SHR4C007R~001, 25102463, Research Portfolio – Written

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Mike Heaviside 25102463

Introduction

The role and responsibilities of an independent music artist vary from person to person. Some will exclusively write and perform their songs, while others record, produce and promote them as well. It can be a stressful, but extremely rewarding career for various reasons, but success in this line of work is largely subjective. The job requires an incredible amount of dedication, passion and mental strength, but those who possess these qualities thrive in the environment. ‘Have passion for what you do, not just the job you have!’ (Dunn, 2019).

Qualifications & Experience Required

Formal academic qualifications are not required to be successful in the industry, but they can help. The National Careers Service suggest that 2 or 3 A-levels (including music), grade 8 in your main instrument, the ability to pass a technical audition and a degree in a relevant subject would put you in an ideal position to be successful as a musician. But this isn’t necessary – there are many examples of artists that have made household names of themselves without any formal music education, such as Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.

UK Music suggest that the experience required to be a successful artist would include ‘writing (or choosing) a set of songs and performing them as much as possible, in order to hone your craft (open mics, smaller venues, etc’ (UK Music, 2020). This experience would help you learn the tools of the trade, while improving your general musicianship. Collaboration and networking are valuable in all areas of the music industry, so gaining this experience and making these connections as early as possible into your career would make a huge difference.

Ideal Personal Skills & Qualities

There are many personal qualities that can be useful to have when trying to build a career as an independent artist. Steve Luck, suggests that Passion, Perseverance, Creativity, Self-Motivation and Patience are among the key aspects of being a successful music artist (Luck, 2024). This is true in every sense, as without the passion and perseverance, you would struggle to put in the hard work required to become successful. Furthermore, without self-motivation and patience, you would not be capable of getting through the difficulties that can come with the profession, as there is often nobody who will be willing to motivate you to the extent you need. 

BBC Bitesize interviewed professional musicians attending BBC Introducing Live 2019 for their top tips on the skills required to succeed in the music industry. They narrowed down their responses to 5 key skills:

  • Passion
  • Resilience
  • Digital Skills
  • Organisational Skills
  • Teamwork

(BBC Bitesize, 2019) Digital skills are useful for a music artist who records, produces and releases their own tracks, as they will be required to navigate complex DAWs and keep up with social media trends. 

Responsibilities & An Average Days Work

Being an independent music artist can come with a huge amount of responsibility. Prospects suggests that these responsibilities vary depending on your area of expertise, but they can include:

  • Performing at concerts
  • Participating in recording sessions
  • Regular practise
  • Attending rehearsals
  • Preparing for auditions
  • Compose new songs/music

(AGCAS Editors, 2024)These responsibilities would change day to day, but having an overall grasp on what the most successful artists have had to do to get where they are is necessary for anyone wanting to progress in the profession.

Joy Ike, writing for Bandzoogle, said in his 2016 article that he personally has 3 types of schedules for day-to-day work, which depends on what work he needs to get done, however he admits that they all tend to bleed into one another due to the nature of the job. Focusing in on his “Administrative Schedule” Ike describes how he keeps his daily responsibilities to: ‘Social Media, Emails, Music Practise, Research, Artwork Design, Web Maintenance, Going Outside, and Money Stuff’ (Ike, 2016).

Legal & Financial Issues

The legal and financial issues that come with being an independent music artist are no joke. According to Adam Ficek, writing for his monthly show Tonic Music, ‘Being a musician is one of the most financially unstable careers out there’ (Ficek, 2024). This is due to all sorts of factors – notably, cancelled gigs, poor album sales & streaming services, and the cost of venues, travel and band members. Ficek points out how ‘the financial challenges aren’t just about the money – they’re about everything tied to it: self-esteem, security and the ability to live a healthy, balanced life’ (Ficek, 2024). 

Music artists tend to be underpaid for the work they do. Record labels take large chunks of profit just for their involvement, and streaming has brought artist earnings to an all-time low. In an article post from early 2025, Ditto reported that Spotify pays artists between $0.003 – $0.005 per stream on average, and as of 2024 these royalties only began when a track surpassed 1000 streams within the last 12 months (Ditto, 2025). This rate is shockingly low and means that artists that rely solely on streaming for the profits of their music are doomed to fail.

Artists can use their platform to have multiple streams of income however, such as merch sales, physical releases and gigs. The Musician’s Union has recommended rates of pay that artists, session musicians and music teachers alike can refer to when deciding on how much they want to charge for their services. They suggest a casual stage rate for a single performance (max 3 hours) plus rehearsal on the same day (max 3 hours) for a venue capacity of less than 200, should be £189.55 per musician. This increases to £211.60 per musician for a venue capacity of more than 200 (The Musician’s Union, 2025). Unfortunately, these are still only guidelines and not enforceable laws, meaning a lot of the time these pay rates aren’t the case. This poses more challenge to the average music artist, as they have no way to guarantee every gig will offer them a reasonable payout.

Lawdit Music have an article from March of 2024, detailing the legal problems a music artist might encounter during their career. These issues include: Music Copyright, Master Audio, Contracts and Ownership of music. They suggest it is important for an artist to understand the different types of copyright and the rights they are granted, as well as ownership over the masters of the released tracks and how to licence them to earn royalties. They also suggest understanding key contract terms, such as ‘Advance’, ‘Royalty Rates’, ‘Recuperation’ and ‘exclusivity’, to avoid getting stuck in unfavourable conditions (Lawdit Music, 2024).

Promotional Aspects

So much of the modern music industry relies on promotional social media usage. The Musicians Union make a point of emphasising ‘creating an identity in the music industry’ (The Musician’s Union, 2024). Online presence and visual identity are key to being successful. They recommend having a mailing list that you use to communicate upcoming shows to your fans, as well as working with promoters and venue owners to establish the level of promotion that they are willing to do for a show and ensure that you support their efforts by putting in the effort to promote it yourself (The Musician’s Union, 2024). Gig promotion is a collaborative effort between the venue and the artist, which serves to ease a small weight off the shoulders of the artist, by them not having the entire responsibility to themselves. The artist should have a catalogue of photographs, audio, video and links to provide to both venues and potential employers – effectively a musical CV (The Musician’s Union, 2024).

Gregory Walfish believes that the challenges of being an artist in the modern music industry can be narrowed down to 6 key aspects. The two most notable of which, are ‘competition’ and ‘ever-changing trends and technologies’ (Walfish, 2024). With the modern music industry being as vast as it is, it comes as a double-edged sword. While any aspiring artists can create and release their music from the comfort of their own home, this also means it is much harder for any one of these artists to stand out from the rest. Walfish describes the music industry as ‘saturated beyond repair’ (Walfish, 2024) and points out how streaming and social media have offered musicians the opportunity to put themselves out there, but with this comes the almost impossible task of making a name for oneself ‘without some kind of support – or a lot of luck’ (Walfish, 2024). He also points to the unavoidable impact of TikTok, ‘you never know what new technology or platform might hit the news next’ (Walfish, 2024). The music industry is ever-changing, and the trends one day may be completely different to the next. This is a difficult challenge for a lot of music artists to keep on top of and while there is no clear solution, Walfish suggests being ‘open and flexible, willing to adapt and learn’ (Walfish, 2024). When seen optimistically, these constant changes can be something that artists take advantage of, to be able to break through and be successful.

Challenges Presented By The Profession

Writing for Forbes Business Council, Justin Grome outlines the struggles of finances and networking/relationship building as being significant areas of concern for many music artists. Due to the unpredictability of success, the financial aspects cannot be understated. The cost of recording, production and promotion are all considerable and earning enough money from gigs, touring and releases to make a living can be precarious. This often means that music artists solve this issue by having other, unrelated sources of income, such as part time jobs, which can offer a reasonable solution, but comes with the struggle of balancing their job with their music career, which can bring its own stresses. Grome believes ‘Building meaningful connections in the music industry is as vital as crafting melodies’ (Grome, 2023) and recognises the difficulty this might pose for some artists. However, he suggests attending local events and engaging on social media to open doors with other musicians, as this can provide music artists with valuable insights and opportunities (Grome, 2023). 

Career Development & Progression Opportunities

Arguably, the biggest mark of success as a music artist is “making it big” but due to the job’s nature, success is a very subjective, personal thing. Some artists would be content staying “under the radar”, while others dream of packed-out stadiums and their name in lights. Many music artists end up going down other routes, such as education, commercial songwriter or session musician. Writing for Kidbilly Music, Billy Kirsch describes how artists should look out for opportunities that will help them grow to develop their career (Kirsch, 2014). He suggests a few useful ideas towards this such as, ‘Be where the action is’ and ‘Don’t take no for an answer’ (Kirsch, 2014). These are aspects of successful musicians and should be considered when looking to develop a career as an artist.

In The Know, writing for The Musician’s Institute, in their 2025 article, explained their advice on how to be successful, and develop as an artist in the industry. They make 5 points that they believe all successful, independent artists should follow – this includes building a strong personal brand and promoting your music effectively. Firstly, they suggest you ‘start by developing a clear and authentic image’ (In The Know, 2025). They outline the importance of consistency of your brand and how it will ‘make it easier for fans to … remember you in a crowded music landscape’ (In The Know, 2025). In the modern age of social media and avid competition, this couldn’t be truer. With it being difficult to stand out from the crowd, a distinct and consistent image is ideal for an artist that wants to develop their career and pull more numbers. Along this same vein, they also emphasise that if you want to be a successful music artist, you should learn to promote your music effectively. ‘Self-promotion is one of the biggest challenges for independent artists, but it’s essential for success’ (In The Know, 2025). Among other things, they recommend creating an Electronic Press Kit with links to your music and social media and creating a mailing list to keep fans updated on new releases, both of which are effective strategies for getting your name out there as an artist. The more exposure you get, the more likely you will be to get more streams on your music, and more ticket sales at gigs, which many music artists would relate directly to developing their career.

Conclusion

The profession of a music artist is one that requires dedication and passion to become successful. From the stresses of self-promotion to the worries of an inconsistent financial situation, being a successful independent artist in the modern age of music is not an easy feat. However, it can bring you immense satisfaction when all your hard work pays off and can allow you to feel truly fulfilled by doing something you genuinely enjoy. ‘Do the work because the work is what you love. Otherwise, you’re just faking it’ (Kirsch, 2014).

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