RESEARCH PORTFOLIO: THE PROFESSION OF A SELF MANAGED INDEPENDENT ARTIST

Sonny Hall

Introduction

Within the creative industries, the ‘self managed indpendent artist’ is a key role, connecting other branches of the field together, providing for many other jobs like session musicians and producers. Artists shape the industry and work in a range of different settings, particularly self managed, independent ones. Work spans from studio time recording, live performance, writing, rehearsing and being in control of finances and gigs. 

This porftolio will look at the pathways into a role such as this, researching what is required by the artist – qualifications, responsibilities, skills, financial and legal considerations, marketing strategies, professional challenges and career-development opportunities. It will also provide a greater understanding of the other roles in the industry – with many being close and following a similar path into the arts and the different roles that are offered.

Qualifications and experience required

Unlike other jobs and roles, there’s no singular, set qualifications needed for an artist. In fact, many successful artists are self taught, lacking qualifacations and entering the profession none acedemically. However, in todays current aristic landscape, this is much more difficult and a mix of formal education and practical experience is necessary and helpful for the career.

Qualifications: 

• BA/Bmus (Music performance degrees), this degree helps develop an artists technical skills, ensamble skills and encourage musicians to play in a range of styles to help find their own sound and stylistic awareness. They can also offer useful training on other relavant areas to a self managed independent artist, such as; how to work in a studio setting, producing – admin/busines work like taxes and how to manage finances correctly. This especially is very important for a ‘self managed – independent’ artist, who will most likely be self employed, dealing with their own finances (ICMP. 2020; BIMM Institute, n.d.).
• Specialist, vocational courses at conservatoires also offer training into performance, and technical ability, which is useful for artists as practical knowledge that is required to be successful in this area (Leeds Conservatoire, 2026).

So, while academic qualifications are not 100% neccessary, they are very helpful and provide aspiring artists with chances and resources, helping develop:

– Theory knowledge and site reading skills

– Exposure to professional studios and equipment

– Networking opportunities

– Discipline and practice routines

– Versatility across genres

Experience (professional):

• Playing in bands/ensambles – this can be a live setting or just rehearsing.
• Recording at home (home studios offer knowledge into different DAWs adnrecording methods)
• Studio time contributes to experience
• Joining in jam sessions, open mics or any form of informal musicianship work
• Live performances in a range of styles to develop these skills.
• (Help Musicians, n.d).

It’s most common that an artist will build a reputation and word of mouth to build a successful career.

Knowledge, Skills and Personal Qualities Needed

Being a self managed independent artist requires a large skillset, it’s not just about being technically proficient on the instrument, marketing, professionalism and being competant and organised are key skills that are absolutley necessary in order to persue this career (BBC, 2019).

• Technical skills: The main part of being an artist in this sense is being good at the instrument, for example, guitarists must be at a high standard to sound good and acheive success, if not no one will want to listen. This doesn’t have to be in terms of site reading and advanced techniques, being good enough to know what the audience wants to hear will boost success further.
• Resilience and perseverance – the ability to bounce back from setbacks – which is common in this field, and sticking with goals no matter what.
• Flexability – change is always happening in this industry, with advances in technology like AI, it’s important to utilise this and not be stuck in the past, being adaptable is a key trait and will offer you success as people know you’re reliable.
• Knowledge of the studio and how to record is also important, it can help produce and get the sound thats desired. It doesn’t have to be a complete understanding of everything, but a bit of knowledge of software and DAWs would help and make an artist feel more comfortable in these circumstances.
• An ability to network is key – building positive relationships and connections with other muscians/producers/recording studios keeps a secure line of work.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
• (Luck, S, 2024).

Main duties and responsibilities of an artist

Duties and responsibilities vary daily for an artist, it’s not a repetetive job, for example; working in the studio, writing, performing or gigging. When on tour, artists are mostly performing every night, and on the move throughout the day. When an artist is not on tour, this is obviously very different, with writing and recording taking up most of their hours. It’s also important to consider the success of the artist when thinking about duties, responsibilites and what the typical day looks like. Successful artists like Taylor Swift have extremly different responsibilities as opposed to a newly emerging artist (CareerExplorer, 2017; UK Music,2020).

For a newly emerging artist, a typical day may look like this:

• Practice – dedicating lots of time (often hours) to practicing is key. It could also include, exercises, warming up, solo practice
• Creative work – working creatively on tasks such as writing or recording demos, or even just recording for an album.
• Business and admin – this is a key step that is often ignored, sending emails to venues, promoters, potential collaborators etc. Booking logistics (for example – touring, moving equipment), planning. 
• Social media boosts a musicians profile, It can help them reach new audiences around the world, its important that on some days, time is taken for self promotion on social media, for example – doing an instagram post advertising a new song or upcoming gig.
• Work on a website – updating a proffessional website makes the artist appear more serious. This is especially important when emailing venues to book gigs in – telling them to check a website out gives them a good idea of who you are before they’ve even met you. Promotes proffessionalism.
• Networking, going to events and gigs (usually in the evening) builds relationships with other artists and event organisers. It’s important to do this to meet new people and build bonds within the industry.

 – (Ike, J, 2016).

This is a typical day for a musician who is not in a performing stage where they would be gigging every night and travelling round the country, it’s also different to someone who is recording an album, this would just be them in the studio everyday. Being a self managed independent artist is not a formal, repetitive job – everyday could look different.

Wider responsibilities of the artist

• Maintaining and looking after equipment (e.g. changing guitar strings)
• Practicing and improving on the instrument
• Self promotion and marketing
• Keeping up with new trends and technologies (like AI and how new software can help musicians)

The role requires continual growth – this can only be done by consistant practicing and promoting.

Financial and legal Issues

A self managed independent artist is usually self employed, meaning they handle their own financial and legal structures that affect how they live/work. It’s important they understand tasks like tax returns and how much they should be getting paid.

Income – Income changes all the time for an artist, and its not just through one individual task that gets them paid. Especially at the start of a career, where money from being an artist likely won’t be enough, a portfolio career is necessary, doing different jobs alongside being an artist to make money, for example – teaching. 

Rates – Rates often differ. Live performance day rates; hourly rates; royalties. Music apps like spotify will pay you based off the streams a song receives – one stream is basically nothing, 1000 might be around £5, 1 million streams is around £3,000. Once you begin generating over £1,000 per year, you must declare yourself as ‘self employed’ to HMRC (musiciansunion.org.uk, n.d.).

Support is available and organisations like the musicians union provide recommended rates – https://musiciansunion.org.uk/legal-money/finance-and-tax/mu-recommended-rates-for-musicians 

Travel and touring costs – Touring is important for an artist, it can generate lots of money and spreads the name to more people, but it does mean travelling around, money spent on modes of transport, fuel, how to safely transport gear etc.

Equipment costs – artists must pay for their own equipment – guitars, Amps, pedals, however money you spend towards your business is not classed as profit and therefore you can write it off before submitting a tax return to HMRC (Government Digital Service, 2014).

There are many financial issues a self managing artist needs to be aware of like loopholes in taxation all of this can be found here – https://musiciansunion.org.uk/legal-money/finance-and-tax/tax-advice-and-guidance-for-musicians/tax-and-national-insurance-guide. 

Copywrite and royalties – It’s important for an artist to know what they’re owed and should be making, royalties are important and signing up to PRS is an absolute for the artist, they pay royalties to artists who are members if their songs are played on TV or radio, performed or played in public, streamed or downloaded (PRS for Music, 2019; PPL, 2025).

Marketing and Promotion

Most marketing and promotion is achieved online through social media, it’s how most newly emerging artists gain a following. It’s a useful tool as well, because it allows you to reach followers all around the world.

Being a self managed artist means that it’s your responsibility to promote yourself, a large part of this is to have a big online presence. Social media is massively important to boost yourself and your music to reach new fans globally – digital networking (For, S, 2025).

Examples of a strong online presence: 

• Setting up a website – this allows fans, producers – anyone to understand who you are as a musician, it also builds trust and creates a strong first impression of proffessionalism when advertising yourself (Dor Cohan, 2024).
• Using handles – handles (names on social medias) are the first thing people see when looking for you, or finding one of your accounts. It’s important to have the same name on different platforms, to create consistancy and avoid confusion with fans.
• Setting up accounts on all music streaming services. If you upload music correctly using a digital service provider (DSP), it will upload on all streaming sites.
• It’s also important to have a strategy with social media releases, to create a consistent flow helps maximise your audience and following.
• Running digital adds also means more people will see your account and music – it’s useful when targeting a wider audience.
• As well as all this – a strong brand identity is key and makes them stand out, having a style that stands out communicates to the audience and becomes a memorable factor for the artist.

 – McGuire, P. (2018).

Intellectual and personal challenges

There are many intellectual and personal challenges that come with being a musician. This is most commonly because the artists job is their hobby, which they enjoy doing – meaning the unnerving feeling to be successful is personal and can affect both the working and personal life.

Also, expectations regarding the physcological and physical demands of the proffession, is often ignored, with many being unprepared to face the harsh conditions and working hours that you have to complete.

How to overcome these challeges:

There are various charities to seek support from. There’s also online forums for musicians to share their troubles. (Music Minds Matter, n.d.).

Personal challenges also can come with life on the road touring. A self managed independant artist will often spending large amounts of time away from home, sometimes months or even years. This can strike a emotional toll, for example being away from family and missing out on events at home. Rest periods are important – after or before tours, ensuring you can still do other important things in life too.

(Paul Nichols, 2017)

Career-progression/development opportunities

Here are some ways in which a self managing independent artist can grow and develop over time:

• Releasing original music independently through singles, EPs and albums
• Growing an audience through live performances at small venues, festivals and support slots, and then gradually working up to bigger venues
• Increasing streaming numbers – online engagement 
• A recognisable artistic identity and brand
• Collaborating with producers, songwriters and other artists to expand a fanbase
• Doing other roles such as songwriting for others, producing, teaching or content creation
• Achieving media exposure through radio play, playlists, press coverage and sync placements
• Transitioning from local recognition to national or international markets

 – (nationalcareers.service.gov.uk. (n.d.).)

Conclusion

This essay has researched the job of a self managed independent artist, looking at the skills needed to be successful in the industry and the challenges that may be faced along the way. It shows that to do well, you can’t just rely on being technically proficiant, you have to understand a wide range of transferable skills like marketing and networking. With knowledge, strategic planning and hard work, a solo artist can acheive a sustainable, successful career in the industry.

Bibliography

PRS for Music: royalties, music copyright and licensing (2018). PRS for Music: royalties, music copyright and licensing. [online] Prsformusic.com. Available at: https://www.prsformusic.com.

www.ppluk.com. (n.d.). PPL – UK and international recorded music royalty collection. [online] Available at: https://www.ppluk.com.

London (2025). Discover | Careers in creative industries. [online] Lse.ac.uk. Available at: https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/careers/events/discover-creative-industries [Accessed 21 Dec. 2025].

UK Music. (n.d.). Careers In The Music Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.ukmusic.org/education-skills/careers-in-the-music-industry/.

Myworldofwork.co.uk. (2025). Musician | My World of Work. [online] Available at: https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/search-job-profiles/job-profiles/musician.

Neighborhood Art Supply (2025). 20 Years of Music Industry Knowledge in 30 mins. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oHC37OXAKs [Accessed 13 Mar. 2025].

Sonnny Hall