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Over the years I have had the same conversation where a would be artist tells me that being a country artist has been their dream all their life and nothing will stop them. They will do whatever it takes to reach that dream. They just need a little direction, usually followed by the fact that they have no money. I tell them the truth, that it is possible if they are willing to put the effort into it.  As far as the money goes you don’t need a lot of money to start out with because you can use creativity in place of money at several stages along the way. They always assured me they are ready to roll.

I tell them there are three things you absolutely need to start on your road to stardom, A biography, a photo and a demo of them singing. A biography they can write themselves for no cost. Most of the would be stars are convinced they are good enough writers that they have written every song they plan on releasing.  Well if you have confidence enough to compete with the best songwriters in the world while also singing then writing a catchy bio will be a piece of cake. All you have to do is go look at a dozen other artist’s bios and write something different.

A photo is not a big problem. You may have an amatuer photographer among your family and friends. There may be a young photographer in your hometown who is trying hard to become successful who will work for next to nothing just to get their name on your publicity photos. Talk to them.

As far as a demo of you singing – don’t sing over an Alan Jackson or Carrie Underwood karaoke track. Find you an original song track that is the kind of song you want to eventually sing. That way when a Producer or Record Label finally hears you sing they will be impressed with the fact that you DO UNDERSTAND that they don’t need another Alan or Carrie and that you had enough initiative to go find your own song. That will tell them a lot about you and if you are gonna be worth their time and money.

The budget for these three things comes in way below $500 if you are willing to do the work and are a creative person. If you are not a creative person you are starting out with 2 strikes against you if you want to be in the music business. Most would be artists unfortunately can never manage to get these first three things together so they spend their time daydreaming and waiting for someone to come along and do the work for them. Good luck with that.

If you want to figure out for yourself if you are cut out for the country music business print a copy of this short article and stick it on your refrigerator and with a black magic marker write down the date.  A year later if you have not completed the three basic things you have known you needed to progress with your career you will have the answer to your question, do you have a chance at success in the music business as a singer. Those days of just being able to sing and letting other people do everything else are pretty much over. Today you need to treat your singing career like a small business and if you run that business well you will be able to make a decent living. There are more opportunities today than there have ever been in the music business for an independent country artist.

Lonnie C. Ratliff

Contact Lonnie at LonnieRatliff @ gmail.com to sign up for his newsletter.

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