Obviously, every upcoming artiste got their own game plans regarding their career. Most of them got one thing in mind; and that is being “Recognized” and getting a juicy record deal to boost their personality and be treated as “Stars”… There is a saying that “Heavens Helps Those Who Helps Themselves” and you should know that recording 200 songs does not get you closer to a record deal; but the impact a song makes is what gets you deals. Some artistes gets a deal with just one debut single and that is because he/she really took time to build his career before approaching the world. Below are 5 simple things artistes ignore or never thought of.
Allow The Sound Engineer To Guide You Through The Recording Session: There is a big gap between a beat maker and a sound engineer and that is to say, the sound engineer's duty is to make sure you step out of the studio with something worth listening to. Like it or not, the engineer knows what instrument is best for your music and should be able to re-arrange your verses, hooks and chorus when he finds that necessary… You as an artiste could also discuss changes with the engineer and I believe considering the engineer's advise, could help shape up your music.
Get An Official Publicist: As an upcoming artiste, publicity is very important to help build your career. Getting yourself an official publicist will help you tell the world who you are and what you got going on. The publicist constantly makes news about you, write articles about you, and keeps the public informed about your upcoming releases and projects. Choosing an existing blogger who owns a website/Blog is the smartest choice you can make as an upcoming artiste. However you can get a good writer who will send stuffs about you to the bloggers for publication. I consider publicists to be psychologists because they know how to bring people's attention to you.  If you have been posting your song without any article written about it, trust me, its only your friends and their immediate friends who gets your song downloaded. When have you ever gone online to download a song from a random artiste you dont know anything about?
Get Yourself A Manager: A lot of people got their own definition of who a Talent Manager or an artiste manager is. A manager is usually employed by the artiste and he (The Manager)  has the right to give suggestions regarding to the making of songs, and putting up concepts. Being an artiste without a manager is like having a football club without a technical bench. Every artiste needs someone who will stand back and view things from the audience's point of view. Other functions of the manager is to seal deals on your behalf (Ofcourse upon the artiste's approval of the deal), arrange studio sessions for you, etc… Basically he speaks on your behalf from a professional stand and makes sure your career is in shape. A manager can even be your close friend or colleague who has the potential to see to your well being as an artiste. In short if you don't have a manager, don't consider yourself as an “artiste” unless you want to do music for fun. My best advise is to QUIT MUSIC if you think a manager drops from the sky to rescue artistes financially.
Avoid Cheap Productions: There is no way people will want to download a song with poor quality and store on their devices or computers. If you respect your fans, you should really invest in your music. (Music is not supposed to be an alternative if you did not go to school or aint got a job) Making 1 song in 2 months with good quality is far better than making 5 songs in a month with very bad sound quality. If people keep getting songs with poor sound quality from you, eventually, they will stop downloading your songs because no one wants to waste bandwidth on what is not worth listening to. At the same time, you are loosing your fans and putting a big hole in your musical CV. A Good song with atleast a standard sound quality will sure find its way out there!
Dont Be In A Haste To Release Songs: Its very true that it takes only one song to get you a hit… This does not depend on how quick songs are released but you should be able to find out if you are targeting the right audience and if they really enjoy the songs you are putting out. After the release of a song, you can do an undercover survey to know what people honestly think about your previous release. Asking your friends will not give you a sure result, as they wont want to hurt your feelings… They will be like “Challe You Killed It! You are the best ever challe! We dey Your Back Plus Vim!” Some may be true but you cant trust their judgements because they are your friends and they are supposed to encourage you and not to be become haters in your eyes.
These are the five things upcoming artistes should pay attention to, if they are really looking at getting on the “BIG” stage sometime. Its not going to be a smooth one but it gets you somewhere. As an artiste, I will urge you to read more online. Google stuffs like Royalties, Copyright, Cover Song etc and know what you are doing right and what might hurt your career someday. Share this piece to inform an upcoming artiste!
Source: Dklassgh.com