During some of the informal conversations we have with Indie artists, we often hear questions regarding what it is that they could do differently to get their music noticed.
In todays article, Kapa Freeman addresses one of the biggest challenges that many Indie artists are facing and is actually stagnating the growth of their music careers.
Happy reading!
Why is it so hard to get your songs noticed?
by Kapa Freeman
I'm speaking from experience. It took me 15 years to figure out that my first publishing deal could've happened 15 years earlier. Unfortunately, there was one word that was keeping my songs from the quality I needed, if I wanted anyone to take me seriously.
So what magic word kept my music career in limbo? The word is "multi-tasking." I made the classic mistake that most indie songwriters make.... Trying to do it all!
It took me forEVER to release anything I was even remotely proud of, let alone anything that would make fans or publishers take notice.
Why?
Because on every track, I was the songwriter, the singer, the producer, and I was playing all the instruments too!
There's one GIANT problem with this approach. Every single one of those roles is a separate career. Each one built on skills that can take years to do at a professional level, and at a professional SPEED. It could take me a week to get a half-decent recording of me singing. Pro-vocalists could do it radio-level in an afternoon. It could take me months to arrange, record, edit, and mix my songs. Seasoned producers could do it in a weekend. Guitar parts could take me days to get right using virtual instruments, and a pro guitarist could do it in one take.
So songs would take me months to complete because of "multi-tasking..."
But when you start to focus on being a pro at ONE thing... the ONE skill that has the most impact on your chances of success... and leave the rest to the specialists, then you will have better recordings of better songs and you'll have them a lot sooner.
But the most professional singer with the most professional band, in the most professional studio....will NOT sound professional... Unless the song does.
Thankfully that's a learnable skill... and that doesn't have to take years to learn.
Kapa Freeman is the Founder and Songwriting Coach of The Intentional Songwriter, whose goal is to help musicians become publisher-ready songwriters so they can access songwriter-only income streams that pay more money for less of their time.
After taking an "assembly line approach" to songwriting, Kepa added consistency to his songwriting and went from song rejections to publishing deals over the course of a year. Now he uses this same approach to help musicians go from beginning to publisher-ready songwriters in a matter of weeks.