Starting a career in music can be a very daunting experience. Unless you’ve shadowed musicians or gone to school for music/business, you really have no tools at your disposal to launch a successful career. You’re just starting from scratch and winging it. The cool thing is…there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. I started from scratch. A lot of creatives build their empires from nothing. It can almost be a rite of passage. When you do start realizing some of your goals, it makes the reward that much more potent.
The beauty of starting an artistic endeavor on your own is that your art is free to create. It’s not like other industries where you have to invest money into product manufacturing, packaging, inventory, storage, etc. YOU are the product. You are already neatly packaged in the form of your unique look and personality. Part of what you’re selling is music that is practically free for you to create (vocals, lyrics, melody, tunes). It’s the platforms and vehicles by which you choose to disseminate your art that costs and those costs can be mitigated when you are first starting out.
In this article, I’ll share how you can start a music career with no money.
Table of Contents:
1. Make Your Music
2. Create Your Promotional Photographs
3. Establish Your Online Presence
4. Build Your Fanbase
5. Earn Your Money
What do you need to start a career in music? Before we dive in, I’m making a few assumptions in this article. I’m assuming you have a phone and a computer. These are the very basic items you’ll need to launch a career in music.
You need music.
I’ll start with the first priority in your music career, which is your music. You’re going to need an instrument. Whether your instrument is vocals or a combination of vocals and a musical instrument, you’re going to have to figure out how to make your music. Without a budget, this can be difficult but not impossible. In relation to musical instruments, talk to your local repair shop or music store and see if they have any instruments they are looking to unload. You may even be able to barter or trade your time or some other resource/skill in exchange for an instrument. There are also non-profit organizations that give away free musical instruments like this one that could be a resource. There may be some options right under your nose such as an old guitar in a family member’s attic or basement.
The other thing to consider is recording your music. As an independent musician, you’re going to need audio recordings sooner rather than later. It’s best to figure out how you’ll provide this now. In the interim, you could rely on video recordings from your phone. You can upload these to a free YouTube account and offer them anywhere online. This can be an easy way for people to listen to your music online.
However, at some point, you’ll need to have professional quality sound recordings if you’re looking for any type of career advancement. There are free options available for Digital Audio Workstations where you can record your music on your computer. However, you’ll need a handful of accessories in order to fully execute this. Check out our article, Bare Essentials for a Decent Home Recording Studio here. Until then, a few video recordings using any available devices you have is a great start.
You need promo pictures.
As an independent musician, promotional photographs are a necessity. You need them when you’re trying to book gigs, promoting any shows – virtual or in-person, establishing an online presence, for your website, and more. Promo photos tell your story and present your artistic identity in a visual manner. It’s great to have pictures professionally done. But you can also do them yourself for free. Actually, having limitations gives you freedom to be more creative!
You can take pictures on your phone. Find interesting backgrounds or artistically simple backgrounds and practice taking different shots. If you have any skill in graphic design software, you could edit or retouch your photos to make them look polished. Take a variety of shots such as close-ups, wide shots, shots with and without your instrument, standing, seated, etc. This variety of shots will come in handy down the line and give you lots of content to choose from when establishing a social media content strategy as well as for your website. Below is an example of how this can be done. I took this picture at home and used photoshop and Canva to retouch it.
The image on the right is the retouched version I use as an official promo pic.
In addition to promotional photographs, you’ll also need some skill in creating graphics for business cards, flyers, posters, etc. There is a free version of Photoshop online that you can use but you’ll need some sort of skill with the software in order to get the most out of it. Fortunately, it’s not hard to learn. I’ve used this free tool to create a really nice gig poster/flyer in the past. Check out my tutorial on it here.
You need an online presence.
Speaking of social media and websites, you’ll need an online presence. If you’re just starting out, choose 1 or 2 social media platforms where your fans participate the most. I also recommend getting a YouTube channel and posting videos there as well. In addition to social media and YouTube, it is highly recommended to have a website of your own. A website gives you more control over how your brand and identity is presented. While having a domain that you own, i.e. www.yourname.com can provide you with the most flexibility, authority, and credibility, it also comes at a price. Fortunately, there are free options to start with! Weebly, Wix, and even Square are free website builders that can offer you a corner on the web. Check out our post about creating a music website for free for more information.
But, if you do have a small budget, I recommend investing in your own domain. It makes you look more professional. You’ll have more business tools at your disposal such as professional email and mailing list accompaniment, premium website features that give you even more flexibility, and complete control over your presentation. Take a look at our article, Create a Website for Less than $4 a Month for help setting up an affordable website for your music.
You need a way to build a fanbase.
Now that you have music, promo pics and video, and an online presence figured out, it’s time to determine who your fanbase will be and how you’ll establish your following. This is where things can get quite expensive because it involves a significant amount of marketing and promotion. Without knowing what to do, it can be easy to fall into a trap of spending money with no real return on your investment.
Before trying paid options, there are tons of free options such as video marketing through YouTube, live streaming, networking online, blogging and partnering with influencers, utilizing email platforms, DMs and instant messaging, and more. The list goes on and on. For a more in-depth look at what you can do for free to market and promote your music online, check out this list.
If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to invest a lot of time into building your base. The first thing is figuring out who your fans even are. Not everyone will like your music or resonate with you. To be effective, you’ll need to concentrate your efforts on the right people. For help identifying and targeting your ideal fans, fill out this Ideal Fan Profile Worksheet! After identifying who your fans are, now it’s time to build your following! Here are three things that helped me build a following from scratch:
Do you have a strategy to Build Your Fanbase?
Let’s customize your strategy together! Identify who your ideal fans are. Develop content to engage them. Convert them to loyal supporters. Schedule your music career strategy session today.
>>>>>Building and maintaining an email list. I did tons of things to get subscribers on my mailing list:
I recommend using a program like MailerLite to send emails to your subscribers. It’s easy to use. They have a lot of free features and you can make beautiful emails in just a few easy clicks.
- Here’s how I get subscribers on my mailing list
- Converting website visitors to subscribers here
- Using a squeeze page here
- Collecting emails at shows with a logbook similar to this one
- and a simple postcard to collect email addresses that I printed out at home similar to this one for when I’m performing live
>>>>Engaging on Social Media
A well-thought-out social media content strategy can take you a long way when it comes to resonating with your ideal fans. I invested a lot of time and effort into creating content that spoke directly to my ideal fanbase. My music is focused on empowering women to find their purpose and show up healed and whole from a spiritual and emotional perspective. Naturally, my target fanbase is women. One of the things I did was create a 30-day series on social media where I paired passages from Proverbs 31 with music to offer daily sips of meditation prompts and motivation. This gained a lot of attention through shares, likes, comments, etc. I got a lot of new fans, engaged my current fans, and converted many of them to new subscribers on my mailing list.
In addition to doing a themed series, you can also do contests periodically to keep fans engaged and attract more. My favorite contest to do is the Biggest Fan Contest! It’s where I ask my fans to highlight one of my songs that they found meaningful to them. It did a number of things for me:
- Encouraged fans to go back through my catalog and listen to all of my songs
- Intrigued new fans to listen to my music
- Converted social media followers to become subscribers on my mailing list (as an entry to the contest)
- Generated new buzz on old music
- Created shareable content from fans that I could also use as reviews, fan highlights, and features
- Provided a lot of word-of-mouth promotion
- Gave me tons of music reviews
- Gave me an extra boost of confidence about my music (WIN!)
Psst…..Want to get my Biggest Fan Contest Template + Checklist? I use this every time I launch my contests. This Contest Template and Checklist for Musicians shows you exactly what I do to launch a contest that gets results. Get the template here.
Also, don’t be afraid to network and make thoughtful comments on other pages where your fans interact. I also make a habit of interacting on platforms where my fans hang out. I respond to people with thoughtful comments, respond to the platform host, and I talk to my fans/followers. Get comfortable with DMs and IMs on social media! That’s a great way to have individual conversations and really make an impact.
>>>>>Niching My Music and Brand
I wrote music about something very specific. Hair. Specifically black women’s hair. It was a big hit and it allowed me to speak to a specific demographic. I did this early on in my career and used it as a launching pad to build a following. I was invited to conferences, seminars, meet and greets, parties, get-togethers, etc. I worked with hair groups in various cities to put on events where I performed. This opened up a lot of opportunities for me to meet new people and broaden my network. For more information on how I did this, check out my post about it here.
You need a strategy to make your money.
When starting a career in music, don’t make the mistake of just putting your music out there and hoping for the best. You really need to figure out exactly how you will make money and concentrate your activities on those efforts. For example, if a big chunk of your income as a musician will come from live performances, you need to focus a big chunk of your time trying to book gigs. If you’re into session work, you need to focus your efforts on networking with other musicians. If you want to make money from providing music lessons, you need to create a strategy centered around getting students. Take a look at this list of ways musicians typically earn money. Also, if you need help articulating a strategy for earning money with your music business, let me walk you through setting up your business model here.
Swipe the Contest Template and Checklist for Musicians
- Engage your fans
- Attract new fans
- Promote your music organically
- Convert followers to loyal supporters
- Increase music reviews and feedback
- Grow your mailing list
Starting a career in music with no money is not impossible. It can be done with a little forethought and a lot of drive. The steps outlined in this article can get you started at the ground level for free. But, you should have a plan to invest in your business in the future so that you will present yourself in the best way possible. For example, while you can get away with free promo photos from your phone, you can achieve a more professional look with a photographer or a DSLR camera. If you don’t have a budget now, find ways to get things done for free. But I don’t recommend stopping there. Build upon these free options to achieve something even greater.
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