With the ever growing popularity of Country Music and their inevitable subgenres spanning out across the globe, the desire to break into the music business as a Country Music singer has become a popular ambition. But breaking into the music business is hard in any genre, so how do you ensure your success?
Talent:
Talent can not be overrated in Country Music, you need to be able to sing, because more often than not the backing track is a single guitar playing simple chords, unlike other genres, where the back track is loud and overpowering instrumentals and the voices are hardly heard at all. In Country Music, your voice will make or break the song, if it is less than perfect, consider another career.
Instrument:
You will need to be able to play an instrument yourself, Country Music fans will expect you to be able to pluck a few chords on some stringed instrument as you sing, so work hard learning to play, it will show the world just how dedicated you are to becoming a true Music Singer.
Name:
If your name isn’t right, people will simply not remember you, you need a catchy name, a name that says “Country Singer “and one people will be able to remember, this might mean changing your name, or singing under a different name – it’s up to you.
Practice:
You can never practice too much, practice, practice and then carry on practicing, because you can never get a song too perfect or too well played, when it comes time to play for your career, you will be grateful of all that practice, and remember record yourself often so you know how you sound.
Be a Song Writer
Give yourself an edge and write your own songs, rather than relying on other people’s songs to make your career, listen to a million Country Music songs is you have to, to get a feel for how to write, study the lyrics and understand that the music has to come from the hear t – especially with Country Music. If you can write, sing and play your own songs, you have a good start.
Take any Gig
Starting out, there is a distinct possibility that you will need to take either very badly paid gigs, or completely free gigs, just to get your name ‘out there’ and put something down on your otherwise blank résumé. You cannot afford to be picky when you start out in any business, but in the music world, it’s all about getting your name recognized. So take every opportunity to sing in pubs, clubs, or even recreation centers, wherever will take you.
Work Hard and Don’t Give Up
Face it, if you want to be a singer, you will be working 7 days a week, most weeks, it is not a glamorous life (at least not at first) and there will be many set backs along the way. There will be times when you think you just won’t make it and feel like giving up, be prepared for rejection and don’t stop promoting yourself, if you want it never give up!
There are no guarantees in the music business, and even when you break into the charts there’s the possibility you are a one hit wonder and nothing more. You have to have thick skin and a strong mind to live with all the rejection and failure, but it can be done.