How to be sucessful as a indie artist?

[Zara Hart]

I want to be a singer, and I know it will take time and I will not become a overnight sensation. I also know thousands of others are aiming at the same goal and my sucess rate is slim, however, I enjoy what I do and I would like to make at least a livable income from it.

I don't like to limit myself to one genre, but I'm mainly focused on pop and r&b. I am limited on funds so everything I need to do is up to me alone . I'm using this as additional research, so what is it I need to do to be sucessful?

how do i gain a fan base?
how and where to I get people to listen and play my music?
, where can I get my music reviewed?
how do I start a mailing list?
what are the steps I need to follow when I upload a single or an album?
where are the best places to upload my songs?
what are good websites for information?
how do I market?
how do I brand myself?
how can I achieve this without a band?
who are sucessful indie artist?
do any sucessful indie artist (signed isn't the only thing that means sucessful) have a blog or site?, what are your thoughts of me trying to do what I need to and upload a album or song before the end of 2013? and what are tips to make sure I do?
what do I do for publicity?
how many songs should I write in a day or week?
what are advice from other indie artist? (I'm having trouble finding them)
how much should I sell my songs for?
What are tips of being my own manager, publicist, financial advisor, ect ect ect
what are proper steps to follow to be sucessful ( step 1 this step 2 that ect ect as in good business planning
song writig tips?
how to play gigs without a band
info on vpk and apk and epk


and any other information I should know

[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.

[Samantha]

I am a 20 year old who just started a singing career this year. I wasn't sure where to go or how to get started, plus I was on a pretty strict budget, but I started working with this company called Aspiring Promotions. They work really hard with anyone wanting to succeed in the music business.

Posting your work on youtube and things are great, and really a necessary to have samples of you, but they don't really give you chances at promotion or to get actual performance deals, unless you're really luck and get discovered, which doesn't really happen there are millions of people doing the same thing. Aspiring gives you chances to meet with people in the industry and perform at parties and other things to get experience and meet people.

I started by emailing clientdiscovery@aspiringpromotions.com and talked to Jessica after seeing one of their ads in a magazine. Their website is http://www.aspiringpromotion.com. Hope this helps!