indie gospel artist

Being An Independent Artist

April 12, 2010 — Leave a comment

I always thought that the goal as a music artist was to get signed to a major label. After the music industry started to change a bit I realized that the major label thing may not be the path for me.  I chose to go an alternate route as an artist.  I have made the choice to handle my own music career.

Because I have chosen to be independent, I have to do more work.  All of the work that a label would do for me is now my responsibility.  I have to market myself, book my own shows, distribute my music, figure out ways to get my music played and a  host of other things.

After doing tons of research, I found that there are a lot of resources to help me do this thing myself.  I even found  an awesome book, The Indie Band Survival Guide that I am currently reading.  I plan to share my thoughts and lessons learned as I make my way through the book.

I realize that I may have made some mistakes on the way, since I’ve started my journey, but it’s okay.  I will just dust myself off and continue to move forward.

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Are you an independent artist?  What you made you decide to go that route?

Inspired by…

November 25, 2009 — Leave a comment

As I am working on my music ministry, I have to continue to be motivated.  So I seek out independent gospel artists and find out any information that I can.

Today I am inspired by Kenny DeShields.  I first heard of Kenny on Gospel Pundit in the Pundit Player with the song “I Thank Ya Lord”.   I honestly wasn’t feeling the song that much at first, but my husband would play it all of the time.  I really started to think about the words and that song grew on me.  Now I can’t stop singing it.

So today I happened to be doing a little searching on the net and I came across an interview that Kenny DeShields did on Finding The B-Side.  He said something in the interview that confirmed what the Spirit of God told me to do a few weeks ago.  The Spirit gave me the idea of setting up my living room like a concert area.  It would have a stage, a few chairs, my keyboard (even though I haven’t played it in years), a microphone, etc.  Sounds weird???maybe, but I found it funny that DeShields did something very similar.

Anyway, here are a few things that I learned from Kenny DeShield’s interview.

  • Have a concert at home by yourself – K. DeShields  had “Tonight At Kenny’s” every once and a while with a full set list.  He did this about two years before he stepped out and shared it with others.
  • Having a support system is important – you need to have others around you who can pray for you and encourage you.
  • Educate yourself about the music industry – Start reading books about the music business and entertainment law.