5 Important Steps for Any New Artist Starting Their Career

Your first impression is a lasting impression. It’s understandable to make mistakes, but you can prevent most of them by following these five simple steps:

1) Solicit feedback and share it

At first, what you think isn’t all that important: it’s all about what others think of you. Get some honest feedback from others (friends, family, other artists, someone from the industry if possible). Get as much feedback as possible. The more you receive, the more you will know where your music stands and how much others appreciate/respond to it. If you get negative feedback then you need to make some improvements and alterations. Your fans are more important than your own opinions and it’s all about creating and building up your fan network. On the other hand, if you do get positive feedback, that’s a good sign because you are on the right track.

2) Stay up to date with music industry news

You need to stay current as things are constantly changing in this industry. The sound and flow are changing along with it and what was trendy and successful ten years ago is definitely not successful now. New artists should pay close attention to the music business, looking out and learning about the current trends in record deals, promotions, and most importantly, how other new artists have established and maintained their popularity. It’s hard to obtain and preserve mass market exposure in this constantly changing music industry, that’s why it’s extremely important to be up to date. It gives you the best chance for success.

3) Best of the best

One of the hardest pieces of this industry is choosing and finding the right producers since there are so many out there right now. Look for producers, engineers and songwriters who have had the most experience. Being the best is not the only important factor, but also the producer you chose should also share the same vision and direction for your music as you do. It’s better to spend money on an experienced producer than on promotion since it is an investment that usually delivers significant returns.  Make sure you have quality production (we are talking about the radio ready sound you hear from major artists) because it makes a huge difference.

4) Don’t be a loner - promote and collaborate with other artists

Not one successful artist has made it on their own and you are not going to change that. Collaborating and promoting with other artist opens new windows for you, gets you recognized and improves your artistry. Collaborations are sometimes hit songs generating great success for both artists involved. With other artists out there looking for help/new ideas, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone to team up with to further develop both of your products.

5) Spread your message

This is a crucial step (that is why we saved it for last)! It is important to have someone that can handle your social media, video production and web development. These are the best do-it-yourself ways of promoting your music. If you can avoid paying and have someone within your entourage to handle these duties then you are well on your way. If not, it’s best to hire a professional or a manager of some kind (we have another post coming soon about why every musician needs a manager).

No Such Thing As Too Much Exposure

There are many talented artists trying to make a name for themselves and to gain recognition. Everyone is trying to identify the strategies to create success overnight. We both know this is an ongoing process that may not always work.

Where to begin? Are you going about these decisions the right way? If you are asking yourself these questions, you are not totally lost but you do need some guidance and some tips. You want to make sure that all you have worked for through your music pays off whether it’s by making big bucks or a difference in the game or even a difference in the world like our legendary Bob Marley. Here are some effective techniques you should use in order to go on with your dream

Have a mission statement:

You might ask yourself why? But believe it or not, it makes a difference. Knowing what you stand for and your purpose for doing what you are trying to accomplish with your music is important. Letting your audience who you are and what you believe will build that relationship with those who will soon become your fans. Having a mission statement focuses your energy and clarifies your purpose. (Don’t just do it for the fame and the money… at least not when you are a beginner!) Music is more about passion and less about ambition. Keep that in mind.

 Word of advice 

• Make sacrifices for your dreams without bargaining your soul.
• A sense of purpose inflames a deep passion to overcome all obstacles in your way.

Invest:

Beginning is always the hardest because we never know how our journey will unfold or end. The music industry is no different; it’s just like any other business. You have to first invest, and then work hard, and finally the benefits come along. We all know it takes money to make money, but first you have to invest in yourself. If you believe in yourself, back it up with some cash.

Keep in mind:

• You can be very talented but it all comes down to your work ethic
• Believe in the power of your skills, your vision.
• Before you can make demands, you have to be in demand.

Have a strong backbone:

Nothing great can be accomplished by a single person (although we like to believe we can do it all). You definitely need a team with you (not a posse but a small team of people who know what they are doing). Your basic team should include a lawyer (to always check your contracts), a manager (once you get so many attention and offers that you can’t handle yourself), and a publicist (to publicize your career and projects to make sure the media and the public is aware) in that exact order.

• Make sure your team is dedicated and they genuinely would like for you to succeed. 
• Be a professional.Don’t bring family and friends to the studio. You are there to work.

Join & Interact:

It is recommended to join some organizations that will support you. Whatever your country or nationality, find a PRO (Publishers Rights Organization) and join a Performer Rights Organization. These organizations collect royalties. Also, it is good to join a union. It can cost what you may not want to spend, but in the long run, this investment will pay off as it keeps income coming in. Since you are not well known yet, you have to market yourself, interact with people and the community.

Things you must do:

• Be flexible
• Perform in local areas in order to expose your name and your music to a potential fan base
• Stay up to date with social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc…)
• Never burn any bridges; you never know who you might need later on. Most importantly, every single fan counts (take time for them regardless of your schedule)

Quality versus quantity:

Be sure to not overdo it by trying to have a set number of songs out. Be sure instead to have songs with good, meaningful lyrics that will attract your audience. This includes anything motivational, memorable and passionate. A hit song is better than a doomed album.

Some quick tips:

• Songs should fuel desire, inspire hope, unite people, mend hearts or just make you want to respond to the beat.
• Don’t try to rush a hit. Take your time. There is no time limit.
• Your music should translate above and beyond your “hood.”
• Expect criticism. Always!!!!

If You Need A Bit More Than Inspiration

We all love a great song. We may move in response to the rhythms we hear, but the lyrics are what make or break a memorable song. The feeling we get from the chills up our spine to that warm tingly sensation we get inside it’s your heart that knows the great song once we hear it. Songs inspire us all, even giving us the desire to write a few verses of our own. Songwriting is a very artistic and liberating form of creative writing; it is so wild and free. Let your conscious or subconscious be your guide. Whether you wish to begin taking songwriting as a new hobby or you have written a few verses before, here are a few tips on how to become a better writer to become a better poet in order to develop yourself into a better songwriter.

Know the Basics:

First, study some basic concepts in poetry. You can write in the abstract or the concrete. Images can be vague or subtle, brilliant or dull. You can write in a structured form using patterns or write freely. As a writer, you have the freedom to do just about anything when you create a poem. Find what works best for you.

A few tips on how to get started:

• Try writing in various forms of poetic verse (e.g. sonnets, ballads, haiku).
• Familiarize yourself with terms and definitions like iambic pentameter, alliteration.
• Embrace metaphors and similes but stay away from clichés
• Read lots of poetry
• Read your favorite poem or the lyrics of your favorite song over and over again. Analyze the structure and consider what makes you respond to both the message and the rhythm.

Write, write and write:

Write a lot, as often as possible. Practice does make perfect. The more you write the better you will get. This will help you develop your voice and get comfortable with your writing style. Once you get going, you get into the flow of getting your thoughts on paper, and it gets easier. Starting is always the hardest part. Don’t forget you can always go back and make changes to make your writing stronger. Always start and end strong.

Try these tips:

• Write in different places. Find spots that inspire you …write in a park, for example. You don’t have to write about the particular place you’ve chosen, but your surroundings will influence you whether you are aware of it or not…this can actually work to your benefit.
• Keep a notebook with you to jot down a few ideas, thoughts and characters you would like to remember or possibly include in a poem or song.
• Pay attention to your dreams. Write down what you remember when you wake up. Your dreams might inspire you!
• Be as detailed as possible so later on you can determine what is important to include and what is not.
• Use humor, irony, melodrama, puns (be sure not to abuse them).
• Stay away from abstract words. Instead use concrete words
• Don’t be afraid to write a bad verse. Every great poet and famous artist/writer has written a bad piece. It’s okay if it happens. Keep writing!
• Be sure to revise. Keep your work away for a few days and then come back to it. You will see it differently and that will help to improve it.

Get personal:

Readers love reading a selection as if it were their own personal thoughts and feelings. They love being able to relate to characters and emotions because doing so helps them understand their own feelings. So, it is important to choose your topic carefully and use language that people can understand. There’s no need to get fancy with all these words. Just keep the message simple. Most importantly, write with honesty. Don’t back away from your thoughts or feelings. Express them! This is what captures the readers and touches them the most.

You can always try to:

• Know who your target is (e.g. kids, women, seniors).
• use images (include the six senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, kinesiology (motion))
• Be a camera. Bring the reader into the scene, the action.

Share:

Find a way to publish and share what you’ve written with a friend, a professor, anyone. Make sure your work is read by someone else and get their feedback. Listen to criticism, accept rejection, and try to learn from it. Use what you learn to improve and to refine your writing.

Here is the best tip:

• create a blog
• join us at almostfamous.com

Create You Own Stunning Photographs With Any Camera Or Budget

Being a musician or artist of any kind will almost always require the use of visuals to showcase your art. Whether you are a producer, sculptor, musician, director, screen writer, chef or otherwise, you will need some form of visuals, typically photography, to represent your work. Humans are very visual by nature and the difference between a good photo and an average photo can sometimes mean the difference between a sale, connection or opportunity. The internet has compounded this situation by reducing people’s attention spans and their ability to process written information. This means that if it doesn’t look good, no one will care to read, write, watch, eat, touch, or experience your art. 

Check out these photographs by Tim Engle for some examples of great independent photography. 

AlmostFamous is all about helping our members reach new audiences and get more exposure for their creative talents. We have created a tutorial on how to create professional visuals for your creations. We are also interested in teaching members how to solve problems (in this case creating great photos of your work as an artist) rather than having to pay someone else. Not only do you learn key skills for life, but you save time and money. And, now that you are going to learn to be a pro photographer, don’t forget to add it as a skill on your artist profile on our discovery platform at AlmostFamous.com!

In order to achieve great looking photos, you don’t need an expensive camera, and you don’t need Photoshop. A simple smart phone camera or even cheap digital camera will do the trick if you can work on these three simple guidelines:

Practice:

First play with you camera. Get to know the different types of settings, effects, etc… The more you use and experiment with your camera, the more you get comfortable and the easier it gets. Make sure to take shots on a regular basis; in the process you develop certain skills and your artistic sense begins to develop.

Here are a few tips:

• Don’t be a One Shot Wonder: Take multiple pictures. This is the beauty of digital.
• Working A Subject: Start with a “normal” shot and then underexpose, overexpose, change aperture, change focus, change lighting, change time of day. 
• Mediocrity: When you are starting out, 95% of your photos won’t be keepers. Don’t get discouraged. Just show the world the 5% of your shots that are awesome and keep shooting. 

Experiment:

Take shots of everything: people, landscapes and whatever else you can capture even if what you are shooting are familiar, everyday surroundings. Try looking at what is around you with fresh eyes. You will learn which type of photography you are more comfortable with and what you, as a photographer, prefer. Don’t be afraid to take shots of the most unexpected things. These are the images that turn out to be the best shots. Make sure to always have your camera handy. You never know when you just might need it.

Here are five techniques to try:

• Zooming While Shooting: This can create dramatic effects if you are manually zooming while taking the picture.
• Move Your Camera: Everyone harps on keeping the camera steady. Some pretty cool things happen when you take pictures in motion.
• Creative Focusing: Use depth of field and creative focusing to add another layer to your photograph. Items in focus will pop off of the final image.
• Shoot from Your Boots: Try shooting things from the ground up for a larger than life look.
• Overexpose Your Shots: The world is lit pretty much the same way everywhere. Use your camera to overexpose images to transport the viewer into new realms of light/shadow.

Have fun:

Photography is a serious business, but when it comes down to it, there are simply no hard set rules! You always learn something new and never run out of things to capture because the inspiration is all around you. Pictures are worth a thousand words so don’t be afraid to let your imagination run free. You might see some opportunities you never noticed before.

A few ways to let loose:

• Shoot candid moments: Not everything has to be a planned/structured shot. Snap some pictures of the subject when they don’t know they are being photographed. Facial expressions are always more authentic.
• Find items that are not typical subjects: Trying shooting the wedding invitations instead of the bride. Or perhaps shoot the smoke instead of the candle. 
• Listen to other people’s ideas: Your subjects can offer creative ideas during the shoot. Consider their suggestions because if they are excited to try something new, then the photos you take will capture their emotion rather than result in another predictable shot. 

Creating terrific photos is a great way to build content around your creative business. When you have some shots you are pleased with, make sure to share them on AlmostFamous.com which can help artists get discovered. This is a great way to tell your story. One amazing photograph is much more powerful (and a lot easier to create) than the thousand words it represents (if we could have taken a picture to represent this blog post we would have)!

Blue Ivy- what will she be famous for?

(Source: helloblueivycarter)

My Mentor: Artists discuss their biggest influencers.

Every musician, from young newcomers just starting out to seasoned, arena-touring veterans, had a mentor — a person who, in one way or another, initially inspired them to plug in their guitar or step up to the mic.

Musical mentoring is a concept that serves as the foundation for reality TV competitions like The Voice (which kicks off its second season on Feb. 5), but not every artist had the luxury of hands-on coaching at the early phases of their careers. Some were mentored simply by the music coming out of their stereos.

We asked 22 artists — including Common, Florence Welch, blink-182, Mary J Blige, 30 Seconds To Mars,T.I., Linkin Park, Mumford & Sons and more — to name their chief musical mentors. Fittingly, the answers we got were as diverse as the musicians themselves. Watch the video and see who inspired the careers of your favorite stars.

(via: billboard)

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Kim Dotcom captured in safe room with a loaded shotgun.

Justice - On’n’On (NSFW)

Justice have released a NSFW new video for their Audio, Video, Disco single “On’n’On”,which was accompanied by some controversial cover artwork, if you recall. It’s directed by Alexandre Courtes.

The visual to their latest single “On’n’On” directed by Alexandre Courtes. As the title strongly suggests, the intergalactic theme sees the continuous flow of numerous objects including skeletons, diamonds and asymmetric artifacts, as well as scantily clad women and two members Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, all in one single shot. This visual arrives earlier than the EP release of the single, which will include remixes of the track by Brodinksi, Erol Alkas, Rick Rubin, Tiga and Video Village.

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