Investing in your own music is probably one of the best ways to boost your career, however not all investments will pay off, and some will be completely useless. Most singers when they invest in their music they tend to buy one piece of equipment like a professional microphone, although this is not always the best approach. Before deciding on what to invest you should make a budget, and most importantly remember that you do not actually have to buy everything at once.
You can invest in your music by getting high quality recording equipment and a good recording software. Once you have these you should consider promoting your own music on social media and at local events, the more people you are able to reach with your music the higher the payout, in the end, will be. Just keep in mind that no amount of investments will make your music popular if your music is not good.
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My personal recommendation is to get a baseline of equipment which you will definitely need if you have a fairly large budget then I still wouldn’t recommend you to get the best of the best items as singing may not work out for you further down the line. With any investment you are making in yourself you should think of it as a puzzle, there is no point in getting an expensive microphone if you do not have a recording software and a suitable space where you can achieve the maximum potential of the high-end microphone.
With that in mind, below is a finely detailed list of what you should invest in, but before spending any money you should think about how serious you are about singing, and if you actually need that equipment. One important aspect of investing in your singing career is that you should never go into debt for getting the equipment. Take your time for getting everything, no need to rush and spend all of your money in making the perfect setup for your recording studio, and the next day you don’t have money to eat.
I know that a lot of people say that a singing or a music career needs sacrifice, what they actually mean by that is that you have to work hard, and not spending copious amounts of money. The truth is that your singing or music career might not work out, no matter how much you invest in it, so be realistic and honest at least with yourself. You will probably want to invest in a home recording studio, if you want to know what exactly you need, then check out my recent article Singing at home equipment ( Top 11 Essentials ).
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Invest in your own music with private lessons
If you are a singer and you would want to make a career for yourself then you will have to take some private lessons with a vocal coach or a singing coach. I know that most of you have taught yourself to sing without any help, but in order to progress your career, you will have to start taking private lessons. The great thing about hiring a vocal coach, for example, is that they can help you overcome your shortcomings and broaden your horizons.
Even if you are confident in your ability to sing, you should still take a couple of private lessons, as you probably will learn something new about your singing. One thing that you should avoid is taking online courses, these are mostly meant for beginner singers and they do not have the capability to make personalized lessons for you depending on what kind of singer you are, and this is why you should always get a vocal coach. If you want to kickstart your rapping career then I highly recommend you to read my recent article How to become a rapper with no money? ( Top 17 Tips ).
Invest in your own music by getting a good recording software
Your second item in which you should invest in is a professional recording software, and these do not come cheap. There are a lot of recording softwares that are free but they do not even compare with professional recording software. Just like you can use virtually any microphone to sing, but only the high-end ones will be good enough for recording your singing. One big drawback which I hear a lot of people complaining about is that professional recording softwares are fairly hard to learn, especially if you do not know what you are doing.
It will take some time to learn them, but once you get the basics you should start experimenting with it as you never know what magic they can make till you try different stuff out. Luckily there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube, both for beginners and advanced users, so check them out. The most widely used recording softwares used in professional recording studios are DAW, Logic, Pro Tools, and Ableton.
Invest in your own music by getting a high-quality microphone
Not all microphones are good for recording your singing, generally speaking, the best microphones for singers are the condenser microphones. If you search online you will see a lot of condenser microphones anything from fairly cheap to extremely expensive. In this case, you will have to go with a big brand, not that lesser-known brands might make worse microphones but you wouldn’t want to risk it, only to find out that you have to buy a new microphone.
When searching for a good recording microphone you have to make sure that it is a condenser microphone, it has XLR cable support, and that it has a large diaphragm. I know that there are a lot of USB microphones, but these are not the best ones for recording your singing, on the other hand, you could get a microphone that has both USB and XLR cable support.
Invest in your own music by advertising on social media
You have probably never imagined that you should invest in your social media presence, but this is by far one of the best ways to market your singing. Once you have built up a following then you will have the possibility to market to people who are actually interested in your songs, local performances, and so on. A lot of people and “Social Media Gurus” will tell you that you should first make a website and promote it on social media.
The truth is that most social media platforms do not like it when you send people away from their platform, as they will make less money. What you should do instead is to link your site in your bio, but not actively promote it. You can fairly easily promote your social media page on Facebook and Instagram, just make a new post and boost it. If you have a live event in the near future, make sure that you select the local area when you are boosting your posts, so that only people who live in the area will actually see it.
Social media can take up a lot of time, so do not waste too much time on it, anything which takes more than 30 minutes to post is generally a waste of time. On the other hand, once you start getting some money from your singing you could always hire a Virtual Assistant to handle your social media, and this is what most successful singers do.
Invest in a dedicated recording space
When it comes to where you record yourself you have two options, either rent out a studio or make a small studio in your room. The problem with renting a recording studio is that they can be extremely expensive, especially if they have high-end equipment and qualified sound engineers on staff, a price of $300/hr is fairly normal. What I personally recommend instead is to soundproof your room as it costs a lot less and you can use it any time you want, once you want to record a single which you will promote then you can use a rented studio for enhanced sound quality. If you want to know how you can soundproof your room for recording then check out my recent article Soundproofing a rental apartment ( In 10 Easy Steps ).
Invest in your own music by making and promoting your website
One of the smartest investments would be to build a website, the problem is that most singers do not actually know what to put on the website. You should think of your website as a portfolio website, upload your recordings, pictures and let people know something about you. Now, a lot of people will tell you that you need to invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars to make a website, this is absolutely false.
The problem is that most singers hire some company that makes them the site, and the company will either sell you one of their templates slightly edited for a lot of money, or they will simply outsource it to India. A website shouldn’t cost more than $100, around $12 for the domain, $60 for a premium theme (how the site looks), and around $3 per month for hosting. Anyone else who is telling you that it costs more just wants to take advantage of your lack of knowledge and to take your money.
Be an independent singer
A lot of singers will jump into the first opportunity of having a record deal, do not do this is this will probably end your singing career even before it started. If you have a couple of songs that you would want to record and make an album out of it then save up some money and do it. If you go with a recording label they will probably pay you a small percentage of what you could actually earn and they will decide what, where and how you will sing.
Just as a side note, do not go into debt to make an album, as there is virtually no guarantee of making a return of investments on it, basically only spend money which you can afford.
Invest in a professional photographer and videographer
While you are promoting yourself you will need to use some high-quality photos, you will use them while promoting yourself on social media. In case you are recording a song you might want to also hire a videographer as this way you will have some video in your promo materials also. You will have to make a separate budget for these two as the price per hour can be fairly steep. Most photographers and videographers will also have editing services that cost extra.
Invest in your own music by producing your own merch
Once you have a loyal following on different social media platforms you could start investing in some products which you will sell to them. Generally speaking, most singers make lessons in video format which will take a lot of time and money to make, on the other hand, some singers promote their own merch like hoodies, coffee mugs, and so on. With this investment, you will see a return of investment fairly soon, although it is always a smart idea to hire someone who has experience in such things.
Invest in your own music by hiring a virtual assistant
As an artist promoting yourself you will have very little time for yourself, my personal recommendation is to hire a virtual assistant that handles your social media profiles. In addition to this, if you are also selling a product, you will definitely need customer support no matter how simple the product is, a lot of people will have some kind of problem with it and you probably don’t want to stay answering emails for 2 hours every day.
Invest in local events to promote your own music
Local events are a great way to get your name out there, the problem is that most local events will not have enough money to pay new singers. My personal recommendation is to approach the event organizers and donate some money to the event so that they let you sing a song or two. This way you will basically pay to promote yourself, which not a lot of singers do at events. While you are on stage you can promote your future live events, the trick is to go to as many of these events as possible, as this will only increase your value as a singer.
In conclusion
Investing in yourself is a good way to getting ahead of the competition, although every investment has to be strategically planed. The problem with investing in your music career is that you will not see a return of investment in a short time, and sometimes you will throw money out of the window. My personal recommendation is to never invest more money than you can afford to lose and never go into debt for promoting your career, as at that point you will be fighting an uphill battle.
