As a music artist your whole goal is to build value in you and your brand. So it's mandatory that your selective on business ventures you participate in because making the wrong move can actually devalue your brand and music career.
I understand that it might be hard for you to turn down certain offers due to the fact you spent a lot of time building your brand to get to the level where promoters and other artist are presenting you with offers , but don’t giving in and taking every offer especially if it doesn’t help your brand’s image or get your music more exposure will benefit your career in the long run I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth at the end of the day this is a business.
Here are a couple of things you should think about so you don’t devalue your brand.
You Shouldn’t Perform Too Much
Artist love to brag about how they’ve performed over 100 times locally and opened up for this celebrity etc an yes those are big milestones in your career but from a business prespective none of that matters if...
1. You didn’t make money from these events
2. If you didn’t reach a new audience and get new fans. It’s not about bragging rights you need to be making money and growing your fan base point blank period.
I understand at the beginning of your music career when you’re trying to push your new mixtape or single you need to perform at as many venues as possible to not only get more exposure to your music, but to also get you more comfortable performing live on stage. But once you’ve done that you need to be picky about where, when, and who you perform with.
Once you have a buzz going and people start to recognize your music different artist and concert promoters will start to reach out to you on social media sites and start emailing you with different opportunities to do shows especially concert promoters they always have slots to fill especially in smaller areas where there isn’t an abundance of qualified talent,but rather than getting on every venue multiple times a week only participate in bigger shows that will create a buzz for your fans and make them feel like they can’t miss your performance.
I’m not saying don’t do shows if there not big because of course smaller cities don’t have big shows on a regular basis just make sure when you do perform its not a bs event with no buzz behind it.Also when you do decide to participate in a show for a promoter and they present you with a slot that has an artist with a smaller buzz and less talent then you make sure you tell the promoter where you should be on the bill or don’t do the show.
You should also make sure the promoter is promoting the event properly with an online/offline flyer with professional graphics etc. You should only perform at professional events and if you even get a little feeling it’s not going to turn out right don’t do it! Trust me you rather turn down a show then upset all of your fans at a janky ass show.
Fans want quality over quantity so don’t have to perform all the time just make sure the times you have a show you give fans a show to remember and make sure you have promo material to give out or sell to fans after your performance you could sell merchandise,sell download cards for your music, pass out a sample of your single or mixtape cover art design for you next release, etc.
You need to remember less is more. Hell even if Kevin Gates performed 3 times a week in my hometown I wouldn’t go see him all the time it would get old. Just make sure when you do perform you kill that shit and trust me it will build a buzz and fans will be waiting to see next performance.
Collaborations
Creating songs with other artist on the same level as you is smart because you’re exposing yourself to a new fan base so it helps out both artist. However, there is going to be artist who just aren’t as good as you and I know once again this sounds wrong, but you shouldn’t work with them.
You have to remember nowadays with the internet people have the ability to search for every song you’ve created the last thing you want is a fan of yours to be on Youtube and see you on a shitty song it would devalue you as an artist to them.
So just make sure that when your working with other artist or promoters that that they can't let someone else destroy your brand you worked so hard to build.