Artist development, simply put, is the process of taking a new act and creating a cohesive image, brand, and sound to be released to the public. Making the act ready in all aspects of being an artist is the goal. This includes but is not limited to media training, show rehearsals, vocal training, music arrangement and composition, social media marketing, branding, photo shoots and the artists’ image.
This development process used to be the responsibility of the record label and the team assigned to the artist by the label. This team included, the artists’ A&R, songwriters, producers, marketing team, media consultants, and managers. This team would take the new act discovered by the A&R and create them into a national and international act. As previously mentioned there are many aspects to creating an artist. For the sake of this article we will focus on the following:
Developing vocals, musicianship, songwriting, and performance skills
Building your artist persona
Creating records
Live show rehearsal
Branding and image
Music marketing
Before an artist can start recording, especially if they are a singer, they need to practice on their vocals, specific to notes, pitch, range and control. A vocal coach is not only necessary but encouraged. Every great singer has at one time (most likely still dose) have a vocal coach. The vocal coach is present not only to train the artist’s vocal cords ensuring they can sing and record properly (it takes different skills to be able to sing live and sing in a studio for recording), but also to teach the artist how to sing properly to protect their vocal cords from being injured. If a singer is singing improperly they can develop nodes on their vocals cords. This not only makes it difficult and painful to sing, but in most cases doesn’t go away without surgery resulting in either a long layoff from making music and having to relearn to sing properly, but also not being able to sing again.
If the artist plays an instrument, being able to play their given instrument to perfection is a necessity. Artists who can play one or multiple instruments have an opportunity to do certain things other artists can’t. Playing an instrument in any fashion allows an artist to at least give a melodic idea for songs they have, and at most being able to musically play the entire song by themselves. This skill then makes the artist not only the artist but also the producer. Being a producer, one gives the artist an opportunity to work with different artists in more aspects than simply do vocals on a song, but also enables them with full ownership of their creations.
Being able to write songs for yourself is a skill all artists should have. This ability gives the artist full creative freedom in the lyrics in their songs, as well as further ownership of their songs. As an artist, if you are not able to write your songs, you will forever be at the mercy of your label, as you will be reliant on them to give you songs from other songwriters. This not only diminishes your creative ability as an artist, as you have little to no say what the lyrical content is you will be singing, (in some cases artists, mostly established artists, who are given songs from writers have an input on the lyrics of the songs, some because they like the idea but want it to sound lyrically more like them, or because they want to change a few words hear and there for structural purpose or because they want publishing credit as a writer as well), but pigeon holds you to what they songwriters write, and what the label gives you as song options.
Your persona as an artist is arguably the most important part. How you portray yourself to the public can be the difference in obtaining a loyal fanbase, or having bandwagon listeners. A loyal fan base is one that buys your songs (or continually streams them as the case now maybe), buys your merchandise, goes to your shows, and most importantly spreads your music to their friends, family and shares it on their social media pages (nothing is more beneficial than word of mouth promotion). Bandwagon fans will only listen to your music because everyone else is, because their friend showed them the hottest song at the moment, or because they heard your song on the radio. These fans will stop listening to your music once your single is off the air and the next “great” act comes along.
Lenny S (Head A&R for Roc Nation) once said, “As an artist you have to be one of two things, either the people want to be you or they have to believe you.” If you come off as larger than life, show a fantastic lifestyle and give your fanbase the image of someone they aspire to be, they will follow you because they see a life they want to live. Regardless if this is actually the life you are living, showing the fans this will make them follow you for the simple fact they want to feel as if they are living this lifestyle as well. Or they will follow you because they one day aspire to be you or in your shoes, living that same lifestyle. Think of all the artists (mostly rappers) you see on the internet today. Fancy houses, foreign cars, expensive jewelry (never mind if its fake or not, they look real to a majority of the public) and some of the hottest girls you have ever seen (again doesn’t matter whether they are real or not). The public want to have these things, and live this lifestyle. If you can’t live this larger than life lifestyle, then you have to have lyrics and songs that portray who you are the life you actually living. This is the second part, they have to believe you. There is nothing worse to a fan than finding out the songs they have been singing along to from their favorite artist are a lie. When fans find out artists is “not about that life” and what they have been saying is their songs is not what they do or how they act in real life, their songs lose something to the listener and become somewhat lackluster. If you are rapping about being a gangster, shooting guns, having a ton of money and girls, then its found out that you have never been in or close to a gang in your life, all the guns in your videos are fake (actual propers, and not just props for the video) or the money phone your holding in your pictures isn’t yours, the fans won’t believe your songs anymore. Think when people found out Rick Ross was a parole officer, when it was told Drake didn’t write his own lyrics, or when Tekashi 6ix9ine became a rat and said he was never living the gang lifestyle. In the case of Rick Ross his music took a hit for a moment as he was rapping about being in the streets, drugs and his up brining. Rapping about the street life and saying how much your against cops and the police then the fans finding out he was one of them, created an audience step back for a moment because he was seen as not being truthful. It took a little while before people moved on and now of course he is bigger than ever, Maybach Music is a force and all his albums are spectacular. When it was found out that Quintin Miller was writing all of Drakes songs in the beef with Meek Mill, Drake was getting ridiculed, because in hip-hop lyrics were at the top of the list of what made a great MC. How could arguably one of the best acts, (I won’t say rappers for other reasons than just this example) of all time not being responsible for his own songs. Granted hearing the demo and hearing the actual song were night and day, and this was part of the reason Drake is still at the top now, but for a moment his career took a hit because he was seen as a fake rapper for not writing his own songs. The latest example is Tekashi 6ix9ine. All he was rapping about was gang life, gang culture, being in the streets and shooting guns. Once he got caught and went to jail he quickly turned on everyone in his team that, one was actually living that life (one of the reasons they are still in jail and he is not, but that is a story for another time) but two, brought him to the level he was at before going to jail. Since getting out he has been on Instagram live stating that he was never into that gang life or in the gang (never mind the pictures that surfaced a while ago of him in prep school shortly before becoming a rapper) but that he was simply providing a life line and way out for those people. I won’t get into all the details and minutia that goes along with his story, but since getting out a portion of the public (I won’t say majority because as his first Instagram live 2 million viewership showed) has turned on him because he is not living the lifestyle he was portraying in his songs.
Creating records is what the artist is made for. This is what they enjoy doing over all other aspects of being an artist. Most artist will tell you over and over that they just want to make music. They became artists because of the love they had for making music. They never wanted to be in the spotlight and have to deal with social media and the media. 50 Cent in his recent book made this statement about Lloyd Banks, stating that, at least to 50, one of the reasons Banks didn’t become as big as he could have been was because his stance on social media was, “If Pac and Big didn’t have to use this to make it, why should I.” This is where most of their time is spent and usually the aspect of their career that needs the least amount of attention, at least as far as the creation goes. However being able to rap or being a great singer doesn’t mean you can make a song. Are you able to create a catchy hook that the public will remember and sing over and over(no Nelly pun intended)? Can you tell a cohesive story in two to three verses? Is the structure of your song right? Does it make sense? These aspects are extremely important in creating and publicly releasing songs. Great, you can freestyle, you have metaphors for days and your word play is something that everyone in the streets love. Can you create a hook to tie all those words together? Can you write two or three verse that go together in a structured song format? Or are you just able to continually freestyle with no structure. Being able to freestyle off the top is awesome and a skill not to shake a stick at. This is where hip-hop started, free styling in the parks and on the blocks to see who had the best lyrics. However, some rappers are great freestylers and some rappers are great songwriters. Very few can do both. You’re regarded as the best singer with a great voice, and you can hit all the high notes. Can you control those vocals in booth to record a song? Can you stay on pitch and in pocket for the song? Can you write that song you’re singing? Being a great singer is something that almost everyone in the world aspires to be. There isn’t one single person who hasn’t sang in their car or shower and thought to themselves, “I can be a singer.” Singing along with your favorite artist to your favorite song is something we all do. But being able to hold pitch, hold a note, be in key, control your vocals and do harmonies is a different monster.
Now you have the songs, you have a persona, and you’re creatively ready to go on the road. What does your live show look like? In most cases you are not able to just go up on the stage, sing, and wow the audience. Some can, but very few of us can sing like Adele and Whitney Houston. You are not able to just stand ton stage in one spot and captivate the audience with your vocal ability. Now if your H.E.R. playing the acoustic guitar phenomenally or your Ed Sheeran playing every instrument yourself (if you haven’t seen that performance go watch it) and your vocal ability is enough because these two things together, granted with amazing songwriting ability as well, is able to captivate the audience better than almost any artist. For the rest of the musical community you have to literally put on a show, think Kanye West of Travis Scott. These two artists spend more money on their live show and touring than any other artist, not because their rapping or singing abilities aren’t enough but because they want their shows to be an experience. Rehearsal is of the utmost importance to artists and a live show. If you don’t practice it will show when you’re on stage. Most artists think that just because they know their songs, the energy of the show will propel them to do good on stage and put on a good show. I will tell you from experience, that if you do not rehearse what your live show will look like you will look worse than amateur. I have seen countless artists think they cannot rehearse or rehearse one time the day before or right before the show starts go out and complete bomb. Some so bad that with in the next week they have been let go by the people developing them. The greatest and top artists all rehearse. There are tapes of Prince and Michael Jackson practicing their routines for months and years so that when they go on stage it looks perfect. Every step, every note, everything is right one point and every que is hit with no flaws. It might be a cliche but practice does make perfect.
One question I ask the artists I work with, even before we get to any of the above stages, is who are you as an artist? This is important for two reasons, one because it gets the artist to explain exactly who they are as an artist, how they see themselves as an artist and what they want to portray to the public. Second, because it then gives us a starting point of creating a brand and image for the artist. If the label tries to make the artist into something they are not, the artist may not like the direction and thus at some point try and sabotage the process so they can get back full creative ability. This is generally when you see artists signed to major deals start to lash out on social media and talk bad about their labels. It also can backfire as the artist may not be believable to the public which we spoke about earlier. A perfect example is a lyric from K.Michelle’s latest album “All Monsters Are Human. On the opening track, “Just Like Jay,” she says, “I walked away from Atlantic, ‘cause they wanted me to be Mary J, the whole time I was thinking, who the hell gone be K.” Her label wanted her to follow in the footsteps of Mary J. Blige because they were similar in the music they made and the lane they fit in. She wanted to be her own person, and have her own identity, not only as a person but as an artist. Due to this disagreement, she walked away from her major label record deal. The artist will always have an image of themselves in their head of who they are and who they want to be. It is best to know what this is and as a label or part of their team to recognize this or be prepared to have a fight on your hands that in most cases doesn’t end well. It could result in the artist being shelved by the label and not able to release records. The artist may get dropped and have to fend for themselves as an independent, which some see as a good thing until its time to release music, and they realize that the label machine isn’t there to help push their songs along and the numbers aren’t there and not the same which is detrimental to their career. Or in most of the cases we hear now, the artist starts bashing the label on social media trying to expose what is going on saying they are in a bad deal. This then leads to the public finding out that the artist is tied to the label for a certain amount of albums, and to get out of the deal the artist begins releasing sub par music to get out of the deal, which in turn takes years and because of this it could be a while before the artist is back to the level the fans know them for and they lose a majority of their fan base (see the bandwagon fans mentioned earlier in this post).
Finally comes the marketing of the music and the artist. All the songs have been recorded, the live show is ready to be performed, the brand and image is true to the artist, the persona is believable, and all of the artistry is on point. The artist is now ready to begin releasing music. This is where everything comes together. The right marketing campaign is the difference between your song breaking and only a few hundred, if that, streams and plays. The rise of social media has made this part easier than previous decades. Before social media, the artist and their marketing teams would have to go out and promote on the street and in local communities, hence the street team. This means flyers, handing out tapes, and merchandise. When you see old images of people selling CDs out of their trunks or hear people say things of this nature, this where it all comes from. Before the internet this is how artists would create buzz around their music. Local shows, standing on corners selling CDs and merchandise out of their trunk, literally, having a group of kids post flyers all around the city, this is where the term street team comes from, this is where the term gorilla marketing comes from. Going out and touching the public, moving hand to hand, this is how you created a name. With social media you can now literally reach these same people and thousands more without leaving your living room. Graphics, direct messages, social media promotions, online advertising and digital marketing, and digital streaming platforms are a way to create a buzz for your music before and after release. Reach out to blogs, playlist curators, other artists, make connections, social media is the greatest marketing tool ever created. Want to show your creation process or have the right image to go with what you stand for, post it or show it live on Instagram. Have an opinion about literally anything or want to start a conversation about a trending topic, post on Twitter. Want to connect with people you have known forever but lost touch with, post on Facebook. Want to connect with business professional, use Linkedin. Want to create a short engaging (or at this point mostly mindless) video that creates a dance craze or challenge, record on TikTok. There are countless ways to reach and engage with your audience, so much so that there is now no reason for you as an artist to not promote as much as you can, speak to as many people as you can and connect with as many people as you can. What is the worst that can happen? They block you. So what, that is one out of 7 billion people in the world (most of which are on social media in some for or fashion, and in most cases on some platforms in more ways than one) that you can potentially reach and make a fan out of.
Artist development maybe a lost art for the major labels but it is more necessary now than ever. Everyday there are 40,000 songs released on digital streaming platforms from artists all across the world. How are you supposed to separate yourself from every other artist out there? The good news is with the internet artists can develop themselves in most of these categories with little to no help. For less than $200 you can buy a microphone and interface, record into GarageBand (that comes as a free software with your MacBook) and begin to record and produce your own songs. SoundCloud, Spotify and YouTube allow you to create accounts and upload your material for free. If you wanted to you could even record into your MacBook microphone or your phone and go to YouTube University (tutorial videos on YouTube) to learn how to edit and mix your songs to sound professional. It pains me as an engineer who went through years of school and internships to say that, but it is true. Even worse GarageBand has enough free plugins that you can get your vocals and instruments (also free in GarageBand) to sound decent enough to be put on any digital streaming platform. The bad news, with such a wide variety of artists and songs being released everyday it is harder now more than ever to stand out and separate yourself from the other artists. Most artists are following a trend instead of trying to start one because it is easier to follow the wave than to create one. However, following the wave means once the wave crashes so does your career.
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