Music Success Formulas

By Jeffrey Fisher, Fisher Creative Group (more articles from this author) 2001-03-22

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It seems people want to know a magic formula to fame and fortune in the music industry. I could be flippant and just say hard work, talent, and dumb luck. While those three notions often do result in success, they do not tell the whole story. Promotion is the key to success in today's music industry. And the primary components to successful promotion are reputation, relationships, and knowledge. Developing and leveraging these three concepts will help you achieve the goals you've set for yourself. How do you build a reputation, cultivate meaningful relationships, and use knowledge to your best advantage? These three formulas can help.

Image + Credentials = Reputation
You must establish an image for your music industry career. An image wraps up everything you are about into a tight, neat package that's easy to promote and sell. You earn credentials in several ways. For example, a band must have a live act. This goes beyond just playing; you need to be entertaining. No band is legitimate without a CD; it's a testament to your skills and professionalism. Comments and reviews from the media and testimonials from satisfied clients are other critical credentials you must secure. The last credentials are awards such as winning a battle of the bands or, ultimately, a Grammy. While I've used a band for this example, the formula applies to whatever music industry career you pursue. With a carefully crafted image and supporting credentials, your career earns a deserved reputation. That reputation instills confidence and trust in people who would buy your music products and services. Because of your reputation, these buyers are less skeptical and therefore, more likely to open their wallets.

You help other people = Other people help you
Your success doesn't happen in a vacuum. You need to organize, nurture, and maintain a network comprising people who can help you with your music business career. The crucial point of this relationship building is both give and take. You need to give of yourself and provide value that other people can use, first and foremost. In short, help yourself by helping others. When you take this approach, most people will respond in kind out of a sense of obligation. In a healthy relationship, everybody benefits and gets what they need.

Knowledge + Action = Success
The more you know, the better your chances of making your music career better. Learn all you can about how this business works -- read, take classes, and get real-world, hands-on experience. Use all that information to take the appropriate actions that move you closer to your goals. The music industry changes so rapidly that only the smart, results-oriented will survive and thrive.

You can't sit on your hands and wait for people to come to you. Get up, get out, and get going on reaching the people who need the music products and services you sell. At the start, you will need to push hard. Growing your reputation, working your relationships, and gaining knowledge takes time. Fortunately, once you achieve some success, you'll find that increasing your success becomes easier because success breeds more success. Don't get complacent, though. For example, a song gets into the top ten on MP3.com. Here it becomes very visible when people come to the site. That visibility encourages more people to click and listen. Those clicks keep the song high on the charts where still more people decide to listen. This success is self-perpetuating until, eventually, it runs its course. Before the popularity fizzles, ramp up your promotion with something new to rekindle interest and increase your success exponentially.

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