4 Things PRO Artists do differently than Amateurs

PRO artists are different than Amateurs in many different aspects, and today we’ll explore the key aspects that differentiate these two kinds of producers so you can start becoming a PRO as well.

4 THOUGHTS FROM ME

1. Treat your work as a business and not only as a hobby.

I know a few producers that are becoming bigger in the music industry and they all have one thing in common: They treat their music as a business and not as a hobby. And for this, a few changes are required to your workflow:

1. Work every day in music and not just when you’re feeling it. As your normal day job, you go to work whether you’re happy or sad, healthy or sick, so treat music the same. “But I have a job and a family…” So find time during the mornings, nights, or weekends to make your work happen;
2. Create weekly, monthly, and yearly goals and make sure to commit to them. You can always adapt them, but you have to make sure that they are doable, otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up for frustration;
3. Practice and develop what is holding you back. Instead of just doing what feels comfortable, tackle the things that you need to develop first and get good at them. To start, make a list of the things you could develop and tackle them one by one;
4. Develop more than just your music. In today’s music scene, it’s not enough to be a good producer to make it as an artist. You need good songs to breakthrough, but being active in other areas can also help you stay elevated to your crowd, here are a few things you can do: Music Education Content (like James Hype), Newsletters, Funny Videos (like Fisher), create your own events (like Vintage Culture), and many more.

Lastly, and most importantly, it’s not because you work 9-5 that you can’t treat music as a business. Like any side business, it’s not your core activity, but it should still be important in your routine.

2. Let go of doing everything and commit to what you do best.

PRO music producers learn quickly that it’s really hard to do it all by yourself as you can’t be the best at music, promotion, business, marketing, etc, all at once. Instead, most PROs build a team around their music that helps them with everything in their career.

“Yeah, but, I don’t have money for that”. Well, then, start small. Start gathering people to help you develop your music and your brand, and here’s how you can build a team:

1. Invite a friend that you know who likes music or would like to be involved in the industry to help you with labels. Make sure that this person believes in your project and that you’re his priority as, sometimes, it’s better to be the priority of a small manager than the 5th artist of a huge one (you can read more here about having a manager);
2. Develop a network of friends that help you with honest feedback to help you sort through your best ideas to avoid working on dead ends;
3. Develop a relationship with the labels you look up to, or have your manager do that, to make it easier to contact them when you’re ready to release;
4. Find people that can work for you for as much as you can pay or in exchange for what you can offer to them (lessons, things your good at, etc).

Basically, focus on doing what you like and get someone to do the rest as this will free your time for you to produce more and can also likely give you better results than if you did it yourself. Lastly, remember that you can always find amazing people if you look for them, even for cheap, but you’re either going to pay with time or money.

3. Surround yourself with the best, or at least with people who are better than you.

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘You Are Only as Good as the People You Surround Yourself With”? That is because you need to be close to people that motivate you to become better at what you do, and here are a few things you can do about that:

1. Collab with artists that can elevate your music, either by developing a killer song, or by teaching you something that will make you a better producer;
2. Find a mentor that can push you through your difficulties and make you grow as a producer. We sometimes idolize ourselves for being self-taught, but if someone can get you where you want to go faster, take it;
3. Develop mental strength by having friends that can support you when you’re feeling down, or even by going to a therapist. A mentor can be your technical coach, so think of a therapist as your mind coach and someone that will elevate your mind rather than only ‘hear you complain’.

4. Consistently deliver good content to your crowd.

A PRO can constantly deliver great content, whether in the form of a show, a song, a vlog, a tutorial, or even a social media post, but it is content that keeps an audience engaged and connected with their art. But, for them to be consistent, they normally do things a bit differently from amateurs:

1. Practice not only until you feel comfortable, but until you feel you dominate whatever issue is bothering you, whether it’s a technical musical issue or a performance one;
2. Consistently produce content to keep fans and listeners engaged. This will require you to create content in advance and also think ahead on what kind of content you can create. For example, you can create a YouTube tutorial for producers showing your production work for every track you release.

On the musical side:

1. Consistently release songs, which can help develop the habit of constantly finishing songs, constantly working on new ideas, and experimenting with different sounds to avoid sounding repetitive;
2. Focus on what matters the most in music production: the song. A lot of us producers spend more time stressing over the mixing and mastering of the song rather than the idea, but the idea and the sound selection are what matters the most to your listeners.
3. Have a bank of songs before you start submitting your songs for release as you don’t want to have one release every now and then.

1 QUESTION FOR YOU

What other things can make you look more like a PRO than an amateur artist?

1. Have a consistent brand across all your media outlets.
Your content, your music, your branding, everything has to be connected and related, and you can even take some influences from it to design your signature sound;

2. Professionals develop workflows to maximize their time:
We’re all busy and we all lack time, but PRO artists organize themselves around their art. Their schedule sometimes is busier than 9-5ers, but they consistently take time off to focus on their craft. One way to do this is to schedule time in your calendar to produce and get work done.

3. Be creative on the spot:
One thing mentioned by Ian Kirkpatrick, one of the biggest producers in the pop industry, is the ability to be creative on the spot. For that, learn what gets you inspired and motivated to quickly put you back in the zone, which is always helpful for writing good tracks (read more here)