7 Challenges Every Independent Artistes Face In Their Careers

7 Challenges Upcoming and Independent Artistes Face In Their Music Careers

In the music industry, there are the A-List artistes, B-List artistes, and the C-List artistes.In the list mentioned above, any upcoming artistes fall into every category. There are challenges which up and coming artistes face in their careers. These challenges seem like a problem for them to solve, and trust me, nobody likes problems in his or her life. Independent artistes aren’t left out, how do they finance and run their music careers without the help and support of a record label. These are what we are going to discuss today and without wasting much time, let us know about the problems and challenges which independent artistes face in their various careers.

1) Finance

The number one challenge which a lot of music artistes face is the finance to push their careers. The career of every music artiste is like a business, and for a business to run, it requires money to be pumped inside. That is the way the career of every music career looks. For them to reach their goal and plan, they need money and finance to achieve such goals.

Independent and upcoming artistes need money for their upkeep, they need money to promote their music to various platforms (both on the internet, radio, and television).

The video shoot isn’t free and when it comes to going on tours, then you’ll know that for you to succeed in the music industry, you will need money and financial backing.

2) Sponsorship

There are musicians who are not under a label, it seems like they are running things on their own, YES, they are musicians who aren’t signed too any outfit and their music career is an independent one. They make decisions and have full control over their music and they don’t take orders from a record label, but those artistes won't tell you the challenge and problems which they face and tackle in their respective music careers.

There are a lot of music artistes who are not signed to any record label or music company but these artistes are being financed and supported by corporate boards and influential people in the society.

A lot of upcoming artists are the ones who sponsor themselves and a large number of them haven’t gotten the royalties and rewards from their music but yet they haven’t quitted.

A lot of upcoming artists and independent artists need to grow their career and they need sponsorship for their music. An independent artist and an upcoming artiste who released a musical album will need money for its marketing and distribution; if you rely on little funds, then you will kill the album before its out and even if the album has many good tracks and songs, it will not be a success. A lot of up and coming artistes generally face the problem of sponsorship for their music.

3) Connection

As an upcoming artiste, what do you think will happen to your career if you had people like Nwawulu Gracious Zara of Jayzeedex Nation/Mp3musichype, Orevaoghene Anthony Tatafo of Warritatafo, OG Adoga of Hiphophead, Paul Oghoghorie, Alahirah Dandonald, Noble Igwe of 360nobs, Godwin Tom, Olisa Adibua, Osagie Osarenkhoe, Osagie Alonge, Abuchi Peter Ugwu, Efe Omoregbe, Ehiz Dadaboy of MTV Base, DJ Xclusive, OAP Toolz, King Spesh, and radio OAP and Hypemen like Dotun in your contact list; you will be pleased and happy that you have connection and affiliation to influential people in the music industry. The names mentioned above are influential people in the entertainment industry. Once you are friends with them and you send your song across to them, they can take it to where you have never expected.

Most independent artistes have little or no knowledge about this. As to upcoming artistes, it is important that you build relationships with influential people.

Nobody knew of Korede Bello before the Mavins signed him but he is popularly known as “Doro Mega Superstar”. Before Korede Bello was signed by Don Jazzy, he was a student and at the same time, he was making music, I can vividly remember meeting him at the 2012 Top Naija Music Awards where he won the Most Promising Artiste in the debut edition of that awards ceremony which is proudly hosted and sponsored by Mr. Paul Oghoghorie of Top Naija Music Awards. He had the connection and contacts of influential people in the music industry. His breakthrough came knocking when he was recommended to Michael Collins Ajereh popularly known as Don Jazzy by GT Tha Guitarman, Don Jazzy gave him a shot and you all know the story. It's good that you build relationships like this as an independent musician.

4) Airplay

As an independent artist, how do you feel whenever your music which isn’t played on the radio no matter how good it is? How do you feel when your clean and sharp music video isn’t premiered on channels like Trace Tv, Hip Tv, MTV Base, SoundCity Tv. The songs of most independent artists are not given airplay even though the song is good. Radio stations and television stations can play the songs of popular musicians back to back. Even a song from an A-List artiste can be given a replayed for a period of ten times while the upcoming artistes will have to pay whopping sums of money for their songs to be given airplay on radio stations for a specified period of time. As an independent artist, you need the help of media channels in playing your songs and music videos on their various platforms.

5) Mentorship

Peter Okoye (Mr. P) of Psquare at a Reality Show

As an upcoming artiste, how will you feel if you receive a text from Davido saying that he likes your music or you happen to see a video of Peter Okoye (Mr P) dancing and miming to your song, how do you feel when you are on a one-to-one talk with Chocolate city’s boss, MI Abaga, telling you of the mistakes you need to avoid and how to be successful and run your music career.

You will feel inspired and motivated. This is a good privilege for you to receive tips and mentorship from the masters but sadly, upcoming artistes only have the opportunity to see these artists on the television. Most of them will be glad if there is a seminar and they become opportune and lucky to meet and receive mentorship from their role models in the music industry.

MI Abaga serves as a Mentor to Upcoming Rappers 

6) Hype

Now talking about hype; as an uprising artiste, how do you feel when you release a song or you drop an album and in the space of a little time, you find out that the song is already trending on twitter with a hashtag. Believe me, you will be pleased and happy wherever you are. A-List musicians like Future, Drake, Migos, Cassper Nyovest, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Nasty C, Beyonce, Rihanna, Davido, MI Abaga, Ice Prince and Olamide has hundreds of thousands and even millions of followers following them and liking their pages on different social media platforms.

That is why it is easy for their songs to trend on twitter when 60% of their fanbase are tweeting and talking about a particular song or a newly released single which he dropped. But that is not the case for some upcoming artists, a lot of them have to beg and appeal for their fans to share their songs, not to make mention of downloading the songs made by them.

Getting music hype is a challenge which uprising musicians experience in their careers. Hype is important as it contributes to the growth of a music artiste and that is why Mp3Musichype has decided to focus on this category for the growth, development and progress of any music artiste irrespective of his sound and the type of music he makes.

7)  Promotion

As a matter of fact, without promotion, the career of any music artiste will be stagnant. No matter how rich and popular musicians like Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Tekno, Yemi Alade, Reekado Banks, Tiwa Savage are they will never stop promoting their music. A lot of uprising musicians who are interested in getting signed by a record label, do not take this issue into consideration. They are ready to drop their songs on sites and blogs with no quality just to save money and cut their financial costs. A music website like Mp3musichype is a good platform for you to promote your song to thousands of people. You also have your social media at your disposal, your music career should be like a business to you, take advantage of it and use it to promote your music till you get paid by your music or till you get signed by a record label. When you are signed to a record label, the burden will be lifted on you as the financial backing of the record label will promote the songs for you on digital platforms.

These are the top challenges which upcoming, uprising and independent musicians face in their different music careers. Make sure you download your favorite songs from Mp3musichype and if you like our articles, make sure you share them and tell a friend.