Pursuing a career in the music industry can be exhausting and intense yet incredibly rewarding at the same time. Whether you’re an artist, manager, publicist, record label executive, or in another role, your mindset is important when pursuing and growing a music career.

With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, it felt worthwhile to highlight a few ideas worth thinking about when developing your mindset in music.

This newsletter highlights:

• 6 mindset ideas for a career in music

Let’s dive in ⬇️ 

1) Patience

It’s important to have patience during every step of your music journey.

For those looking to work in the music industry at a record label, management company, agency, etc, getting your foot in the door can be challenging and take time.

For many people; it requires multiple internships, networking, attending events, and doing whatever you can to provide value. It’s not a direct path from A to B - it’s full of detours and side roads that eventually bring you to your desired route.

It’s not always as easy as submitting a resume and getting hired - you need to create opportunities, build relationships, and navigate your own entry point. Patience is also required for those established and working in the industry - it takes time to develop your career, grow, and elevate.

Artists: achieving success in music takes a tremendous amount of patience. Building a fanbase is a long and arduous journey full of ups and downs - it’s important to avoid being discouraged and remember to stay consistent - continue making art you’re proud of.

2) Boundaries

Like anything else in life, it’s important to set boundaries. Boundaries can include work-life balance, establishing how you want to be treated by others, and only engaging in events/things that align with your values.

A large part of the music industry is networking, attending events, and socializing. Remember that you don’t need to explain yourself for not wanting to attend something or leave early if it’s not your scene.

Artists: when engaging in business with others, it’s important to set boundaries for how you want yourself and your team to be treated as well as respecting the boundaries of those you do business with.

3) Unplugging

Most people who pursue a career in music love music and it accounts for a substantial part of their life. As a musician, it’s easy for it to become your whole life (as well as if you’re working in the industry and eat, sleep, and breathe music).

As much fun as creating, talking about, and being around music is, It’s important to take breaks, unplug, and reset to help avoid burnout - unplugging also helps give yourself different perspectives on things.

4) Comparison is the thief of joy

So much of why an artist’s career is shared online is because of how important social media is to marketing yourself. It's an important tool for musicians and those working with them. It’s common for those working in the music industry to have their own social media presence and share what’s happening in their work and lives.

It’s important not to get lost in what other people are doing by looking at their social media - this applies to artists and those working in the industry. If you’re getting your start in music and grinding it out, don’t be discouraged by looking at the Instagram account of an executive who seems like they’re living the fast life traveling and being around high-profile artists all the time. Social media is just a highlight reel and the highlights on social media represent a fraction of the hard work that goes into creating those moments.

Artists: don’t get lost in comparing yourself to other artists based on what you see on social media. Everything that glitters isn’t gold. It can be helpful to look at what other artists are doing for education or inspiration but don’t get lost in comparing your success to theirs.

5) Remember why you started

A music career is full of ups and downs - some days are chaotic while others are emotional. It can be intense and everyone is passionate about their work.

It’s important to remind yourself why you started in the first place and where your desire to be in music originally came from.

6) Giving value

A huge part of a music career is networking & building relationships with others. Some people are takers - they’re consistently asking for favors, help, connections, etc without reciprocating or providing any value in return.

A good way to build genuine relationships (as well as network) is to provide as much value as you can while asking for very little in return. This can range from giving your peers advice, introducing them to others and growing their network, sharing your perspective, and more.

Artists: this can also mean being a support system for other artists and doing what you can to provide value.

Thanks for reading, until next time.