Establishing a successful career in music

A career in music is much more than being a performer, and includes production, teaching, sound engineering and others, writes Bindu Subramaniam.

Most of us look at our day jobs and things we are passionate about as distinct, with little to no overlap. The things that we love are rarely our livelihood and vice versa. 

Even in school, we have “core” or serious subjects and “extra-curricular”, which aren’t quite considered serious. This distinction is deep-rooted. You’re encouraged to take many classes and express yourself creatively as a young child. Still, by the time you’re in high school, you’re usually expected to focus on what matters and excel at competitive exams. Creative expression becomes a distraction, and hobbies fall by the wayside while we pursue academic excellence and competitive advantage.

Why is this, though? Most friends and family members who give free advice, telling you to focus, get serious and stop fooling around, genuinely believe that creative careers are unviable and unsustainable. The starving artist stereotype is alive and well, and most parents are worried that their children won’t be able to survive if they are solely dependent on music.

Even with today’s buzzwords like hot skills, employable skills and gig economy, we don’t know with certainty what the future of work will look like. Between the conservative “be an engineer” and the doomsday scenario of “AI will steal all our jobs”, the reality is there is a lot of possibility for earning a livelihood in non-conventional ways.

Building a successful career in music requires a combination of talent, dedication, and strategic steps. While there are no guaranteed formulas for success in the music industry, there are concrete actions you can take to increase your chances.

By honing your musical abilities, continuously learning, embracing technology, collaborating with others, engaging with fans, attending industry events, releasing music regularly, performing live, and seeking professional guidance, you can enhance your prospects in the music industry.

Three key things to focus on are building your skills, expanding your network, and maintaining consistent hard work.

Build your skills: Learn as many skills as you can. Sing. Play an instrument. Compose. Understand music technology. Study social media. Bring these varied skills together in a way that is unique to you. Be the best version of yourself, and try to improve daily. 

Build your network: No man is an island, and no artist is truly solo. Find a community of people you learn from and with. Find people who believe in what you do. Build your audience, build your supporters, and find others like you.

Be consistent: While success looks different for everyone, the path begins with hard work, persistence and a laser focus on your craft and your fans. Any successful artist must work hard consistently to succeed in the long run. Like any other career, music requires showing up and putting in hard work every day, even when it’s not fun.

A career in music doesn’t just or only mean being a performer on a stage. You could be a composer, a studio artiste, a lyricist, a music producer, a music educator, a sound engineer, and much more. Art also intersects with many other professions, and you could be an entertainment lawyer, event manager, or creative entrepreneur.

You could work with organisations like streaming services or live event companies. Creative industries exist at scale around the world and generate billions of dollars of revenue every year. 

Music plays a significant role in our lives and holds immense importance for everyone, regardless of age, culture, or background. There is ample documented evidence on how learning music is highly beneficial, both for the individual and for society at large. Nobel prize winners are more likely to have a serious artistic hobby than their peers, and musical interventions in schools in troubled neighbourhoods have reduced the incidence of violence. Learning music from other cultures makes us global citizens.

Dr Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, was right when he said in an interview, “How beautiful would it be if our schools and our education program showed how music is a combination of many different cultures, and cultures are an expression of many kinds of music? There’s a lot for our students, not only from a musical perspective but also from a global perspective and in showing them how they fit in as part of a bigger world.” It is a powerful and universal art form that enriches our lives in countless ways.

(The author is a co-founder of a music school)