Introduction
Most aspiring rappers want to become successful in the music industry, especially today when the tools and resources are mostly free and easily available on the internet. This simple guide is made to help you on your journey when establishing and developing your music career as a rapper.
The most important thing to always remember is that there are people willing to help you achieve your dreams, and in my years of navigating the music scene, the most common and most regrettable mistake I’ve seen aspiring musicians make is thinking that they can do it all by themselves.
Beyond acquiring exceptional skills, we all know how nurturing and developing relationships is important in the music industry. Reaching out to talented individuals will not only help you to deliver musically, but they will contribute in one (or many) ways that you’ll forever be grateful and glad that you made that choice.
If you want to become a rapper, there’s no limit to the success you can make for yourself. So, let’s get started!
Step 1: Write your own song lyrics
If you want to become a rapper then you want to easily write music that you enjoy. There is no greater feeling when you are able to express your own thoughts and feelings in your music, and more excitingly is when you have your own fans know word for word when they rap to your songs.
Not only does it make you well versed at your craft but it makes you highly authentic, which resonates deeply with your fans. Listening to a beat or playing along an instrument can help make things easier. Needless to say, every rapper’s songwriting process will be different.
If you need exclusive hip-hop beats to rap along to, you can pick the ones you like on
You’ll start to notice better songwriting patterns and as with any creative endeavor, you’ll begin to break and bend rules in order to express what you feel deep inside. You can get feedback from other seasoned rappers or talented musicians who can give you constructive criticism, unlike family and friends who will tell you what you want to hear.
Reaching out to other talented individuals will in turn make you feel more comfortable when polishing and fine-tuning your lyrics. In the end, you’ll feel proud as a rapper when you’re able to tell beautiful stories on your own and develop a much more intimate connection with your audience.
If you are struggling to get started you can find hip hop and rap songwriters on Fiverr who write many songs for rappers everyday.
Step 2: Do Vocal Practice
Most aspiring rappers tend to think vocal practice is for singers. However, most successful rappers have done vocal practice in order to give them an edge over their competition. From sounding clear and confident on the mic to having a commanding stage presence that moves a huge audience requires you to have fine-tuned vocals.
Just like any other muscle in your body, the vocal cords enjoy a good workout. Keeping your vocal cords active keeps them strong and flexible, allowing you to rap more easily and avoid injury. Plus, doing vocal warm ups will gradually put your voice through its paces, and make you comfortable when you want to sing those extreme notes in a song. Once you get into a routine, you’ll find that the activity itself becomes rewarding and you’ll feel more confident about your ability to sing when you do it regularly.
Rappers like Drake, Future, Roddy Ricch, & Travis Scott have shown whats possible when you flex those cords, even with a little help using Auto-Tune.
You can visit Plugin Boutique to check out the Auto-Tune plugin and lots of other VST plugins that can help you with vocal practice.
Step 3: Choose your Sound or Genre
Successful musicians always have a target niche audience for their music. Nothing new to say that if you do everything, you’re going to be average at everything, and you will blend in with the crowd. The key here is that you first become known at what you do well, especially in the perfectionist world of music.
When you identify a dominant sound or genre that resonates with your audience, it will become much easier to write and create music that expresses your thoughts or emotions. And by engaging with a niche audience, you can focus on the quality of the lyrics and the instrumental arrangements that make such an audience love that kind of music.
This increases your visibility in that niche and you’ll become one of the go-to artists for such music, and a preferred target for music collaborations, music bloggers or Spotify curators. This can also really fine tune your expertise in a shorter time period. You want to create music as quick as possible with few resources and keep an eager audience happy. Once you are successful, then you can begin to think of how you can branch out and try new creative ideas or sounds like other seasoned musicians.
Most aspiring rappers can find plenty of samples or beats online to practice with. Here are some of my favorite sites.
Step 4: Create High Quality Music
Recording, Mixing & Mastering into the final product
If you can’t afford to go into a professional studio, you can record the songs at home with no more than a simple computer, software and a mic or two in tow. Nowadays, rappers are much more in control of their music and how it sounds, and there’s no excuse to not make great music anymore.
Here is a list of Essential Studio Equipment for Music Recording
- Microphone
- Audio Interface
- DAW software
- Studio Headphones
- Studio Monitors
- A Computer
Best sites to find Mixing and Mastering Engineers
Step 5: Distribute your music
Music distribution allows you to make your music available on platforms where your audience can either download, stream, or purchase it.
Due to technology and competition, there are many digital distributors out there, big and small, ready to help you share your music to a global audience. Your music can be made available on digital platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer, TIDAL and many others.
Music distributors allow you to release music as quickly as possible without to much hassle, and some also provide and track how your performing with stats to measure your success. Having your music on digital platforms gives you credibility and a way to gain more potential fans.
Here is a list of popular music distributors online
Step 6: Promote your music online
The digital music world seems to favor those who have developed a strong presence online, unless you wanna wait and go viral. The internet has changed things for good and promoting your music online is vital if you want to gain more followers, especially if you are just starting out.
The key is to go where your potential fans are already gathered. This may include reaching out to bloggers, playlist curators, and social media influencers. Email them, DM them, or do whatever it takes to make them pay attention to what you have to offer.
It only takes one influential person willing to give you a chance and get you the publicity and exposure you need to jump start your music career. Potential fans will start searching for your music and even follow you on your social media platforms. If your music sounds good as you say it does, then the results will be amazing.
Step 7: Diversify your Sources of Revenue
Okay, once your music is out there you have to look at ways of growing and developing as a rapper and still be able to make money for all the hard work and time you’ve invested in making music.
There are the major ways musicians can make money from their craft. That includes:
- Touring
- Publishing
- Branding
Touring
Touring or playing live shows is a great way of making money. When first starting out it’s best to perform in events where you’re a guaranteed a huge turnout. These includes night club events or music festivals where a group of artists get to perform together in front of a live audience.
Each artist will have their own set of fans coming to the shows, and most of them have a headlining artist who has the ability to pull in larger crowds. So its a win-win situation for every artist as they are able to not only get paid for performing but are able to win over potential fans. Even though the pay at first wouldn’t be much, it will give you the exposure you need.
Hopefully, as you become successful, you’ll be able to headline your own shows, get paid more money, have a touring crew behind you, and have crowds in thousands attending your shows.
Publishing
Publishing allows you to make money when you own performance/ mechanical rights (for a song’s play on formats such as streaming services, AM/FM radio, satellite radio and Internet radio) and reproduction rights (for sales of physical CDs or digital music files) and sync rights (for song use in film, television and other media).
Major labels are earning huge amounts per day just from owning the rights to a song and their huge catalog of artists. If you are an independent artist you don’t wanna be left out. Some music distributors like CD Baby with their premium feature allows you to collect all the publishing royalties you’re owed worldwide.
The most popular way to earn money through publishing is from YouTube monetization, where YouTube videos share in the profit from the ads that come tagged onto them. YouTube’s head of music wrote in a previous blog post that YouTube’s payout rate in the U.S. is as high as $3 per 1000 streams. Imagine if you have a million views.
Branding
Your audience will start to easily identify you on an emotional and personal level when you have a brand. Your personal brand is built around your passion for music, your values and goals. It aims to express what you stand for as a musician and what message or feeling your music aims to generate.
This is important because it gives your fans a clear reason as to why they should invest in you as an artist and your music. They will be much more willing to purchase your music, your merchandise, or tickets to a show you’re performing at. Having a brand will also make it easier to get more offers for music collaborations and or get other brands willing to advertise their products or services to your fans.
Ultimately, having a brand will make you more money and supplement your income as an artist
Below is a list of ways you can grow your brand as a musician
i. Have visually-packed content for your audience to engage with
Visual content works well for many reasons, namely for its easily-digestible format. This is why having good quality visual components (photos, graphics, videos) is key to a strong online presence.
Like any other business, presentation is important. Below you can get a list of creative individuals on Fiverr
- Graphic Designers – Create Cover Arts, Merchandise Designs, Flyers, Logos
- Photo Editors – Create Professional-Looking Artist Photos for your Website & Social Media
- Video Editors – Create Lyric Videos for your songs
ii. Have your own website
Nearly everyone is connected in some way to the Internet in order to satisfy their appetite for great music made by their favorite artists.
Having your own website can help you promote and sell your own products (merchandise) & services (songwriting, song features etc). You can also strategically target your audience if they’ve subscribed to your mailing list. This gives you a chance to provide exclusive content, music updates, and giveaways.
Having a website also means fans can always find you – anytime, anywhere. This is also a good way to promote your social media channels and build up a community with your fans. It allows you to positively build up your reputation by giving people the opportunity to learn about who you are as a musician.
- Best web hosting site – Check out Bluehost
iii. Have active Social Media accounts
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have all proved useful tools in helping musicians promote themselves. There’s so much potential value to be unlocked through social media.
The ability to reach large audiences is a huge advantage of social media. You get instant reactions to your content and the direct connection with your fan base is a great way to improve your overall marketing campaign.
Most importantly, you get to share your passion and let fans understand and support you. That is the real power of social media, and the biggest impact social media has on most creative individuals.
Conclusion
It’s totally possible to follow your dreams and earn a healthy living as a musician, and there is immense talent out there willing to help you along the way.
And as your music grows, the right manager, promoters, and producers will come along. Learn to promote yourself and get comfortable with rejection. Recognize talent in others and surround yourself with highly ambitious and motivated people that believe in you and want success just as much as you want.
Ultimately, the best musicians are those who are willing to invest their time and let themselves be 100% energized by their passion, both physically and emotionally. It won’t happen overnight, but if you stick with it and continue creating amazing music, you’ll eventually become more better than when you first started.
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