Written by Jaron Lewis

Every musician will ask themselves the same questions: I want to be a musician, but where do I start? If you want to know how to be a musician for a living, keep reading, because we’ve compiled 7 tips to help you become a successful musician.

The truth is that making a breakthrough in the music industry is not easy, and if you want to one day command a professional musician salary, then you need to take a multifaceted approach, and be willing to put in the hard work.

The internet is an excellent tool to spread your work, but success requires a plan of action. Start with a music business plan and figure out what type of budget you can afford to create your music, as well as the relevant sound engineering, and the promotion you will need to invest in. You can revisit your plan and make adjustments as required.

Don’t be afraid to try new techniques, and push your knowledge to the edge. Be prepared to put extra hours into your work, on top of your typical schedule. Successful musicians make serious sacrifices and give up a lot of other important things in their life to dedicate that time to their music. It can be difficult, and you need understanding friends and family, but if you’re serious about your music, you’ll be prepared to push yourself well outside your comfort zone.

If you are constantly working to be a better musician, increase your creativity, and striving for perfection then you are certainly working hard to create perfect music. If you aren’t, then you might want to remind yourself that somewhere, someone is. So, it’s time to step it up. If you are a rapper or singer, check out our tips on how to rap better and sing better as well.

When someone hears your music for the first time, then they expect to experience a certain level of quality in the audio. If you are working to record from home, you need to make sure that your music is well recorded, mixed properly, and the content that you are producing is a high quality. Get your track mastered, even if it’s just a low-quality MP3.

Every musician needs their own website, it’s a great way to showcase tasters of your music, and let people get to know you as a person and as an artist. A third-party host doesn’t offer the same impressive as a URL with your own name. Check out SEO basics, and make sure you make the right choices for your genre, and the words that are related to your potential fans and niche.

You need to be up to date on all of the latest means of promotion. Make sure you know which websites are the best options to showcase your music. You don’t want to waste effort updating pages that get no traffic. Work smarter, and opt for websites that get serious traffic.

The internet is absolutely vital, but there are other ways to communicate. Check out what promotional items you can get your band or artist logo on, and how you can ensure it gets in the right hands.

Success isn’t going to come overnight. You have to give yourself time to penetrate a market. Keep your foot on the gas, and keep pushing till you get where you want to be.