How to be sucessful as a indie artist?

[KrudKutter]

You asked 20 questions, not one. Nobody here can give you a complete education on the music business in one post. My basic answer would be "research these business topics using Google".

In terms of becoming popular, etc. The absolute number one issue for any singer is that you 1) Need great materials that touches peoples emotions - and if you are going to sing and record your own material - you need to be recognizable in five seconds. Think about some of the great singer-songwriters (a coiuple from your generation a couple from mine)

Bob Dylan
Stevie Knicks
Carol King
Lady GaGa
Dave Mathews
Phil Philips

They all have ONE thing in common. As soon as they start singing - you know who they are. They don't have to be a great singer - Bob Dylan is certainly not a "great singer" - but you know in 5 seconds that it's him.

If you sound like somebody else - forget it. Right now there are a glut of singers who sound like Adele - or sound like one of the breathy emo girls (whose names I do not know - but they all sound the same) -- NONE of those people are going to have a long successful career because it's not obvious who is singing.

If you don't sound like anybody - also forget it. Did you notice there were people on The Voice who had already had a pretty good pro career as backup singers for somebody else? Well - if they don't find their own sound - they can never move up into a star role.

YOu have to sound unique - and you have to be instantly recognizable. Your material has to connect with people instantly on an emotional level. Accomplish those three things and you might have a shot. The rest is just a matter of YouTube, iTunes, MailChimp, FaceBook, and all the other stuff everyone does to build a mailing list - no big deal - but useless if you don't have great material and a unique sound. Good luck.