Music Artist

Artists are a huge part of the music industry. It is the name you hear when you think of a song, it is the person or band who performs and releases music. Whether that is their own music that they have written, songs they have written together with other artists and writers or songs that have been written for them by songwriters. Anyone can call themselves a music artist, but to be a successful artist in the music industry requires a range of different skills, experiences and responsibilities that will be explored throughout this essay.

Qualifications and Experience

To be an artist, you don’t necessarily need educational qualifications like you might in other career paths to succeed. But some artists may have some qualifications that might benefit them like a music degree or diploma or any music exams they may have taken throughout their life on an instrument or singing. These qualifications might help to increase their chances of success as they have achieved targets at a certain level of ability on their instrument if they took exams or might have more knowledge on the music industry in general if they did a diploma or a degree. However, it is not necessary and isn’t the case for all artists. Some artists might have never taken a singing lesson or instrument lesson in their life or even studied music in further education. This is the case for lots of artists, especially those from the 60’s to 80’s as there were not as many options available or opportunities for music education and yet still some of the most influential and talented artists were formed.

While it is not expected or necessary to have any qualifications to be an artist, it is important to have experience. Whether that is working in a studio and producing or live performance experience. Depending on the type of artist you are and what genre you specialise in, to be successful you must have some level of experience in what you do. If you are a production-based artist, you need to know how to use production software like Logic or any other DAW and have experience using it. On the other hand, if you are an artist who performs live and sings, which is more common, you will need to have experience in performing and singing live and experience working in a studio with a producer, sound engineers and bands which is important for the collaborative side of being an artist. The role of an artist is not a solo job, it is important to be able to work well with others.

Knowledge, Skills and Personal Qualities

Being an artist requires a lot of different skills and personal qualities. To be successful, resilience is extremely important. It is inevitable to get knocked down at some point, especially when it matters. But to be able to keep going after one, two or hundreds of setbacks is a real strength that an artist would need to have in such a competitive industry. This also ties into another skill/personal quality needed to be a music artist, motivation. To be able to keep going and pushing yourself doesn’t just require resilience, it requires lots of motivation. It can be hard to find reasons to keep going and to stay inspired. To get to where you want to be however, you need to find a way to stay motivated and on track. This is where lots of people would give up, but those who persist and use their strength, resilience and motivation, even in hard times, are the ones who are more likely to make it. 

Overcoming hurdles is a learning curve that will help artists gain more knowledge of the industry, for example, finding out what works for them and what doesn’t. Another strength that artists will need is stamina. If they are a touring artist and have lots of shows and travelling to do, that takes a lot of energy. It is important that they can understand and listen to their bodies and have enough energy to put on good shows but also to know when to rest.

Another crucial skill that is needed to be a successful artist is collaboration. To be able to collaborate well with other people and musicians is massively important. If you are unable to work well with other people and treat them with respect, then people may not want to work with you which means less opportunities and the risk of a bad reputation in the industry. Collaborating is great for a few reasons, one being that you can utilise the skills and specialities of others that maybe you don’t have. For example, if you are a singer/songwriter and you don’t know how to produce, then being able to work with a producer is extremely helpful. Also, if you needed session musicians to learn your song, being able to communicate your ideas as well as taking on other people’s ideas that you might not have ever thought about is important and valuable. This is one of the positives of social media, being able to connect through the internet makes this process easier than ever before. Icon Collective (2019). 5 Reasons Why Music Collaboration is Necessary. [online] www.iconcollective.edu. Available at: https://www.iconcollective.edu/music-collaboration-tips. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Music artists are creative people. They perform, write and promote their music while also handling the business side of things. They have several duties including regular practice, song writing, engaging with social media and posting on multiple platforms, releasing music and for many artists independent career management. Clearly, being a music artist is more than just making music. It is also collaborating with other musicians and producers, managing their public image and interacting with fans. CareerExplorer (2017). What does a music artist do? [online] Careerexplorer.com. Available at: https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/music-artist/. How artists interact with their fans is a huge responsibility. Knowing who their fans are and the type of audience they are presenting to is important to make sure they are not behaving inappropriately and to understand the influence they have on people, especially if they have a young audience.

Financial and Legal Issues

When it comes to copyright, performing rights and royalties, lots of artists use The Performing Right Society (PRS) and The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS). PRS helps songwriters and pay royalties to them when their work is broadcast on TV or radio, performed in public or streamed/downloaded. MCPS pay royalties to them when their music is copied in the format of a CD, DVD or any other physical copy, streamed/downloaded or used in TV, film or radio. PRS for Music (2019). PRS and MCPS: Who does what? [online] Prsformusic.com. Available at: https://www.prsformusic.com/what-we-do/prs-and-mcps. This is helpful for big artists whose music is being requested to be used on TV, radio and film because otherwise the copyright would go straight to them, and they would have to authorize access every time which would be inconvenient and time consuming.

Another aspect is contracts. You often hear a lot of stories in the music industry about record companies taking in artists and giving them an unfair contract that only benefits them, but the artist accepts because they do not know any better and are excited about the opportunity. So, it’s extremely important as an artist to fully read and understand any contracts that might be sent their way. 

Intellectual and Personal Challenges

There are many challenges a music artist might face throughout their career. There are major issues in the music industry, one being that it prioritises numbers over artistry. Abelow, R. (2024). Music’s Biggest Problems. [online] Where Music’s Going. Available at: https://www.wheremusicsgoing.com/p/musicsbiggestproblems. 

In an article it says ‌ “In today’s music industry, success is no longer solely defined by a song’s cultural impact or its ability to evoke deep emotions. Instead, it is quantified by data-driven metrics that serve as the new benchmark for greatness.” Adegoke, S. (2025). How Obsession with Metrics Undermines Artistic Quality and Reshapes the Music Industry. [online] Afromixx. Available at: https://afromixx.com/how-obsession-with-metrics-undermines-artistic-quality-and-reshapes-the-music-industry. Some of the metrics talked about in the article are streaming numbers, chart positions, YouTube views and social media virality. Streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple are the reason why streaming counts are the main source of a song’s success and reach. When looking at chart positions, those streaming platforms have come out with their own top 100 as well as Billboard’s hot 100. However, although charts still count towards a song or artists success, it is not as relevant as it used to be as streaming is the biggest platform for music.

Another challenge artists will likely face is trying to get heard in an oversaturated music scene.  Social media has brought both positives and negatives for music artists today. While it is helpful and a good platform to just get your voice out there, that is also an issue. There are now ten times more people able to share their art and being able to find a way to stand out above the crowds is a real challenge. A lot of people on the internet are just searching for virality and fame and lots of them are willing to prioritize that over their artistry.

Having stamina is a good skill to have as an artist, but the touring and traveling and constant shows can be tiring, and it can probably be hard to be away from home for long periods of time as well as constantly moving around. It can probably feel quite unstable to be on the move touring for months at a time. 

They may also struggle with pressure. There is a lot of pressure that comes with being an artist. Whether that’s pressure from being in the public eye or self-pressure. Lots of artists are perfectionists and put lots of pressure on themselves to have the perfect song or the perfect gig or album. But most of the time perfection is found within mistakes. As Bob Ross said “There are no mistakes only happy accidents” www.youtube.com. (n.d.). ‘We don’t make mistakes, we have happy accidents.’ – Bob Ross (Nature’s Paradise). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZEJ8jakqbd4

Career Development Opportunities

A music artist can keep progressing throughout every aspect of their career. Whether that’s in their song writing, live performance or social media presence. As they keep building their brand and get more and more streams, fans, followers, gigs and songs released, more development opportunities will present themselves. Learning more music production skills and developing them further when working with a producer, getting better at their instrument/singing through consistent practice and being able to write better songs because of this are all examples of potential development, as well as being able to continuously learn from other people. Some artists may discover different pathways on their journey and go into writing for film music or for other artists.

In conclusion, this essay highlights just how much time, effort and commitment are required to become a successful artist. While talent is a big part of it, it is the development of the skills explored and an understanding of the music industry that will ultimately help an artist stand out and create a pathway that holds many opportunities.