How to Start a Music Career and Build Your Fanbase as a New Artist

To start a music career, you need three things: a clear sense of what role you want (performer, producer, songwriter, or a combination), a realistic foundation in your skills and tools, and a strategy for reaching listeners before you expect income to follow.

Label deals are no longer the entry point. Independent artists now account for half of all royalties paid by Spotify. The path is more open than it's ever been, and more crowded. If you want to know how to get into the music industry, you require craft, consistency, and context, not just a good song.

What does a music career actually look like today?

A music career is a combination of roles, income sources, and skills built in parallel over time. Some artists perform live and use recordings to support that. Others build careers entirely online, releasing to streaming platforms without ever touring.

Producers and songwriters often work behind the scenes, earning through licensing and collaboration rather than public performance.

Streaming revenues reached $22 billion in 2025, accounting for 69.6% of total global recorded music income. But independent artists can hardly establish a sustainable music career, relying solely on streaming. Successful independent artists combine multiple income streams, including streaming, direct sales, merch, live performances, and more.

Choose the type of music career you want

How to start a career in music as a songwriter is a very different process from how to become a recording artist who performs and releases their own material.

• Recording artist/performer: You write and record music under your own name or alias and build a following around your output. Income comes from streaming, live shows, merchandise, and licensing.
• Music producers create beats, instrumentals, or full productions for their own releases or other artists. Producers earn through track sales, leasing, royalties, and production credits.
• Songwriters write for other artists and earn through publishing royalties (performance and mechanical) collected by organizations like ASCAP, BMI, or the MLC.
• Session/hybrid musician: You perform on other artists' recordings or in live bands, or combine multiple roles at once.

Most independent artists today do several of these simultaneously, which is often where the most sustainable income comes from.

Ways to start a music career

There is no single correct entry point for an independent music career. Here are the most common starting paths:

• Self-releasing independently: Record music yourself or with a collaborator, distribute it through a distributor, and build your audience from the ground up. This gives you full creative control.
• Performing live locally: Start with open mics, small venues, and local showcases. Live performance builds real relationships with fans faster than online activity alone.
• Building online first: Some artists build substantial audiences on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram before releasing formal recordings. Short-form video has launched careers for artists who developed a recognizable style on camera before releasing to streaming platforms.
• Collaborating your way in: Writing for or producing with other artists gets your name into new networks before you have your own audience.

Before you release music, build your foundation

The most common mistake artists make when they start a music career is releasing music before they're ready: not in a perfectionist sense, but in the sense that the music doesn't yet clearly represent who they are.

• Your sound and identity. What do you make, and who is it for? You don't need a rigid brand, but you need a clear enough sense of your sound that someone who hears your music can describe it to a friend.
• Your craft. Your voice or your production ear develops with practice and exposure. There is no shortcut.
• Recording setup. You don't need a professional studio. Many artists record at home with a USB condenser microphone, a basic audio interface, and free DAW software like GarageBand, Audacity, or BandLab. What matters most is clean, clear audio.
• Build online presence. Set up profiles on the platforms where your genre lives: at least one streaming profile, one social media account, and a consistent artist name across all of them.

How to build an audience from zero

Building an audience is slower than most new artists expect. Here is how to build your audience:

• Post consistently, not constantly. One strong piece of content per week over a year outperforms 20 posts in a burst followed by months of silence.
• Use short-form video. TikTok and Instagram Reels are the most powerful organic discovery tools currently available to independent artists. Process content (recording sessions, writing moments, behind-the-scenes footage) consistently outperforms polished promotional clips.
• Engage with your listeners. The artists who build the most loyal audiences early treat listeners as real people, not metrics.
• Build an email list from the start. Social media algorithms change. A small list of people who signed up to hear from you is more valuable than a larger but passive following.

How to release your music professionally

A professional release involves more than uploading a file. Get the following in order first:

Register with a PRO and the MLC

Before you release anything, register as a songwriter and publisher with a Performing Rights Organization in your country (ASCAP or BMI in the US, PRS in the UK, APRA in Australia) to collect performance royalties. 

Also register with the Mechanical Licensing Collective, which collects mechanical royalties from streaming services. If you're not registered, that money goes unclaimed.

Sort your music distribution

Music distribution allows independent artists to release music to global streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music. A distributor releases music to these platforms and collects royalties.

Plan the release properly

A solid release includes: a finished master, compliant cover art (3000x3000px, RGB), accurate metadata, and a date set at least two weeks out for playlist pitching. A mastered track sounds cleaner and more consistent across listening environments. 

How to promote your music after release

Releasing music without a promotion plan is the fastest way to release into silence. Here’s how you can promote music after release:

• Social media promotion: Post consistent content on TikTok and Instagram using clips, reels, and storytelling around your song to boost visibility.
• Pitch to playlists: Submit your track to editorial and independent playlists on Spotify and Apple Music for wider reach and algorithmic streaming growth.
• Collaborate with other creators: Work with artists, producers, and influencers to cross-promote music and tap into new, already-engaged audiences.
• Engage with audience: Reply to comments, share fan content, and build relationships that encourage loyalty, shares, and long-term organic growth.
• Release week campaign: Plan coordinated posts, teasers, countdowns, and live moments across platforms like YouTube to maximize first-week traction.
• Repurpose content: Turn one song into multiple formats like short clips, lyric videos, and behind-the-scenes posts to extend promotional lifespan.

How musicians make money today

Understanding income options is one of the most practical things you can do when you start a music career. Most working musicians combine multiple sources of income to build a career in music:

• Streaming royalties: Earnings from streaming platforms based on plays, though typically small per stream and dependent on volume.
• Sync licensing: Earnings from music used in films, ads, games, or shows, often paid as upfront fees plus royalties.
• Direct fan support: Income from platforms like Patreon, tips, or fan donations where listeners directly fund the artist’s work.
• Merch sales: Revenue from selling branded items like clothing, posters, or collectibles that strengthen fan identity and loyalty.
• Live performance: Earnings from concerts, gigs, and tours, often one of the highest income sources for active musicians.
• Memberships: Recurring income from exclusive content or communities where fans pay monthly for special access or perks.

Mistakes new artists make when starting a music career

These patterns come up consistently across artists who are learning how to start a music career, and most of them are avoidable.

• Waiting for perfection before releasing music: Many artists delay releases trying to perfect sound, but consistent output matters more for growth and learning.
• Ignoring consistent content creation: Focusing only on songs without a social media presence on platforms like TikTok and Instagram limits audience discovery.
• Poor release strategy: Dropping music without planning promotion, visuals, or rollout reduces chances of getting algorithm or playlist traction on Spotify.
• Not building an audience early: Many artists focus on making music instead of building a fanbase before release, which slows initial momentum.
• Overlooking networking and collaborations: Avoiding collaboration with other creators limits exposure and reduces opportunities for cross-audience growth.
• Giving up too early: Many artists quit after a few releases, even though growth in music careers typically takes time and repeated effort.

Conclusion

To start a music career, you don’t need industry connections, a major label, or a large upfront budget. What it requires is clarity about what you're building, consistency in showing up, and patience with a timeline that is almost always longer than the industry makes it look.

If you’re starting your music career, upgrade to SoundCloud Artist Pro to distribute tracks, understand your audience, and earn Fan-Powered Royalties that scale with real fans.