Success as a musician

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to go over what success as a musician really means. 

To some of you, it might come to a shock to realize that success for a musician isn’t what it sounds like. 

Anyways, before we get into this, let’s have our moment of silence. 

At this time, I would like all of us to take a moment of silence and pray for all of the things in our lives. Pray to God to help us to become the musician that he wants us to become. Take a minimum of 5 minutes and pray for these things. 

Now back to the show

Success as a musician,  what it sounds like.

I know that a lot of you have this misconception as to what success as a musician really sounds like. 

To the very rare and few, success means that you’re signed to a major record label and are making mad money from it while playing concerts left and right, promoting on T.V., being exposed to power, etc. etc. 

That’s to all of the Taylor Swift’s in the world. That’s to the very rare few that have found that type of success. 

Now let’s talk about what success looks like to most of us. 

It’s something more humble

Success as a musician means something completely different for each and every person that there is in the world. 

To one, it could mean that your blog has started to receive thousands of views and is paying for your bills. 

To others it could mean that you sold 1,000 albums worldwide. 

Whatever your opinion of what success looks like, it’s all acceptable in the music industry. 

What about realistic goals that I can set for myself  as a musician?

Okay so now that we’ve covered that music can be successful in many aspects, let’s go over what some musicians try and strive for in their own personal, financial, and social lives. 

It has been said that the average musician makes around $50,000 a year. That’s actually not that bad considering that you don’t need a college degree to get that kind of job. 

And of course that ranges all over the spectrum of success. 

Of course you have those musicians that make multi-millions of dollars a year. 

And of course you have those musicians that don’t make anything at all. 

But I mean if you really want to strive for something, aim for just the average when you  first start out and then when you have the average, try and increase from there. 

A personal goal of mine is that I am able to have a wife and kids and support them with my music. 

I know, that’s my goal, but I seriously do want a wife and kids, I think that would be a blessing. 

Some of you fellas are like, “Eww, he wants wife and kids?” Well guess what dudes! I want a wife in my life and what are you going to do about that?

NOTHING!!! Exactly!

I also want my blog to actually take off. 

It’s not just the money that I need, but it’s actually a sort of leverage that I could use for people in my industry if I were to have a large following of readers and followers. 

When you’re in the music industry, people want to see that you’re influential amongst the masses of people that are out there, so it’s actually important for you as a musician to have a large following of loyal readers and people because it’s actually needed in this industry. 

As of right now, since I haven’t taken off yet, I am striving for my first 1,000 views a month. 

I have gotten nearly 200 views in one month before, and right now most of this year has been a hundred views or more per month.

I mean there were 2 months were I got like 60 views and 30 views respectively, but right now I’m on the verge of getting 120 views this month. 

If you know anything about blogging, that’s actually a good thing. It means that I’m making progress and that my site is gaining more authority amongst search engines. 

So, I’m making progress. 

So here are some of MY benchmarks that you should strive as a musician who is just starting out. Keep in mind that this is my opinion and is not the fact of anything. It’s just something that I would strive for if I was starting this journey all over again. 

1. Make $50,000 USD a year if you’re just starting out
2. Get around 10,000 followers on any social media site or blog, this includes YouTube
3. Sell your first album. I personally would try and sell in my own area first but if you can sell internationally and market it, hey more power to you. Keep in mind that record labels want to see that you can sell within an area first because if you can sell in a small area, then you can sell in large areas. 
4. Get on someone’s podcast, blog, or YouTube channel. Find someone with more authority than you and try and get on their channel. Try and offer exposure for exposure. Say this, “Hey I have a blog that gets around 50,000 pageviews a month, I was wondering if you wanted to collaborate and I could promote you on my blog if you interview me on your YouTube channel.” 
5. Play a big venue. This one’s a little bit tricky because large venues want to see that you can sell out a show. So, in order to get this one, you need to have promoted heavily through other means first. Either through the internet, radio, or T.V. This way, the word is out that you are going to perform a show. 

Broadcast

I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please remember to pray, read your bible, go to church, and love God above all else. Like, comment, share, subscribe, and  I will see you all next time. 

Remember if you want to go to heaven, then believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven. 

Thank you all for listening in on this blog post. 

German Gonzalez, signing out!