WHY A STRATEGY MODEL?
The ‘business’ landscape for emerging musicians might hold life changing potential for the few, but can be confusing and complex for most. The internet also might have levelled the playing field making it equally possible for all-comers from anywhere to get noticed, but at the same time that’s created a flood of talent and non talent which is hard to rise above.
The model came as a bi-product of some workshops I was doing in East Africa, helping emerging musicians to use online to grow their success as an artist. With the massive changes in the global music industry, local challenges of broken systems & a shortage of up-to-date industry knowledge, artists were/are having difficulty figuring out how to ‘make it’ in the music business. It became clear that just offering digital strategy advice, while useful was not enough by itself. It was clear that potential artists, pre-emerging or emerging artists could benefit from more generalised ‘music industry specific’ strategy which would help them navigate the early stages of their career, giving them a solid foundation and a higher potential to succeed.
Simply, the model helps musicians move themselves towards professionalisation and monetization of their music career.
WHAT IS THE MODEL?
This strategy model is designed to help musicians self navigate through building the foundational stages of a music career. It’s designed to be used in phases, each building on the last. However, it’s also possible to build on the levels in any order. It can also be used diagnostically, looking for areas to build up to improve success.
For many creatives or if fact anyone starting out at something new, the business side is often harder than the creative side. But even with great products if all the business components are not in place, financial success is unlikely to happen.
For musicians the business-side of the business is unappealing and often left to the bottom of the list. Too often the story is that an artist has done great things but not managed to reap the rewards from it because the business-side was not in place.
The model has nothing to do with talent or creative growth, this is about understanding and navigating through the elements which ideally need to be in place for emerging artists to start monetization and professionalisation of their music career.
HOW TO USE THE STRATEGY MODEL
I anticipate artists using this either as an adhoc resource, skimming through to see what’s missing or needs fixing, or using it as a step by step strategy model, working through each phase one by one. It can also form the basis of further training, (there are workshop and other training materials which go with this model).
Key to the potential success and usefulness of this model for emerging artists, is that each phase and level is doable as an independent artist without help and mostly without money. The key thing is that it provides a tool for artists to navigate themselves towards professionalisation and monetization without needing to give away artistic control & future percentages too early in their journey. It’s a tool to help independent artists stay independent longer.
For each phase, level and element there is an overview and summary on this page, which for many might be enough to know where to focus efforts or carve a strategy from. Additional resources for each element are available on request, as are workshops, trainings and clinics. Further help please contact me here.
THE STRATEGY MODEL FOR EMERGING MUSICIANS
Click elements to reveal more information – best viewed on large screen not mobile. The strategy model can be used by would-be, pre-emerging or emerging musicians to navigate towards professionalisation and monetization of their music career. For established artists the model can be used diagnostically to check where foundations are missing.
LEVEL 1 | FOUNDATIONS
Identity is the fundamental starting place for an artist, who they are, what they bring to the table, what is their point of view, their sound. This may take time for new artists to figure out, but it’s an essential first step.
Musical product can be the songs being written, lyrics, musical compositions, performances or productions, anything which is part of an artists catalogue of work. These don’t have to be market ready or recorded yet.
Brand Assets can be many things: images, compelling bio, music demos, channels, events listing, videos & EPK (Electronic Press Kit).The quality of assets signal to the industry if the artist is serious and professional.
Marketable products can be anything from recorded music, to lyrics, performance, video or music production. Not every creation is marketable; successful artists learn to curate which products are worth taking to market.
With so many different and new ways for audiences to consume music, Rights Management is now key to how artists generate income. Sorting out what rights an artist holds, what splits of profits, what royalties are due from where, what paperwork is needed, who will collect those rights and how, is vitally important to every artists financial future.
LEVEL 2 | CHANNELS
Social channels, will often be Facebook and Instagram, but an artist ought to be aware of where his target audiences hang out online.
For a would-be artist communication style, message, timing and methods are essentail to growing an audience and essential industry networks. Without communication how will audeinces know what an artist is doing.
Press releases, public/digital/tv appearances, courting the attention of the industry are essential parts of an artist’s strategy – they add specific detail and weight to what the world can read about the artist and their musical products.
Digital Distribution is the process of getting an artists music out onto international (and local) music platforms, like Spotify or iTunes for either sales, downloads, streaming or other methods.
LEVEL 3 | MARKETING
People love stories. For most artists this will mean letting their audiences in on their journey as postings on social media.
Commercial marketing is typically done in a campaign format, eg. has a timeline, specific goals for a target audience and a set of assets or activations to achieve them, much more effective that the typical adhoc approach of many artists.
Research and insights help an artist proactively outreach in professional ways for gigs, industry connections, influencers and audiences.
LEVEL 4 | OUTCOMES
The audience always decides. Building an engaged audience is key to long term sustainability and success, without an audience, who will buy the music?
Musicians have multiple revenue streams, many of which initially might be quite small. Having all these pieces in place, means that as the number of tracks increase, revenue streams will increase even without a hit.
LEVEL 5 | GOALS
At this stage goals might be to start earning money or a significant musical career goal.
Alternatively looking at the model as phases, helps the artist navigate through building career foundations is a strategic way.
PHASE 1 | STARTING OUT AS A MUSICAN
LEVEL 1 | FOUNDATIONS
Identity is the fundamental starting place for an artist, who they are, what they bring to the table, what is their point of view, their sound. This may take time for new artists to figure out, but it’s an essential first step.
Musical product can be the songs being written, lyrics, musical compositions, performances or productions, anything which is part of an artists catalogue of work. These don’t have to be market ready or recorded yet.
LEVEL 2 | CHANNELS
Social channels, will often be Facebook and Instagram, but an artist ought to be aware of where his target audiences hang out online.
PHASE 2 | READY TO TEST YOUR MUSIC ON AUDIENCES
LEVEL 1 | FOUNDATIONS
Identity is the fundamental starting place for an artist, who they are, what they bring to the table, what is their point of view, their sound. This may take time for new artists to figure out, but it’s an essential first step.
Musical product can be the songs being written, lyrics, musical compositions, performances or productions, anything which is part of an artists catalogue of work. These don’t have to be market ready or recorded yet.
Brand Assets can be many things: images, compelling bio, music demos, channels, events listing, videos & EPK (Electronic Press Kit).The quality of assets signal to the industry if the artist is serious and professional.
LEVEL 2 | CHANNELS
Social channels, will often be Facebook and Instagram, but an artist ought to be aware of where his target audiences hang out online.
For a would-be artist communication style, message, timing and methods are essentail to growing an audience and essential industry networks. Without communication how will audeinces know what an artist is doing.
LEVEL 3 | MARKETING
People love stories. For most artists this will mean letting their audiences in on their journey as postings on social media.
PHASE 3 | HAVE SOME MARKET READY MUSICAL PRODUCT/S
LEVEL 1 | FOUNDATIONS
Identity is the fundamental starting place for an artist, who they are, what they bring to the table, what is their point of view, their sound. This may take time for new artists to figure out, but it’s an essential first step.
Musical product can be the songs being written, lyrics, musical compositions, performances or productions, anything which is part of an artists catalogue of work. These don’t have to be market ready or recorded yet.
Brand Assets can be many things: images, compelling bio, music demos, channels, events listing, videos & EPK (Electronic Press Kit).The quality of assets signal to the industry if the artist is serious and professional.
Marketable products can be anything from recorded music, to lyrics, performance, video or music production. Not every creation is marketable; successful artists learn to curate which products are worth taking to market.
LEVEL 2 | CHANNELS
Social channels, will often be Facebook and Instagram, but an artist ought to be aware of where his target audiences hang out online.
For a would-be artist communication style, message, timing and methods are essentail to growing an audience and essential industry networks. Without communication how will audeinces know what an artist is doing.
Press releases, public/digital/tv appearances, courting the attention of the industry are essential parts of an artist’s strategy – they add specific detail and weight to what the world can read about the artist and their musical products.
LEVEL 3 | MARKETING
People love stories. For most artists this will mean letting their audiences in on their journey as postings on social media.
Commercial marketing is typically done in a campaign format, eg. has a timeline, specific goals for a target audience and a set of assets or activations to achieve them, much more effective that the typical adhoc approach of many artists.
LEVEL 4 | OUTCOMES
The audience always decides. Building an engaged audience is key to long term sustainability and success, without an audience, who will buy the music?
PHASE 4 | PROFESSIONALLY SET UP READY FOR MONETIZATION
LEVEL 1 | FOUNDATIONS
Identity is the fundamental starting place for an artist, who they are, what they bring to the table, what is their point of view, their sound. This may take time for new artists to figure out, but it’s an essential first step.
Musical product can be the songs being written, lyrics, musical compositions, performances or productions, anything which is part of an artists catalogue of work. These don’t have to be market ready or recorded yet.
Brand Assets can be many things: images, compelling bio, music demos, channels, events listing, videos & EPK (Electronic Press Kit).The quality of assets signal to the industry if the artist is serious and professional.
Marketable products can be anything from recorded music, to lyrics, performance, video or music production. Not every creation is marketable; successful artists learn to curate which products are worth taking to market.
With so many different and new ways for audiences to consume music, Rights Management is now key to how artists generate income. Sorting out what rights an artist holds, what splits of profits, what royalties are due from where, what paperwork is needed, who will collect those rights and how, is vitally important to every artists financial future.
LEVEL 2 | CHANNELS
Social channels, will often be Facebook and Instagram, but an artist ought to be aware of where his target audiences hang out online.
For a would-be artist communication style, message, timing and methods are essentail to growing an audience and essential industry networks. Without communication how will audeinces know what an artist is doing.
Press releases, public/digital/tv appearances, courting the attention of the industry are essential parts of an artist’s strategy – they add specific detail and weight to what the world can read about the artist and their musical products.
Digital Distribution is the process of getting an artists music out onto international (and local) music platforms, like Spotify or iTunes for either sales, downloads, streaming or other methods.
LEVEL 3 | MARKETING
People love stories. For most artists this will mean letting their audiences in on their journey as postings on social media.
Commercial marketing is typically done in a campaign format, eg. has a timeline, specific goals for a target audience and a set of assets or activations to achieve them, much more effective that the typical adhoc approach of many artists.
Research and insights help an artist proactively outreach in professional ways for gigs, industry connections, influencers and audiences.
LEVEL 4 | OUTCOMES
The audience always decides. Building an engaged audience is key to long term sustainability and success, without an audience, who will buy the music?
Musicians have multiple revenue streams, many of which initially might be quite small. Having all these pieces in place, means that as the number of tracks increase, revenue streams will increase even without a hit.
LEVEL 5 | GOALS
At this stage goals might be to start earning money or a significant musical career goal.
WHAT COMES AFTER PHASE 4 / LEVEL 5
Level 5 goals are not the end of growth for a musician, they signal a point in the career of an emerging artist where they have a good ‘music business’ foundation and have control of their own career and music. Aside from putting themsleves in a place of potential, it’s professionalising what they do, understanding the music industry they are in and getting them the best opportunities to move ahead, get noticed, make money, become successful or other goals they have for themselves as musicians.
Post Phase 4/Level 5 the game changes and it’s a lot to do with evaluation cycles & analytics, but these foundational elements remain key but of course need to be constantly revisited/updated.
This is a summary model, there are also training resources and other materials beyond the scope of this page.
BACKGROUND
The East Africa region has very high youth unemployment, making it hard for musicians to fund their early career growth in music through other employment. The music industry in the region might be getting some recent attention but there is still almost no cash flow in the industry, including issues like a massive 80%* of royalties collected locally going outside to international artists (*Kenya Figures).
Music as a career chocie, for the youth of the region, is often seen as a magical means to escape poverty, but with many myths surrounding how much musicians typically earn or how money is made or the lure of fame, and a shortage of ways to skill up, musicians in the region find it hard to turn their talent into a sustainable income.
Early career musicians in the region often succumb to managers, agents, labels with a good banter but poor deals, because of missing knowledge. This tool was created to assist artists, to get better established before needing to look for that kind of support. The more unattached the musician at the early stages, the more the small micro payments from initial streams/sales can actually be useful. Unattachment (independence) at the beginning can also have creative, artistic benefits – freedom to grow stylistically in any direction.
SCOPE
The research and experiences this model came out of were conducted in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda) and it was created to solve specific industry knowledge gap problems, common to emerging artists in the region. It may or may not be relevant in other contexts or regions.
The aim of the work was to create a tool, not just for my workshops, but to help musicians to self navigate their early career to a place where they are set up well enough to give their music a chance to earn money.
Caveat, this is a functional model and works for anyone, talent or not, it in no way guarantees financial or other success. In the end the audience always decides. This tool just helps musicians to get setup well enough so that if audiences like what they see or hear, the artist doesn’t lose out.
This current model is limited to startup, pre-emerging and emerging musicians (early stage career development). For post-emerging and established artists, the model expands.
More established musicians who are questioning whether their income matches their position in the market, could benefit from using this model to identify where potential gaps in their set-up might be.