You want to start a business. That’s great! You love music. Fantastic! Why not combine the two things and start a business that’s in some way connected to the music industry? It might be a difficult thing to do, but that’s all part of the challenge, and it’s certainly something that you’ll feel a great sense of achievement about, no matter how successful it becomes. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how you might want to start a business when your passion is music because, after all, the sooner you get started, the sooner all your dreams can come true. Read on to find out more. 

What’s Your Niche? 

The music industry is massive - it’s so diverse that just saying you want to work in music isn’t enough. You need to think about all the various genres, subcultures, and niches that you can get involved in and with otherwise you’re not going to stand out, and you might not even get started at all - instead, you’ll just be overwhelmed by all the choices and no matter how passionate you might be, you’ll just get stuck (and feel stuck too). 

So what niche are you going to be working in? Once you know, you can work out who your target audience is and start marketing to them in a way that appeals, so it’s definitely important for that reason, let alone for your own peace of mind. You should start by thinking about your own musical tastes as well as any specific interests you might have, and that will help you narrow things down because whatever you do really should be something you enjoy and, ideally, that you’re good at. 

Conduct Market Research 

So you know what kind of niche or genres you want to work in when it comes to starting your business, and that’s brilliant. However, don’t just jump into things right away - you’ll need to carry out some good and in-depth market research first, otherwise you might just find that you start a music business or start writing music in a certain way and no one is really interested. That would be devastating, especially as music can be such a personal thing to do. 

You can do market research in a few different ways, and in some cases it’s actually easier to do market research about music than it is about lots of other business ideas, which is a bonus. One thing you can do is think about what’s currently popular and what people seem to be looking for in their music. You can also look for gaps or opportunities that you can fill (especially if you’re selling a product rather than music itself) and make sure you let people know you’re able to solve a problem they might have. 

Monetize Things

It’s always going to be hard to turn your passion for music into something that makes you money, but it’s not impossible, and if you want to start a business that links to that passion, it’s crucial to know how to do it. 

You can take a look a various different revenue streams you can enjoy, and find as many of them as possible that your target market (which your market research will identify) will want. So you might want to sell actual music that you’ve written and make sure you get all the royalties you’re owed through copyright registration, for example, but you can also sell merchandise, tickets, or perhaps offer services like music production, music lessons, event management, and a lot more besides. Or why not start a business in a different area but offer sponsorship to venues or local bands? In that way you get the best of both worlds and you should be able to make money. 

Find A USP

We’ve mentioned that you have to get noticed if you’re going to be successful in business, and although that might have been relatively simple in the past, today, with all the great opportunities people have to set up businesses quickly and for little to no money, it can feel like an overwhelming challenge. 

Of course, some businesses will get lost in the crowd, but others rise to the top, and one of the differences between these two types of businesses is their USP or unique selling proposition. If you want to be seen and not lost, you’re going to need to find yours for your music business. So what does set your business apart? Is it the instrument you play? Your expertise on a certain musical subject? Your innovative way of doing things? Whatever it is, if you can make sure it’s a big part of your marketing, you’ll stand out, and standing out in business is definitely a good thing as long as it’s for the right reasons.