Navigating the Different Stages of Being an Indie Artist
There are different ways to reach success as an indie artist. Here are the stages involved.

Life is a journey. We never really understand that until we get older. A parent who has watched their child grow from infancy to have a kid of their own knows exactly what I’m talking about. We go through different stages of life, coming out of each stage with lessons that will help us in the next stage. The career of an artist is no different. As soon as you decided to become an artist, you embarked on a journey.

Many artists haven’t understood this, so they don’t know how to navigate the winding roads of a career in music. They end up wanting to jump too far ahead, or they stay rooted in one spot with no idea how to move forward. You don’t have to be like that, what are we friends for?

In this article, I’ve prepared a list of seven stages of a career in music. I’ll describe each stage and give you some tips on navigating through successfully. Whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been at it for a while, trust me, this will be good for you.

Ready? Let’s do it…

Initial Excitement

The first stage every artist goes through is the initial excitement stage. You’ve just made the decision to pursue a music career, and you can see your name in lights. Nothing can stop you, Rihanna better watch out because you’re coming. In this stage, you’ve finally overcome all the fears and decided to step into your future.

It’s important that you go through this initial excitement stage because when things get tougher, you’ll need all the motivation you can get. If you start your journey without believing you can make it, what’s the point? You have to be excited about it. Consider the baby that’s just learned how to walk. They’re super excited about it

You need that kind of energy.

Wide Eyes

Still with the baby, have you ever noticed how everything amazes them? They see a fan turning and can’t take their eyes off it. Then they see a mirror and are stunned. How about a kid who thought they knew math until they found out “6-8” can, in fact, work? As you progress in your journey, you’ll begin to realize just how much you don’t know.

The temptation is to start reading and learning everything you can find. Any resource you see gets downloaded and added to the plethora of resources in your music folder. In times like this, you have to keep your head so you don’t get carried away. If you had a plan, stick with it. If you don’t, find one and stick to it.

Working with a plan helps you to make real progress that can be measured. When you’re just shooting in the dark, you’ll hardly hit any targets. It’ll feel slower, but I promise you it’s much faster and more effective.

Settling Down

After that frantic stage of looking for knowledge, you’ll finally take my advice and settle down, leading to another stage. In the settling down stage, you’ll calm down and stick to your plan. Full of confidence, you know this plan will work for sure. You have everything mapped out on a timeline. The world isn’t ready for you.

This stage is very important because this is probably where you choose a path for yourself within the music industry. You can’t do everything, so you’ve picked something to focus on and you’re sure it’s the right decision. One thing you must have in this stage is flexibility.

I know, it sounds confusing. I just said you need to settle down, now I’m saying be flexible. Hear me out. The risk is that you go from being all over the place to being rigid in one place. Both extremes are bad. So find a path to follow but remain flexible enough to move as you might need to.

Marathon

This is where many artists give up and turn to something else. No matter what your plan is, success takes forever to happen overnight. We love the overnight part, but the forever part is so difficult to get through. In this stage, your excitement from the first stage and your confidence from the third stage will play a massive part in keeping you strong.

In this stage, dig deep and never lose touch with your love for music. Remind yourself why you started. Celebrate the small wins. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. You’ll need all the help you can get.

Breakthrough

Remember I said success takes forever to happen overnight? The breakthrough stage is the most whirlwind stage in your journey. It’ll feel like everything you do is coming off right. You’ll do the same things you did throughout your marathon period, except this time it’s working. This is another critical stage of your career.

When you get your breakthrough. It’s easy to lose your head and start acting like a star. You have to remember that you’re not a star yet. If your first album was a hit, congratulations, but you’re not yet a star. This is only your breakthrough, and the only thing I’ve seen fade faster than a breakout act is a soccer player compared to Messi and Ronaldo.

Star

There’s nothing harder than a sequel. Or a sophomore album. After your breakthrough period, you must dig deeper to make sure you don’t fall off. If you can maintain the level of your music and the hype around it, you’ll become a star. When you become a star, you can do no wrong.

You’ll have built a solid fanbase who won’t care what you do, they’ll love you anyway. Think Justin Bieber and his “Beliebers”, Nicki Minaj and her “Barbz”, Eminem and his “Stans”.

Legend

After a long and rich career, you’ll become a legend. You’re not the star that has the whole crowd on their feet, but you’re a respected artist who everyone loves. My advice to you is to graciously accept that. All too often, I see artists refuse to become legends. They want to continue being the star.

Accept it, my friend. It’s not the end of the world, just a different stage in your development. It’s time for you to build up new artists to carry on your legacy. Think Jay Z. He went from being one of the hottest rappers around to building a music empire.

Final Thoughts

When you understand the different stages of your journey as an artist, it helps you navigate better. At every stage, do what needs to be done so you can move to the next stage. In the end, you will have enjoyed a long and fruitful career.