How old is too old to start a music career?

PurpleHaze wrote: I'm close to 50.

 

I don't think 22 is too old to be starting.  

for some reason I always wanted to be older than I was. 

princesshoneybee wrote: modelbusiness82 wrote: princesshoneybee wrote: Jr1127 wrote: princesshoneybee wrote: ms_wonderland wrote: princess, are you a singer or a rapper? do you have a youtube channeL?   Not yet but I will make one! I am a singer Do you have a manager?   I don't think I need one, i thought managers were for people who are already signed to a label Not necessarily. Sometimes having someone focused on the business side can free you up to focus on the quality of the product. A manager is good sometimes bc as an indie, it can be hard for other businesses to take you seriously. Case in point, the agency I created only works on a b2b basis. I find that often enough, the actual artist isn't thinking about the business aspects in terms of the marketing, PR & promotional work that needs to go into "making it". And often enough, many mainstream firms won't even entertain a dialogue with you when you're an indie artist with no form of representation. On the flip side, not everyone who says they're a manager is actually any good at it. However, I know S. Florida has a lot of reputable artist management firms if what you're looking for is someone local. I would suggest aligning with an artist management company with a reputation for at least getting their artists booked or having radio airplay in their regional market. Find artists that you like in your region, and see who's managing them.   Do artists have to pay upfront or is it like a modeling agency where the management only makes money if you do?

Traditionally, they take a percentage of revenue earned. Upfront fees for a management company are questionable. Now if you hire a PR person or marketing agency...that's a different story and they traditionally won't accept a "we'll pay you when we get paid" scenario.

It really depends on the person, their connections and who they're marketing to.

IMO you need an artist management firm. Not knowing your budget, you will be money ahead if you go that route. It sounds like you don't have a demo EP. So getting the demo done is going to be your biggest priority. Ideally, get producers who are "workers for hire", meaning they can't make any claim to the music you're making and anything you pay them equals total compensation for time and efforts invested on their part. In this way, if you link up with an artist management firm or get signed to a small/medium label, you won't have any issues with rights.

Likewise, if you go with an artist management firm, you won't be out of pocket for the other necessary yet unknown costs like PR, marketing, booking fees, etc. That will be on the firm to front to people such as myself to do on your behalf. Now, of course, this means they'll get more of your money when/if you start earning revenue. But if you really feel like you have no clue about what to do, doing it alone can be a huge risk.

The indie market isn't how it was when I first got on the scene in '03. EVERYONE - majors and indies alike -  is mixed into the same platforms and fighting for "eyeballs & wallspace" as we say in the marketing industry. So, if you don't have connections, you can spend your life gigging it or making singles and never making headway. And if you don't already have "ins" with people (which is a feeling I get from what you're saying), doing everything by yourself is probably not the greatest idea.