Having just been at the brilliant Music Connex event for 3 days and sitting on the panel for ‘Routes to Market: Major vs Indie’ I thought I’d re-post this! Hope you get something from it! x

Ellie’s top 10 tips to success in the music industry

1) THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Get experienced, established and respected people involved in the business side of your music. When I was starting out 1) didnt know I was able to. 2) I didnt know the power of this. But its really important that you get your music to passionate business people with clout who can make things happen for you. Give your manager 6 months-a year to prove themselves.If you have a manager that’s just started out but they have the right attitude thats fine, but make sure they are associating themselves with successful music business people, or find a successful lawyer that likes your music and wants to get involved. Many lawyers want to work with new and up and coming acts and will do it at a much lower cost or even for free until you get some success.

2) BE PRO ACTIVE AND TRY ALL ANGLES

Be pro active and try all angles to get your music heard by the right people that can help you. The hardest thing is getting to the top people, the gate keepers but if you do it in the right angle (IE: MAKING THEM AWARE OF YOU IN A UNIQUE WAY) it will feel natural for everyone involved. The only way to succeed is to try different things and try lots of them.
Look for names on the internet, look for people that sit on BBC/mercury music awards panels, read music business magazines in the library, email people, myspace people, look in the back of your favourite CD artwork for names and write and ask them for help, local competitions, etc.

3) REJECTION

Accept that you will get rejection but know that the perfect people to help you are out there for you. You just have to find them. For every 50 people maybe only 1 will be of help. And they are never the ones you assume will be. Thats why you have to enjoy interacting with people or find someone on your behalf that enjoys doing that for you- ie a manager. But even if you do have a manager there is a lot that you can do yourself as well.

4) ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Be prepared for opportunities when they come along. Because opportunities are there all the time for the taking. Record your music the best you can and keep striving to make it better and carry it on you, carry flyers, do regular gigs and have a 30 second story about what is unique about what you do and where things are for you at the moment.

5) DONT BE SCARED TO MOVE ON IF IT ISNT WORKING

If something isnt working after about 12 months don’t be scared to move on. Have a clause in your management deal that says after 12 months if you havent got a deal of sorts or made a certain amount of profit you can be free to move on or re do the deal. If it is a really big manager you may want to stay longer. But my golden rule is that although things take time to come together if nothing is happening after a year, you are not working in harmony and you are not happy try something else.

6) DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

I have had a lot of part time jobs to make the music work for me and have sacrificed the ‘company car’ and prospects of success in a different type of career. It is hard to have 2 full blown careers on the go like it is impossible to have 2 serious lovers in your life! If music is your passion, focus on your strengths, on everything linked with the music world and make it work.

7) CHOOSE A DIRECTION AND FOCUS

Be focused and choose a direction for each album/EP you do and refine what it is you are doing so its easy to describe, sell and talk about. Decide that you will focus on this for 1 or 2 years and then move onto the next thing which will be different. Its good to have time boundaries and not get stuck too long doing the same thing. Give your self goals for your chosen direction and zone into the people that work in that genre.

GET THE BALANCE RIGHT

Get the right balance between making music and promoting your self. I think it should be 50/50. Crafting a song is as important as finding the right fan’s, manager, label or sponsor.

9) WORK ON ALL SIDES OF BEING AN ARTIST.

Song writing, live side, promo, image, blogs, story, learning an instrument, vocals. just do a little bit towards each thing and it will all come together. Get advice and opinions from people but think for yourself and decide if you are getting enough love back from what you are putting out there and how much you are enjoying it.

10) THINK BIG

Think big, dream big and and remember that you can make things happen by thinking outside the box. Read self help books to keep positive like Napoleon Hills Keys to Success which is about sticking to your dreams and working in harmony with people. Also, another one that I would highly recommend is called ‘The Answer’ which is about visualising what you want, doing positive affirmations and planning .

Ellie xx