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Unfortunately there are bad people out there who see ambitious unsigned artists like you as something to be exploited and ripped off. These people are evil and you shouldn’t ever have anything to do with them. So here are a few tips on what to look out for before crying hard.

1. Pay up front to be represented

Managers and agents are paid by commission, in simple words, they only get paid if the artist they represent gets paid. So if someone says they want to represent you as your agent or manager, but that they first need to be paid in advance of doing anything, they are clearly not a manager or agent, but certainly a scam.

2. Pay to get connected with some persons in the industry

There are people out there who claim to be artistic agents or to know some, and dare to request you to pay to get you connected or even get a deal. These people are what are known as LIARS. Artistic agents are the people in labels who discover and sign new artists, working with them to help create and develop their career. They do not get paid by unsigned artists. Never. Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply not a profesionnal. Real artistic agents find exciting new artists and in fact, it would make more sense that they help their artist financialy for prove their trust in their art than request money instead!

3. Buying tickets for a mystery unsigned artist promotion night

This is a scam that appears from time to time – unsigned artists are approached by a supposed promoter who has supposedly selected them to appear in a night of unsigned artists. What the artist has to do is buy tickets to guarantee his/her appearance, and he/she will never see the money again or hear any more about this supposed great gig. There are lots of nights out there for unsigned artists and you should absolutely be trying to appear on it, but make sure the gig is legit before getting involved.

4. Charges for playing live in concert

Gigging is an essential activity for almost all artists. It’s very important to not get ripped off in the process. Some venues may determine their fee based on how many fans you bring along, and there may be a minimum guarantee of tickets you have to sell. If that’s the case, once you pass that minimum you must have the ability to actually earn a share of the money from the sales you bring in. And that break-even point has to be completely clear. Think about what is realistic for you and what make you comfortable with.

5. If it sounds too good to be true…

Then it probably is. Building a successful music career is a long hard slog. The rewards can be varied and immense, but they have never come to anyone without lots and lots of hard work. So if someone is offering something that seems a little too easy, just too good to be true, be on your guard. And if they’re asking for your money up front, without the guarantee of anything, be even more careful. Being a successful musician is hard enough as it is, don’t make things harder for yourself by falling victim to a scam from a bad person.

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With the development of home studios and self-production, more and more artists perform their music independently without the help of anyone. And although there are hundreds of ways to produce a title, certain steps are essential for a song to have a clean, professional rendering.

What are the mandatory steps to make a title suitable for all media?
What are the differences between Mixing and Mastering?

Here are the 5 key phases to produce a successful song 👇

1 – Composition and Arrangements

At the base of any process of musical creation, composition is the foundation of your music. It is during this stage that you will create melodies for your song. Armed with a MIDI keyboard, or just a music software, this step is crucial and lays the foundation for your song. It’s up to you to decide the chords, the instruments and the rhythm of this first phase. As a result of your composition, you will probably make some arrangements. Whether partially reworking the melody by modifying measures, or adding atmospheres through effects, this complementary step seems rather natural within the creative process. To conclude, the arrangement comes to refine the color of your composition according to your artistic desires.

2 – The Record

Whether for instruments or voice recordings, the recording represents the logical continuation of the composition. It is during this stage that you will record your voice, those of potential partners or even your latest instruments. In order to produce an optimal result, it is advisable to benefit from a quality material according to what you want to record. It’s about capturing the best of your voice or instruments to showcase them as you wish. Finally, do not neglect the acoustics of the room in which you record, as well as any plug-in to enjoy an optimal sound.

Note that following this step, it is possible to arrange your voice, which is also more and more in the music industry. You can then choose to mitigate imperfections as well as change drastically with voice modification methods. Accuracy, tempo, vibrato, … everything can still be changed after recording.

3 – The Mix

Once your compositions and recordings made, you now have different tracks superimposed. You must then harmonize them so that the overall result is as audible as possible. This is the mixing stage.

Depending on the color you want to give to your title, you will give more importance to one track than another. You can thus favor a voice rather than a guitar by modifying the harmony of the tracks.

More concretely, you need to create a balance in the frequencies and placement of the sounds of your different tracks. For smooth mixing, the level of each instrument, whether it is Audio, or MIDI, is required. Subsequently, you can use special effects, such as reverb, delay, or echo. Always in order to give depth to your song, it is finally advisable to use filters like the equalizer (equalizer or EQ).

The mixing stage can be done by yourself, although it is always good to have an outside opinion on the final rendering of your music. For a mix to be successful, it is advisable to change the listening support, in order to have a concrete overview of your music from different angles.

At the end of this stage, your song must appear to you complete, the listening must be pleasant, and each element must be audible.

4 – The Mastering

Just like a layer of varnish on your painting, the mastering stage comes last in order to sublimate your production. The mastering should not mitigate the errors of the mix but add depth, and especially make it audible in good quality on all types of media: radio, TV, streaming, CD, vinyl, nightclub…

Even the best mixes can not replace a mastering done by a sound professional with experience. Mastering, also called “pre-mastering”, must also harmonize the titles of a project. It should not be that too great disparities are heard between the different titles of the same album.

But how to master a sound?

It is not possible for everyone to be able to master music. First of all, this requires a professional equipment with a perfectly designed room for acoustics and speakers at more than 5000 € per unit. You must also have good ears, as well as a consistent experience. So this is an art, which is unfortunately not for everyone.

You still have several solutions:

1. You stick to a mix of good qualities if you do not want to exploit your project on a large scale.
2. Outsource the mastering stage to a recognized professional. You can also do this remotely by sending all the tracks of your project. However, the cost of this service is very expensive (count more than 100 euros per title for a complete mastering of quality).
3. Use an on-line mastering service like Landr or Moja (e-mastering). Of much less good quality, services like Landr offer an economic alternative to the mastering realized by professionals of the sound. Achieved by artificial intelligence, this may represent a happy medium for an amateur artist lacking resources.

5 – The Distribution

After these different steps and once your mastering in your pocket, now it’s time to distribute your title! Digital distribution in streaming, CD or vinyl pressing, radio airplays, TV or in sound locations, … the choice is yours.

This decision must however be taken according to the mode of listening favored by your audience. Namely, if your listeners consumes music rather physically or digitally, and what places or platforms online they frequent.

With the advent of streaming, especially characterized by inexpensive distribution costs unlike CDs, it is now relevant to offer your music on platforms like Deezer, Spotify or Apple Music. For this, many distributors can meet your needs at variable costs.

Check out here how to choose the best music distribution, and our comparative of them!

Article from CMC Studio

Distribute and sell your music on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Beatport, Facebook, YouTube and much more with MusicDiffusion®

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