If you want to make art for a living, you need a fanbase that is willing to pay for your art. Fans are there to support you, but if you don’t have anything to give them, they’ll stop paying attention.
Take a look at what you need to do before you dive into SessionsLive.com so that you can use it as a complement to your work and not as a replacement. Follow this guide to develop your own independent career as a musician.
Getting straight to the point, the biggest question is: How do I get fans?
If you are really committed to developing your own independent career as a musician, then you should follow the guidelines provided by experts such as the producer Will Lisil, CEO at MW3.biz Casting Network from the United Kingdom.
BUSINESS GUIDE FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS: BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN CAREER AS A BUSINESS
1 – Make yourself present in the Metaverse: Start building your avatar
- You need to create a website, it’s the beginning, the seed of your avatar. You don’t have to worry about investing money if you are committed to working hard and having willpower.
- Before creating your website you must work on changing your mindset. Your career actually starts on your mind, literally, so you must do regular mental exercises like the mentioned below to integrate yourself with the artistic career you really want to achieve, it’s your own artistic concept being created from this point.
- If you are just starting out, pay attention! Learn to identify the exact moment of that feeling when circumstances make you feel unworthy, like in your mind, you hear your own voice saying things like: “it’s impossible, I’m not even gonna try starting it”. That’s the exact moment when you must mentalize it, bring back the image of you acting on your ideal career again, mentally saying to yourself: Don’t stop, BELIEVE and go! Act as a person fallowed by many. Keep doing this mental exercise regularly, especially making this the topic of your daily 30 minutes meditation. You can use an amazing app such as Synctuition for good moments of self-reflection and keep mentally creating many different circumstances where you, already a celebrity, would need to deal with things, such as questioning yourself “how would I treat my fans in X situation?”.
- Develop your abilities to see things by MACRO VISION: Close your eyes, imagine – and try to experience the feeling of it with your mind – that you are already a celebrity. Mentalize it exactly as designing a concept of an “ideal career” for another artist, as a producer doing to his celebrity client, and go for it! It means, you can choose something simple to start building your image on the internet, but the look must be as if owned by a celebrity. This is optimisation by macro vision.
- You cannot achieve above the average results unless you work hard, but my greatest secret is, to embody the position of a producer and focus on learning how to treat YOURSELF as your own client, the most important one.
- Doing things – in all areas of your life – with excellence as if it were a gift to your biggest supporter, as God, for example, will make you be amazed at the results, it’s like, when you finish things, you don’t believe that you made that. You feel proud of yourself and your level of talent. That’s the feeling of excellence, memorise it, it’s your biggest REFERENCE.
- It’s EXTREMELY important that you work with excellence, it means that whenever you are working on your projects and you compare your current performance with your vision of an ideal career, you can realize that you should do a little more, and then do it on your own. Especially when you feel like everything is done and is very good, then that’s the exact time to do a little more and achieve excellence.
- We tend to procrastinate, please be instead obstinate with your artistic career. Do everything as if your team’s (YOU) deadline is ending, and you have to sacrifice yourself to deliver in time those excellent results, above the average always, to make the client happier than he was expecting. Make a detailed comparison with artists of the same age and delivery to yourself something above the average. This is a path to success.
- Synchronise with the fast-growing ultra technology. Exactly because of the Metaverse, you should prepare yourself for the WEB3 technology, where you must be online to exist. Pay attention, even without any experience in graphic design, really don’t worry about your level of experience, it can be a simple blog, but built as a professional portfolio, including a photo gallery, shop for your merchandise, or any combination of these. The point is to have one place where people can go to see what you’re making and get a sense of who you are. You’ll want to put only your best work on the site- no one wants to read an entire blog that’s full of filler posts.
- Show yourself as you want to be seen: Start as a professional independent artist from scratch, following this guide on how to build a professional look for your music website.
Manage your website, and keep it up to date with all of your creative work and news.
Want to run a successful blog? Make sure you:
- Have something valuable to say. If you’re writing about a new release, write something that your audience can’t find in any other sources. If you’re writing about your lyrics, for example, secrets inside your lyrics, meanings or even asking for opinions, write with an interesting point of view or an opinion that isn’t being expressed anywhere else on the internet.
- Keep it fresh. Once you get a following, make sure they have something new to check out every time they visit your site. A great way to do this is by posting regularly (think: twice per week). This will help attract new visitors and keep them coming back for more!
- Promote yourself! Let people know about your website through social media like Twitter and Facebook–you never know how many people will be interested in what has been written until they read it themselves!
- Discover new ideas by networking with other independent artists on the same level or stage as you. The independent professional community MW3.biz Casting Network is a good option, and you also have the chance to earn Cash Prizes.
2 – Make work that stands out
If you want to make money from your art, the most important thing is to create work that stands out. Make something that people will want to share with their friends. Make something that people will be proud to own. Make something that people will pay for. Make something that people will love. It may feel better to create what makes you happy, but if no one sees it, then no one will know how good it is. If you only make art for yourself, then you are only getting value out of it and no one else ever will.
But if you can make work that is worth sharing and owning and paying for, then people will listen because they know there’s a chance of getting more of it in the future. They’ll get hooked on your content and become a regular viewer or buyer—and once they’re invested in you as an artist, then they’ll follow along wherever you go.
Ensure that every piece of it is a finished product
The most important thing to remember when you’re trying to get your audience to pay for your art is that you can’t expect them to do anything for you if you don’t have a finished product. It means that if you want people to read your update about a new release, listen to your music, or watch your video, then those pieces of content have to be ready before you start asking people for money. You are your own product, sell yourself.
Enjoy the process as much as possible
The process of creating art should be fun and satisfying, so find joy in what you do. If what you’re doing is not enjoyable, why do it? The process here is creating art, a career as an artist, and a life for yourself.
Switch to the present tense for writing about the future: You don’t want to regret being here two weeks from now.
Be kind to yourself when you make mistakes. Just keep going. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- How can I resurrect joy in my career?
- How can I have more fun with the process?
- How can I enjoy the work itself?
Set aside time every day to make art and create
First, try to recognise this kind of mindset and run from it and do reflexive exercises:
- I’m never going to make any art if I don’t finish things. I just hold on to things forever, and it’s depressing
- I have a lot of unfinished ideas that I really want to get started on, but putting them off because “there’s no time” will only make me procrastinate more till there’s no time.
If you don’t finish something and are holding on to it, you’re never going to do anything with it.
You need to finish something. You need to see it through. When you finish something and put it out there, you get a sense of accomplishment, and that sense of accomplishment is a driving force for you to continue doing what you’re doing.
Artists don’t finish things because they want the process to keep going—they want to be in that place of creation all the time. The problem is, when they stop creating, they stop putting things out and get discouraged. Change your mindset!
- Instagram’s New Spotify Integration: A Game Changer for Independent Musicians
- AI Music Co-Creation: Enhancing or Replacing Human Talent?
- The Hidden Cost of Artificial Streaming: Understanding Fines and Their Impact on Artists’ Earnings
- Enhancing Your Music Reach: Track Radio Plays with Apple Music for Artists and Other Revolutionary Tech Support for Indie Artists
- Indie Artists Shine On A New Support System in Challenging Times
Give yourself permission to let go of the pieces that aren’t working. Even if they’re good, they don’t belong in the work you’re making now. You can always come back to them later if you want.
Give yourself permission to let go of the pieces that stand out but aren’t working at the moment. Even if they’re good, they don’t belong in the work you’re making now. You can always come back to them later if you want.
In other words, you need to make art that is worth selling. I know that’s not a popular thing for an artist to say, but it’s true. If we want people to pay us for our art (which we should), then we need to be making something that people are willing and able to pay for. In order for your fans—or anyone else—to support you, your art has to be worth buying! Ask yourself if you would buy your own music, it works as a reference, then ask your friends and get honest feedback.
As an independent artist, when people say NO, in my opinion it’s extremely useful, this actually guides you to the right path as you try to optimise things, you must use it as an step, and it leads you to achieve excellence, the result will be you creating something above the average.
Will Lisl – CEO at MW3.biz Casting Network
The work doesn’t have to be perfect; it just needs to be done and worth someone else’s money. With platforms such as PopHits.co, you can send your songs to Spotify and over 150 music stores worldwide, including all social networks such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube, with a very low investment of $3 for an EP with 3 songs. The songs can be originals or covers. Let’s make music!
3 – Hang out where people who are interested in your genre are talking about things related to what you do! This may be online or in real life, but get out there and meet some new people!
Here’s why: artists love to talk about art, especially with other artists. Artists love to support each other because we know what it’s like to struggle and how important encouragement can be. You may even find someone who is willing to help you with your project (for instance, a musician might make a song for a video game)!
You’ll also find that you’re making fans of your work without even trying – because they’ll naturally tell their friends about the cool thing they saw you make – which will increase your fan base even more! Remember, networking such as at MW3.biz/casting is what I mean, with professionals at the same level as you.
When fans see your work, they’ll want more of it
- Always update your portfolio, website, and profiles. In this day and age, it’s not enough to just have an Instagram account full of your work. Being able to send friends and fans somewhere they can find more of what they like is essential. Your website doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to show off your personality and ability as an artist in the best light possible.
- Find your niche, then get into it. There may be some overlap between the various communities you enjoy being part of, but don’t expect them all to have a shared interest in the art you make. If you’re hoping that one particular community will be generous with their dollars and time, make sure that you’re making content that is relevant to their interests first and foremost.
Since you understand that SessionsLive.com is a supplement to your success, a way to improve your career development, then you are ready to explore the platform and technology it offers.
- Instagram’s New Spotify Integration: A Game Changer for Independent Musicians
- AI Music Co-Creation: Enhancing or Replacing Human Talent?
- The Hidden Cost of Artificial Streaming: Understanding Fines and Their Impact on Artists’ Earnings
- Enhancing Your Music Reach: Track Radio Plays with Apple Music for Artists and Other Revolutionary Tech Support for Indie Artists
- Indie Artists Shine On A New Support System in Challenging Times
How to build a global fanbase for free:
Most platforms don’t provide any marketing assistance for that.
In terms of live-streaming platforms, SessionsLive.com is one of the first music-related platforms that was specifically designed to solve the most pressing problems for musicians, allowing them to build a Global Fandom through the app
The live-streaming app Sessions is relatively new. While the platform itself is less than a year old, it’s based on NEXT Music, which has been around much longer than it.
According to Sessions, they built the app in part because of the popularity of NEXT Music’s live streaming feature.
Although the new app is a live streaming platform focused on music where artists can earn revenue from performing, it aims to be a music-first platform at its core. The functionality of the service is similar to Twitch, YouTube Live, or Facebook Live: you set up the audio and video, plug in the streaming key, and then begin broadcasting.
Are there any differences between SessionsLive.com and other services available on the market?
The truth is that it does push independent artists a little bit further to become more established. Generally speaking, you need to apply to become an artist before you can start your career. It means that everybody on the platform has been vetted by the Sessions team at least to some degree. In addition, the increased quality and relevance of the streams are also expected to make the experience more enjoyable for viewers right from the start.
SessionsLive.com also has a program for certain artists called “Touring Artists,” which guarantees a certain amount of “Love”, a kind of income, per stream, regardless of who is watching or how much they tip you.
The company is also working hard to attract part of the built-in audience of SessionsLive.com to other live streaming sites. In contrast to a platform like Twitch where new acts could stream to just one or two people for months on end, Sessions has far fewer people live at any given time, so fans are more likely to get to see artists perform straight away.
- Instagram’s New Spotify Integration: A Game Changer for Independent Musicians
- AI Music Co-Creation: Enhancing or Replacing Human Talent?
- The Hidden Cost of Artificial Streaming: Understanding Fines and Their Impact on Artists’ Earnings
- Enhancing Your Music Reach: Track Radio Plays with Apple Music for Artists and Other Revolutionary Tech Support for Indie Artists
- Indie Artists Shine On A New Support System in Challenging Times
The most important question: What is the best way to make money from SessionsLive.com?
As a premium user, you have the ability to receive “Love”, which is the Sessions equivalent of Twitch’s “bits” or Facebook’s “stars.” Basically, fans tip you when they like what they see and hear. In order to guarantee their Love, they can request certain songs from your list.
In addition to guaranteeing a certain amount of Love for these artists when they schedule a show on the app, a certain amount of Love is also given to them. A typical round-up comes to around $5 an hour, capped at six hours per week. This means that touring artists can make a guaranteed $30 a week in addition to the Love they get from their fans for streaming for six hours.
For a new artist, making $120 a month right off the bat live streaming is actually quite a big deal, especially if they are brand new.
On SessionsLivess.com, they also run a weekly leaderboard contest where the top 10 streamers will receive between $50 and $500, depending on their position.
What are the best programs on SessionsLive.com in which I could take part?
You will have the opportunity to perform at Festivals by Sessions from the comfort of your home to thousands of music supporters from all over the world. Check out what they announced on their official website to see if there are any opportunities available there:
Festivals
What
• Festivals by Sessions are digital music festivals that take place on Sessions. For the full list of Festivals, see events
• Each Artist will have 15 minutes to perform to music fans from 100+ countries
Who
• Artists who are looking to take the next big step in their music career
• All styles, languages, and genres from around the world are welcome! Covers and originals too
• Artists looking to build their global fanbase
Where
• This will be live-streamed on Sessions
• We recommend every Artist have a computer, webcam, internet access, and a microphone
Digital Music News Festival – April 2022 – by SessionsLive.com
According to published information:
For our latest Festival, Sessions has partnered with Digital Music News, which is the leading source of news for music industry executives. For nearly 20-years, DMN has been providing breaking news and in-depth analysis to the movers and shakers of the music industry. If you want to get discovered or create dealmaking opportunities, this is an audience you will want to reach.
Festivals by Sessions are some of our most popular events. By playing in our Festivals, your music will immediately get exposure to more Fans and you’ll get to perform alongside fellow talented Rising Artists!
You’re invited to perform a 15-minute live Session during our upcoming five-week Festival. Each Artist can perform once each week! You will have your live Session featured in the Festival stream which will be promoted on the Sessions homepage.
Click the links below to schedule your performance times in your Artist Hub (Artists can perform once each week):
- Week One (March 28 – April 3)
- Week Two (April 4 – 10)
- Week Three (April 11 – 17)
- Week Four (April 18 – 24)
- Week Five (April 25 – May 1)
Prizes
The top five Artists who earn the most Love during the month will win:
- The top Artist will receive a $3,000 Artist Development Package, which includes:
- $1,000 in cash
- $1,000 in marketing. We’ll run a paid ad campaign to promote you, using the same ad technology we used to promote artists like Mariah Carey and Daddy Yankee
- $1,000 for a one-hour consultation with an industry executive
- The next four Artists will win $250, $100, $50, and $25, respectively
- The top 100 Artists will be able to submit a song to our Spotify playlist followed by 300,000 music fans
- And that’s not all! The top three Artists with the most viewers during their performances will win $100, $50, and $25, respectively
The top three Artists who earn the most Love each week in the below Level categories will win:
- Artist Levels 1-5
- The top Artist will win 250 Love
- The second place Artist will win 100 Love
- The third place Artist will win 50 Love
- Artist Levels 6-10
- The top Artist will win 1,000 Love
- The second place Artist will win 500 Love
- The third place Artist will win 150 Love
- Artist Levels 11-15
- The top Artist will win 3,000 Love
- The second place Artist will win 1500 Love
- The third place Artist will win 550 Love
The top three Artists who earn the most Love each day will win:
- The top Artist will win $25 cash and a digital ad on Digital Music News promoting your Sessions Artist Profile*
- The Artist coming in second will earn 2,500 Prize Pool Points
- Our third Place winner will receive 1,000 Prize Pool Points
*DMN ads will run beginning in May. Artists will be required to submit a photo to Sessions that is original, high resolution, not highly edited, with consistent background, no screenshots. Sessions is only able to create an ad with quality photos and Sessions reserves the right to determine the quality of photos provided by the Artist.