Let’s be honest; getting discovered as an artist isn’t easy work.
You could have a polished image, a great album, an extensive touring schedule, a growing and admiring audience, and still not find the recognition you’ve long been seeking after.
But there are a lot of things that can hold an artist back.
Here are five reasons many artists haven’t been discovered yet.
1. Fear
The biggest source of paralysis for practically every artist or band is fear.
There are many forms of fear; fear of success, of failure, of being treated unfairly, fear of losing money, and so on.
The truth of the matter is that if you never do anything out of the ordinary or take any risks, you can’t expect to get different results than you’ve already gotten.
The single biggest antidote to fear is action. When you’re busy doing the work, you can learn from the feedback you’re getting. If you remain in your comfort zone, you stifle your ability to learn something new.
Another way to cope with fear is reframing. For example, if you’re worried about being rejected, instead think about the innumerable ways in which you will be accepted!
2. You Haven’t Defined/Found Your Target Audience Yet
There is an audience out there for everything; you have but to get out there and find yours!
Music gives you a means to express yourself, and there are those who are going to resonate with what you have to say through your art.
It’s a good idea to get a lock on who your fans are so that you know where to go to reach more of them. You might even consider surveying your growing fan base from time to time.
Where do they hang out online? What magazines do they read? What do they like to watch on YouTube?
Figure out what your fans are interested in, and you’re sure to find more people just like them!
3. You Haven’t Set Any Goals
The danger of not setting any goals is such that you more or less get what you ask for.
Randomly recording, playing shows and writing songs is only going to get you so far. Those who have goals are driven to reach them and are daily taking steps to move towards them!
You need a plan for your music career, and that plan begins with clearly defined goals. If you don’t have that, it’s no wonder you haven’t progressed.
Make sure to write your goals down on paper and put them where you can see them every single day, or use a band management app like Mike to help you keep them at the forefront and track your progress.
4. You Aren’t Building Any Relationships
This also goes back to what was said earlier about fear, because if you’re afraid of meeting people, you may not be building new relationships to move your career forward.
In today’s world, it doesn’t matter what you know so much as who you know. So who do you know?
You can’t get into the bars or the clubs if you don’t know the right people. It can be really challenging to open up new opportunities without a solid network.
There are very few people who genuinely love networking, but don’t forget; even introverts can work their email inbox!
LoudUp is a new social network for musicians and music fans. If you are a music fan, it will help you to find new music, and if you are an independent artist, it will help you to get your music heard and make the right connections so explore the artists, producers and other industry people on the site. As you find people that you like, connect with them and you will start to expand your network which will open up opportunities such as being able to gig together, collaborating, and learning from each other’s experiences.
5. You Aren’t Open To Feedback
If you aren’t open to it, you’ll never ask for it.
If you ask for someone’s opinion, you may risk getting hurt. If you never ask, however, you may not have the opportunity to learn what you’re doing wrong.
For example, if you send in your latest single to a radio station and they choose not to play it, you can still ask why. It may be that your song doesn’t fit the format of the station (this is pretty common), but it could also be that the guitars aren’t in tune, or maybe the production just isn’t up to their standards.
Yes, addressing issues like that can be challenging. However, you are better off knowing them now than finding out 10 years down the line when your career is still in the same place.
Final Thoughts
Building the music career of your dreams will almost certainly take a lot of work and determination.
You will have to persevere and exercise tenacity in the face of rejection and challenge.
But if you never look at your biggest obstacles, you’ll also never come up with a plan to reduce and overcome them.
Start looking at your weaknesses and become familiar with them. That way, you can start looking for solutions to the problems you’ve identified.
This article covered reasons why you haven’t been discovered, read the follow-up to this article, covering ways that you can get discovered, at How To Get Discovered In Today’s Music World
Photo courtesy of Christian Weidinger used under Creative Commons.