There are many ways to propel your career as a beatmaker/producer, when it comes to establishing a lasting and direct foothold in the music industry, audio, sound events, festivals, gigs and concerts.
First and foremost, it seems obvious that to present yourself as a beatmaker/producer you need to have several high-quality projects to showcase, a portfolio that demonstrates the extent of your talents and abilities, and that will also give a clearer idea of your preferred aesthetics and genres. If this isn't your case, here's a sample article which will give you a solution for finishing your projects, grouping them together with an artistic direction and helping you put together a first demo.
First step: Documentation, monitoring, research, inspiration, collaboration
Research labels (independents and associations) and record companies
A first asset is to know and identify the local and global players in the industry, not only because it's important to know what you're talking about to be professionally credible, but also so that you can follow role models, people who have themselves once been in your shoes. It also enables you to keep abreast of industry news and events, and to network. Then, as a second step, you'll put together an action plan and a list of contacts or a map to start canvassing.
Collaborate/work with others
The search can also be on to find allies and fellow travelers in your quest. Synergy is often the best way to start sharing your music and making a name for yourself, while making interesting encounters that will also unlock access to a wealth of information, techniques or knowledge you may not have thought of. Facebook, Reddit are examples of areas that abound with opportunities for featuring or making music together, and for finding geographically close people who share your aesthetics, interests and/or professional goals.
Alternatively, a slightly more old-school solution is online forums, where you'll find passionate community niches full of knowledge to share.
Monitor the market:
Like any other market, the music industry has its own codes and trends, and it's likely that your creations are based on multiple influences and codifications, that your universe is based on a body of work that has had an influence on you, sometimes without you even being aware of it. As Kerby Ferguson's excellent work : Everything is a Remix. So how do you get the best out of the game? Well, creative processes often draw their inspiration from what already exists, which is why it's so important to keep a close eye on what's out there, and listen critically to what's best in your field. It's also a challenge and a good exercise for you to set yourself the goal of trying to reproduce as closely as possible the work or create in the style of a producer, to understand and analyze what their recipe is and what the significant elements of their sound signature are, so as to determine and perfect your own.
Step two: Manage your career, visibility, control your image and exist outside your own circle
After this preamble, here is a list of some of the opportunities offered at our school for our students:
Visibility on streaming platforms
A quick and effective way to get your work recognized is to make yourself visible, so to speak. The first step is to get your music on streaming platforms, YouTube and SoundCloud, and to promote it on social media. At Musitechnic, for example, we offered students and graduates the chance to share their projects and relay them on our platforms for facebook, instagram etc., to give them extra exposure and highlight the knowledge they have gained to improve their productions.
Create and integrate Playlists
By creating playlists where you mix artists and productions that influence you with your own work, you also give yourself the chance and opportunity to be discovered or simply to increase your number of listens.
Music career management (website, image, artistic direction)
It may seem obvious to some, but having a good presentation (website, graphic identity, art direction, quality photos and visuals), a good CV and a good presentation of your projects all help to consolidate the first impression people make of you. Don't forget that you become the product, or at least your services become the product you're going to (re)present and embody.
Arriving at a networking event empty-handed is also a mistake to avoid... So having a few small investments to work on your brand image can make you instantly and without much effort more professional.
Have a website with a domain name and a professional email address, a business card, a portfolio or demo, or even a link to dematerialized listening to your productions. Be creative, use QR codes, have a site with good audio integration.
Once again, you can't hope to exist in people's eyes if you're invisible on most social media platforms. It's all about maintenance and active monitoring to get people to follow your content. Publish content regularly, and encourage interaction with your growing community (however small). It's all about regularity and constant presence.
Approach local media, student newspapers, local and underground radio stations with demos of your projects and your portfolio
As we do for our students, we give them the opportunity to present their projects and practice their media skills by contributing content to a radio program. Getting people to listen to your work goes a long way towards creating and retaining an audience, while contributing to the community spirit of in-house projects. In the same way, get involved locally with student organizations, newspapers and the media, who might be likely to relay your story or write an article about your career or your creations.
Network at local scene events, get involved in associations
A final opportunity we offer our students is to take part in networking events. The school regularly offers talks by influential outside organizations in various industries, giving students the opportunity to interact and get involved in different fields and projects. For example, over the April/May period: we brought in Kino Montréal to talk about their short film festival and the involvement and impact that our students' participation in this project could have. We also visited the Studio Circonflex premisesA final influential player was Youri Dominique, who visited us to showcase his work with the French advertising company. A final influential player was Youri Dominique, who came to present his work with AMUQ (Association des Musiques Urbaines du Québec) itself promoting and organizing networking events.
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