Why It's Important For New & Young Bands To Think of Music As a Business

At Loudest.in, we try to cover many aspects of the Music Industry and the Independent Music Scene in order to provide as much information to bands and artists around the country, but there is still one fundamental thing we feel that bands are missing out on. The Business behind the music is as important if not more important than the Music itself. Whilst many artists hold on to the "pure nature" of making music, it isn't going to get you to your desired place if you don't figure out the logistics well. Here's a few points we think all new/young and even existing bands should look into and can learn from:

THINKING OF MUSIC AS A "BUSINESS"

When someone opens up a business, there's certain way they go about things. Most importantly, all businesses have an initial "investment". A Band/Music Project is no different. In order to get something done, you need finances and you need an investment. It is seen over and over again that new/young and even seasoned bands try and spend the least amount of money in getting things going. Although the DIY approach is something that has a lot of importance and impact on the music industry around the world, it is important to draw the line. There's a reason there are various other actors involved in the making of a band - a band manager, promotion agencies, photographers, videographers and so on. All of the people involved in these spheres look at their jobs as a business and treat it like one. There is a reason they specialise in their job. Until and unless bands don't start thinking that their musical projects need to reach a certain professional level and for that some initial investment is required, they won't be able to push off from that amateur stage. The thought process here is of most importance.

I think its super important to think of your band/project as a business if you want it to be more than a simple bedroom hobby of sorts. Especially in this age of internet where there is a universe of content. The only way one can stay afloat is by investing into quality content. And goes without saying if you're a live artist, then into your live show. Your band is the product/experience people are investing in. Better make it worth their time and money, else they'll turn to the other band who does. And goes without saying, any successful business is consistent and constantly doing more for the end consumer. So this isn't really a one time gig. You really have to be on top of it at all times. - Adhiraj Singh (Noiseware, Aswekeepsearching)

BUSINESS PRACTICES THAT HELP IN MUSIC

If you're a musician in a band or you have your own act, you are probably going to deal with situations where you have to look at official contracts involving services and money. You're going to have to sign off on stuff and you should know what it's about. If you're in a band, every member is going to have a share and they will have to invest/get the dividends back accordingly. A basic knowledge in Business and how the Music Business works helps immensely. with this process that is so innately engrained in the Music Industry. Further, these are some of the things we think are helpful: 1. OPEN A BAND/ARTIST BANK ACCOUNT 2. KEEP ALL FINANCIAL RECORDS IN AN EXCEL SHEET 3. DO A BUDGETARY ANALYSIS AT THE END OF EACH MONTH/TWO MONTHS 4. SET BUSINESS BASED GOALS (In terms of releasing albums, touring, playing live etc.)

PR IS VERY IMPORTANT!!

We can't stress this enough. We've put out various articles on the importance of PR and we've also had many artists talk about how important it is in the development of bands. With Social Media becoming the main source of finding/discovering new bands = your image on these platforms is of most importance. Further, contacting PR companies and magazines to host your material requires you to have all these things that we've mentioned before laid out already. Email addresses of Writers and Journalists are filled to the brim with band emails and even if you don't like it, PR companies become more approachable to these magazines as they have a reputation in the Industry. Not only that, they in most cases also create your professional footprint that is sent to all these platforms, so even if you're not good at creating a professional social media appearance, they'll help you do it! Music at the end of the day is in a sense, a product.

In today's day and age it's absolutely essential that bands learn how to run their operations as a business. Everything from budgeting to marketing to investing their money sensibly and creating different streams of income. Unlike the old days the music scene is 10 times as crowded and much harder for bands to break out and being able to survive is half the game itself. If a band can find a way to sustain themselves and learn to grow their band like a business, they have a lot more chances of being successful. - Sahil Makhija (Demonic Resurrection, Demonstealer)

We hope that these points have given you a basic introduction into the Business side of the Music Industry and we really hope bands take these pointers and implement them. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know.