Starting as a music artist with a dream of getting signed by a record label is one big dream that is very valid yet, somehow can be unrealistic considering how flooded the industry is and the technicality involved.
Does that mean that an upcoming artist cannot make headway in the Nigerian Music Space without a record label? Of course, No. However, there are many advantages and avoidable stress when under a record label. But, being an independent artist is achievable.
Looking at who a music artist is; someone who creates, performs and releases music independently or through a record label. It is safe to say being a music artist requires a lot of talent, skill, and knowledge. Talent alone is not enough but must be coupled with continual studying, learning, practicing, and that doesn’t necessarily require a record label to achieve full potential.
Here are some easy steps needed to release music independently;
1. CREATE A WEBSITE: A website gives you the liberty to feed your audience accurate information about you and your work. Your website will create the information you desire to circulate about your brand and music. Your website is the first place where individuals/media get authentic and first-hand information about you before getting a media presence.
2. CREATE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL: A YouTube channel is vital for every music artist in this age and time. It’s a flexible platform that allows you the liberty to schedule and uploads your freestyling and performances. YouTube is an audio-visual platform that permits creativeness. Every artist owns a YouTube channel because, apart from pushing your music through the platform, it allows your audience to feel closer to you and consume as much of their favorite content from you without disruption
3. STREAMING PLATFORM: Gone are the days when music artists solely depended on Radio stations and DJs to help them in promoting their sound. Now we have streaming platforms such as Boomplay, Spotify, Audiomack, iTunes, and others. Uploading your song on a streaming platform helps you monitor the progress of every track released; that way, you get to see the number of streams and understand what your audience would love to hear from you the most.
4. DISTRIBUTE: When progress is made on streaming platforms, you can decide to take a step further by reaching out to distribution companies to get your track playlisted for broader coverage. An example of a music distributor organization in Nigeria is Freemedigital and Dvpper.
These are not all the steps needed, but one step at a time, and you would be better than where you were at yesterday. You can start by implementing these steps and gradually become the next Chike, an independent, successful Nigerian Music Artist.
You can also check HERE for music schools that exist in Nigeria.
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