Thanks to the internet, anybody can become a famous musician, and they don’t need a record label’s help, either. Thousands of musicians have achieved greatness alone by posting their music on platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud.
However, just because it is possible to become a famous musician online, that’s not to say for a second that it is easy. It requires a lot of hard work to achieve success in music. You need to constantly release bangers, or in other words, hits.
This post will tell you how you can create hits.
Vocal Samples
Vocal samples are previously recorded portions of songs, made by other artists, usually in unrelated projects. Adding them in can be a highly effective way of improving the quality and sound of your songs. You can insert them by using a vocal sampler, which you can download online. Make sure that you do your research and find a sampler that’s well-reviewed. A sampler’s reviews will give you an idea of what it is like to use it. Make sure that the songs that you use aren’t copyrighted, otherwise, you could get into trouble.
Creating Beats
If the songs that you create are in the urban, drum ‘n’ bass, or techno genres, then it’s very likely that you won’t use actual instruments to make them. If this is the case, then you need high-quality mixing software. This software is not cheap but is widely available. As with samplers, take the time to do your research, read reviews, and find the software that’s most popular among experienced music producers and songwriters. There are various courses that you can take online to learn how to use mixing software (and learn how to create your own beats).
Using Instruments
If you want to create a song that’s not as heavily reliant on software, then you can use actual instruments. The main reason that a lot of people don’t use instruments nowadays is that they can take a long time to master, plus certain genres, like rap, don’t use them. There aren’t many ways to incorporate a piano or guitar riff into a rap song. If you make rock ‘n’ roll music, or another genre that uses instruments, then take the time to learn the one that you think would suit your song best (or employ somebody that can).
Singing Yourself
If you want your songs to be more personal, then why not sing them yourself? Obviously, if you can’t sing then this isn’t a possibility. However, if you are a moderately good singer (or if you have a good voice) then taking some vocal lessons could be a highly effective way of learning to sing. Then, you can sing your own songs, making them a lot more meaningful, and increasing your chances of getting exposure as an artist. Record labels look for artists who can sing and play instruments.
Featuring Artists
Another way of improving the quality of your songs is to feature more experienced artists. Featuring artists on your songs is also a highly effective way of gaining more exposure since their fans could end up following you, too. Make sure that you never employ an artist who overshadows you musically, though. This can actually damage your reputation. Also, when you feature a better artist than you on your song, you can end up losing some of your audience to them. The difference between you both will be very obvious and could actually prevent their audience from coming over and following you.
Memorable Rhythm
Whenever you are writing and creating songs, you need to make sure that they have a memorable rhythm. It doesn’t matter what the genre is, either. If your songs’ rhythms aren’t memorable then nobody will remember them or want to play them. A song with a memorable rhythm will be remembered by your fans. People will go around singing them to themselves. If you are struggling to come up with a memorable rhythm, then you could consider working with an artist who’s more experienced than you and getting their help in creating songs. You would have to pay for a professional’s help.
Play Live
It is often much better to write and create songs that can be played live, rather than songs that can’t (i.e., songs that are created using software), because that will make you more desirable to studios. That said, you can technically still play your songs live even if you can’t perform them live if you create them using the software. Also, if you make instrumentals and beats, then singing or rapping over them yourself is a highly effective way of demonstrating your talent and still appealing to record agencies. If you just make beats though, you might not be able to make it as an actual musician, but instead, a producer.
Lyric-writing
When you create songs, it’s always a good idea to write your own lyrics. Artists who employ other people to write their lyrics for them often attract a lot of ridicule. If you ever make it big, then not writing your own lyrics could be damaging to your reputation. When you are writing your own lyrics you need to make sure that they are original and aren’t borrowed from anybody else. Sometimes, artists unconsciously steal other people’s lyrics. Stealing another person’s lyrics could do a lot of damage to your reputation.
Sharing Online
Finally, whenever you create music (before you become famous, that is) it’s a good idea to share it for free on social media and on streaming platforms. Sharing your music for free can help you to gain more exposure. Gaining exposure is very important if you want to achieve success as a musician. A lot of people overlook this. Another way to gain exposure is to create a social media page and collaborate with other artists on social media. Collaborating, as already mentioned, can help you to gain more followers and fans.
If you are a budding music producer or singer-songwriter, then the more bangers you create, the easier it’ll be for you to get a record contract or to blow up independently. Follow this post’s guidance in order to ensure that your songs are all good.
Featured photo by Will Francis on Unsplash.
