One of the industries that has been hit the hardest during these earth-shattering times, is obviously, the music business. No more live gigs, festivals, award shows, weddings, gatherings, not even busking is practiced anymore. So how do you prevent quitting music altogether? While not easy, here are 5 things you can engage in if you have enough patience and will to remain a musician, and determination to thrive after you survive.
5. Create Cool Packages For People To Buy Instead Of Begging For Donations.
I don’t know of a bigger turn off other than having people virtually begging in your DMs for donations. If all of the artists who are now asking for free money would have to physically go out in the streets and hang a carton board saying “Musician without income, please help”, our cities would be filled to the brim with homeless people. Stay away from this beggar mentality. DO NOT ask for free dollars. Have respect for your brand AND for your fans, and actually create a cool package to sell during these difficult times. They don’t even have to be physical things that will cost you too much to ship. You can create online apps, coloring pages, ebooks, interactive greeting cards, wallpapers, screensavers, phone themes, print-on-demand merchandise. These things are so cool and awesome and easy to produce that it is seriously a shame not every artist has a store on Etsy. Trust me, it sounds different saying “It would help a lot during these trying times if you purchased the new theme we have on the Apple Store” instead of “pity me and give me money please”. Give people value for their money.
4. Barter Your Skills Or Your Possessions
Everything costs yet people are running lower on cash every day. If you need a new design cover artwork, see if that person can benefit some of your own services or services you got access to. Let’s say you need a couple of professional photos done but can’t afford to pay for the photographer’s time. But… you happen to have a nice house that could be used as a cool location for a photoshoot. Offer to give him free access to your house for a day in exchange for the shots. Be resourceful.
3. Do New Things
And by new I mean NEW. Not live streams of you covering songs. Not terribly-executed home videos done in collaboration with other musicians. Not remixes of old songs. Think more like streaming an entire studio session. With all the breaks, pauses, stutters, dissatisfactions. Or stream a video of you reviewing Top 40 songs while eating. It has to be music-based but not necessarily all about yourself and your own product. Be entertaining and offer new sh*t to your fans to talk about. Take selfies while dressed but fully immersed in your filled bathtub. Inhale helium while trying to sing your most popular song. Do some cosplay while singing your songs in that character’s mannerism and voice dynamic. Bend the normality limits. Common won’t help you right now. It will destroy you. Think outside the entire house, not just the box.
2. Be A JOY To Everyone Listening To You
Do you know what people don’t need when everything is going to sh*t? More depressive sh*t. So get happy, positive, enthusiastic, and muster the courage to promote happiness even if you don’t necessarily feel like it. I promise you, if you exude happiness in these dire times, people will want more of your feel-good vibes and will stick around, consume your material hoping that THAT will get them closer to your secret. So be genuinely happy in all you do. We all desperately need and willingly promote happy people in the world right now.
1. Create Equally Good Music As Before
If you got your fanbase used to high-quality records, DO NOT start putting out trash fillers. There are online services that for a little over a hundred dollars a year will mix and master ALL of your songs. Even if you don’t have any understanding of how sound engineers work and what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, you can still get very close in terms of quality to their provided services. We personally tested and retested E-Mastered and these guys will do serious changes to how your music sounds without actually charging you the real value of what they’re offering you. You do not have ANY excuses for poorly-produced music even during a global lockdown.
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Blue Rhymez Entertainment 
This is GOLD. Thank you for these helpful, and hopeful tips!
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