READ: Some Tips You Must know About Music!

JUST 5 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME‎

How was your weekend? Hope you are still flexing the weekend/holiday. It started with the Children's day on Friday and today is the Democracy Day holiday. Its another day of rest and flexing.

I’ll like to use this post to address issues why a higher majority of songs never see the light of the day, which basically centres around a lackadaisical sense on the part of the aspiring artistes.

First off, you should know that your music is and will always be a representation of who you are. When people hear your song, they can immediately tell the basics about you.

Are you really keen on your music business?
Or perhaps you’re just another one of the many unemployed, last resort students from the let's try it and see if it works school of thought.
Can you actually sing?
Or are you just forcing it?

Your music tells us all of these things and perhaps even more. These are times when men have began to make bread from out of stones. Nothing is impossible, long as you’re willing to do the right things in tailoring destiny’s events in your favour.

1. KNOW YOURSELF, KNOW YOUR ART

It’s not wrong if your motive in music is solely to make money. As a matter of fact, not all music is for everybody but you must know yourself and know how to use your person to milk the desired results. You can’t be finding solace in Adele or Frank Ocean styled songs and then say you’d like to deliver the kind of jam Flavour or Lil Kesh will pull off easily. Many times, I hear some guys tryna pull off a Lil Kesh on their songs simply because he is in hot demand right now and his kind of songs are the rave of the moment. But it doesn’t work just like that and because they’re not aware, the end result of their studio time is nothing but a self-serving hot mess.

2. HAVE A STYLE

This applies both physically and creatively. You’re a star you know, or perhaps you’re gonna be one. You must have an appearance statement, always step out with the intent to making very bold impressions. Find that one thing that people can always peg you for every time they see or hear you. Korede Bello has that disturbing ‘fro and outfits that look like they were pulled out of MJ’s funeral closet; Banky W has the signature bald and beard; Flavour has the Thor-esque look and long locks to complement; Omawumi is exceptionally afrocentric and stylish, her signature hairdo being the bougie ‘fro; Yemi Alade is almost effortless at wearing Africa… literally; Chidinma is slaying with everything natural; Wizkid is crazy for all the expensive $hxt; Reekado Banks has the bololo dada, the list goes on.

Your statement can even be an unoriginal concept but you must own it and stick with it. That’s on looks. For the music, you must develop your style. Burna Boy, Cynthia Morgan and Patoranking are all ragga/dance hall music sensations but they all have different styles, even in their patois speaking frenzy. They didn’t get this far by trying to be someone that they were not. The industry is already one baddoenough, so don’t try to become another him. Nobody will see you for who you are (or actually can be).

3. PACKAGING

I can’t overemphasize this point enough, it is key! Packaging applies in very little and most times, overlooked details like your cover artwork, stage name and the vocal pseudonyms that open your music records. How do I take anyone seriously who answers to mononyms stylized after an animated series on Cartoon Network? Or perhaps cryptic titles that makes my skin crawl. I understand that these aliases are gotten from a famed reputation during one’s early youth, for some it’s a life-changing experience but it is noteworthy to remember that you’re only ever going to be 17 or 21 once in your life, and your success from age 17 will tarry till you’re 42 and over (unless you plan on dieing at 18, which I doubt). Please stick with names that will make sense even in latter years.

Also, spend a little more to earn a little more. That one record you perhaps didn’t put proper consideration into may have been a winner if it had a decent artwork that people would have seen. If you can spend all that cheese waxing tracks in a studio, then you can go an extra mile by doing a mini shoot. Get a good graphics artist to design you a befitting cover for your music. Total error would be to use one of those pictures taken on your phone with VGA camera while having brunch at a popular chill spot to do your cover. There’ll be too many things wrong with the outcome. Worse off, is when you get on a graphics editing software by yourself (with no proper skill for such) to create a cover that consists of nothing but a bland background template and hideous looking texts with social media emblems.

Now read this, when I visit a music blog and I’m feeling behooved to giving one or two new artistes a fair chance, I look out for those who cared a little too much in their efforts. The only way I can tell your seriousness is from your packaging and how do I decide that when I haven’t even heard your music? The artwork. That minute detail is the deciding factor on whether or not to download your song. And let’s say you succeed in getting me to cop your music, the very moment I hear you shouting some gibberish jabber like a crazed maniac at your track’s intro, trust me, that’s the end of the road for us. So just sing, rap or do whatever it is you set out originally to do on your track, and let that creative originality speak for you.

4. PAY ATTENTION

No man is an island, they say. Feedback helps you decipher how people react to your artiste person or your musical choices. Give ear to constructive criticism. Hear what music critics have to say about you and your music. Listen to the bloggers. The DJs. The OAPs. Even the fans. Please the fans I’m talking about, are not your goons who spent sleepless nights with you kushing and boozing at the studio while you filled the mic with vocal garbage after you don dirty eye finish.

For those who have no vocal prowess or sing-ability, listen more. Many of us doing music today didn’t exactly have the privilege of going to a music school or learning the art professionally and otherwise. We just had to listen a little more than usual and then began replicating everything we heard till we could have a firm lid on point 1 and 2 already listed above. Thank God for studio technology, there’s technical processes that can make you sound like Lucifer. Just spare us the wrath whenever you’re presented with the opportunity of performing live. Tell them you’re only a recording artiste. Or better yet, Davido already got the key to that success. Lip-synch that bxtch of a hit-banger but ensure you’re prancing all over the stage like a deranged mammal injected with some ecstasy. Lol!‎

Hope this got some new stuff into your system. Digest it well.

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