Social media and the internet have turned the music industry on its ear. These days, you don’t necessarily need to sign a fat contract with a major label in order to succeed. If you want your music career to take off in the modern milieu, your best bet is to use technology and other tools to establish and grow direct relationships with your fan base. The following suggestions should help you to kick-start your budding career.

DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

Unless you are independently wealthy, you need to sustain yourself while you are cultivating your fan base and growing your career. Of course, you should try to find work that doesn’t rob you of all your time and energy since you will need to simultaneously focus on your career as a musician. Make a conscious effort to reserve a specific block of time each day for practicing, song-writing, social media, building your brand and learning the skills involved in running your own business. This is, after all, what you will ultimately be doing.

MAKE A BUSINESS PLAN

Like it or not, you need to think of music as your own small business, with one of your goals being brand promotion. To that end, focus on determining your target audience, coming up with a marketing strategy, hiring an accountant, protecting your intellectual property, team-building, finding an attorney and drawing up any necessary contracts for items such as song ownership, paying band members, rules, decision-making processes, etc.

KEEP GETTING BETTER

Amid all of the administrative tasks of starting and running your business, never forget that you are a musician and performer first. To that end, make it a priority to constantly work on improving your techniques and practicing the technical skills involved in your craft. This delicate balance between work and play is a challenge, but it can be done. Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Nick Gross of Gross Labs, for instance, is also a working musician. As drummer for the alternative band Half the Animal, he has learned to successfully divide his time between practicing and playing for his gigs and running his entertainment and music studio.

NETWORK AND COLLABORATE

Making contacts in the music business is essential, and you can start locally. Get in touch with area venues and musicians with the goal of both receiving and giving support. In addition, use the internet not just to cultivate fans but also to find peers and mentors for constructive criticism, tips and guidance. In the beginning, you might be mostly on the receiving end of this help, but you will find that you can soon provide feedback and support to other aspiring artists both locally and over the internet.

HARNESS THE POWER OF ONLINE INFLUENCERS

There is an ever-growing community of internet celebrities who make their living from their Youtube vlogs and the product ads that are an integral part of their content. Getting the attention of these people can be a challenge as most of them have millions of subscribers. One way is to give away your music to them for free. If they like it and post it on your site, you have immediate access to their followers, who are motivated to like you because of your connection to the Youtube star to whom they already feel loyalty.

Once …

With Halloween right around the corner, sweets lovers everywhere are gearing up for the festivities and feasting. But before you beat yourself up for over-indulging in the sugary pleasures the holiday has to offer, consider this; sweets aren’t as bad for your health as you may think.

Here are five reasons why sweets are healthier than they seem, and you don’t have to feel guilty the next time you reach for the phone and call in that cake delivery.   

People Who Eat Sweets Regularly Live Longer

The numbers don’t lie. A study conducted at Harvard University found that those that enjoy sweets between one and three times a month lived longer than those that don’t indulge ever. Even people who eat sweets every day lived longer than those that never give in to their cravings. Therefore, in the interests of longevity, we should all indulge every now and then.

Chocolate Has Been Linked to Reducing the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

While scientists are still debating the validity of this claim, initial research indicates that chocolate lovers are less susceptible to cardiovascular disease. A study found that people who consume chocolate five times a week are reportedly 60% less likely to have heart disease.

Eating Dessert Helps with Weight Control

Cutting desserts out of your diet altogether actually makes it harder to control your weight. Studies have indicated that adults that eat desserts regularly have more success in weight loss.

It might sound far-fetched but think about it. When you are dieting and deliberately prohibit yourself from eating desserts and sweets, sugar cravings are unbearable. When you eventually cave, you binge, overeat, and ultimately, gain weight.

If you allow yourself the occasional treat and regularly indulge yourself in a dessert, you satisfy the sugar cravings without binging or overeating. You can then sustain an otherwise restricted diet for much longer, leading to better weight control.

Chocolate Helps Protect Against Strokes

Neurologists in Sweden monitored 37,000 men aged between 45 and 79 across 10 years. They found that the participants that ate the most chocolate were 17% less likely to suffer from a stroke than those that never ate chocolate.

It is worth noting before you reach for a slice of chocolate fudge cake, subsequent studies have revealed that the stroke-preventing properties are only found in dark chocolate that contains over 65% cocoa. Still, it’s a good reason to treat yourself to the dark stuff every now and then.

Cake in the Morning Can Lead to Weight Loss

Researchers in Tel Aviv studied the impact a slice of cake or cookie for breakfast had on weight loss, and their findings were not what you might expect.

They compared the weight loss success of two groups. One group had a 600-calorie breakfast including a slice of cake or a cookie. The other group ate a 300-calorie, protein-packed breakfast with egg whites, tuna, cheese and milk.

The researchers found that those who ate cake and cookies were less hungry throughout the day and as a result, suffered fewer sugar cravings. This allowed them to control their diet better and continue losing weight throughout the study, a feat those eating the 300-calorie breakfast were largely unable to match.…