Set goals and make subtasks

We know, it’s unbelievably easy to start procrastination and not get anything done. We’ve all been there. But with a few adjustments, this might let you take a big U-turn and become a super effective period where you get those things done! Most of us aren’t making a living doing music, and need to work full-time jobs on top. Having a schedule with prioritized tasks and to-do’s makes a big difference, but most important is setting yourself some goals on what you want to achieve, and then work hard to succeed on each and every one of them.

A few tools to consider for managing time and goals is a checklist tool called Todoist, and it makes it super easy to keep track of all your tasks! It’s also available as an app and desktop version, so it syncs to all your devices.

A neat browser extension that works for Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, is the Momentum add-on. It breathes life into your New Tab page, and you can enjoy fantastic landscape photos to kickstart your creativity. It gives you quick access to links, and local weather forecasts, and encouraging quotes throughout the day that helps you stay focused, refreshed, and inspired.

Prioritize the work that makes you happy

There is no secret that the coronavirus is impacting our mental game, and paying attention to your mental health is important. We are in no position to say that you should do this or that, but we think focusing on what makes you happy will pay out well in the long term. Doing the work you think is fun should be your objective. If you love playing around with beats, adding effects to vocals, or doing small tweaks in the mixer, that’s what you should do. Don’t limit yourself to doing just these things, but paying just a little more attention to them will feel refreshing and give you motivation and creativity to finalize and publish your music.

Try to educate yourself

This is actually the perfect timing to learn a new thing or two. Perhaps it would be the power of mastering or mixing your latest track, or maybe learning to play piano? There are so many resources on the web, that will take you to another level if you’re willing to invest some time! A huge part of these resources are free, and especially Youtube is our go-to platform to learn new things for free. If you’re willing to pay a few dollars for courses, then services like Masterclass have some of the best musicians in the world to teach you about their techniques - Deadmau5 and Hans Zimmer to mention a couple. Coursera, Udemy, and Skillshare are super popular services with high-quality courses for musicians at all levels.

Improve your social media marketing and promoting

I will encourage you to explore and learn new social media platforms. It’s worth it because you’re likely going to reach a totally different audience, and this way gain followers which can turn into future fans. There is no need to mention, but Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Snapchat, and Youtube are fantastic platforms to share content. Make sure to have interesting and good quality content before posting, because you will be judged on the quality of your posts. Checking the sound quality, using creative and beautiful artwork, or cool videos is key to get your audience’s attention.

There are thousands of step-by-step guides on how to use these platforms to grow your audience and gain followers. Just try a Google search, and you will see the top results are actually really informative and perfect to learn some techniques and know the best practices.

We have also written a short guide on how to use Instagram as a musician. Read it here.

Connect with musicians

Use music communities to connect with musicians digitally, there are tons of places to discuss music and music-tech subjects. Visit forums like Reddit and browse through subreddits with your favorite topics. Connect with interesting people on Verce.me and perhaps start a new collaboration project? Follow music influencers on Youtube, Twitter, or Twitch and learn new interesting things along the way!

Publish things

Either it's music you’ve worked on for a long time or an old project that got forgotten, getting content out there is crucial to be discovered and receive feedback. And you know, nothing is more exciting than going through your old folders and suddenly finding unexpected gold. There are so many different platforms to explore, and by publishing your music on these, you can suddenly end up with many new fans and followers. To mention a few, there are platforms like Soundcloud, Amuse.io which distribute your music to streaming platforms for free. Verce.me with tens of thousands of musicians worldwide looking for partners and new inspiration. Youtube, Audius, and all kinds of different social channels.

By investing time in publishing content you will get a lot in return. Even if it takes time away from actually making music, it may be surprising how far it can take you by just giving you more input, feedback, and statistics on the work you’ve done previously! Use the data and implement it in your future work and projects.

Final thoughts

The pandemic is hard to deal with for many of us, but we should turn it into something positive by improving our weak spots. When most countries are forced into their second lockdown and the trend of positive cases is still rising, we have to do our part and help flatten the curve. Staying inside, connecting with people over the internet, and being productive, is exactly what’s needed to be done. Hope you enjoy some of these tips.

And if you got some of your own, send us an email at post@verce.me or on our Instagram @verce.me!