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Calling All Future Producers: How to Advance Your Music Production Career

Jay Z, the Chainsmokers and The Stereotypes — these are some of your idols, hands down. But as impressive as their singing and performing chops may be, they don’t do much for you.

What truly moves you is their ability to produce music on a level that few people will ever reach.

The outlook for producers appears to be relatively bright, with the demand for entertainment professionals like them expected to rise 12% through 2026.

If you want a career in music producing/production, it’s never too early to start working toward your goal. Here are a few tips that can help you to jumpstart or advance your career.

Let’s jump in!

What You Will Do As a Music Producer

Music producers are responsible for writing, arranging, producing and recording songs. As a producer, you may develop songs or beats for your own projects, or you might produce songs that shape how other artists’ albums sound.

However, if you’re like many other producers, you’ll also double as your own business owner, running your own recording studio.

And no — pulling double duty in this way isn’t always glorious.

For instance, you may begin each day checking your producer notes, preparing your studio for your next artist client and checking to make sure that your song recording technology is functioning properly. In that way, you can focus completely on your client when they show up to start creating music.

Then, when you finally get a break, you handle phone calls, social media, texts, emails and perhaps even accounting duties.

But once you leave the studio, your work isn’t finished yet. You’ll also take part in writing sessions, go to meetings, attend rehearsals and go to shows outside of your studio.

The reality is that as a producer, you’ll spend only about half of your time producing music. The rest of the time, you’ll be focusing on sales. And remember — you are the product you’ll be pushing.

How to Advance in Music Production

Producing music is a very competitive field. However, you are more than capable of advancing if you can build and diversify your set of skills or collaborate with prestigious artists.

You might start out in your own home studio, but over time, you could be invited to take part in bigger-budget projects.

You may dream of eventually becoming a big-name producer and stealing the spotlight from time to time. But this isn’t a realistic possibility for most people.

The truth is that in addition to facing stiff competition in the industry, you’ll also face other challenges, like fans’ demand for content that is totally free online. As a result, there is no guarantee that you’ll be financially successful in this field.

For this reason, it’s critical that you choose music production as a career field, not for the money but because you truly enjoy the work. Also, be prepared to not only produce songs but also play on artists’ records, engineer, program tracks, write, DJ and even function as an artist yourself to generate more income.

In addition, remember that music production is essentially a hustle. So, even while you’re in the middle of one project, you should already be looking for that next project.

Training and Education

To give yourself a leg up with producing music, it’s a good idea to complete a bachelor’s degree in music production.

The industry moves lightning fast when it comes to technology, so it makes sense to learn about the industry’s technologies in a formal setting. As you master new software and gear, your formal education can serve as the perfect platform on which to grow.

Then, look for an apprenticeship opportunity with somebody who is well respected in music production.

Also, stay on top of the songs and content being shared on social media — especially YouTube. That’s the only way you’ll be able to stay current on production methods and trends.

Landing a Job

So, you’ve earned your music production degree and completed your first apprenticeship. What now?

Well, if you want your first gig, you need to take advantage of networking opportunities. The more people you know in the field, the more likely you are to land your dream job.

For example, by attending industry events, you might find out about a job opening involving mixing monitors for artists’ shows. You can apply for this job, and once you get it, be sure to interact with all of the artists after their shows.

If the shows you’re helping with are those for national headliners, ask the local bands that are opening for them to join you in the studio so that you can make records together.

Over time, you may develop a positive reputation with artists, and finding that next client will become easier and easier.

Critical Qualities

If you want to thrive as a music producer (or with producing music in general), you must be good at working with all types of people. Specifically, you’ll need to deal diplomatically with diva personalities and people with inflated egos. Your focus should be on helping them to say focused on the task at hand, as well as gaining their trust.

You additionally need to have some marketing skills, including skills in selling records and getting them distributed.

Finally, you need to be able to work well with money. After all, you’ll need to appropriate money for printing, mastering, mixing and recording, for example.

How We Can Help

We offer a cutting-edge platform where you can easily track, manage, mail and protect the tunes you produce.

We are known for our top-of-the-line support, as we respond to 94% of the queries we receive within a day.

Get in touch with us to find out more about how we can help you to take your music production career to the next level this winter and beyond.

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