PURPOSE: When you are starting as a musical artist, how do you get a clearer sense of your path beyond knowing that you want to be "successful"?

BLOG:

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There may be some unique things about you as an artist but in all likelihood, there are some other artists that you are similar to in important ways. Here's an exercise to help you to get to know the territory. Who are 5-10 well known artists that you are like? Let’s call that the “A” group.

Now pick another 5-10 artists that are similar to you who are a level of popularity below that. Let’s call that the “B” group.

And one more time pick 5-10 artists who are a level of popularity below that. Let’s call that the “C” group.

Naming and defining these 3 groups will help you get to know the map of where you are going:

You can research things like:

what venues are those artists playing at?

Which artists are they co-billing with?

How do they use social media?

What are their fans like?

While the A group might be inspirational, the C group will more likely show you what your next steps should look like.

most likely, everybody recognizes some of the names in the A group but if you can’t name and are not fans of artists in the B and C category then you don’t have a map for your next steps. In addition, you have a much better chance of connecting with and learning from the artists in your B and C groups.

APPLICATION: Who are your A, B, and C groups? What can you learn from them? For example, What venues are the C artists playing at? What sort of image do they project through their website and social media?