Do you love music, or have always dreamed of becoming a musician?
If the answer is yes, then it is never late to set out in search of your true passion. While it would be best if you have a degree or certificate in music or have studied music at school level, you can always find a way to learn.
In any case, whether you are a graduate in music, or not, you can start out en-route to becoming a professional musician.
Professional musicians mainly fit in to two types, the general ‘live musicians’ who perform in venues like bars, restaurants, clubs etc, and the ‘session musicians’ who tend to perform for recordings, movies, TV etc.
Once you have decided what interests you, you can set out a career path for yourself and help you find your niche in the music world.
Learn music
Learning music is the first step towards becoming a professional musician. You can learn it in school or college or by hiring a local tutor.
You should not only know how to play a particular instrument but also be well versed in musical notation.
Learn to read and even write musical notation as this is instrumental to your growth as a professional musician. Learning history of music, theory and styles and genres of music is also helpful.
Get registered
There are several unions operating in the UK that have musicians as members. You should try to get registered in one or more of these unions.
The registration process is normally simple and your name will get added to their database of members and web site upon completion.
Musicians’ Union is one such organization that gives you various benefits like legal assistance, advice on career and business, protection of your rights and access to nationwide network of musicians.
Incorporated Society of Musicians and Musicians’ Union are both well established unions where you can get registered.
You can also get registered with free-index, LAMNET (Local Amateur Music Network), Musicians-in-your-city and other online UK musician directories to get work and recognition. You can also contact your fellow musicians and discuss your questions with them.
Insurance and PAT testing
Musicians need to get different insurance covers to keep their finances safe. Public Liability Insurance and Instrument Insurance are two most important insurances in this regard.
While PLI saves you from any public property damage liability, instrument insurance protects your instruments against any damage.
This insurance can be either taken individually or through the musician unions. These Unions provide both PLI and Instrument insurance cover to their members.
For example, Musicians’ Union and Music Teacher MU, both give PLI cover of 10m Pounds and Instrument Insurance of £2000 to their members.
As a professional musician, you might be required to take some portable appliances like mixing desks and amplifiers with you to a performance venue.
Most likely these organizers will ask PAT certificate from you to make sure that these appliances are safe and properly covered under insurance.
So, if you have such appliances, make sure to get PAT testing certificate to avoid any last time hiccups.
Know where you are
It is not uncommon to over or under estimate oneself. If you are a musician or want to become one, it is very important that you see where you stand.
You can take advice from your seniors, ask your friends, get honest opinion and most important of all, make sure that you know what you are doing.
This will help you target the right niche. Also, you can start a garage band or something like that and play some music.
This would help you keep in touch with your talent, improve your performing abilities, give a chance to explore and also boost your confidence.
Promote yourself
The starting path to becoming a musician is the most difficult one. Since you are new on the block, you need to promote yourself and let people know about your music.
You can do this by using social media networks like twitter, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, MySpace and Facebook.
You can also upload your video on YouTube or Vimeo. Specialist musician sites like https://www.lastminutemusicians.com are a good place to build an online profile and tap in directly to the public demand.
Developing contacts with influential people in the industry can also work wonders for your career. You can contact local studios and labels to be on the top of their mind.
This works the same a job portals, if your profile is updated you come on the top of search list, which ultimately gets you more job offers.
Realise the importance of demo
Recording a demo of your music should be the next task on your agenda. You need not spend thousands of pounds rather just get a small demo recording.
Musicians and people looking to hire musicians know that you are new and trying to make an impact. A quick YouTube demo is a quick and easy way to get something usable.
If your music is good, they will contact you irrespective of the quality of video. But keep a demo handy so that you can send it as soon as an opportunity approaches.
How to find gigs?
Finding gigs is the final step towards becoming a professional musician. If you can’t find such events, you will not have a head-start in your career.
So, try to get as many gigs as possible irrespective of time or money. In the first few years all you need to do is get attention and increase visibility.
For this, money and place should not be a limiting factor. Try to accept every gig that comes your way.
You can definitely take some professional help in this regard. There are various online sites where professionals are available to provide right guidance and help in this regard.
You can visit and register with these sites and increase your chances for finding an event.
You can also start an online blog with your work on it, or take help of social media networking. meeting new people and using these contacts to get gigs is also a crucial step.
Remember, the first few years in your career are extremely crucial and determine how successful you will be.
Make sure to grab each opportunity that comes across and develop a strategy. Music is an amazingly rewarding career as not only you get to invest your time and skills in what you love, but also get financial freedom.
So, follow these steps and start your career as professional musician!
If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment below – we’d love to hear your feedback! Also please check out our other how to get gigs tips on the right of this page.
