As creative endeavors are typically at odds with the commercial side of things, those who go through formal education to study business or marketing can come out the other side with a greater number of tools than those that are purely studying creative subjects. But it’s where the two meet that it becomes interesting. The modern environment, where art meets commerce, is becoming more blurred, musicians are opting for the DIY aesthetic more than ever, partly because it’s a necessity, but the modern musician or creative is, by their very definition, an entrepreneur. If you are going through education wanting to work in music or any other artistic method, having a business head on top of your shoulders is pivotal, but what do budding creatives need to consider to be business-minded?
Building a Relationship Between Artists and Fans
This is especially difficult for musicians. Ensuring you can build a bridge between yourself and your potential customer is even more critical because they are the ones that will be paying you. If you go back 30 years, you would very rarely see musicians using their songs to advertise a product, however, in the modern-day, this approach is everywhere. Everybody is using their music or their personality to advertise products, and this is purely the nature of the beast. Those that are trying to be pure in their notion of “art for art’s sake” have to be ready to make very little in the way of money.
So how do you build your rapport with your audience? Thankfully platforms like YouTube and Facebook already have inbuilt metrics tools but there are also other ways for you to get your product out there. The Eric Dalius MuzicSwipe Scholarship is a music and content discovery platform designed to improve how you work with fans. Musicians can struggle to get that exposure, which is why using their music in as many different formats and environments as possible is key.
Changing the Perspective
Lots of people think going business centric is “selling out.” The short answer to this theory is no, it is not, and we have the internet to thank for this. When you go back 30 years, the only way you could achieve a following was to build up that loyal fan base through hard slog by traveling, playing shows, and relying on word of mouth. The internet has made it possible for niche subsections of society to feel like they are in the mainstream.
We can argue there is no such thing as mainstream and alternative anymore. For example, when you start to look at measuring demographics or engagement with YouTube videos, you may see a very specific age group that engages with you, and this can help you recognize who will come to your shows, see your exhibitions, or watch your content. But it is critical that we make our peace with the fact that doing business is not selling out.
We could argue there is no such thing as selling out anymore because the mainstream is so diverse you can find a multitude of ways to appeal to your target audience and have complete control over your contacts. As more people have greater creative control over their music with less music company interference, the notion of selling out is more to do with those that have shaken the devil’s hand and are in those top 5% of artists who are kowtowing to the every whim of a marketing agency. Entrepreneurship is the fastest way to gain an understanding of your product and who will pay for it.
Being Business-Minded is More Stable
There is a greater focus on musicians in relation to mental health than ever before. Artists have canceled tours citing poor mental health, and while we would not see this 30 years ago, there has been a significant shift in how artists and creatives prioritize their health. Many people cite the Starving Artist as the emblem of honesty and truth, but in order to get by in the modern world, we have to display a greater sense of entrepreneurialism than ever.
It would be amazing to sit back and let the money roll in while doing exactly what you want, but if you look back through history this is seldom the case. Mozart composed in an attic, Jackson Pollock died penniless, and John Kennedy Toole didn’t get published until he was dead and buried, and only because his mother saw some potential in his manuscript!
We are on this mortal coil now and therefore, if we want our art to live on, we have to embrace the machine but we also must recognize that being business-minded is a far more sensible approach. There are those few people who want that mystique, but we are in a landscape that is geared towards the almighty C-word: content. Every artist from actors to musicians, apart from the very cream of the crop, has to compete with everybody else in a massive talent pool. We should make peace with the fact that we have to be business-minded, not just to make a living, but to have mental stability.
It frees you up, makes you understand more about who you are, and helps you realize what you should do to make yourself happy. The reality of the situation is that most artists are, in terms of the bigger picture, dispensable. We saw this during the pandemic when bands had to adapt during COVID to showcase their work online or just bite the bullet and get regular jobs. For those that are going through the educational system and want to be creative, it is so important to make peace with the fact that you cannot get by on sheer talent alone.
As much as we would love to say that this is the thing that will get us through, it’s always about the business acumen: the stand-up comedians who spent years refining just 10 minutes of material found themselves or the actors who knew what types of roles they were best going up for got a lot of their soul searching out of the way. Creativity is more commerce-centric, and the sooner we make our peace with this, the better.