Living

Qualities of all successful musicians

Do you really have what it takes to be a successful musician? This is probably something that every musician asks themselves multiple times throughout their career. Self-doubt is certainly a part of the job and it can be crippling at times when you just don’t know what to do to become successful.

Now success in the music industry can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Some few success as just being able to make a living and they don’t need a second job. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you want.

While others view success as being popular, famous and having songs known by people right around the world, these are the kinds of people that want their songs to be heard on the radio. Therefore, it is important that you define was success looks like to you, that is one of the first steps to actually being successful!

To be successful in the music industry, there is a lot of work required, and you will definitely need a good support system around you. The music industry is well known for sucking people in, chewing them up and spitting them out again, all while remaining unfazed. It is a brutal industry and you have to be in it for the long haul if you want to be successful.

You need to ensure you have done everything you can; you won’t get anywhere doing it half hearted. Also remember that being a musician is more then just about the music, weird we know! But think about how you are going to get your music out to the world and the personal branding of you and your music.

The good news is that there are a lot of similar qualities that most successful musicians share. So, if you find yourself why you aren’t successful yet, make sure you read on to get the scoop of what qualities you need to possess.

If you don’t have some of these qualities then you have something to work on, if you think you have all of these qualities and you aren’t successful yet, then there is probably something you are doing wrong along the line, so make sure you re-visit things and be super critical.

Hard working

As touched on in the introduction, being successful in the music industry to no walk in the park. It is guaranteed that you will have to work hard to get what you want. There are a lot of musicians out there, but only a limited amount of gig slots or artists that can be signed by labels etc.

So, if you want to be one of the best people you will have to work harder than everyone else. Working hard means you will have to dedicate a lot of time and resources into your mission. Sometimes you might not even be making enough money to support yourself as a musician yet, so you will have to work another job (or couple of jobs) just to keep you going.

Daily practice

Along with hard working, to be successful you need to practice your craft on a regular basis, and most successful musicians practice daily. Now this doesn’t have to be an intense, long practice, you need to have the ability to adjust and adapt, because sometimes life just gets in the way. Consider joining a band. Don’t get too down on yourself if you miss a couple of days, just make sure you get back into it!

But you should at least try to put in a little bit every day, less on days when you are busy with other commitments and more when you have more time to focus on your music. By doing something everyday to makes you feel like you are actually progressing and making vital improvements to your own skills as well as your personal success.

Photo: Skeeze, Pixabay.

Know their truth

Sometimes others want musicians to compromise on who they are and their authenticity to mould them into something that they aren’t. This is never the right way to go, as people usually find out who you really are. Make sure you are true to yourself and never make massive changes just to please someone else it, almost never works.

The music industry is about change and adapting, but making such massive changes that you don’t even remember who you are will likely also translate into your music, and could end up being quite directionless. That is certainly not the type of music that people like to listen to. So, it is important to know who you are and what type of message and music you want to send out into the world.

Never give up attitude

All throughout your music career you will have a lot of setbacks. If you just roll over and give up after your first set back then your career as a musician will quickly be over. It is a really tough industry, so you need to have thick skin to deal with everything that gets thrown at you.

With the rise of social media and internet, people can say whatever that want about you, without the need to say it to your face. Faceless trolls are very common and even the most well known artist suffer from this. How you move on and deal with these issues will say a lot about your character and hopefully you will be able to grow from it.

Here it is important that you have good self belief and you just know that you are awesome and are going to be successful, it isn’t a question of if but when. Haters are always going to hate! So make sure you have a good support network of friends and family around you for when it becomes a little bit too much. Also, don’t be afraid to feel upset or that you can’t do it, we all have our days.

Patience

The creative process as a whole requires a lot of patience, especially if you are teaming up with another musician. As well as this, you will obviously not become successful overnight, so you will need to be patient and put in the hard yards to build your career.

There are even a lot of musicians that have found success later in their career. You just never know when your big break is going to come, so be patient and do the work in every aspect to ensure you are fully ready to go when a good opportunity arises. You also should be taking every opportunity seriously because you never know where it might lead.

Investing in musical career

Think about it, if you sing with a guitar like Bruce Springsteen and you don’t even have a guitar or it is not a good quality one, then what would others think? Probably that you aren’t taking your career as a musician seriously. It is important that you invest in your career by purchasing quality products that can help you, as well as investing other things like your time.

As a musician you might not have a lot of cash flow to spend on fancy new equipment, but there are still really awesome deals online. You don’t need to have the greatest and latest, just something of good quality that will last a while.

Advertisement
Share