Hey! Am so excited to share this piece of me with you all for FREE! As an upcoming artiste, there should be long term and short-term goals. Have you ever thought about it? You cannot wake up to conquer the world. You start by conquering a particular geographical region and then grow from there. These simple steps will turn you to the most celebrated artiste in your city in just 6 months.

Written by Onyema Courage
Instagram: @iam_kulqee | Twitter: @iam_kulqee 

1. EVERYTHING ISN’T MONEY

When food companies launch new products, they organize an event for the public to come and have a taste of their new product free. This is because the market can only pay for a service they could ascertain its value they cannot pay for it. If the public do not appreciate the value of your brand as an upcoming artiste, they can’t pay for it. This is why you must avail yourself to offering FREE services with the sole aim of promoting and marketing your brand till the public sees need to pay for your service.

There is a popular adage that goes thus, “Nothing is free not even in Freetown”. This means that every single package or service rendered free is done for some selfish reasons. Thus, you need to come up with planned goals when offering a free service. Be it freestyles, collaborations, shows, etc, offering free services gives you more opportunities. Producers dish out free beats to sell their brand and expand their fan base. The new celebrated producer “killertunes” sold his brand just by dishing out free beats online.

This step is equally taking by popular stars to capture new markets or hold on to old markets. This is the reason why artistes throw free listening party, free collaboration, giveaways and dance challenge. Drake deliberately jumped on Wizkid’s “Ojuelegba”, it was never by accident. This single step sold “hotline bing” in 2016 and granted Drake the African market.

In conclusion, FREE things are expensive. The more planned and deliberate free services you render, the more fan base you gather.

2. CONNECT/COLLABORATE

“We rise by lifting others” is not just a quote by a general life principle. You might be talented singing alone, but you become famous doing that with others. A man’s networth is determined by the value of his network. Every new producer, OAP, DJ, dancer, director, vixen, record label executive, talent manager, content creator, editor, blogger, promoter, hypes man, media influencer, etc you meet is a step forward. Never underestimate the power of these guys no matter how inexperienced or inferior they might be. Collaborating or building and maintaining relationship with everyone in your city or hood who is directly or indirectly involved in the production or business of music puts you on the forefront.

3. PROJECT A STRONG IMAGE

The first step in creating an image for your brand is to be different. Be out of place (like dressing Chinese in Africa), out of time (like dressing ancient in 21^st century), or be out of the box (invent a new look, hairstyle, fashion sense, music video, pictures, etc). You are selling nothing but yourself, thus create a unique brand that pushes out an artificial image of yours that the market will definitely accept or notice is vital. When branding, or creating an image, make sure that being glued to people’s eyes and lips are the main aim. That people are hating on you doesn’t really affect you provided they now you. Just be careful to ensure at every given point in time, you have more lovers than haters. It is easier to distinguish a white ball from the midst of black balls. Thus, be different and let being noticed be your main aim.

4. HAVE A STEADY FLOW OF INCOME

If music is business, which it is, then as a start up brand (upcoming artiste) you need funds to put certain things in place. Start up capital will always be a problem for entrepreneurs like you thus the best way to tackle it is to have a steady flow of income. No matter how small you earn, just be sure you don’t skip 24hrs without making money.

You need funds to record, promote, tour, etc and your dreams of being on top of your city could be delayed or shattered if you don’t have access to a steady flow of income. This is a bitter truth, music is a business where talent is only but a raw gold that can only be used when it must have passed through the fire of great talent management, massive promotion and a solid branding and the money to do all that.

5. PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE!

This is one point that has been preached by many even upcoming artistes but practiced by a few. Pushing yourself to the market by any available means is the single meaning of music promotion. To be able to capture your city, you need to make them your primary target and use every available means to be sure they keep seeing your face, hearing and talking about you on a daily basis. The social media could help you do this. (Please fetch my article on “How to maximize the social media” online.). Promotion is the only difference between a star and an upcoming artiste. If you wanna be a star, PROMOTE YOURSELF