The struggles of being a music producer

Hey my names Jake,

This is my first time on here and I thought I’d share the struggles of being a music producer trying to get into the industry. I currently study at a music college and that’s all well and good but I already know most of the stuff that’s being taught due to producing music before I decided to come to this college. Now I’m no professional and I’m not here to say I am, I’m here to give a bit of an insight into how hard it is to actually get yourself into the music industry. So I’ve been producing properly for probably about a year maybe and every day I get slightly better or learn a new thing about the software I use (ableton) but there is never any consistency with the amount of streams I get when I post a track. To me the song could sound great and I would expect it to be a more popular song but when I do eventually post it, it might only get a few hundred plays whereas I could make a song which I don’t really like that much and decide to post it only to find that it gets a few thousand views. This is what really blows my mind with the music industry because you might make a song that sounds absolutely amazing to you but when it comes to posting it, it gets hardly any views. Recently I’ve been trying to find a record label to send my music to for them to listen to and maybe take me on for their label but I know nothing about record labels, some people say they’re great but others say they steal your music and money. The best way to get into the industry properly is to know someone who’s already in there that’s willing to help you and show you the dos and donts of the industry and someone that’s willing to show your music to other producers and labels to gauge interest in your music. You could be the most talented and amazing producer but without the correct fan base and recognition you’ll never get anywhere. The best thing to remember when making music is to keep the passion for music and not get sucked into wanting money. It’s a big enough achievement for me if people like my music rather than how much money I’m going to make. Anyways many producers try different things to get into the limelight such as YouTube videos and tutorials which is a very good way to go if you’re good at what you do. The complexity that comes with every song is so great that most of the talent goes unheard due to the listeners not knowing the fundimentals of producing music. The majority of songs take days, weeks, months or even longer to fully finish and get to a standard that is classed as “professional”. The general public that hears the music being produced does not hear each individual instrument or effect and this is what saddens me and many other producers because when all the elements to make a song are there nobody realises but as soon as one element is missing the whole song is ruined (in most cases). Getting your songs heard can be one of the toughest challenges a producer, songwriter or even singer has to go through when they start releasing music. There are many things to help like distribution which gets your songs on almost every possible streaming service but this isn’t always going to get your songs heard.

Thank you for reading, I hope I wasn’t too boring.