Why Community Matters in Music Production
The Value of Others
As music producers, we are often very focused on our craft and can sometimes overlook the importance of connecting with others. The truth is that there’s much more to being a successful music producer than the production of music itself. Often the difference between a successful music producer and an unsuccessful one is not the quality of their music, but the marketing and exposure of their music; and the whole process usually starts with the valuable connections they’ve built with others.
When you are able to connect with others, their worlds will overlap with yours, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in significant ways; and when that happens, unpredictable opportunities emerge. You are no longer limited solely by your own experience and individual circumstances.
This situation can lead to powerful and unexpected changes, and this is critical to being a successful music producer. It all starts with networking and the best way to network is to find a community. And it’s also a lot simpler than it sounds. Now, how you optimize your networking to be the most effective is a bit more strategic.
Put Yourself Out There
No matter the case, networking begins as simply as a friendly “hi” to someone. Perhaps you introduce yourself, strike up a conversation, learn a little bit about this person, and they learn a little about you. While you may end up having a pleasant conversation, if this is just a random person in a random environment, chances are they will have little value to offer you concerning your music career. Yet, some of the most important connections can often come from the people and environments that you least expect.
That’s why it’s important to be kind and friendly to everyone you meet and realize that the value they can provide you may just be temporarily hidden, waiting to be revealed.
Adopting a mindset that everyone you see and talk to may be beneficial to your career and goals can be a very valuable asset. The potential is always there; you just need to make sure you’re doing your part by putting yourself out there. Maybe they just happen to know a guy who knows a guy who has that significant opportunity for you.
But obviously, the most productive type of networking is not to simply strike up a conversation with random people in random environments on the off chance that they could be a valuable connection.
That’s why it’s essential to increase your chances of creating a valuable connection by surrounding yourself with the people and environments that are most closely related to your specific goals and interests. It’s a game of chance, so maximize your opportunities. That’s the way to win in the competitive field of music production.
But first thing’s first, how can you surround yourself with those people? How can you find fellow music producers, audio engineers, songwriters, performers, promoters, managers, booking agents, whoever it is that might be helpful to you? You want to be in the right place.
Finding Your Community
As a music producer, you’ll obviously want to find a music-related community. You will be surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals and drastically increase your chances of creating a valuable connection.
There are likely a few music-related groups, events, and meetups in your area, especially if you’re in a big city. This includes music-related workshops, conferences, trade shows, gigs and other events. Sometimes it’s also a good idea to save up some money and travel to a large-scale conference such as NAMM, International Music Summit or the International Computer Music Conference. The choice is yours and a quick Google search is bound to give you many options, including information about upcoming events in your area. However, the best setting for you to choose is dependent on a lot of factors.
You may not be entirely ready for a music industry trade show, at least in terms of expecting to build many network relationships with the professionals who attend, especially if you’re still getting acquainted with the art of music production, to begin with.
While there is opportunity everywhere, some events may be costly and out of your budget, especially ones that require travel. However, there’s no reason to overcomplicate the process and that’s why it can be good to start off with a “place” that is within your immediate reach, the internet, and the many diverse communities it has spawned.
Start Off Easy
We sometimes underestimate how useful social media can be and what it has to offer. We also sometimes tend to believe that if something is too accessible, it’s probably not of great value. That may sometimes be true, but not in the case of online communities.
Just looking for public groups on Facebook, subreddits, or niche Twitter accounts will unleash vast amounts of information on topics that are central to the craft of music production, including many potential opportunities. Not only will you avoid the costs of travel and admission as with offline communities, but for many people, it can also be helpful to get past the nerves of approaching someone in-person and can allow relationships to flourish in a way they cannot in person.
Let’s face it, in the age of the Internet, the way people network is changing. Not only is the way to network changing, but people are changing with it and the music industry is as well. Today, many music careers have been built almost exclusively from the Internet. Every facet, from marketing to collaboration and release can take place over the Internet without the need to ever step outdoors. Whether this is good or bad for society and the future of the music industry is debatable, but nonetheless, it is a growing reality and one that isn’t slowing down. So, why not further embrace the platform which is dominating and explore these online music communities?
Groups on social media platforms, such as Facebook, will also allow your issues, questions, and concerns to be heard quickly by a large number of people. Looking for a graphic artist to work on your album art or logo? Try Facebook. Need to have your demo heard along with some valuable feedback? Ask the people on Twitter. Reddit’s algorithm works differently. It considers the content with more upvotes more “relevant.” Thus if there is something that the community finds important, the post will rise higher on the page, making you aware of what the average music enthusiast is interested in and also presenting a valuable and organic marketing opportunity. These are just a few useful applications that can come about from being part of an online music community.
There are also other chat-based platforms that nest large niche communities, such as Discord, which has gained considerable traction over the last few years. We have made the conscious decision to host the AudioGearz Music Producer’s chat on Slack, a platform we sincerely enjoy and one we hope to continue to grow our group through; that is, into a valuable resource and community for music production.
Some of the Slack channels available in the AudioGearz music producer’s group
What is Slack?
Slack was initially designed as a digital workspace, but it emerged into a platform with a higher purpose. It’s not only about work anymore. It allows you to communicate with your peers directly, as well as on specific topics that have dedicated channels. Slack makes it easy to collaborate and share files and has evolved from a great platform for workplaces to the perfect platform to host an online community. These reasons, combined with the flexibility and intuitive design of Slack, is why we’ve chosen it for our music production community.
The Powerful Effect of Community
Being around people that have the same interests as you can be an enriching and fulfilling experience. A collective of peers that have gone through what you are currently dealing with can speed up your progress once the information starts circulating in the community.
When you become part of a music community, the creative energy is contagious. People want to share their music, people are looking to build relationships, pursue possible collaborations, and share the knowledge they have, turning the environment into a valuable place to learn and grow as a music producer.
The AudioGearz Music Producer’s Community
While there are certainly plenty of communities you can choose from, we have our very own growing community that you can quickly join and experience. The AudioGearz Music Producer’s group has a live chat with channels for mixing, sharing music, studio gear, and more. It can be a great place to share your material, ask questions, learn, and collaborate. If you’re ready to join a community, we recommend you give the AudioGearz Music Producer’s group a shot.
