5 Ways a Mentor Can Boost Your Music Industry Career
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Building a career in music is a challenging and complex process that involves a ton of work, the right information at the right time and the right team. A career in music is a challenging proposition and the journey to success itself is riddled with many potholes, detours, twists and turns as well as setbacks.
Timbaland said it best, “You need to find someone who believes in you more than you believe in yourself.”
Every artist and entrepreneur benefits immensely from the expert guidance a mentor offers to help guide the journey. For artists, while there are a lot of generalized business coaches and mentors, it is even more important to work with a music mentor in your industry.
There are lots of mentors and coaches who can help, but working with a music mentor in the music industry is the key to navigating a complex industry and having the contacts and experience to help you navigate your path and save you precious time and valuable resources
Working with an experienced music mentor who knows the industry and has relationships and experience inside the industry will help you get there with more precision as well as avoid the common pitfalls that are invisible to you.
Option 1: You teach yourself how to build your career. That can work but could also fail. There are pros and cons to teaching yourself. Some of the pros are that you can do it alone and it’s typically free, but the cons are that it takes a lot longer and makes what you’re learning more difficult—and you run the risk of losing too much time and never reaching your goals.
Self-teaching while best used for small tasks, but for the more complex tasks of building a career and business, professional guidance is key.
Option 2: You work with a seasoned music mentor. With this option you have help. Working with a seasoned mentor who will guide you through the process, steer you away from common pitfalls, and help build the foundation and a winning strategy for your unique goals and success.
Here are the 5 Ways a Mentor Can Boost Your Music Industry Career.
An experienced music mentor prepares you for the climb with practical and experienced advice and guidance.
An experienced music mentor has literally decades of time, thousands of hours working in the trenches with all kinds of artists in all areas of the music industry to back up their guidance.
There are so many different avenues and paths inside the industry and entire different pockets of professionals inside them.
Working with a seasoned music mentor will save you countless hours and make the climb so much easier for you.
When you are setting out as an artist, no one knows the road ahead when you start walking it. It’s part of the thrill. But working with someone who has experience will help prepare you for what’s to come and help you navigate the climb.
Get access to real mentoring in music and to build your career and reach your unique goals in music! Learn more about the Artist Sanctuary Membership for Musicians here.
An experienced music mentor helps you build the right foundation in music, keeps you accountable and on track
It’s one thing to get your music out, it’s another thing entirely to build a career and business. While musicians are good at the first, they often make the mistake of not building the right foundation for their business to grow.
Every musician regardless of aspirations and goals, is a small business. There are many different pathways and knowing how the industry works and how to build are key in navigating your path. Getting set up correctly will lay the foundation to reach your particular set of goals.
I find that most artists, while focused on the music aspects of the industry often don’t have their business set up correctly and this holds them back.
Here’s a quick assorted punch list that covers catching all of your revenue streams and building opportunities:
An experienced music mentor will help you identify your goals and give you a sense of direction, build the right foundation, and grow your music business faster than you would on your own.
An experienced music mentor builds a personalized plan and strategy for your unique goals and success
Each artist’s path is unique. Some want to tour, some want to stay home and play locally. Some are interested in supporting their career with licensing deals and some are more interested in creating healing circles and community.
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I remember working with an artist who had great music but no business acumen or plan. She also needed help with her bio and website which wasn’t representing her correctly. Within a few short months we got all of the copy rewritten, gave the website a mini face lift and designed a plan that got her a management deal. Its often surprising how things can turn around with the right attention and presentation.
Working with an experienced music mentor will help you identify what is missing, give and build a personalized plan and strategy for the next level of success to come to you.
The importance of reviewing, planning and strategizing are often completely overlooked leaving artists spinning their wheels rather than building.
Access to real mentoring in music will build your career and help you reach your unique goals with more precision and success. Learn more about the Artist Sanctuary Membership for Musicians here.
An experienced music mentor provides critical moral support and expert troubleshooting while you traverse the mountain
An experienced music mentor provides encouragement and support. There are a ton of highs and lows throughout a career and it’s essential to know how to maintain a positive mindset and not let the lows get you down.
Aspiring musicians need help staying focused and mentally positive. Emotional support typically gets overlooked and is not valued enough. From my decades of supporting artists I can say that moral support is the #1 thing most aspiring musicians need because when you feel good you’re more likely to take on challenges rather than avoid them.
An experienced music mentor helps navigate you to the right introductions at key moments in your career
Mentors can provide you with contacts and valuable introductions at key moments when you need them the most.
There are so many different avenues and paths inside the industry and entire different pockets of professionals inside them. Knowing who the right people are to work with is everything to your project.
Thousands of hours can be wasted without access to the right people and professionals in the industry. I have seen countless career setbacks, lost years and lost dreams without the right people beside you.
As you go through your career, you will need to work with music producers, recording engineers, photographers, managers, booking agents, lawyers and an assortment of industry professionals. But getting access to the right people is what’s hard to find.
Yes there are online platforms for producers, musicians and industry professionals, but a personal referral beats an online search every time.
Why? Because knowing who someone is, their work ethic and their level of skill and experience is hard to read in an online profile. Working with someone who has experience working with and vetted that professional is worth it’s weight in gold. Nothing is more important than working with people that are vetted for the success of your project. Not doing so can cost thousands of dollars and years (even decades) wasted.
I have helped countless artists find the right people to work with, whether it’s the right producer, manager or licensing company to work with. Knowing the right people will make all of the difference but it’s easier said than done. Being inside the industry and knowing the taste and aesthetic of industry professionals makes it easier to match the artist with the professional. Music is a matter of taste and there is a wide array of genres and people in those areas of the industry to know.
A good mentor will be able to provide you with those contacts or at minimum, walk you through the process for finding and connecting with them. This ensures you’re working with someone reputable that you can trust, which is important because when you mistakenly work with someone that is untrustworthy you can be taken advantage of and lose valuable time and resources going in the wrong direction. In addition, working with the wrong people can also damage your reputation and career.
Get access to real mentoring in music and to build your career and reach your unique goals in music! Learn more about the Artist Sanctuary Membership for Musicians here.
I have mentored thousands of artists over 4 decades. Some of the companies I mentor for are: Women in Music, The Grammy Foundation and The Association for Independent Music Publishers among others.
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About Cari Cole
Cari Cole is the CEO / Founder of caricole.com and CCVM: Label Without Walls. She is a Holistic Vocal Coach, Artist Development Expert, A&R Director, and Songwriter based in New York City helping artists for the past 38 years. She is a mentor for Women in Music and The Association of Independent Music Publishers. Her latest venture, CCVM a label services company, provides artists with a seamless path from creation to completion. After 30+ years of observing the overwhelm and challenges that artists face, Cari pulled together the best top creative professionals and designed a new approach to supporting our artists.
Producer/Engineer/Mixer at Defy Recordings
1moIt’s the best way forward these days. Thank you for sharing!