Developing Your Music Action Plan
Having goals and developing your music action plan is key to moving your music career forward and creating a sustainable music business.
There's always a lot of pressure to make big goals and changes at the beginning of each new year but the fact is you can start a 12-month plan whenever you are ready to. You don't have to wait until the New Year to get a solid plan in place to move your music career and business forward.
As an Artist Manager, I am constantly working on action plans and timelines in order to move artists careers forward. I would be lost without them!
What is a music action plan?
I see the Music Action Plan as a road map outlining what you want to achieve (the goal) and what you need to do (action item) in order to achieve your goals.
Are you wanting to;
· Get more gigs
· Build your social media/streaming following and engagement
· Record and release new music
· Support a band you love
· Tour to build your audience
· Get booked to play at festivals
· Develop your craft
· Build your team
· Expand your network
· Attend and showcase at a music industry conference
· Gain funding for your projects
These are all great goals to have and you may have others but to achieve these a Music Action Plan will help you brainstorm a clear path on how to accomplish whatever goals you set for yourself. It’s also a great way to track and follow your own progress.
The music action plan guide template that I will share with you will provide the outline and prompts you need to develop your own plan for the next 12 months.
Download your free Music Action Plan Guide here > https://kadencegroup.kartra.com/page/GYMBWorkbook
What to include in your musician planner
Your action plan for a musician should include;
· Your goal/s that you want to work towards,
· The actions items you need to complete to reach your goal
· Identifying the resources or skills you require to reach your goal
· Developing a budget so you have a good understanding of the financial costs associated with reaching your goals.
· A timeline to get tasks completed and hold you accountable
Using your free Music Action plan guide
To get you started, I have created a free music action plan guide template.
First, review the last 12 months. It’s important to reflect on where you have come from and what you have already achieved. Celebrate these wins and successes. Be proud of how far you have already come and the goals you have already realised.
Get clear on your goals for the next 12 months. Be specific. It may be one goal or three. Write them down in order of importance.
Break your goals down into actionable tasks.
For example, let’s say I’m looking to book four more gigs every month in new venues to attract new audiences.
My tasks would be;
· Have an up to date Electronic Press Kit (EPK), onepage link or website that includes current images, live performance video/s, bio, live reviews (if you have them), contact details and social links
· Develop a list of venues that I would like to perform at and research them on socials, work out who the best person is to contact. You may actually have to pick up the phone and ask who is the booking person/agent for that venue.
· Reach out in social media groups on venue recommendations and contacts
· Email venue contact with a short introduction and link to EPK/onepage link/website. Keep it clear and concise and provide availability.
· Follow up in a week’s time.
· Set aside 2hrs per week to contact venues and follow up. This is an ongoing task!
Next, identify the resources you will need in order to carry out and complete these action items. Do you need to develop an EPK/OnePage Link/Website. Do you need some live videos?
Identify the costs associated with any of your tasks and build a budget if you need to engage others to assist you in any area. Reach out and request pricing and quotes.
Set your self a deadline for your goal and then reverse engineer a timeline for all of your tasks. Plan this out in the 12-month calendar in the free music action plan guide so you can keep track of your tasks and progress.
Music business accountability
Ask some musician friends to hold you accountable to your goals. Perhaps they can also develop their own music action plan and you work together as accountability partners or join a music mastermind.
If you are still unsure where or how to start your plan or what the action steps are to reach your goal, I would love to support you with this.
Check out my Music Action Planning Mentoring session where I can guide you in developing your plan through discussing your goals, brainstorming your action items, developing your budget and timeline, connecting you to industry and holding you accountable.
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Feeling overwhelmed by the whole music industry and not sure what your next step should be?
My Music Action Planning Mentoring session is just what you need.
You know there's funding out there for your next music project, but it seems impossible to find; where do you even start with writing that application?
A Grant Writing Mentoring session is perfect for you if you'd like some in-person support, but if you're keen to get started on your application and want to work through it yourself but still have practical advice and tools to get started asap, my Grant Writing for Music Projects online workshop is the go!