Beat logo

My Top 5 Regrets

Don't Make These 5 Mistakes as an Up and Coming Producer/Artist

By PURGEPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
1
PURGE first headlining event. Shot by Kasey Fillmore at Stereo Live (Houston, TX).

This year gave me a lot of time to reflect about my career as a music producer and especially as an artist. I wanted to share my regrets that may hopefully help future up and coming producers from making the same mistakes I did. I want to draw your attention to things that truly matter in the long-term success of your artistry and producing career.

HOLD OUT FOR A GREAT MANAGER

To elaborate, you should be eager to say "no" to management deals. If someone is knocking on your door purposing a management deal, it's a sign that you're doing something right but it is not a sign that you should be humble and accept the deal. It's exceptionally crucial that you and your management are on the same page before committing to working together.

A good manager should want to take your idea and do the best they can with that idea. They should want the very best for the project creatively and financially. It may seem like there's no happy medium but there is and when you find that happy medium, you'll find that you have a great manager.

It's very common to have to bad experiences with terrible managers. My previous manager had not only stolen money from me but every artist on our roster. Unfortunately, one of those artists is still in the hole over 10,000 dollars. His mindset (like many others) was fixated on short-term monetary gains and not growing the brand into cultivating long-term monetary gains.

FIND YOUR SOUND

I wish that I had spent more time discovering "my sound". I think I'm at a solid point where I have discovered things about how I produce that make my records sound like me but I definitely wish I had worked on honing in on those quirks earlier in my career.

"BUT DOUG... I JUST WANNA MAKE RIDDIM DUBSTEPS AND MAKE THE KIDS BANG THEIR F***ING HEADS AT SHOWS"

I'm here to say, DO THAT... BUT... make it YOUR riddim. When you're creating your sound, you should try to create at least 5 songs together. When you just make a single after single, you tend to leave ideas behind. Think about creating an album of songs and I'm sure you'll be able to find the quirks in your productions that will make you stand out.

Having your unique sound is what will drive value to your project. It will drive listeners because your project will be the only place that people will be able to consume that sound.

OVER PREPARE FOR SHOWS

This advice can travel through any genre of music. As a DJ, I think very heavily about the music I'm going to be playing and the flow of my set. This flow is SO important. You have to understand that when people go to see you live, they're not just listening to one song by you, they're listening to a hour set by you. It's a huge difference in how the music is consumed. I know exactly what songs I'm going to be playing from start to finish. This is crucial in developing a flow in your set.

You should think about what you're going to wear and what your stage presence is going to be like. You should practice those things, along with your set, in a mirror or you could even take video of yourself practicing and look back on it to make adjustments. This sounds like it could be silly but it's only silly if you look stupid so practice until you look like you've been touring for 15 years instead of looking like you just started DJing yesterday.

IT'S NOT JUST A HOBBY

Are you doing this because you're just having fun or are you doing this because you want to have a legitimate career making music?

It's time to have an honest conversation about the time your dedicating to your "career". If you're attitude is "i'll put in an hour a day" then it's time to rethink your career path. I spend 8 hours a day AT LEAST, working on music or artistry related things. That's what it takes to get millions of streams across all your platforms in a year and most of the music industry wouldn't consider me that successful yet.

If this is your career path, then it's your JOB. It's time to start treating it like one. You can't play warzone if you're packing boxes at amazon so don't do it here. I only say this because this was a hard pill to swallow in my early career as a producer. You're not going to make $10 an hour making music. You're investing in yourself to make 100k a quarter in royalties, merch, and shows. You're investing to build value. Just like any real business.

BE YOUR HARSHEST CRITIC

The worst critique I had ever gotten on a record from a fellow producer was "hey man, this is absolutely terrible. i would start this one over or throw it out cause this is just not good". He's actually a pretty successful DJ and I definitely wish I could blast him haha.

I took that critique to heart. It taught me that people who consume my product hear things differently then I do. It's okay to not be a professional mix and master engineer and it's okay to not be the greatest producer of all time. You just have to completely let go of your ego and accept that you still have much to learn. ALWAYS. I've been a professional audio engineer for 10+ years and I am still learning things on a monthly basis and I'm always comparing my work to other professionals to make sure there is a standard to what I am producing. You have to set your standards high. You're frankly competing with too many other people with way higher standards so be better about being critical on your artistry.

If you keep kicking yourself for not understanding why your music isn't getting plays or you're not getting signed to record labels, it's time to look at your brand and your music from outside of your box and ask yourself if you're bringing any value to the table.

I think the biggest takeaway is to not only build value for your artistry but to also truly understand the value of your artistry. Your art and your music are YOURS and it's not anyone else's until you sign it away. So don't be so quick to do so and just keep thinking about building value. If you have something that people value, then they will want it. Simple as that.

industry
1

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.