Introduction

This is a portfolio of research into how to successfully release music as an independent artist. I will be going over several facets of this career path and evaluating several questions on that topic. Each question I will be exploring will be used as a subheading of sorts so I can organise and efficiently present my research. 

What are the (academic and professional) qualifications and/or experience required to enter the profession?

Due to the freelance nature of releasing music independently, I don’t believe that there is a required qualification for this endeavor. I do believe however that a certain amount of experience should be obtained for you to be able to release music successfully in an approach that garners attention and (most importantly) listeners. 

To start with I would begin with having a solid knowledge of how the music industry works and what makes projects successful. You could obtain this knowledge through getting in contact with industry insiders or doing some in depth research. For example, after Frank Ocean’s (a well known R&B/Soul artist)  break from Def Jam Records in 2016, he proceeded to release his most successful album to date titled “Blonde”. In 2019 Frank Ocean was Credited by W Magazine with saying in regards to his split form the label: “when it went according to plan, it felt like a huge relief. I could move however I wanted in the business and also have all my things with me. And that was the complexity in that strategy—how not to just get away from a record label but to get away from a record label at the same time as you’re getting everything you’ve made that they own.” Breaking this quote down in context with Frank’s release of ‘Blonde’ it shows that releasing music independently with the knowledge of the industry and the freedom of working independently clearly went well for the artist.

Due to ‘Blonde’ and its critically acclaimed stature, I also know that you need the core music that you are releasing to be at the very least interesting. You should have professional experience in creating interesting pieces of work so when you release the project it captures the attention of any listener and potential fan.

In terms of qualifications that could be helpful if obtained, some sort of musical degree would be very helpful in this scenario. Whether this is a University or College degree, some sort of degree at this level could open doors for you to get in contact and work with other ambitious and talented people. It could also give you some helpful credentials that give potential collaborators and creators confidence in you. Putting together a solid team of other creatives, as well as legal advisors and managers can be much easier if you have musical qualifications to back you up. Getting a music business degree could be very important as, being an independent artist, you are an easy target for being taken advantage of through unfair agreements and contracts signed by you and potential collaborators. To apply this to my own Personal and professional Skills and development, It would help for me to finish my Uni Degree as an important aspect of my portfolio.

 What knowledge, skills and personal qualities/attributes are needed for success within the profession?

Following on from my previous research, the university degree would help in terms of knowledge needed for success within this profession. Another facet of learning that could be helpful with your knowledge is having some sort of grading done in an instrument. This again can give yourself and others confidence in your musical abilities. I believe in terms of personal attributes you need an immense amount of confidence and determination. I believe that to have success in releasing music independently you have to have confidence in the product that you are trying to release, otherwise no one else will. Again, having knowledge of how the music industry is functioning at the current point in time can assist you further in getting your music noticed.

What are the duties and responsibilities of the profession – what does a typical day’s work involve?

 A first duty to think about with this profession is making sure all contributions to your work are accounted for and compensated, for example; if you have worked with another artist on a project they need to be properly credited and compensated via taking a percentage of earnings of the product. You can assess this amount via negotiations of a contract. Jen Miller, an independent artist, wrote in an article published on Linked In that you have the responsibility of signing up with a publishing rights organisation, This is so if your song picks up steam and gets used by advertisers and such, you will earn royalties. She says that you should also be creating a press list of ‘blogs, influencers and press outlets‘ to send your project too to get it out there in forms of promotion. You should also be looking at possible venues to perform at prior to your release to promote it. To add information from this to my own personal and professional skills development, I would need to develop my professional skills of networking as that is the umbrella that reaching out to influencers and press outlets is under.

What are the main financial and legal issues that impact on this profession?

One financial issue that you might encounter when you release music independently is your budget for promotion. While this isn’t encountered as much in recent times with the rise of social media platforms that get your music out there to an audience for next to nothing as long as you get lucky and hit the algorithm, if you want to promote your music in a more traditional way with gigs, posters, pamphlets and physical releases. Or even just have a budget for top notch production without a label’s money behind you, you will need to source some money through crowdfunding or personal means.

Legal issues could involve issues with sample clearances, if you have sampled other songs you would need to contact the original creator of the song/the record label that owns the song to get the rights to sample it on your track. Another legal issue that could be faced is copyright risks. Many artists; such as Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo and alike have faced copyright issues surrounding their songs due to melodies that are quite similar to songs published before theirs. If you where to get in legal trouble due to this reason, you wouldn’t have a record label to fight for you so you have to be very careful.

Going back to finances, the cost of going through online distributors can be significant, depending on your budget. For example, Distrokid (A popular distributor for independent artists) has a starting price of $22.99 a year for their most basic ‘musician’ package, their most popular ‘musician plus’ package starts at $39.99 a year and their most expensive ‘Ultimate’ package starts at $89.99 a year.

What would the potential marketing and promotional aspects of this profession look like?

The marketing and promotion of this profession would also primarily fall onto the artists shoulders. It is mainly your responsibility to promote your music. In the modern age alot of independent music artists turn to TikTok to promote their music. This is because it is one of the most popular video sharing – social media apps currently, it also has one of the more rewarding algorithms out of a lot of social media, giving more of a chance to independent music artists at getting their music out there. Following on from TikTok, social media like instagram and facebook also have similar video sharing capabilities making it useful to promote your music on there too. I have attached some examples of social media promotion through video creation:  

Marketing your music as an independent music artist could also entail creating and selling physical releases of your projects as well as finding venues to play gigs where you can market your upcoming music by playing it live to an audience. On top of this, many Independent music artists market and promote through word of mouth, It sounds basic but as a journalist from the ticketing platform ‘Eventbrite’ says in an article on their website from 2022; ‘The right word-of-mouth marketing tactics can help you build a loyal fanbase and an exciting brand. Make your music venue the place to be by building a positive relationship with your community, booking a variety of artists and consistently creating high-quality, relevant content on social media.’  A quote like this one can convey that word of mouth marketing as an independent artist can build a sense of exclusivity and meaning amongst your fanbase as it uses phrases like “creating a relationship with your community”, if done correctly word of mouth marketing can build up a strong fanbase for your creative projects that feel a personal connection to you as a result.

What are the intellectual and personal challenges presented by the profession and how might these be dealt with?

A personal challenge presented by being an independent music artist is the significant workload could lead to a lot of stress. With the power of a label behind you, you can delegate tasks previously talked about such as marketing, promotion and budgeting to other people who are also working to get your music out there, however, as an independent artist the workload more often than not is mostly put on you. This could lead to stress. This stress could be dealt with by having an effective work-life balance, it could also help to possibly get others in the industry that you trust and respect to help you out with the release process, you would have to arrange a compensation for them with a split sheet/ contract. 

An intellectual challenge that could be presented by being an independent music artist is the understanding of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to marketing and promotion. There are alot of specific do’s and don’ts when it comes to marketing and promotion of music (especially when it comes to online marketing and promotion.) It can be alot to wrap your head around and can also be de-motivating when your marketing moves don’t seem to be effective in getting your music out there. In a blog written by Rory Seydel for ‘LANDR’ he says that one of the most important Do’s is to “Stay informed, Keep in touch with what’s going on around you and comment on it” This might be an intellectual challenge for a musician to keep up as part of their promotion as commentary might not naturally be a strong suit of yours. Being a musician is inherently creative, the process of promotion and marketing is often not, and I think that’s where many would struggle. I would use this information to improve my personal skills of keeping a finger on the pulse of pop culture and my community.

What career-progression/development opportunities are available within the profession?

One of the pros of being an Independent Music Artist is that, if you are successful, the sky’s the limit of how far you can go in terms of career progression and development opportunities. Revisiting Frank Ocean’s Career, he has used his immense success creating music to go into the fragrance and fashion industries, both of which he is doing very well in. 

Further on from that, Famous Grime Artist ‘Skepta’ was very successful as an independent artist as he remained unsigned until 2022 yet was cultivating a name for himself for years since 2006. He has done countless shows and sold countless records. His most successful album titled ‘Konnichiwa’ which he released independently, sold over 35,000 copies in its first week, according to  an article published by Alex Griffin on the site ‘GRM Daily’. This shows that it is possible to have a very successful career progression as an independent artist and that it can even lead you into other industries and pathways such as the fashion industry and the fragrance industry. If you are successful, the sky’s the limit of how far you can go in terms of career progression and development opportunities. Revisiting Frank Ocean’s Career, he has used his immense success creating music to go into the fragrance and fashion industries, both of which he is doing very well in. 

Further on from that, Famous Grime Artist ‘Skepta’ was very successful as an independent artist as he remained unsigned until 2022 yet was cultivating a name for himself for years since 2006. He has done countless shows and sold countless records. His most successful album titled ‘Konnichiwa’ which he released independently, sold over 35,000 copies in its first week, according to  an article published by Alex Griffin on the site ‘GRM Daily’. This shows that it is possible to have a very successful career progression as an independent artist.

Bibliography

Solway, D. (2019). Frank Ocean Makes Moves Like Nobody Else. [online] W Magazine. Available at: https://www.wmagazine.com/story/frank-ocean-cover-story-interview.

‌Miller, J. (2019). Here’s a checklist on how to release your music independently (…and have it go well). [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heres-checklist-how-release-your-music-independently-have-jen-miller [Accessed 2 Jan. 2025].

DistroKid. (2022). DistroKid is the easiest way for musicians to get their music into Spotify, Apple, Apple Music, Amazon, TikTok, YouTube Music, and more. [online] Available at: https://distrokid.com/plan/?upgrade=1.

‌Eventbrite (2022). Word-of-Mouth Marketing Tactics for Music Venues. [online] Eventbrite Blog. Available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/word-of-mouth-live-music-how-to-earn-it-ds00/.

Seydel, R. (2016). Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media: A Musician’s Guide. [online] LANDR Blog. Available at: https://blog.landr.com/dos-donts-social-media-musicians-guide/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2025].

Griffin, A. (2016). The numbers are in: where did Skepta land on the charts with ‘Konnichiwa’? – GRM Daily. [online] GRM Daily. Available at: https://grmdaily.com/skepta-konnichiwa-chart/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2025].