help you create more exclusive and imaginative ideas for your merch.